IRS to Begin Accepting Business Tax Returns on Jan. 13

The Internal Revenue Service plans to begin accepting business tax returns on January 13, more than two weeks ahead of the start date for accepting individual tax returns.

The IRS announced last Wednesday that it would begin accepting individual 1040 tax returns on January 31, blaming the 16-day federal government shutdown in October for delaying its annual programming, updating and testing its tax-processing systems. However, the IRS posted on its Web site last Thursday that it will also begin accepting 2013 business tax returns on Monday, Jan. 13, 2014. This start date applies to both electronically filed and paper-filed returns.

The business tax returns include any return that posts on the IRS’s Business Master File system. BMF tax returns include a variety of income tax and information returns such as Form 1120 filed by corporations, Form 1120-S filed by S corporations, Form 1065 filed by partnerships and Form 1041, the return filed by estates and trusts. It also includes various excise and payroll tax returns, such as Form 720, Form 940, Form 941 and Form 2290. The IRS expects to be able to begin processing any of these business returns on January 13.

The IRS noted that the January 13 start date does not apply to unincorporated small businesses that report their income on Form 1040. The start date for all 1040 filers is Jan. 31, 2014. While the IRS is encouraging these small businesses to begin preparing their returns now, it will not be able to accept these or any other individual returns or begin processing them until January 31. This includes sole proprietors who file a Schedule C, landlords who file a Schedule E and farmers who file a Schedule F.

Further details are available on IRS.gov.