Most people who have received money from Norfolk Southern since last year fire train wreck After all, eastern Ohio won’t have to pay taxes on millions of dollars in aid.
Internal Revenue Service said on Wednesday that most of the payments that people living near East Palestine, Ohio, have received to help them pay for temporary housing or replace their belongings have been tax-deductible since the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment displaced thousands evacuate your houses qualified as a “catastrophic event.”
The railroad estimates it paid out more than $21 million to residents after the train derailment as part of more than $107 million in aid it offered to communities affected by the catastrophic train derailment.
The fact that residents were told they had to pay taxes on the money they received from the railroad was a sore spot for people still trying to survive. recover from the crash.
“I don’t know why they didn’t do this from the beginning,” said East Palestine resident Misty Ellison. “The IRS ruling is a positive step in the right direction, but overall it is ineffective. “I really hope President Biden keeps his promise that what Norfolk Southern ‘can’t fix,’ ‘the government will fix.’”
Residents are considering whether to agree to a share $600 million class action settlement Norfolk Southern accepted or abandoned the deal so it could pursue its own individual claims. Later this month they will be able to hear the results National Transportation Safety Board investigation crashed at the hearings in East Palestine. Earlier, the safety council stated that the accident occurred probably caused due to overheating of the bearing of one of the cars, which was not detected by track sensors in time to prevent derailment.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said it shouldn’t have taken the IRS so long to realize the crash was a disaster.
“This is a step that is long overdue—the people of East Palestine should never have had to pay taxes for the assistance they needed after the train crash,” Brown said.
Norfolk Southern also praised the IRS’s decision.
“We are proud of the investments we have made in East Palestine and appreciate the IRS taking action to relieve residents of the additional federal tax burden,” the railroad said in a statement.
The IRS said some payments will be taxable if they relate to lost income, payments to businesses or payments made by the railroad for access to land during the ongoing cleanup.
Residents who filed their taxes before the regular April 15 deadline will need to amend their returns and claim a refund of taxes they paid on payments from the railroad.