Last Year that C and S Corporation Deadlines will Fall on the Same Day

Tomorrow at midnight is the last moment to meet the filing and extension-request deadline for calendar-year corporation, C corporation, and S corporation tax returns. The AICPA and state CPA organizations are celebrating the fact that 2015 is the last taxable year wherein the C corporation deadline will fall on the same day as the S corporation deadline.

Section 2006 of H.R. 3236 – a short-term highway funding extension that was signed into law last July – essentially flipped the filing deadlines for C corporation and partnership returns, which had previously been March 15 and April 15, respectively. In addition to shifting the C corporation deadline, deadlines for FinCEN Form 114 and, for calendar-year filers, Form 3520 have also moved to April 15. These changes prompted the AICPA to praise Congress, stating that the new due dates would “provide more accurate information to taxpayers in a more logical flow and reduce the number of extended and amended individual and corporate tax returns that are filed each year.”

By moving partnerships to the same filing date as S Corps, the legislation groups together pass-through entities that must submit a Schedule K-1: an informational tax form (Form 1065) used to report financial data that is needed for filing an accurate individual return if the taxpayer, as an owner, co-owner, or major shareholder, assumes the income tax liability for the corporation. Under previous filing deadlines, partnerships would have to submit a K-1 on the same date as an individual return – which often resulted in the aforementioned uptick in extensions and amendments.

The House Resolution introduced a number of other tax-related changes:

“(Sec. 2003) Requires tax information returns reporting mortgage interest received in a trade or business to include: (1) the outstanding principal on the mortgage, (2) the date of the origination of the mortgage, and (3) the address of the property which secures the mortgage.

(Sec. 2004) Requires that: (1) the value of the basis in any property acquired from a decedent be consistent with the basis as determined for estate tax purposes; and (2) executors of estates disclose to the Internal Revenue Service and to persons acquiring any interest in the decedent's estate information identifying the value of each interest received.

(Sec. 2005) Makes the six-year limitation on assessments of additional tax applicable to understatements of gross income due to an overstatement of unrecovered costs or other basis.

(Sec. 2007) Extends through 2025 the authority for transfers of excess pension assets of a defined benefit plan to a retiree health benefits account.

(Sec. 2008) Equalizes excise tax rates for liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas, and compressed natural gas.”

Sources: AICPA; Congress.gov; H.R. 3236, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015