The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015, which was signed into law by the President on July 31^st, 2015, may not have received as much press coverage as the recently enacted PATH Act (which clarified many of the tax extenders that individual and business taxpayers have come to rely on); however, one of the key tax law changes under this overlooked act relate to the tax filing deadlines that have been in place for many years.  Starting with next year’s tax filing season (for tax returns ending on or after December 31, 2016), many of the due dates that effect individual and especially business taxpayers are changing.  The changes have been well received by the accounting community, and represent years of effort by the AICPA (The American Institute of CPAs) to lobby congress and the IRS to enact a more logical flow of tax return due dates.

New Due Dates

The genesis of the changes was to have pass-through entity returns and the resulting K-1 reporting forms due and completed before the tax returns of the individuals or corporate tax payers effected by the information. The main resulting change is that partnership tax returns are due a month earlier, while C-Corporate tax returns (other than in special circumstances outlined below) are due a month later. In addition, Congress took the time to fix deadline issues in a number of other areas, including the due dates for FBAR forms and the extensions available for Trusts, Estates, and Exempt Organizations.  The table below highlights the existing and new original and extension due dates by form type (due dates that are changing are marked with an asterisk):

Be aware, even though Congress did enact changes that will prove to be useful, as normal, the new Act has a few oddities that make some due dates confusing. Namely, C-Corporations have a number of due dates to keep track of depending on the year-end of the corporation.  This is due primarily to how the Congressional Budget Office scored the bill’s impact on tax revenue over a ten year period.  In addition, be aware of the fact that information returns are expected to have changes in terms of both filing deadlines and the filing processes in 2016, primarily to counteract taxpayer identity theft issues.  What these changes will be have not been fully identified.

About Alegria & Company, P.S.

We want to be your partner in success. Helping you with your financial needs is the perfect opportunity to do so.  Our team of four partners and twenty-five professional staff located in two offices in Yakima and Prosser are well placed to serve clients from Yakima through the Lower Valley, the Columbia Basin and throughout the Pacific Northwest.