Federal Tax Law Changes that will Affect 2016 Federal Returns

Beginning with the 2017 filing season, refunds for tax returns that claim EITC or the Additional Child Tax Credit will be held until February 15. Read more . . .

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

• Taxpayers can no longer file an amended return to claim the EITC for any year a qualifying child did not have a Social Security Number.
• Taxpayers whom the IRS finds have fraudulently claimed the credit can now be barred from claiming EITC for 10 years.
• Read More . . .

Child Tax Credit and American Opportunity Education Credit

• These two credits are now subject to the same due diligence requirements as EITC. This is reflected on the revised 2016 Form 8867 (Preparers Due Diligence Checklist). This also means that the Form 8867 must be attached to tax returns that are claiming the Child Tax Credit and/or the American Opportunity Credit.
• The IRS can bar a taxpayer from claiming the Child Tax Credit and American Opportunity Education Credit for two years if they have determined the individual has intentionally disregarded the rules for claiming either of these two credits.
• Read More . . .

Due Dates for Federal Corporate and Partnership Returns

• C Corporations (Form 1120)
  • Calendar year end - April 15
  • Fiscal year end - 15th day of the fourth month after the year end
• Partnerships (Form 1065)
  • Read More . . .

Click here to read the entire CrossLink Tax Update that includes further information about the changes made to federal tax laws that will affect tax returns for the 2017 filing season.

Revised Form 8867 and the Expansion of Preparer Due Diligence Requirements

The IRS has released a draft of the newly revised and renamed Form 8867 (Paid Preparer’s Due Diligence Checklist). The changes are a result of the expansion of the paid preparer’s due diligence requirements (as included in the PATH Act) to cover the Child Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Education Credit as well as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

As a result of the expansion of the due diligence requirements, the Form 8867 has been revised as follows:

• Renamed to “Paid Preparers Due Diligence Checklist.” Was named the Paid Preparer’s Earned Income Credit Checklist.
• The questions related to qualifying children have been moved from the form to a related worksheet. These questions must still be asked, however, they will not be submitted to the IRS. The requirement to ask these questions are covered in question 2 of the revised 2016 Form 8867.
• Click here to read the full article on the CrossLink website.

Read the full article on the CrossLink website.

IRS Outreach and Compliance Efforts for Education Credits

As part of a broader strategy to increase oversight on refundable tax credit claims, the IRS has begun to look more closely at claims for the American Opportunity Credit (AOTC) — one of the two education credits on Form 8863. As part of this effort, the IRS is expanding their educational outreach to taxpayers and preparers as well as increasing their scrutiny of returns that are claiming this credit.

Outreach Efforts to Preparers

The IRS has added a new section to their EITC Central website for Other Refundable Credits. One part of this new section is devoted to the AOTC and the Lifetime Learning Education Credit (LLC).

On the What You Need to Know about AOTC and LLC page, the IRS has provided the following to assist return preparers in understanding the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning Education credits:

• Explaining the eligibility requirements, Form 1098-T, Form 8863, and how to avoid the most common errors related to the American Opportunity Credit.
• Links to relevant publications, forms, and instructions.
• Information on what questions a preparer should ask their customers about refundable credits.
• Education benefit videos.

Compliance Efforts

In an effort to reduce the number of errors that the IRS believes are occurring on returns that are claiming the American Opportunity Credit (AOTC), they have started to do the following:

• Implemented an Automated Questionable Credit Program to more closely review claims for which the AOTC is claimed for a student whose age is not typical of someone attending college before the refund is issued. This is mainly directed to claimants that are under age 13.
• Selecting returns for examination that are claiming the AOTC where the student(s) age is not typical of someone whom attends college.
• Sending educational letters to taxpayers explaining the eligibility requirements for the credit.

For preparers, the IRS will begin to focus their efforts on tax preparers who are preparing 25 or more returns that have claimed the AOTC and where it appears that the preparers have had errors associated with these returns as follows:

• Send educational letters to the preparers explaining the eligibility requirements for the credit.
• Modify the selection process for the Automated Questionable Credit Program to target more taxpayer returns that have been completed by preparers whom the IRS has determined are at high risk for completing inaccurate AOTC claims.