Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act
Key claim: The Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act extends the federal itemized/standard deduction for qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses for incidents beginning before 2027 and expands the gross-income exclusion for qualified wildfire relief payments for federal disasters declared after 2014 and before 2027.
Abstract
(HR5366 · 119th Congress) Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act This bill extends the federal tax deduction for qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses and the exclusion from gross income of qualified wildfire relief payments. Under current law, unreimbursed personal casualty losses arising in a qualified disaster area (qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses) are deductible (as an itemized tax deduction or as part of the standard tax deduction) if such losses exceed $500 per casualty. A qualified disaster area is an area with respect to which a major disaster has been declared during the period beginning in 2020 and ending 60 days after July 4, 2025, if the incident period begins on or after December 28, 2019, and on or before July 4, 2025. The bill extends the federal tax deduction for qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses by defining a qualified disaster area as an area with respect to which a major disaster has been declared if the incident period begins on or after December 28, 2019, and before January 1, 2027. The bill provides that the exclusion from gross income of qualified wildfire relief payments applies to such payments attributable to forest or range fires declared a federal disaster after 2014 and before 2027, regardless of when such payments are received. (Currently, qualified wildfire relief payments attributable to forest or range fires declared a federal disaster after 2014 and received after 2019 and before 2026 may be excluded from gross income.) The bill also provides statutory authority for several related tax rules. Latest action (2026-04-28): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Why this matters
This finding continues an incremental pattern of Congress rolling forward temporary federal disaster tax provisions rather than making them permanent, keeping the qualified disaster personal casualty loss deduction and wildfire relief payment exclusion alive through 2026/2027. For individuals in federally declared disaster areas, extension means continued ability to deduct casualty losses without the 10%-of-AGI floor and to exclude wildfire settlement/relief payments from gross income — meaningfully lowering federal tax owed. It also illustrates the recurring sunset-and-extend cadence that defines disaster-related tax policy.