Today *Is* the Partnership and S-Corp Filing Deadline

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Russ

During a news conference last week President Trump stated something to the effect that he was ordering Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin to extend tax filing deadlines. That has not happened as of the moment I’m writing this.

Today is the deadline for filing S-Corporation and partnership returns (including LLCs that file as partnerships). If you have not filed your return you must file an extension today. Your tax professional can do this electronically. If you need to do it, download IRS Form 7004 (you can find the instructions here), complete it, and mail it using certified mail to the IRS. You now have a valid extension.

While the tax professional community expects the personal deadline to be extended, that has not happened yet. That means that personal returns are due on April 15th. It’s possible–indeed, highly probable–that deadline will be extended. But we all have to wait and see as to if or when that will occur.

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We’re Number One!

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Russ

I think we can all use a little levity right now, and in the email was a study from IPX1031 about where the biggest tax procrastinators are. Not surprisingly to me, it’s fabulous Las Vegas–my home.

A friend of mine is a tax professional in Orlando, and he tells me has few people who wait until September to file. Our rush in September – October is greater than the April tax deadline rush!

So where are the biggest procrastinators?

  1. Las Vegas
  2. Denver
  3. Seattle
  4. San Francisco
  5. Washington, DC
  6. Portland, OR
  7. Austin
  8. Baltimore
  9. Dallas
  10. Houston.

If we look at this based on states, Nevada is only number two:

  1. California
  2. Nevada
  3. Texas
  4. Colorado
  5. Oregon
  6. Washington
  7. Hawaii
  8. Georgia
  9. Arizona
  10. Maryland

Given that I expect an announcement in the coming days postponing the April 15th deadline (for those interested, as of today federal tax returns are still due on April 15th), I think statistics for the 2020 Tax Filing Season will be quite different.

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California’s Franchise Tax Board Extends Deadlines

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Russ

Yesterday, California’s Franchise Tax Board, the state’s income tax agency, extended the deadlines for taxpayers to both file and pay 2019 California income taxes (and 2020 California estimated taxes) by 60 days. Here is the announcement in full:

Sacramento — The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) today announced special tax relief for California taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Affected taxpayers are granted an extension to file 2019 California tax returns and make certain payments until June 15, 2020, in line with Governor Newsom’s March 12 Executive Order.

“During this public health emergency, every Californian should be free to focus on their health and wellbeing,” said State Controller Betty T. Yee, who serves as chair of FTB. “Having extra time to file their taxes helps allows people to do this, as the experts work to control the spread of coronavirus.”

This relief includes moving the various tax filing and payment deadlines that occur on March 15, 2020, through June 15, 2020, to June 15, 2020. This includes: 

·       Partnerships and LLCs who are taxed as partnerships whose tax returns are due on March 15 now have a 90-day extension to file and pay by June 15.

·       Individual filers whose tax returns are due on April 15 now have a 60-day extension to file and pay by June 15.

·       Quarterly estimated tax payments due on April 15 now have a 60-day extension to pay by June 15.

The FTB’s June 15 extended due date may be pushed back even further if the Internal Revenue Service grants a longer relief period.

Taxpayers claiming the special COVID-19 relief should write the name of the state of emergency (for example, COVID-19) in black ink at the top of the tax return to alert FTB of the special extension period. If taxpayers are e-filing, they should follow the software instructions to enter disaster information.

The FTB will also waive interest and any late filing or late payment penalties that would otherwise apply.  

I expect we will see a similar announcement from the IRS next week. It appears (at least for now) that the March 16th deadline for filing federal S-Corp and partnership returns will hold.

Kudos to the FTB for being proactive during this crisis.

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No Face to Face Appointments

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Russ

Taxes are a personal business, and providing service to our clients is what we’re about. That means face-to-face interactions. But I’m also an employer, and I must look at the health of my employees. Thus, beginning tomorrow we are no longer having any face-to-face meetings. We are happy to use Skype, phone, or any other interaction for any scheduled appointments. We encourage all clients to use our Web Portal (we will email any of you who need that information), fax, or mail.

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Will the April 15th Deadline be Extended?

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Russ

The Wall Street Journal has a story (pay link) this morning speculating that the Department of the Treasury will push back the April 15th deadline.  There are no specifics given in the story, but given that politicians on both sides of the aisle are talking about this, there’s a reasonable chance this will happen.

