Annual E-file Production Shutdown and Switchover is November 18

That will be the last day to e-file Rhode Island returns for tax year 2016

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Rhode Island Division of Taxation’s annual electronic filing shutdown and switchover will occur on November 18.

Thus, individuals and businesses seeking to e-file their Rhode Island returns for tax year 2016 must do so on or before Saturday, November 18, 2017. After that date, returns for tax year 2016
must be filed on paper.

Each year, the Division temporarily closes its system to e-filing in order to prepare the system
for the upcoming filing season. The Internal Revenue Service, and many other states, follow the
same practice. This year, the Rhode Island modernized e-file (MeF) shutdown and cutover will
occur on Saturday, November 18, 2017, the same date as the IRS’s.

Transmission schedule

To ensure that all e-filed Rhode Island returns for tax year 2016 on Form RI-1040 (resident and
nonresident), Form RI-1120C, Form RI-1120S, and Form RI-1065 are processed in a timely
manner, transmitters must abide by the schedule.

All e-filed Rhode Island returns for tax year 2016 will have a transmission deadline of 10:00 p.m.
Eastern Time on Saturday, November 18, 2017. To avoid any last-minute logjams, preparers
and taxpayers should get their electronic submissions to their transmitters well in advance of the
deadline.

For e-file purposes, Rhode Island accepts only currentyear returns.

Thus, November 18, 2017, is the deadline for e-filing Rhode Island personal and business tax returns for the 2016 tax year.

When the switchover is complete and the Division of Taxation reopens to e-filing, scheduled for January 2018, it will be only for returns for the 2017 tax year.

Fiscal-year filers

How the annual e-file production shutdown will affect fiscal-year filers depends on the filer’s deadline. For example, a fiscal-year filer with a due date of November 30, 2017, can still e-file, but only if willing to file early, by the November 18, 2017, e-file shutdown. Otherwise, the entity will have to file on paper.