All articles 14 min read

Disaster-Related Relief: Pension and Annuity Taxes (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Disaster-Related Relief” within pension and annuity taxes. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 575 (2025), Pension and Annuity Income, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Disaster-Related Relief

Introduction

The special rules that provide for tax-favored withdrawals and repayments from certain qualified plans for taxpayers who suffered an economic loss as a result of a qualified disaster were made permanent by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. See Qualified disaster recovery distributions, later, for more information.

The principles set forth in Notice 2005-92, 2005-51 I.R.B. 1165, available at IRS.gov/irb/2005-51_IRB (which provides guidance on the tax-favored treatment of distributions for victims of Hurricane Katrina), generally also apply to these rules.

If you received a qualified disaster recovery distribution, it is taxable but isn’t subject to the 10% additional tax on early distributions. (Use Form 8915-F to figure the taxable portion of the distribution.) However, the distribution is included in income ratably over 3 years unless you elect to report the entire amount in the year of distribution. For example, if you received a $18,000 qualified disaster recovery distribution in 2023, you can include $6,000 in your income in 2023, 2024, and 2025. However, you can elect to include the entire distribution in your income in the year it was received. Also, you can repay the distribution and not be taxed on the distribution. See Repayment of Qualified Disaster Recovery Distributions, later.

If you received a distribution from an eligible retirement plan to purchase or construct a main home but didn’t purchase or construct a main home because of a major disaster, you may be able to repay the distribution and not pay income tax or the 10% additional tax on early distributions. See Recontribution of Qualified Distributions for the Purchase or Construction of a Main Home, later.

Use Form 8915-F to report qualified disaster recovery distributions and repayments. Also report recontributions of qualified distributions for home purchases and construction that were canceled because of qualified disasters on Form 8915-F, as applicable.

Qualified Disaster Recovery Distributions

A qualified disaster recovery distribution is a qualified disaster distribution that meets certain criteria as described in the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. It is a distribution made from an eligible retirement plan to an individual whose main home was in a qualified disaster area during the period described under Qualified disaster recovery distribution, later. This individual must have sustained an economic loss because of the disaster.

Main home (principal place of abode).

Generally, your main home is the home where you live most of the time. A temporary absence due to special circumstances, such as illness, education, business, military service, evacuation, or vacation, won’t change your main home.

Qualified disaster.

A qualified disaster means any major disaster declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act after December 27, 2020.

Qualified disaster area.

A qualified disaster area means any area with respect to which the major disaster was declared under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

Incident period.

The incident period for any qualified disaster is the period specified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the period during which the disaster occurred.

Qualified disaster recovery distribution.

A qualified disaster recovery distribution is any distribution:

  • Made on or after the first day of the incident period of a qualified disaster and before the date that is 180 days after the applicable date with respect to such disaster,

  • Made to an individual whose principal place of abode at any time during such qualified disaster is located in the qualified disaster area, and

  • That individual has sustained an economic loss by reason of such qualified disaster.

Economic loss.

Qualified disaster recovery distributions are permitted without regard to your need or the actual amount of your economic loss. Examples of an economic loss include, but aren’t limited to:

  1. Loss, damage to, or destruction of real or personal property from fire, flooding, looting, vandalism, theft, wind, or other cause;

  2. Loss related to displacement from your home; or

  3. Loss of livelihood due to temporary or permanent layoffs.

Eligible retirement plan.

An eligible retirement plan can be any of the following.

  • A qualified pension, profit-sharing, or stock bonus plan (including a 401(k) plan).

  • The federal TSP.

  • A qualified annuity plan.

  • A tax-sheltered annuity contract.

  • A governmental section 457 deferred compensation plan.

  • A traditional, SEP, SIMPLE, or Roth IRA (including Roth SEP and SIMPLE IRAs).

Applicable date.

The term “applicable date” means the latest of:

  • December 29, 2022;

  • The first date of the incident period for the qualified disaster; or

  • The declaration date of the qualified disaster.

Distribution limit for qualified disaster recovery distributions.

The total of your qualified disaster recovery distributions from all plans is limited to $22,000 per disaster. If you take distributions from more than one type of plan, such as a 401(k) plan and an IRA, and the total amount of your distribution exceeds $22,000, you may allocate the $22,000 limit among the plans by any reasonable method you choose.

Example.

In 2021, you received a distribution of $16,000. In 2022, you receive a distribution of $10,000 for the same disaster. Separately, each distribution meets the requirements for a qualified disaster recovery distribution. If you decide to treat the entire $16,000 received in 2021 as a qualified disaster distribution, only $6,000 of the 2022 distribution can be treated as a qualified disaster recovery distribution for the same disaster.

Taxation of Qualified Disaster Recovery Distributions

Qualified disaster recovery distributions are included in income in equal amounts over 3 years. However, if you elect, you can include the entire distribution in your income in the year it was received.

