Business Tax Deadline, the other dates on the year

An owner who also has a company generally pays estimates in April, June, September, and the January after the year. Those months are about the owner's own tax. They are not Form 1065, not Form 1120-S, and not Form 1120.

Publication 505 is where the amount lives, including the prior-year safe harbor. This page does not print the amount and does not promise a figure. A closed set of months is what makes a figure honest. An open year makes every estimate a guess.

IRS Publication 505 is where the estimate math lives. The safe-harbor arithmetic stays in that publication and is not copied onto this site.

A sales-tax report in a state that has one follows that state's calendar, not the federal return. Owners with a register already feel that rhythm in their stomachs, and we feel the same rhythm when we tie the month. A 20th that does not match the bank is a date with nothing under it.

Form 7004 is the national request that moves a return, and it is not a payment. For a March company, May is already too late to request the original extension, because the form has to reach the IRS before the original due day. An extension that is granted still leaves tax already due where it was. Publication 509 is the weekend table. This page does not restate a penalty table.

Form 7004 moves Form 1065 and Form 1120-S from the March Monday to 15 September, and Form 1120 from the April Wednesday to 15 October, when the request reaches the IRS before the original due day. The tax already due does not ride along.

The wage form follows each quarter and is due on the last day of the next month, which is why April, July, October, and January keep showing up. Both the form and the deposits remain with the company already paying your people. What we build is the file that company needs, so the wages it reports are the wages the books already show.

Form 941 closes on the final day of the month that follows the quarter. The wage deposits that travel with it stay on the payroll company already running payday.

On the file we keep a separate note for the company return, the owner's estimates, the 20th, the May report, and the wage form. One calendar entry that tries to swallow all of them will drop one. The one it drops is usually the one with a penalty that does not look like the others.

If a date has already passed, the next step is to file what is late and to say which charge is filing and which charge is paying. We do not represent you before the IRS. A penalty request is a different conversation, with someone who does that work.