The reason, of course, is the current coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.  As the outbreak worsens (which, it appears, it will), there will be disruptions.  Consider tax professionals in Seattle, where a large number of individuals have fallen ill.  Do you want to meet with someone right now, especially given asymptomatic individuals can spread the disease?  And for those who are ill (or are treating family members, or who have to deal witch their children who are now home on an extended ‘break’) they have more important things to deal with.

It’s something I, as a business owner, have to deal with.  We wash our hands after seeing someone, but let’s face reality: we operate in close quarters.  If one of us gets this, it’s likely that all of us in the office would get this.  As for working at home, that’s near impossible for our office given the technology infrastructure we use.

I had initially thought we would see a larger number of extensions (and it’s something I think still could happen).  I now suspect we will see this extension–probably something similar to the automatic two-month extension given to individuals outside the United States on April 15th.  Whether it will include a waiving of interest is to be determined.

I’ll close with something that’s obvious.  This week long-time clients called me and said they had colds, and wished to postpone their appointment.  We fit them in in two weeks.  If you’re sick, use some common sense (be it a cold, the flu, or anything else): Don’t take actions that will infect others!  We have a rule in our office that if you have a fever, you go home, and you cannot come into work until 24 hours after the fever has broke.  If all of us use some common sense and good hygiene, we will likely whether this storm with minimal damage.

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Online Gambling and Offshore Cryptocurrency Exchange Mailing Addresses for 2020

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Russ

If you have one or more foreign financial accounts and you have $10,000 aggregate in those account(s) at any time during 2019, you must file the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (the “FBAR”). This is Form 114 from FINCEN. (The IRS and FINCEN now allege that foreign online poker accounts are “casino” accounts that must be reported as foreign financial accounts. The rule of thumb, when in doubt report, applies—especially given the extreme penalties.) You also should consider filing an FBAR if you have $10,000 or more in a non-US Cryptocurrency Exchange.

There’s a problem, though. Most of these entities don’t broadcast their addresses. Some individuals sent email inquiries to one of these gambling sites and received politely worded responses (or not so politely worded) that said that it’s none of your business.

Well, not fully completing the Form 114 can subject you to a substantial penalty. I’ve been compiling a list of the addresses of the online gambling sites. It’s presented below.

FINCEN does not want dba’s; however, they’re required for Form 8938. One would think that two different agencies of the Department of the Treasury would speak the same language…but one would be wrong.

You will see the entries do include the dba’s. Let’s say you’re reporting an account on PokerStars. On the FBAR, you would enter the address as follows:

Rational Entertainment Enterprises Limited
Douglas Bay Complex, King Edward Rd
Onchan, IM31DZ Isle of Man

Here’s how you would enter it for Form 8938:

Rational Entertainment Enterprises Limited dba PokerStars
Douglas Bay Complex, King Edward Rd
Onchan, IM3 1DZ Isle of Man

You will also see that on the FBAR spaces in a postal code are removed; they’re entered on Form 8938. You can’t make this stuff up….

Finally, I no longer have an address for Bodog. If anyone has a current mailing address, please leave it in the comments or email me with it.

There remains debate over whether you need to file an FBAR for foreign cryptocurrency exchanges. At a presentation last year, an IRS employee stated that for the FBAR foreign cryptocurrency exchanges did not have to be reported. Unfortunately, the instructions for the FBAR do NOT state this. (See here, here, and here.) Thus, I strongly advise that foreign cryptocurrency exchanges continue to be reported on the FBAR. There is no penalty for overreporting; there are severe penalties for underreporting.

There is no dispute, though, about reporting foreign cryptocurrency exchanges on Form 8938: They must be reported on Form 8938 (if you have a Form 8938 filing requirement).

Note: This list is presented for informational purposes only. It is believed accurate as of February 27, 2020. However, I do not take responsibility for your use of this list or for the accuracy of any of the addresses presented on the list.

The list is in the cut text below.

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California 7, Arizona 2

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Russ

The state of Arizona (specifically, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich) is not happy with California’s policy of coming after any Arizona business that is even remotely doing business in California (passive or not) to collect the $800 minimum California franchise tax. Arizona tried to do something about it: The Grand Canyon State asked the US Supreme Court for leave to sue California over the policy. On Monday, the Supreme Court said that Arizona couldn’t sue.

That said, I suspect one day someone will get legal assistance from a foundation and try to stop the process in federal court. The Southeastern Legal Foundation and the Cato Institute filed a joint Amicus Curiae brief in favor of Arizona. Sooner or later California’s extraterritorial grabbing of money will be stopped.

