Tax Deadline extended for areas in San Benito County

HOLLISTER, CALIF. (KION-TV)- San Benito County is home to one of the many local assistance centers across the central coast.

Many resources are available, including additional info on the new tax deadline extension for those impacted by the storm. Carlos Lopez, CEO of Lopez Tax Service, explains who qualifies for the extension.

“This includes businesses and individuals,” Lopez said. “It includes your estimated payments.”

When it’s time to file, one question that people may ask is, "What about the damage I suffered during these storms?"

I found the answer to that on the governor's website. You can report disaster losses to claim a deduction.

There are different ways to show those losses depending on how you file.

The other thing to look out for, according to Lopez, is the financial assistance you receive from these disasters.

“Now, you have to be careful when you're dealing with those,” Lopez said. “FEMA and some of the other organizations. Some of those are grants, which means you don't have to pay them back. Some of them are low-cost loans, which means you do have to pay them back with a small amount of interest.”

When it comes to property taxes, there wasn’t an ability to extend those.

But according to Treasurer and Tax Collector Melinda Casillas, San Benito County says property owners should contact the county assessor to see if they can help.

“Their property taxes could be reduced,” Casillas said. “And then for any payments that we've received, we would offer them a refund. And if they have not paid those taxes, then they would pay at a lower reduced rate.”

Another benefit of this extension is that there isn’t a need to file an extension form for either Federal or State.

Since areas like San Benito County are part of the extension, they already qualify.