President Obama signed the short-term highway funding extension, H.R. 3236, into law on Friday, July 31, 2015. Included in that law were a series of revised filing deadlines for numerous taxpayers.
The most notable are as follows:
- Partnerships (and entities taxed as partnerships) filing Form 1065: Calendar year filers will be due March 15th (previously April 15th) or the 15th day of the third month following the end of the organization’s fiscal year. Extensions will be available for up to six months (previously 5 months), allowing calendar year filers no later than September 15th to complete their tax returns.
- C Corporations (and entities taxed as C corporations) filing Form 1120: Calendar year filers will be due April 15th (previously March 15th) or the 15th day of the fourth month following the end of the organization’s fiscal year. Most C corporations will be able to avail themselves of five month extensions until 2026, allowing calendar year filers no later than September 15th to complete their tax returns. After 2026 all C corporation extensions will be up to 6 months, regardless of year end. Additional rules apply for corporations with a fiscal year ending on June 30th.
- Trusts and Estates filing Form 1041: Extensions have been changed to a period of up to 5 ½ months (previously 5 months).
- FinCEN Form 114: The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) is now due April 15th (previously June 30th), and may be extended by up to six months (extensions were not previously available).
- Form 3520: The Annual Return to Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts is now due April 15th (previously the due date of the associated tax return), and may be extended by up to six months.
- Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan Form 5500: Extensions have been changed to a period of up to 3 ½ months (previously 3 months).
Further, extensions for the following forms have been changed to up to 6 months from their current duration: Form 990, 4720, 5227, 6069, 8870, 3520-A.
These changes in due dates and extension duration take effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2015, and will not be applicable to most filers until tax returns for 2016 are due in 2017 (short year filings excepted).
Should you have any questions on the above changes please do not hesitate to contact or office.
Written by Damien Falato