Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting:

What: While the focus for individual tax filings has traditionally been April 15, the extended tax deadline of October 15 (which will actually be October 16 in 2017) has been becoming increasingly important for taxpayers and tax return preparers.

IRS Commissioner Koskinen stated recently that, while 143 million individual tax returns had been filed by July 21, 2017, he expected an additional nine million returns to be filed by October 16. This could be a new record for returns filed with extensions, perhaps brought on by the uncertainty this year regarding the obligation to pay the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act. Legislation in Congress had proposed eliminating the individual mandate, as well as the corporate mandates, retroactively for 2016 tax returns, but that legislation has stalled in Congress. There is also some uncertainty as to how vigorously the Trump Administration will enforce the obligation to pay the individual mandate.

While 2017 may set a new record for filings by the extended due date, the trend toward increased extensions has been on the rise for a number of years. In 1999, 5.5 percent of all payments with individual tax returns were made in conjunction with extension requests; by 2014, that number had risen to 7.9 percent of all payments with individual tax returns. And these returns filed with extensions tend to be returns with more significant taxes due. In 2014, the average tax paid on a return filed with an extension request was over $66,000.

Why: In addition to the individual mandate issue this year, a number of factors are likely playing into the increased filings for extensions: lack of complete tax information by April 15, such as missing Form K-1s or 1099s; taxpayers that have not gotten all of their information together in a timely fashion for their return preparer before April 15; and tax return preparers who are too busy to process all of their clients’ returns by April 15.

Who: Tax expert Mark Luscombe, JD, LL.M, CPA, and Principal Federal Tax Analyst for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, is available for interviews to provide in-depth background and analysis on the growing importance of the extended tax filing return due date and season. Among the topics Luscombe can discuss:

• Who are likely candidates for filing a tax extension
• Why the number of extension filings are increasing
• The current status of the individual mandate with respect to 2016 returns
• The impact the change in due dates for partnership and corporate tax returns has had on filing of extensions
• What particular factors may be at play for extended tax returns being filed in 2017
• How the October 16 tax filing deadline differs from the April deadline

Contact: Members of the media interested in arranging an interview with Mark Luscombe or need more information may contact:

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