Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced today that taxpayers in declared disaster areas affected by Hurricane Harvey can postpone paying state taxes while they recover from storm-related losses. Businesses located in those areas can call the Comptrollers office and request up to a 90-day extension to file and pay certain monthly and quarterly state taxes.

 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the people who are dealing with this catastrophic weather event, Hegar said. This storm is forecast to bring significant damage to large areas of our state, and we know businesses and taxpayerswillneed to focus on cleanup and recovery in the weeks and months to come.Givingfolks in these disaster zones the opportunity to request a filing and payment extensionshould allow themto focus on those recovery efforts without the worry of a looming tax deadline.

 

In addition toallowing the Comptroller toextend tax-filing deadlines, Texas law exempts certain recovery-related expenses from sales tax, including:

 

 

  * the cost of labor to repair storm-damaged, nonresidential property, including office buildings and stores. Labor charges must be separately stated on the repair bill. Texas does not impose sales tax on labor for residential repairs. 

  * services used to restore storm-damagedtangible personalproperty, including dry cleaning of clothing and draperies, rug and carpet cleaning, and appliance repairsregardless of whether the property is residential or nonresidential. 

 

For more information or to request a tax filing extension, call the Comptroller's toll-free tax assistance line in Austin at 800-252-5555, or go to the Comptrollers website for answers to frequently asked questions [ http://www.comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/faqs/disaster.php ].

 

Hegar also announced the following Comptroller enforcement and field offices will be closed until at least Tuesday, Aug. 29:

 

 

  * Corpus Christi Audit and Corpus Christi Enforcement 

 

  * Brownsville Enforcement 

 

  * Katy Audit 

 

  * Beaumont Audit 

 

  * Houston Northwest Enforcement, Houston Southwest Enforcement, Houston North Audit, Houston South Audit and Houston West Audit 

 

Calls to the affected enforcement and audit offices will be automatically transferred to other enforcement offices or the Austin call center.