The Federal Government offers relief to those in areas who were impacted by certain Presidentially-declared disasters.

Per IRS Publication 596, Earned Income Tax Credit:

Disaster tax relief. Disaster tax relief was enacted for those impacted by certain Presidentially-declared disasters. The tax benefits provided by this relief include an election to use your 2016 earned income to figure your 2017 EIC if your 2016 earned income is more than your 2017 earned income. To see if you were impacted by one of the Presidentially-declared disasters eligible for this relief or to get more information about disaster tax relief, see Pub. 976.

For residents impacted by natural disasters, for example Hurricanes and floods, the state of residence in TaxAct will result in additional questions for you to complete to use the prior year earned income when calculating Earned Income Credit.

For example, in TaxAct, if your state of Residence is Florida, there is a checkbox in the Basic Info section to indicate you were affected by a Presidentially declared disaster and you will answer additional questions pertaining to your prior year earned income.

1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Basic Info. On smaller devices, click the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner, then select Basic Info.
2. Click Continue until you reach the screen Which of these applied to you in 2018?
3. Check the box titled "Affected by a natural disaster"
4. The program will proceed with the interview questions for you to enter or review the appropriate information