New Bill Changes Important Business Tax Deadlines
Business owners take note! A short term extension of the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, which was signed in to law by President Obama on July 31st, includes some important changes to business tax deadlines. Although the main focus of the bill was extending the use of funds earmarked for infrastructure and transportation which were scheduled to expire on August 7th, it also contained some important add-on provisions. In addition to extending the use of transportation funds through October 29th of this year, the new legislation modified certain mortgage and cost-basis reporting requirements as well as announcing some important tax deadline changes for various business tax returns.
The business tax deadline changes announced by the recent extension to the Highway Transportation and Funding Act are described below:
Partnerships, S-Corporations and C-Corporations: Tax return deadlines for the majority of business structures are changed by the new bill, with some being made earlier and some later. Most are effective beginning December 15, 2015 and allow for extensions through 2026.
Partnerships: The bill changes the tax return deadline for Partnership returns from April 15th to March 15th for calendar year Partnerships and to the 15th day of the third month following the close of the fiscal year for fiscal year Partnerships.
S-Corporations: The bill changes the tax return deadline for S-Corporation returns from April 15th to March 15th.
C-Corporations: The bill changes the tax return deadline for C-Corporation returns from March 15th to the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the year (April 15th for calendar year Corporations).
Foreign Trust Reporting: The bill changes the due dates for the reporting of both information and transactions related to foreign trusts.
Annual Information Return of a Foreign Trust with a United States Owner: The bill sets the due date for this filing as the 15th day of the third month after the end of the foreign trust’s tax year.
Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts: The bill changes the due date for this filing to April 15th.
FinCEN Report: The bill moves the due date for filing the FinCEN Report (previously called the Report of Bank and Financial Accounts or FBAR) forward by two and one half months. Rather than being due on June 30th, the FinCEN report is now due by April 15th. Although the new deadline is significantly earlier than the previous one, the legislation provides for an automatic six month extension. It is important to note that this is the first time an extension has been offered for this particular tax filing.
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