The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced on Wednesday that money claimed from disaster relief payments to those affected by the East Palestine train derailment will not be taxed.

According to a press release from the IRS, because the derailment qualified as an event of "catastrophic nature," payments made to the affected individuals qualify as disaster relief payments and are therefore not taxable.

This does not mean that every form of payment is tax-free, however. Below is a list of forms of payment that is tax exempt and forms that are not.

Residents are exempt from paying taxes on the following payments:

- One time $1,000 "inconvenience" payments made to affected individuals

- Relocation expenses and expenses for replacing clothing and personal items

- Cost of repairing or rehabilitating homes and the surrounding environment

- Compensation to homeowners who sold their homes after the derailment

- Medical expenses

Residents will still have to pay taxes on the following payments:

- Lost wages

- Access payments to property owners to allow the common carrier access to the train track for remediation and to clean nearby creeks and streams

- Payments to businesses

Anyone who still has not filed their 2023 tax return does not need to report qualified disaster relief payments on their tax returns, even if they got a 1099 form. However, taxable payments must still be reported.

If you already filed your 2023 tax return and reported your qualified disaster relief payments as taxable, you can amend this by filing this form.

Ohio-based U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown expressed his support for this decision saying those affected by the derailment should not have been taxed for these payments.

"This is a long overdue step. The people of East Palestine should never have had to pay taxes on assistance they needed in the wake of the train derailment," Brown said.

A spokesperson for Senator Brown says anyone who already paid taxes on these payments and is experiencing issues with the IRS should contact Senator Brown's office.