* The JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTANCY reports that
there is some good news in the short-term highway funding extension bill –
“Return Due Dates Changed in Highway Funding Bill”.
“For
partnership returns, the new due date is March 15 (for calendar-year
partnerships) and the 15th day of the third month following the close of the
fiscal year (for fiscal-year partnerships). (Currently, these returns are due
on April 15, for calendar-year partnerships.) The act directs the IRS to allow
a maximum extension of six months for Forms 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership
Income.
For C
corporations, the new due date is the 15th day of the fourth month following
the close of the corporation’s year. (Currently, these returns are due on the
15th day of the third month following the close of the corporation’s year.)
Corporations
will be allowed a six-month (instead of the current three-month) extension,
except that calendar-year corporations would get a five-month extension until
2026 and corporations with a June 30 year end would get a seven-month extension
until 2026.
The
new due dates will apply to returns for tax years beginning after Dec. 31,
2015.
The
due date for FinCEN Form 114 is changed from June 30 to April 15, and for the
first time taxpayers will be allowed a six-month extension.”
This is truly good news for taxpayers, and
especially for tax preparers. Hopefully
the earlier partnership filing deadline will reduce the number of late
K-1s. And I am also pleased about the
extended filing deadline for C corporations.
The Surface Transportation and Veterans
Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (H.R. 3236).was signed into law by BO last
Friday. The changes will take place for
tax years beginning after December 31, 2015.
CCH has a Tax Briefing on this new law. Click here to download in pdf format.
While I am pleased with the changes in due
dates, Joe Kristan, returning to his daily Tax Round-up posts after a European
vacation, makes a good point in “Tax Roundup, 8/3/15: Due date scramble edition, with extendable FBARs!’ –
“The
bill is an empty gesture to 1040 filers who get frustrated waiting on K-1s.
They won’t get issued any faster. K-1s aren’t delayed because people are
sitting around waiting for the due date. They are delayed because the tax law
is hard, businesses can be complex, and it takes time to get the work done. On
top of that, everybody is on a calendar year, thanks to Congress, so the
professionals are trying to get all the returns completed at the same time.
All
this means is that more partnership returns will be extended. It won’t get the
K-1s out any sooner. The only way to change that is to simplify the tax law and
to once again enable pass-throughs to have tax years ending on dates other than
December 31.”
* I agree with Kathleen King, managing
director of Alvarez & Marshall Taxand’s Washington, D.C., office. In “Mid-Year Tax Planning Hampered by Extenders' Fate” from Roger Russell at ACCOUNTING TODAY she correctly observes
–
“It will
be August next week. Washington will clear out, and there will really be only a
month until those who are running have to go back home and campaign until after
the elections, so we’re looking at mid-November for something to get through.”
It is August already!
So it looks like it will be déjà vu all
over again.
Making tax breaks - that are not in
response to a specific event (a natural disaster like Katrina) – temporary is
just plain stupid. But then again, the
members of Congress who did this are idiots.
* For those who are
interested ABC NEWS tells us “Clinton Releases Tax, Health Records on Busy Friday”.
* Jason Dinesen continues
to keep us up-to-date on state same-sex couple filing issues with “New Nebraska Guidance on Same-Sex Marriage and Taxes”.
* BTW, my thoughts
on Trump’s Presidential candidacy recently appeared in my local paper – “Homer Simpson – 1, Donald Trump – 0”.
TTFN
No comments:
Post a Comment