Every so often, someone with a moderate degree of influence recommends changing the due date of individual tax returns. Some in the tax business have suggested that a due date of June 30 would make life easier for clients and tax pros. Some tax pros feel like they could take more clients, and presumably make more money, if the date was pushed out.
We actually saw a compromise on this when the rules for extensions were changed. Six months is now automatic; it used to be four.
The due date of April 15 probably isn't going to change any time soon.
But April 15 is what it is because...
it is the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the calendar year.
Taxpayers with an alternate tax year have different due dates.
Banks and other large institutions often stagger the closing dates of various billing cycles. When you have four million credit card accounts, your IT staff really doesn't want you trying to print four million statements on the 21st of every month. So you structure the accounts so that roughly one million accounts end their cycle on the 3rd, and another million end their cycle on 10th, etc. This is why it's so easy for the account holder to call up and request a different due date.
Sooooo... for those of us whose practice is mostly, or entirely, individual returns...
Why don't we stagger the fiscal years of our clients?
We could just start doing a Form 3115 for three out of every four clients. Some clients might resist, but most wouldn't. Some might actually like the idea of doing their taxes in September or November. Heck, let 'em choose which quarter they want their fiscal year to end.
In this manner, we can spread our work out through the year...
No, this is not a serious proposal.
But I would love to try it.
If I actually filed a Form 3115 to change the tax year on three out of every four of my individual clients, staggering it quarter by quarter...
I wonder how long it would take before I was rewarded with a face-to-face visit from someone at the IRS, wanting to know just what in the world I was doing?
LMAO
Burton M. Koss
koss@usakoss.net
We actually saw a compromise on this when the rules for extensions were changed. Six months is now automatic; it used to be four.
The due date of April 15 probably isn't going to change any time soon.
But April 15 is what it is because...
it is the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the calendar year.
Taxpayers with an alternate tax year have different due dates.
Banks and other large institutions often stagger the closing dates of various billing cycles. When you have four million credit card accounts, your IT staff really doesn't want you trying to print four million statements on the 21st of every month. So you structure the accounts so that roughly one million accounts end their cycle on the 3rd, and another million end their cycle on 10th, etc. This is why it's so easy for the account holder to call up and request a different due date.
Sooooo... for those of us whose practice is mostly, or entirely, individual returns...
Why don't we stagger the fiscal years of our clients?
We could just start doing a Form 3115 for three out of every four clients. Some clients might resist, but most wouldn't. Some might actually like the idea of doing their taxes in September or November. Heck, let 'em choose which quarter they want their fiscal year to end.
In this manner, we can spread our work out through the year...
No, this is not a serious proposal.
But I would love to try it.
If I actually filed a Form 3115 to change the tax year on three out of every four of my individual clients, staggering it quarter by quarter...
I wonder how long it would take before I was rewarded with a face-to-face visit from someone at the IRS, wanting to know just what in the world I was doing?
LMAO
Burton M. Koss
koss@usakoss.net
Comment