The Highway Act Leads to Multiple Tax Due Date Changes

On July 31, 2015, President Obama signed the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (Highway Act) into law. The Highway Act includes some significant changes to longstanding tax provisions.

For years beginning after December 31, 2015

• Partnership and S corporation returns will be due March 15 following the close of the calendar year. For fiscal year entities, the returns will be due the fifteenth day of the third month following the close of the year.
• C corporations will be due April 15 following the close of the calendar year. For fiscal year entities, the returns will be due the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the close of the year.

With these changes, the automatic extension period has also been adjusted resulting in partnerships and S corporations having a six month extension and C corporations will have a five month extension. There is one exception to this rule, for C corporations with a June 30 year end, the changes will be effective for years beginning after December 31, 2025 versus December 31, 2015.

Other Federal tax forms due date changes

For trusts filing Form 1041, the extended due date will be September 30^th for calendar year taxpayers. This changes the extension period from 5 months to 5.5 months.

• For employee benefit plans filing Form 5500, the extended due date will be November 15^th for calendar year taxpayers. This change provides these plans with a 3.5 month extension, versus the current extension of 2.5 months.
• For exempt organizations filing Form 990, there will be an automatic 6 month extension ending November 15^th for calendar year filers. This eliminates the need for the second 3 month extension due August 15^th.

Impact to Foreign Bank Filings

Another important change resides with the FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. Under current law, Form 114 must be received by the Department of Treasury on or before June 30^th of the year immediately following the calendar year being reported and this filing date cannot be extended. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2015, the due date of the FinCEN Form 114 will be April 15^th with a maximum extension for a 6 months bringing the extended due date to October 15^th dates that coincide with the individual return filing requirements