Hurricane Season and 1031 Deadlines: Plan for the Extension Rules Before You Need Them

The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks around September 10, which overlaps the busiest exchange months of the year. If a federally declared disaster hits your relinquished property, your replacement property, your intermediary or your lender, Rev. Proc. 2018-58 can push your 45-day and 180-day deadlines by at least 120 days, but only for taxpayers who fit its tests, and only after the IRS issues a news release for that disaster. The 2026 Tropical Storm Arthur notices show how long that can take. Plan for it in June, not after landfall.

The season, and the lag between a storm and an IRS notice

The National Hurricane Center’s climatology page gives the Atlantic season as June 1 through November 30, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October and a peak near September 10; the Eastern Pacific season starts May 15.

Relief is not automatic. Under Reg. section 301.7508A-1(e), the IRS publishes a news release or other guidance describing the acts postponed, the postponement period and the covered disaster area, and the period can be up to one year. Tropical Storm Arthur illustrates the timing. The storm began June 17, 2026 in Louisiana; the IRS release for nine parishes, LA-2026-02, came on July 13, 2026 and runs to November 2, 2026. The Mississippi release for eight counties, MS-2026-03, came on August 7, 2026, seven weeks after the June 18 start date, and runs to February 1, 2027. During those weeks the 45-day clock keeps running. Our running list of notices in force is in the current disaster-relief post.

What Rev. Proc. 2018-58 does for exchangers

Section 4 of Rev. Proc. 2018-58 explains that the IRS news release for a disaster defines the “affected taxpayers,” the acts postponed, the duration and the covered area, and that section 17 “expands the categories of taxpayers qualifying for relief” for section 1031 transactions. Section 17.02(1) is the operative rule: a 45-day identification deadline or 180-day exchange deadline that falls on or after the disaster date is postponed by 120 days or to the last day of the general postponement period in the news release, whichever is later. The postponement can never run past the due date, including extensions, of your return for the year of transfer, or past one year.

Section 17.02(2) sets who qualifies. The relinquished property must have been transferred on or before the disaster date (or, in a reverse exchange under Rev. Proc. 2000-37, title must have been parked with the accommodation titleholder by then). Then you must either be an “affected taxpayer” under the news release, or have difficulty meeting a deadline because of the disaster for a listed reason: the relinquished or replacement property is in the covered area; the principal place of business of any party, such as the intermediary, titleholder, buyer, settlement attorney, lender or title insurer, is in the covered area; a party or employee is killed, injured or missing; an exchange document or land record is destroyed; a lender declines to fund because of the disaster or because hazard insurance is unavailable; or a title insurer cannot issue a policy.

Section 17.03 adds one more case: a 45-day deadline that fell before the disaster is still postponed if an identified replacement property was substantially damaged. And section 17.04 limits the relief: if you qualify only under the “difficulty” reasons rather than as an affected taxpayer, you get the exchange postponement and nothing else.

A worked example with the 120-day option

Hypothetical: you sold a rental on May 20, 2026. Day 45 is July 4 and day 180 is November 16. On June 17 the storm hits the Louisiana parish where your replacement property sits. Under the Louisiana release, the general postponement runs to November 2, 2026. Your identification deadline, July 4, moves to the later of July 4 plus 120 days (November 1) or November 2, so November 2. Your 180-day deadline, November 16, also fell after the disaster date, so it moves to the later of November 16 plus 120 days (March 16, 2027) or November 2, which is March 16, 2027, provided that is not past your extended return due date. The one-year cap does not bite here. Run the dates with your intermediary and CPA before relying on them.

Note the condition that made this work: the sale closed before the storm. A sale that closes after the disaster date gets no exchange postponement, even in the covered area.

Who to call and what to keep

The IRS releases say taxpayers outside the covered area whose records or service providers are inside it should call the IRS disaster hotline listed in the release to request relief. Keep a written record of why the disaster affected your exchange: the property address in the covered area, the lender’s notice, the intermediary’s location. If the relinquished or replacement property itself was damaged, the involuntary-conversion rules under section 1033 may matter more than section 1031; see condemned or destroyed property and section 1033 and the planned guide to disaster-damaged rentals, insurance and sections 1033 and 1031.

The IRS reminder IR-2026-104 (September 3, 2026) asks taxpayers to keep digital copies of returns, titles and insurance policies and to photograph property before a storm. For an exchanger, that means scanned copies of the exchange agreement, the identification letter and both contracts.

What to do now

1. Before a summer closing, note the exact dates on which day 45 and day 180 fall and which parties to the transaction sit in a coastal county.
2. If a storm is declared, check the IRS tax relief in disaster situations page; the IRS release, not the FEMA declaration, triggers section 17.
3. Keep a backup identification that does not depend on the storm zone; the DST backup strategy and extending the 45-day and 180-day deadlines explain the options.
4. If a lender pulls a commitment because of the storm, read lender delays and 1031 deadlines, then talk to us about closing on an identified DST within the window.

Sources

• NOAA National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Climatology
• Reg. section 301.7508A-1, postponement of deadlines by reason of a federally declared disaster
• IRS, Rev. Proc. 2018-58
• IRS, LA-2026-02, Tropical Storm Arthur relief for Louisiana
• IRS, MS-2026-03, Tropical Storm Arthur relief for Mississippi
• IRS, IR-2026-104, disaster preparedness starts with tax records
• IRS, Tax relief in disaster situations