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FACT CHECK: Are disaster assistance payments taxable?

Posted at 4:59 PM, Oct 02, 2017
and last updated 2018-07-30 13:16:28-04

Survivors of Hurricane Harvey are eligible for all sorts of state and federal aid, including FEMA, Red Cross and D-SNAP.

That raises the question: Is disaster assistance taxable?

Our Fact Check team found that it is NOT.

Because it is used for the personal good of people in a qualified area, disaster relief payments are not considered taxable.

Although disaster assistance doesn’t have to be reported as income, it’s a different matter when it comes to disaster losses.

"Where we get into a little different situation is when we get into the disaster loss calculations,"  said Bill Clark, owner of Tax Pro. "That’s a whole separate thing because those are claims that we’re making on our tax return to itemize the loss that we’ve sustained of property and comes into a more complex issue of calculation."

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