March 15 the Ides of March

[Snaggletooth]

With the advent of so many LLCs in the last 30 years, the March 15th deadline is far worse than April 15th.

We can weed out the April 15th crowd by not taking any appointments, but the LLC crowd represents some of our better clients and those most worthy of our assistance.

For most LLCs, according to their election, a balance sheet is required if sufficient assets are in force, but I have always taken the position that a decent preparation should include a balance sheet and M-1 and M-2.

There seems to be different strategies in dealing with the deadline. Many firms simply file an extension to give them more time, and drag out the returns (and owner's returns) until Sept 15th. I would prefer to attack the LLC preparation as soon as December bank statements are available, and before we get into the W-2 crowd at the end of January.

Comments?

[ATSMAN]

My strategy with this 3/15 deadline for LLC is two fold:

1) For those businesses that have decent bookkeepers and can provide the data on a timely basis I will file by 3/15. They appreciate the urgency and respond to my requests promptly.

2) Most other LLC are usually late or don't appreciate the urgency so we have arranged for them to go on extension and we deal with them after tax season ends. They also understand the ramifications on the filing of their 1040. I recommend they pay sufficient estimated taxes to make sure they don't get hit with a late payment penalty.

You can't really change their behavior all that much so either work around it or disengage if it does not meet your business model.