As a small business owner or self-employed person, one of the easiest ways to
keep Uncle Sam off your back and out of your life is to file your forms,
payments and other paperwork on time.
Over the next four months there are several key dates that you dare not forget!
Here they are -- all in one place, along with links to the IRS website PDF file
for that particular form, where appropriate.
NOTE: This article only addresses federal tax deadlines. Be sure to
contact your state's tax department for their due dates.
JANUARY:
Thursday, Jan. 15
Personal: If you're pay quarterly estimated income tax
payments, it's time to make the fourth-quarter payment for 2004 via Form
1040-ES. http://www.1040.com/New1040/pdfs/2004/Federal/FORMS/f1040ese.pdf
Business: If you have employees, you must make the federal payroll
tax payment for December 2004 by today (assuming you are on the monthly deposit
schedule).
You use Form 8109 (found in the little yellow coupon book) or the IRS Electronic
Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).
FEBRUARY:
Monday, Feb. 2
Business:
Normally, 4th quarter and year-end payroll tax returns are due by January
31 of the following year. In 2005, since January 31 falls on a Saturday, the
due date is extended until the next business day -- Feb. 2.
Here's an overview of the 4 most common federal payroll-related forms due today:
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Form W-2 (for your employees) http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw2_03.pdf.
If you mail the W-2's, the postmark must be on or before Feb 2, 2005. You may
also be a recipient of a W-2 (if you work as an employee for someone else), so
don't give your employer a hard time unless the W-2 is postmarked, or delivered
in person, later than Feb. 2.
-
-
-
Form 1099-MISC If you paid any independent contractors at least $600 in 2004,
you must send each one a 1099 by Feb. 2.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099m03.pdf.
Tip: If the independent contractor is a corporation, you usually don't
have to issue a 1099. The main purpose of the 1099 is to track payments to Sole
Proprietors, i.e. unincorporated self-employed people.
Tuesday, Feb. 17
-
If you have employees, you must make the federal payroll tax payment for
January 2005 by today (assuming you are on the monthly deposit schedule).
This is another example of the automatic due date extension rule: if a federal
due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the due date is extended to
the next business day. (Feb. 15 is a Sunday and Feb. 16 is a holiday.)
MARCH:
Business
Monday, March 1
-
If you prepared any W-2's or 1099's (mentioned above), today is the deadline
for sending a copy of those forms to the IRS.
-
Form W-3 is sent to the IRS, along with Copy A of any Forms W-2 you issued. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw3_03.pdf
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Monday, March 15
Today is a big day if your business is a corporation.
-
Form 1120 -- the annual corporate income tax return for regular "C"
corporations. http://www.1040.com/New1040/pdfs/fillinblank/f1120.pdf
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Form 1120S -- the annual corporate income tax return for "S" corporations. http://www.1040.com/New1040/pdfs/fillinblank/f1120s.pdf
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Form 7004 -- if you can't file Form 1120 or 1120S by today, here's a tip: just
file Form 7004 by March 15 and you are granted an automatic, no-questions-asked
6-month extension of time to file the return (i.e. until Sept. 15, 2005)
http://www.1040.com/New1040/pdfs/fillinblank/f7004.pdf
-
-
Also, If you have employees, you must make the federal payroll tax payment for
February 2005 by today (assuming you are on the monthly deposit schedule).
APRIL:
Thursday, April 15
Friday, April 30
Had enough? OK, OK. I'll stop here. That should get you through the first four
months of the year.
For more tax resources, here's a few more links:
IRS Website for Small Business & the Self-Employed www.irs.gov/businesses/topic/index.html
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