If you are a manager of an entity treated as a partnership for tax purposes, have you submitted your income tax returns yet? If not, you only have a few more days to do it! Keep in mind that this is a change from last year—all partnerships will be required to submit federal returns by March 15th rather than April 18th. Note that the deadline in Massachusetts will remain April 18th. The Commonwealth has not yet conformed to the new federal deadlines.

What is a pass-through entity?

The March 15th federal deadline applies to partnerships and S corporations. These are pass-through entities, a business structure used to reduce the effects of double taxation, (which occurs when income tax is levied once on corporate income, then again when profits are distributed as dividends to shareholders). Pass-through entities, therefore, are not subject to income tax at the entity level.

More about the deadline change

The deadline change applies to Form 1065 and Form 1120S, including Schedule K-1. For S corporations, the March 15th deadline is not new. The change really impacts partnerships. The Schedule K-1 is a tax document issued for an investment in partnership interests (partnerships, LLCs treated as partnerships, and S corporations). The purpose of the K-1 is to report your share of the partnership's income, deductions and credits.

What if the partnership isn’t on a calendar year basis?

In this case, the return is due the 15th day of the third month following the end of the tax year.

What about C corporations?

Returns for C corporations are due April 18th this year instead of March 15th. If the C corporation is on a non-calendar year basis, the tax return will be due on the 15th day of the fourth month following the end of the tax year. Again, watch out for Massachusetts. Because the Commonwealth has not yet conformed to the federal change, the due date for C corporation returns remains March 15 in Massachusetts.

Benefit of the change

The IRS hopes that through this deadline adjustment, pass-through entities will be able to deliver completed K-1s to their investors/beneficiaries, allowing more time for those investors to complete their own tax filings completely and accurately.

Questions on the deadline change? Having trouble with your filings? Contact a member of our Tax Services Team. Don’t forget to consult our Business and Individual Tax Deadline Calendars.