President Obama signed into law H.R. 3236, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015, on July 31. Included in this act are several changes to due dates for the filing of several types of tax returns as well as reporting deadlines for reporting income from foreign bank accounts (i.e. FBAR filings).
Due Date Changes
Below are highlights of the deadline changes for several entity types and other reporting.
Partnerships
Changes to partnerships, effective for tax returns for years beginning after December 15, 2015, include:
• Income tax returns for a calendar-year partnership are changing from April 15 to March 15.
• Income tax returns for a fiscal-year partnership will be due on the 15th day of the third month after the close of the partnership’s tax year.
• The maximum extension of time to file a partnership income tax return is now six months.
C Corporations
Changes to C corporations, effective for income tax returns for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015, with the exception of the filing dates for a fiscal-year C corporation with a taxable year ending on June 30 (which remain in effect until tax years beginning after December 31, 2025), include:
• Income tax returns for calendar-year C corporations will now be due April 15.
• Income tax returns for fiscal-year C corporations will be due the 15th day of the fourth month after the close of its tax year.
• C corporations will now be provided with an automatic five-month extension of the applicable filing date.
Estates and Trusts
Changes to estates and trusts, effective for income tax returns for years beginning after December 31, 2015, include:
• Maximum extension of time to file an estate or trust income tax return will now be five and half months after the original due date.
• Statements between estates and beneficiaries are will now be required to have more consistency. Anyone who inherits property from a decedent cannot treat the property as having a higher basis than the basis reported by the estate for estate tax purposes.
• Executors of estates will now be required to file an estate tax return to provide information returns to the IRS and payee statements to any person acquiring an interest in property from the estate.
Employee Benefit Plans
Changes to employee benefit plan filings, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015, include:
• Maximum extension of time for an employee benefit plan filling Form 5500 has been updated to a three and half month period ending on November 15 for calendar-year plans.
Tax-Exempt Entities
Changes to tax-exempt organizations, effective for years beginning after December 31, 2015, include:
• A maximum automatic six-month extension of time to file Form 990 is granted to calendar-year filers ending on November 15.
FBARs (FinCEN)
Changes impacting the reporting of interest from foreign bank accounts, effective for years beginning after December 31, 2015, include:
• The due date for filing and FBAR will now be April 15.
• A maximum six-month extension of time to file an FBAR under rules similar to those in Tres. Reg. 1.6081-5.
• For first time taxpayer, any penalty for failure to timely request, or file, an extension for filing an FBAR may be waived.
For more information on how any of these changes might impact you or your business, please contact Mary Gelinas, Tax Principal, at [email protected]
