To offset the cost of the short-term highway bill without raising taxes, new tax compliance measures have been set in place as a result of The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 to help generate revenue. Signed into law on July 31 by President Obama, the new Stopgap Highway Bill changes some filing deadlines, modifies mortgage reporting, clarifies overstatement of basis statute of limitations and establishes veteran ACA exemptions among other things.

Doeren Mayhew’s tax advisors highlight some of the major changes:

Return Due Dates and Extensions

Generally speaking, the changes to the below are applicable to returns for the tax years beginning after December 31, 2015. That means for calendar-year taxpayers, it will apply to tax returns filed in 2017.

Partnerships – Filing deadlines for partnerships will coincide with filing deadlines of S-corporations. The deadline for filing Form 1065, Partner’s Share of Income and the K-1s related to the partnership has changed from April 15 to March 15. Additionally, new extension-to-file rules exist creating a 6-month extension to September 15 for calendar-year partnerships.

C-Corporations – C-corporations will now be required to file their return on April 15 (or the 15th day of the 4th month after the end of its tax year). One exception to the rule is C-corporations with June 30 year ends will continue to file by September 15 until tax years beginning after December 31, 2025 – at which point  the  due date will become October 15. C-corporations will also receive an automatic 6-month extension, unless your business is a calendar year end, which will receive a five-month extension until September 15.

FBAR – The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts going forward will now be due April 15, instead of June 30.

Mortgage Reporting

Currently only required to report to the IRS certain information via Form 1098, mortgage servicers will now need to report additional information, including the amount of outstanding balance, address of the property and loan origination date. To allow time to implement the new reporting requirements the bill applies to all returns and statements due after Dec. 31, 2016.

Overstatement of Basis Limitation

Overriding the Supreme Court’s Home Concrete decision, the  bill creates a six-year limitation period applicable where any overstatement of basis results in a substantial omission in excess of 25% of gross income stated in return. The new rule is effective for all returns in which the normal assessment period remained open as of July 31, 2015, and for returns filed after this date.

Stepped-Up Basis Conformity

Effective for property related to an estate tax return filed after July 31, 2015, large estate executors will be required to disclose the value of each interest received as reported on the estate tax return to the IRS.

Employer Veteran ACA Requirement

Required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers with 50 to 100 full-time employees make a shared responsibility payment if they do not provide essential health care coverage. The new bill indicates if an employee is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or VA health care program, the employee is not to be taken into account in determining the businesses’ number of employees.

Alternative Fuel Tax

A uniformed excise tax will be imposed on liquefied natural and petroleum gases, as well as compressed natural gas resulting in lower taxes. Liquefied petroleum gas will decrease from 18.3 cents to 13.2 cents per gallon, while liquefied natural gas drops from 24.2 cents to 14.1 cents per gallon.

Wondering what other areas are impacted by the Stopgap Highway bill or have questions regarding the impact of the above on your business? Contact our tax advisors in Michigan, Houston and Ft. Lauderdale today.