Tax Season Will Soon Be In Full Swing

Jan 09, 2014

And so it begins… According to a notice posted to www.irs.gov , the IRS will begin accepting electronically-filed and paper-filed 2013 business tax returns on Monday, 1/13/2014. This start date applies to Form 1120 filed by corporations, Form 1120S filed by S corporations, Form 1065 filed by partnerships, Form 1041 filed by estates and trusts, and various excise and payroll tax returns. It does not apply to sole proprietors who file a Form 1040, landlords who file a Form 1040, and farmers who file a Form 1040. The start date for these filers is the start date for other 1040 filers—1/31/2014. Although the IRS encourages Form 1040 businesses to begin preparing their returns as soon as possible, it will not accept these or any other individual returns or begin processing them until 1/31/2014.

With the year 2013 is behind us, so are some tax credits and deductions. It is unclear whether any of these provisions will be retroactively extended. The following tax credits and deductions have expired as of 12/31/2013.

For individuals: these include (1) state and local sales tax deduction; (2) above-the-line deduction for certain expenses of teachers; (3) above-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses; (4) deduction for mortgage insurance premiums deductible as qualified interest; (5) parity for exclusion for employer-provided mass transit and parking benefits; (6) exclusion of discharge of principal residence indebtedness from gross income; (7) credit for health insurance costs; (8) tax-free distributions from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) for charitable purposes; and (9) credit for nonbusiness energy property.

For businesses: these include (1) research and experimentation credit; (2) work opportunity tax credit; (3) increase in expensing to $500,000 /$2,000,000 and expanded definition of Section 179 property; (4) bonus depreciation; (5) employer wage credit for activated military reservists; (6) special rules for qualified small business stock; (7) reduction in S corporation recognition period for built-in gains tax; (8) election to accelerate alternative minimum tax credits in lieu of additional first-year depreciation; (9) 15-year straight line cost recovery for qualified leasehold, restaurant, and retail improvements; (10) enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory; and (11) basis adjustment to stock of S corporations making charitable contributions of property.

The filing deadline will be here before you know it, start gathering your 2013 information and get your taxes done sooner rather than later.

By: Jenny Furey

Categories: Uncategorized