Huddleston Tax Weekly

Currently the extension due dates for calendar year Partnerships and Estates fall on October 15th, which is the same day that Individual tax return extensions are due.  Often times this causes problems for those individuals who are waiting for a K-1 to complete their 1040.  The IRS has recognized this problem and starting with businesses who have a tax year ending September 30, 2008 and later, the 1065 Partnership returns and the 1041 Estate returns will only be granted extensions of 5 months instead of six. 
For calendar year tax payers, this means that instead of the extended due date being October 15th, it will be September 15th.  This change does not affect S-Corporations as they currently have a due date of March 15th, which with a 6 month extension still has them due by September 15th.

The new Washington State Streamlined Sales Tax legislation went into effect on July 1, 2008.  What this means is that now every Washington Business needs to collect sales taxes for the tax jurisdiction where the goods or shipped or delivered to.  Before this legislation business collected sales tax based on where their business was located.  Washington state now has a “destination-based” sales tax.

Washington state has made this change due to increased competition from out of state web retailers who do not have to charge sales tax to their customers.  It is estimated that Washington business are expected to lose more than $10 billion in sales for 2008 to internet companies which then translates into a loss of $668 million in state sales tax.

Businesses now need to make sure they are keeping track of where all of their sales are going to make sure that the correct amount of sales tax is being collected and remitted to the state.  This can make an already complicated B&O tax return even more complicated to prepare.

Are you sure you’re tracking your sales and reporting on your B&O form correctly?  If you need help with preparation or have questions about how to track your sales then feel free to give us a call!

www.huddlestontax.com