Happy New Year! Now we need to get to work filing certain IRS information returns. There are many IRS forms and this year, many of the 1099’s and W-2’s that are filed will be due by January 31, 2017.  Here is a snippet from the IRS website:

“New filing date. Public Law 114-113, Division Q, section 201, requires Form 1099-MISC to be filed on or before January 31, 2017, when you are reporting nonemployee compensation payments in box 7. Otherwise, file by February 28, 2017, if you file on paper, or March 31, 2017, if you file electronically. The due dates for furnishing payee statements remain the same.”

The bottom line is that starting with the 2017 tax filing season, the deadline for submitting government copies of W-2’s, 1099-R forms, and 1099-MISC forms will be January 31st.  You will no longer have the option to wait until February 28th to file these form sets with the government. In other words, not only will you be required to provide employees with their W-2 forms and your contractors with their 1099 forms by January 31st, but you will need to file your Federal Copy A (Forms W-2, 1099-R, and/or 1099-MISC as appropriate) with the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the IRS by January 31st as well.

Keep in mind that with the new filing requirements come a new and improved penalty structure. These penalties are designed to severely punish the taxpayer for not timely filing the forms to the individual or to the IRS/ Social Security Administration. The link below will show the potential for penalties if the returns are not timely filed. It is important, perhaps more so now than ever, to get your accounting records in good order immediately after the year end. You can learn more here: IRS Penalty Increase