Unfortunately, the problem with individual businesses doing anything about it is the cost. California’s tax is $800 per year. The cost of filing a federal court lawsuit is probably in the tens of thousands of dollars. This case isn’t “sexy”; it’s about routine commerce. Now, if it could be a class action case (I’m not an attorney so I can’t speak to whether that’s possible or not) then there would be a good shot of that happening. Until then, I suspect California will successfully extort millions of dollars, $800 at a time.

As to the title of the post, the reason it’s seven to two is because two Supreme Court justices thought the case should be heard and dissented. It takes four justices for a case to be heard, so Arizona lost.

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The Case of the Missing K-1

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Russ

John and Mary Smith came by my office yesterday. “We normally get to you in June,” Mrs. Smith told me, “but this year we have everything so we’d like to file today.” Well, they had almost everything.

Unfortunately, there was one K-1 from a partnership that they didn’t have. They own about 2% of a rental property; their share of income has been around $100 every year. Mrs. Smith pulled out her cellphone and called her uncle (who is responsible for the K-1) and asked when it’s coming. I could only hear her end of the conversation, but the response of “August” wasn’t what she wanted to hear…especially since the Smiths are getting a $2,000 (or so) refund from the IRS.

“Can’t you just file the return using an approximation for the K-1? After all, we know the income will be about $100 because it always is.” I told them no.

I can’t knowingly sign an incorrect tax return. We don’t have the K-1, and while it has been $100 of income for the last several years (and her uncle estimates $100 for this year) there’s no guarantee it will be. The estimated income is fine for determining what to pay with an extension; however, it’s not acceptable for filing a tax return. This is one of the drawbacks when you participate in a partnership: You must wait for all of your K-1s before filing your taxes. If one of your investments that generates a K-1 takes an extension, you are forced to extend your personal returns.

Tax returns need to report your exact income, not your estimated income. Yes, the Smiths’ estimated and exact incomes should be similar, but “should be” isn’t good enough here.

I did give the Smiths one piece of good news after we filed their extension: When you file a return after April 15th and are getting a refund, the IRS pays you interest. Interest works both ways in tax…but that interest the Smiths will receive is taxable.

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The Best Tax Blog Is Back

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Russ

As a published author I’m biased about my writing ability. But as my mother told me (and, yes, my mother is a published author, too), know your abilities! The best tax blog up until May 2017 was Joe Kristan’s Roth Tax Updates. But in 2017 the firm Joe worked for merged into Eide Bailly; at the time I wrote: “…[P]erhaps there’s an Eide Bailly Tax Updates in the future. (I can always hope.)”

Well, nearly three years later I’m pleased to report there is now an Eide Bailley Tax News & Views Blog. It will be listed momentarily in the blogroll on the right, and it appears to be must-read every morning for those of us in the world of tax.

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New York DFS & Gambling: It’s the Constitution

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Russ

There’s a quick way of doing many things that, in the long-run, doesn’t work so well; there’s a slower way of doing those same things that will always work. That’s true in tax, and it’s true for a legislature that’s trying to raise money.

Back in 2016, the New York state legislature amended a law so that DFS could be legalized. Almost immediately, a lawsuit was filed that said the new law violated the New York Constitution. The New York Supreme Court (which is the original trial court) ruled that the law was unconstitutional (as it relates to DFS). Both sides appealed the ruling, and last Friday a decision from the Appellate Division was released. That decision mostly upheld the original ruling.

The key points within that ruling are (1) that gambling only needs an element of chance and (2) it is not the job of the courts to look at the “…wisdom of the Legislature’s enactment of laws, but on whether the NY Constitution prohibited the Legislature from enacting such laws.”

This ruling is not good news for those who would like to see DFS or online gambling in New York state. It will take amending the New York constitution–and that’s a much harder road to go than simply passing a law. It also takes far more time. But if the constitution is amended, the law would be clearly constitutional (and legal).

I expect this decision to be appealed to the New York Court of Appeals (New York’s highest court), and it’s likely the case will be taken up (there was a dissent, and the case is about a constitutional question–the kind of case that appeals to higher courts). The problem, though, is that the plain language of the state constitution is quite specific about how to add more gambling. And it’s by amending the constitution. While a stay on enforcing this ruling may be granted (allowing DFS contests to continue in New York), unless the New York state constitution is changed the future of DFS (and online gambling) in New York looks quite bleak.

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