Business Tax Filing

Preparation of business corporate tax returns can be quite complex.

At a minimum, you are going to need to have the following informtion:

• A complete set of financial statements consisting of an Income Statement and Balance Sheet. This means that an entire years accounting process as done in double-entry general ledger format will first be required in order to derive the end result financial statements. Basically, those financial statements are the source documents from which the Form 1120 or 1120S are then prepared.
• A complete general ledger transaction history to support the final balances.
• A summary of each shareholder's capital account including complete names, addresses and social security numbers.
• Prior year corporate return for carryover information such as net operating losses.
• Depreciation schedules for fixed assets and the related accumulated depreciation taken so far on each asset.

The deadline for filing Form 1120 or 1120S is March 15th for a calendar year corporation, or the 15th day of the 3rd month following the end of the corporation's tax year. You can, however, request an automatic six month extension using IRS Form 7004 which will extend the due date to September 15th for a calendar year corporation.

Preparation of business Limited Liability Company  (LLC) tax returns.

The limited liability company or LLC as its commonly known, has a become a popular form of business structure. The LLC provides its owners with limited liability protection similar to that of a corporation. However, unlike corporations there are fewer requirements. Although there is not a formal incorporation, there is an articles of organization. LLC were created by state statutes. As such, for IRS filing purposes, in some cases the entity is disregarded. In addition to most of the same types of accounting documentation as necessary to prepare a corporate tax return also be aware of the following requirements:

• Make sure you have appropriately filed documents with the secretary of state's office for the creation of your LLC
• Be aware of the business entity classification election for IRS purposes. Since LLC's are not fomally recognized by IRS as a taxable structure, LLC must choose which business structure they will be taxed under. This could include either as a partnership, corporation or sole-proprietorship for a single-member LLC.

Preparation of business partnership tax returns.

Again, much the same documentation necessary to prepare a business tax return for either a corporation or LLC will also be required if your business organization structure is that of a partnership. Partnerships file Form 1065 which is due on the 15th day of the 4th month following the close of the partnership's year end. However, an automatic 5 month extension is available by filing Form 7004 by the original due date of the partnership tax return.

Partnerships, like S-corporations or some LLC's are not subject to income taxes at the entity level but instead function as flow-through entities with the income being taxed on the partners' indivdidual tax returns. Like corporations and LLCs, partnerships are also required to file state tax returns.

Contact us for a consultation to prepare your business tax returns.