Overhaul IRS Tax Due Dates So Partnership Filings Don’t Collide

As any tax professional can attest, compliance work becomes more complicated each year. For tax professionals who focus on flow-through entities, these types of entities—looking at you, partnerships—are becoming increasingly complex.

First, we had the Bipartisan Budget Act partnership audit rules in 2018, then the tax basis capital account requirement in 2020 and the filing of Schedules K-2 and K-3 in 2021 (the requirements for which changed ever so slightly for 2022). And don’t get me started on state tax considerations—why must every state have different rules for pass-through entity taxes?

I’m fresh out of the recent flow-through deadline, and my mind keeps drifting to one thing: the date itself. Sept. 15 is the extended due date for all calendar year-end flow-through entities. What about the flow-through entities that invest in other partnerships and must wait until they receive those K-1s before their returns can be finalized?

Having all such entities due on the same day truly is a challenge for tax professionals.

We already try to push work into earlier months, but much of this is ultimately out of our control and often puts us in a sticky situation. Do we file the return using estimated K-1s and potentially risk submitting an inaccurate return? Or do we wait as long as possible for the needed K-1s and risk not having time to complete the return, as well as burnout of our professionals?

The easiest and clearest solution seems to be a total overhaul by the IRS of tax filing due dates. And maybe they can throw us a bone and put a pause on issuing any new laws or regulations, too.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Kassie Grishaber, CPA, is a senior tax manager with FORVIS and has more than 10 years of experience focusing on flow-through entity taxation and complex, multi-state partnerships.

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