For many Missouri residents, April 15 was meaningless when it came to taxes, but now May 19 looms on the horizon.

Following severe storms and flooding in March, the federal government declared 35 Missouri counties a presidential disaster area. As a result, the Internal Revenue Service postponed certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

Residents of Butler, Bollinger, Calloway, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Christian, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Howard, Iron, Jasper, Jefferson, Laclede, Madison, Maries, McDonald, Newton, Oregon, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Shannon, St. Francois, St. Louis, Stoddard, Stone, Taney, Texas, Washington, Wayne and Webster counties who have not yet filed their 2007 federal tax return have until May 19 to file or request an extension. St. Louis city residents had to file their taxes on April 15, as did Metro East residents.

To expedite the processing of their return, before filing affected taxpayers should call the IRS disaster hotline at 1-866-562-5227 to identify themselves and write “Missouri Severe Storms and Flooding” at the top of the tax form.

Affected taxpayers in a presidentially declared disaster area have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax return for either this year or last year. Claiming the loss on an original or amended return for last year will get the taxpayer an earlier refund, but waiting to claim the loss on this year’s return could result in a greater tax saving, depending on other income factors.

For more information, visit IRS.gov and enter “Missouri Floods” in the key word search block.