Extended Due Dates for Hurricane Irma Victims

Hurricane Irma blazed a path of destruction through the Caribbean, the Florida Keys, and up through Florida. As a result, the IRS is postponing various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on September 4, 2017 in Florida and September 5, 2017 in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Persons with valid filing extensions in place will have their due dates extended until January 31, 2018. Extended deadlines include due dates for income tax returns for individuals and entities due on September 15 and October 16, and the September 15 and January 16 quarterly estimated income tax payments.

These extended deadlines apply to areas designated by FEMA as qualifying for individual assistance. The IRS indicates the following areas are so designated (check for updates here):

In U.S. Virgin Islands: The islands of St. John and St. Thomas.

In Puerto Rico: The municipalities of Culebra, Vieques, Canóvanas and Loíza.

In Florida: The counties of Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, DeSoto, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Martin,  Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter and Volusia.

IRS News Release 2017-150, September 12, 2017

Time to Revise Your Partnership and LLC Agreements?

In June, the IRS reissued proposed regulations that adopt new centralized partnership audit procedures. These will replace the current TEFRA audit rules.

The short story is that by default, the PARTNERSHIP is responsible for paying any additions to tax, although the partnership can elect to push this out to the partners. The new rules also replace the “tax matters partner” with a “partnership representative” – this representative has greater authority to act without the involvement of the partners than in the past. There is also an opt-out election that smaller qualified partnerships can take.

Partnerships and LLCs should amend their partnership and operating agreements to provide for the changes in the law, although perhaps they may want to wait for final regulations to be issued. For more detail on the changes and items that should be addressed in the agreements, click HERE.

Reading the Tea Leaves on Trump Tax Reform

In a recent speech, President Trump did not provide much detail in regard to the tax reform proposals that are expected soon, or his particular desires. Nonetheless, he did drop hints as to some aspects of reform:

a. He has continued his call for a 15% business tax rate, so as to improve U.S. tax competitiveness;

b. He also is looking for ways to bring back non-U.S. profits on a more favorable basis; and

c. He is looking for some measure of relief for middle-income americans, including helping parents afford childcare and the cost of raising a family.