Interesting 2016 Tax Return Due Dates

While we wait for our elected national leaders to do something responsible with our tax laws, let's look ahead to some interesting 2016 tax return due dates.

·        The tax filing season will officially begin on January 23, 2017.  That is when the IRS will officially begin accepting electronic and paper tax returns.

·        A new tax law requires the IRS to hold tax refunds arising from the earned income tax credit or from the additional child tax credit until at least February 15, 2017, in an attempt to cut down on tax fraud.  Practically, the tax refunds will not be available until the week of February 27th.

·        The April 15, 2017 due date falls on Saturday this year.  Normally, the due date would be the Monday following, but that Monday is a Federal holiday for the District of Columbia (Emancipation Day) so the actual due date is Tuesday, April 18, 2017 for filing 2016 federal individual, trust, and C corporation income tax returns.  The various states will have their own due dates.  Utah’s due date will follow the federal due date.  The April 18th due date is also effective for filing Form 4868 for an automatic six-month extension.  The extended due date is October 16, 2017, because October 15th falls on Sunday.

·        As noted above, the C corporation 2016 tax return due date has been changed to April 18, 2017 from the normal March 15, 2017 due date.  However, the six-month extension period has been shortened to five months, leaving the normal extended due date at September 15, 2017.  UPDATE:  For 2016 C corporation tax returns, the IRS has used its regulatory authority to grant a 6-month filing extension period despite the statute's 5-month limit.  S corporation tax returns are still due March 15, 2017 and the S corporation extension period remains six months.

·        A very important change affects 2016 partnership tax returns.  The due date is now March 15, 2017 instead of April 18, 2017.  In addition, the normal five-month extension period has been lengthened to six months.  But with the shortened original due date, the extended partnership due date remains September 15, 2017.  The Utah 2016 partnership tax return due date stays on April 18, 2017 under HB39.

·        Another change affects the federal trust tax return extension period.  The extension period for 2016 trust income tax returns is lengthened to five and a half months from five months, making the extended due date October 2, 2017 (since September 30^th falls on a Saturday) instead of September 15, 2017.

·        Still another very important change affects the Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR, FinCen 114) 2016 due date.  The FBAR is now due at the same time the individual income tax return is due.  In a news release dated December 16, 2016, FINCEN announced that the 2016 FBAR is due April 18, 2017 instead of June 30th.  In addition, unlike past years, the FBAR may now be extended to the individual income tax return extended due date.  In the announcement, FINCEN stated that automatic extensions to October 15th would be granted for those failing to meet the April deadline without the filing of any forms or extension requests.  The announcement indicated that the extended due date is October 15, 2017.  Since the FBAR due date is tracking the individual income tax return due date, it is possible that the automatic extended due date will actually be October 16, 2017, and indeed the IRS confirms the October 16th extension date on its website.

·        Forms 1099 and W-2 have typically been due to payees by January 31^st and remain so for the 2016 forms.  However, the due date for submitting the forms to the government has changed to January 31, 2017 from the normal due date of February 28^th (for paper-filed forms) or March 31^st (for electronically-filed forms).