covid-19 tax-law
When, if ever, did the United States governemnt declare the Coronovirus to be a &quot;Natural Disaster&quot;?
<p>For the purposes of this post, I do <em><strong>not</strong></em> care when infection rates from the coronavirus (COVID-19) took off in reality.</p>
<p>I am interested in the legal abstraction of when the United States federal government officially declared the Coronavirus to be a &quot;<em><strong>natural disaster</strong></em>&quot;</p>
<p>Was the covid-19 pandemic ever officially classified as a natural disaster? If so, did natural disaster classification occur before February 19, 2020?</p>
<p>This is relevant to income taxes filed in the year 2020. There is a tax deduction for those suffering from &quot;<em><strong>natural disasters</strong></em>&quot;</p>

<p>I'm not aware of any any IRC provision allowing a deduction for those suffering from &quot;<em>natural</em> disasters,&quot; but there are several provisions allowing preferential treatment for income and losses linked to a &quot;federally declared disaster.&quot;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/165" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IRC section 165</a> defines &quot;federally declared disaster&quot; as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>any disaster subsequently determined by the President of the United States to warrant assistance by the Federal Government under the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/chapter-68" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Because the governors for all states and territories have requested and received <a href="https://www.fema.gov/disasters/coronavirus/disaster-declarations" rel="nofollow noreferrer">disaster declarations</a> under the Act, retroactive to January 20, 2020, COVID-19 is a federally declared disaster for tax purposes, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/20-0008.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">according to the IRS</a>.</p>