Qualified disaster recovery distributions aren’t subject to the 10% additional tax (or the additional 25% tax for certain distributions from SIMPLE IRAs) on early distributions from qualified retirement plans (including IRAs). Also, if you are receiving substantially equal periodic payments from a qualified retirement plan, the receipt of a qualified disaster distribution from that plan won’t be treated as a change in those substantially equal payments merely because of that distribution. However, any distributions you received in excess of the $22,000 qualified disaster recovery distribution limit may be subject to the additional tax on early distributions.

Repayment of Qualified Disaster Recovery Distributions

If you choose, you can generally repay any portion of a qualified disaster recovery distribution that is eligible for tax-free rollover treatment to an eligible retirement plan. Also, you can repay a qualified disaster recovery distribution made on account of a hardship from a retirement plan. However, see Exceptions, later, for qualified disaster recovery distributions you can’t repay.

You have 3 years from the day after the date you received the distribution to make a repayment. The amount of your repayment can’t be more than the amount of the original distribution. Amounts that are repaid are treated as a trustee-to-trustee transfer and aren’t included in income. Also, for purposes of the one-rollover-per-year limitation for IRAs, a repayment to an IRA isn’t considered a rollover. For more information on how to report distributions and repayments, see the Instructions for Form 8915-F.

Exceptions.

You can’t repay the following types of distributions.

  1. Qualified disaster recovery distributions received as a beneficiary (other than as a surviving spouse).

  2. RMDs.

  3. Periodic payments (other than from an IRA) that are for:

    1. A period of 10 years or more,

    2. Your life or life expectancy, or

    3. The joint lives or joint life expectancies of you and your beneficiary.

Repayment of distributions if reporting under the 1-year election.

If you elect to include all of your qualified disaster recovery distributions received in a year in income for that year and then repay any portion of the distributions during the allowable 3-year period, the amount repaid will reduce the amount included in income for the year of distribution. If the repayment is made after the due date (including extensions) for your return for the year of distribution, you will need to file, with an amended return, a revised Form 8915-F (if the repayment is of a qualified disaster distribution related to a qualified disaster that occurred in 2020 and later years). See Amending Your Return, later.

Example.

Maria received a $19,000 qualified disaster recovery distribution on February 15, 2025. After receiving a reimbursement from her insurance company for a casualty loss, Maria repays the $19,000 qualified disaster recovery distribution on September 10, 2025. She reports the distribution and repayment on Form 8915-F, which she files with her timely filed 2025 tax return. As a result, no portion of the distribution is included in income on her return.

Repayment of distributions if reporting under the 3-year method.

If you are reporting the distribution in income over the 3-year period and you repay any portion of the distribution to an eligible retirement plan before filing your tax return, the repayment will reduce the portion of the distribution that is included in income for the year. If you repay a portion after the due date (including extensions) for filing your return, the repayment will reduce the portion of the distribution that is included in income on your next year’s return, unless you are eligible to amend your applicable prior year return or returns. (This would be a return for a year beginning with the year of the distribution and included in the 3-year period.)

.If, during a year in the 3-year period, you repay more than is otherwise includible in income for that year, the excess may be carried forward or back to reduce the amount included in income for the year..

Example.

John received an $18,000 qualified disaster recovery distribution on November 15, 2025. He doesn’t elect to include the entire distribution in his 2025 income but elects to include $6,000 on each of his 2025, 2026, and 2027 returns. On November 10, 2026, John repays $9,000. He makes no other repayments during the allowable 3-year period. John may report the distribution and repayment in either of the following ways.

  • Report $0 in income on his 2026 return and carry the $3,000 excess repayment ($9,000 – $6,000) forward to 2027 and reduce the amount reported in that year to $3,000.

  • Report $0 income on his 2026 return, report $6,000 on his 2027 return, and file an amended return for 2025 to reduce the amount previously included in income to $3,000 ($6,000 – $3,000).

Recontribution of Qualified Distributions for the Purchase or Construction of a Main Home

If you received a qualified distribution to purchase or construct a main home in certain major disaster areas, you can repay all or any part of that distribution to an eligible retirement plan.

Applicable recontribution period.

You can make this recontribution (or recontributions) on or after the first day of the incident period of a qualified disaster under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 and ending on the date which is 180 days after the applicable date for that disaster.

Note:

A qualified disaster under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 is any major disaster declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act after December 27, 2020.

Qualified home purchase distribution.

To be a qualified distribution, the distribution must meet all of the following requirements.

  • The distribution is a hardship distribution from a 401(k) plan, a hardship distribution from a tax-sheltered annuity plan (403(b) plan), or a qualified first-time homebuyer distribution from an IRA.

  • The distribution was received during the period beginning on the date that is 180 days before the first day of the incident period of the qualified disaster and ending on the date that is 30 days after the last day of such incident period.

  • The distribution was to be used to purchase or construct a main home in the disaster area and the home wasn’t purchased or constructed because of the disaster.

Any amount that is recontributed during the applicable recontribution period is treated as a trustee-to-trustee transfer and is not included in income.

A qualified recovery distribution not recontributed during the applicable recontribution period may be taxable for the year distributed and subject to the additional 10% tax (or the additional 25% tax for certain SIMPLE IRAs) on early distributions.

