Fall 2017 issue of Horizons

Timely Reminders

October 16, 2017 Individuals If you have an automatic six-month extension to file your income tax return for 2016, file Form 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ and pay any tax, interest and penalties due. Reminder: The automatic extension does not extend the time to pay, only the time to file. Therefore, any tax due on returns filed after the original due date will likely have penalties and interest assessed. New for 2017: Foreign bank account reporting Form FinCen 114 is due with the extended due date of your individual tax return. Calendar year C Corporations deposit the fourth installment of estimated income tax for 2017. Reminder: The estimated tax due can be 100% of the estimated current year tax or 100% of the actual prior year tax, whichever is the lesser. However, “large” corporations cannot base estimated tax payments on prior year tax and must calculate quarterly estimates based on estimated current year tax. A corporation is considered a “large” corporation if it had taxable income of at least $1 million in any one of the three immediately preceding tax years. December 15, 2017 C Corporations

December 31, 2017 Individuals and Cash Basis Businesses

January 31, 2018 Businesses

There is a new deadline for 1099- MISC forms reporting nonemployee compensation in box 7. Issuers need to file these particular 1099s by January 31, 2018. For other 1099s and 1099-MISC with amounts in boxes other than 7, the filing deadline is February 28, 2018 if paper filing or March 31, 2018 if filing electronically.

Pay amounts intended to be deducted on 2017 returns. An

example includes the fourth quarter state estimated tax payment. The payment is due on January 15, 2018, but it would be deductible on the 2017 return if paid on or before December 31. Individuals If you are over 70½ in 2017 and have an IRA or qualified retirement plan account, the minimum required distribution needs to be paid on or before December 31. Planning Point: If you have more than one IRA you do not have to take a distribution out of each. As long as the distribution is calculated using the total of all the IRA accounts, the distribution can come out of any of the IRAs or a combination. Individuals and Businesses Tax planning is best done before the end of the year. This will allow for time to make accounting elections or other actions to optimize tax for the year. Planning after the year end limits the amount of options available to achieve the desired result. January 15, 2018 Individuals If you are not paying all of your 2017 estimated income tax through withholding, pay the fourth installment of your 2017 estimated tax using Form 1040-ES and applicable state form(s) if not paid before December 31.

Reminder: Most 1099s are still due to the recipient on January 31.

All Employers The new deadline for filing W-2s with the Social Security Administration is January 31, 2018. Provide your employees their copies of Form W-2 for 2017 on or before January 31. W-2s are still due to employees on January 31.

Federal Payroll Tax File Form 941 for the fourth

quarter of 2017. Deposit or pay any undeposited Social Security, Medicare, and withheld federal income tax.

Federal Unemployment Tax File Form 940 for 2017.

February 15, 2018 Individuals

If you claimed exemption from income tax withholding in 2017 on the Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, you gave to your employer, you must file a new Form W-4 by this date to continue your exemption for 2018. All Employers Begin withholding income tax from the pay of any employee who claimed exemption from income tax withholding in 2017, but did not provide Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, to continue the exemption in 2018.

Timely Reminders

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