Financial and Tax News
Financial and Tax News
To keep up on changes in tax regulations check out our financial and tax news and for advice to help you keep your money come back and visit us regularly.
Maintain Your Eligibility for Advance Payments of the Premium Tax Credit
(Aug 2015) If you have received advance payments of the premium tax credit for tax year 2014, you need to file your 2014 tax return as soon as possible to maintain eligibility for the advance payments of the premium tax credit in 2016, even if you are on extension until October 15, 2015. The IRS is sending reminder letters (Letter 5591, 5591A, or 5596) to taxpayers who are required to file. These letters encourage taxpayers to file their tax returns within 30 days of the date of the letter to substantially increase the chance of avoiding a gap in premium assistance.
Even if you normally would not need to file a tax return, if you received advance premium payments in 2014, you are required to file an individual tax return so that the advance payments of the premium can be reconciled. Be sure to complete Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit using the information on Form 1095-A that you should have received from your Marketplace and file Form 8962 with your tax return. If you need a copy of your Form 1095-A, log in to your Healthcare.gov or state Marketplace account or call your Marketplace provider to receive a copy.
If you do receive a reminder letter from the IRS, please review the letter carefully and make sure that you agree with the information that it contains prior to filing your tax return. For more information, please give us a call, or visit www.IRS.gov/ACA and go to the Individuals and Families page.
New Due Dates For Many Tax Filings
(Aug 2015) House Bill (H.R. 3236) modifies the due dates for several common business tax returns.
The act sets new due dates for partnership and C corporation returns, as well as FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), and several other IRS information returns. The new due dates become effective for tax years ending after December 31, 2015.
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. For calendar year filers, the due date will be April 15. (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 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.
Temporary Regulations on W-2 filings to Combat Tax Fraud
(Aug 2015) In an effort to combat taxpayer identity theft and other fraud with early filing of Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, the IRS released temporary regulations (T.D. 9730) Wednesday eliminating an automatic extension for most forms in the W-2 series. The Service simultaneously issued proposed regulations (REG-132075-14) that would extend that treatment to a wide variety of information-reporting forms.
The regulation will give the IRS more time to verify W-2 filings and identify fraud attempts.
The change affects all forms in the W-2 series except Form W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings, filed beginning in 2017. The temporary regulations remove a provision allowing an automatic 30-day extension and a second non-automatic 30-day extension, replacing them with a single non-automatic 30-day extension. The regulations do not change the due dates, which for paper forms is the last day of February of the calendar year following the calendar year for which the information is being reported, and for electronically filed information returns is the corresponding March 31.
The IRS noted in the preamble to the temporary regulations that falsified wage and withholding information on Forms W-2 often figures in fraud, including fraudulent returns filed by thieves using stolen taxpayer identities. Usually, such returns are filed early in the filing season, well before the IRS is able to verify information from Forms W-2, especially with extensions of as much as 60 days available to W-2 filers.