See Form 8915-F if you received a qualified distribution that you recontributed, in whole or in part, before the applicable recontribution period.

Loans From Qualified Plans

The following special rules are available to qualified individuals.

  • Increase to the limit for loans from employer retirement plans.

  • A 1-year suspension for payments due on plan loans.

Qualified individual.

You are a qualified individual if both of the following apply.

  1. Your principal residence at any time during that disaster’s incident period is located in the qualified disaster area with respect to the disaster.

  2. You have experienced an economic loss because of the disaster.

Examples of an economic loss include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Loss, damage to, or destruction of real or personal property from fire, flooding, looting, vandalism, theft, wind, or other cause;

  • Loss related to displacement from your home; or

  • Loss of livelihood due to temporary or permanent layoffs.

Limits on plan loans.

The $50,000 limit on plan loans is increased to a maximum of $100,000. Also, the additional 50% of the present value of your nonforfeitable vested accrued benefit limit is increased to 100%.

The higher limits apply to loans made during the following periods.

  • Loans made during the period beginning on September 29, 2017 (or February 9, 2018, if in the California wildfire disaster area), and ending on December 31, 2018.

  • Loans made during the period beginning on December 20, 2019, and ending on June 17, 2020, for qualified 2018 and 2019 disasters.

  • Loans made during the period beginning December 27, 2020, and ending on June 24, 2021, for qualified 2020 disasters.

  • Loans made during the incident period of a disaster beginning on or after January 26, 2021, and ending 180 days after the applicable date for that disaster.

The applicable date for a qualified disaster would be the latest of:

  • January 26, 2021;

  • The first day of the incident period with respect to the qualified disaster; or

  • The date of the declaration with respect to the qualified disaster.

1-year suspension of plan loan payments.

Payments on loans that become due during the period beginning on the qualified beginning date and ending on the date that is 180 days after the last day of the incident period may be suspended for 1 year (suspension period) by the administrator. The qualified beginning date is:

  • The first day of the incident period of a qualified 2020 disaster; or

  • The first day of the incident period of a qualified disaster that was declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act after December 27, 2020, and which begins on or after January 26, 2021.

If you are a qualified individual based on more than one disaster, use the suspension period with the earliest beginning date.

Other Disaster Issues

Amending Your Return

If, after filing your original return, you make a repayment, the repayment may reduce the amount of your qualified disaster recovery distributions that were previously included in income. Depending on when a repayment is made, you may need to file an amended tax return to refigure your taxable income.

If you make a repayment by the due date of your original return (including extensions), include the repayment on your amended return.

If you make a repayment after the due date of your original return (including extensions), include it on your amended return only if either of the following applies.

  • You elected to include all of your qualified disaster recovery distributions in income in the year of the distributions (not over 3 years) on your original return.

  • The amount of the repayment exceeds the portion of the qualified disaster recovery distributions that is includible in income for the year of the disaster, and you choose to carry the excess back to a prior year’s tax return that included part of the distribution in income.

Example.

You received a qualified 2023 disaster distribution in the amount of $21,000 in December 2023. You chose to spread the $21,000 over 3 years ($7,000 in income for 2023, 2024, and 2025). On November 6, 2025, you make a repayment of $10,000. For 2025, none of the qualified 2023 disaster distribution is included in income. The excess repayment of $3,000 could’ve been carried back to 2024 or 2023, as applicable.

File Form 1040-X to amend a return you have already filed. Generally, Form 1040-X must be filed within 3 years after the date the original return was filed, or within 2 years after the date the tax was paid, whichever is later.

Information for Eligible Retirement Plans

A plan administrator may choose whether to treat a distribution as a qualified disaster recovery distribution, or whether to accept a rollover of a qualified disaster recovery distribution and may develop reasonable procedures for determining whether distributions are qualified disaster recovery distributions. However, the treatment of qualified disaster recovery distributions must be consistent under each plan. The payment of a qualified disaster recovery distribution to an individual must be reported on Form 1099-R. This reporting is required even if the individual recontributes the qualified disaster recovery distribution to the same plan in the same year. If a payer is treating the payment as a qualified disaster recovery distribution and no other appropriate code applies, the payer is permitted to use distribution code “2” (early distribution, exception applies) in box 7 of Form 1099-R. However, a payer in this case is also permitted to use distribution code “1” (early distribution, no known exception) in box 7 of Form 1099-R.

Mandatory 60-Day Postponement

Certain taxpayers affected by a federally declared disaster that occurs after December 20, 2019, may be eligible for a mandatory 60-day postponement for certain tax deadlines such as filing or paying income, excise, and employment taxes; and making contributions to a traditional IRA or Roth IRA.

The period beginning on the earliest incident date specified in the disaster declaration and ending on the date that is 60 days after either the earliest incident date or the date of the declaration, whichever is later, is the period during which the deadlines are postponed. For information about disaster relief available in your area, including extensions, go to IRS News Around the Nation.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.

Back to all articles