Businesses that file as an S-Corporation on Form 1120S or as a Partnership on Form 1065 have a tax return filing deadline of March 15th.
Late filing penalties are $220 PER Partner or Shareholder PER MONTH (or part of the month, even 1 day) for late filed business tax returns. These penalties can add up quickly if you are not prepared to file and fail to extend your return.
An extension ensures that you don’t incur the late filing penalty and moves the business tax return deadline to September 15th.
Both of these, S-Corp and Partnership, are considered “pass-through entities” since the income of each entity passes through Form K-1 to the individual tax return that’s due in April (and can be extended until October). As such, federal income tax is not due in March, but the return still needs to be filed on time to avoid any late-paying penalties!
A Note For LLC’s:
LLC’s are state recognized entities and are not recognized federally. If you have a single member LLC (one owner), and have not elected to be taxed as an S-Corporation federally, then your LLC taxes will be filed on your individual tax return that is due in April. If you are an LLC with more than one member, you’re automatically treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes, unless you elected to be taxed as an S-Corporation: so all multiple member LLCs need to file or extend by March 15th.
