2020 Business Tax Deadlines: When Are Business Taxes Due?

2020 Business Tax Deadlines: When Are Business Taxes Due?

What Is Business Tax?

Business taxes are the taxes on a business’s income. There are five kinds of business taxes:

  1. Employment (Withholding) Tax;
  2. Value-Added Tax (VAT);
  3. Gross-Receipts Tax;
  4. Corporate Franchise Tax;
  5. Excise Tax.

Depending on the type of business you have there are different forms that are needed to be filed in order to pay the taxes that are owed. In general, it is expected for businesses and employees alike to pay their taxes as they receive income over the course of the year. If an employee doesn’t have their tax withheld from their pay, an estimated tax must be paid, if that is not the case then you may pay tax when a tax return is filed. Every business except for partnerships must file an annual tax return on their income. Partnerships must file an information return. 

When Are Business Taxes Due?

The filing dates and forms below are sorted by month and quarter. You may click on the forms you need to find out more about specific details and any applicable filing penalties set by the IRS.

First Quarter Tax Payments - January, February, and March

January 31st, 2020                                                                                   

  1. Give employees and non-employees prior year wage and tax reports (Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement). By the end of January, you must provide all employees with this form showing their earnings, Social Security and Medicare earnings, and other information, for the previous calendar year.
  2. If you are an employer and have to file Form W-2, you will also need to fill out Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements. This form is needed for transmitting a paper Copy A of Form W-2, to the SSA. If you submit a W-2 form online, you don't need to include a W-3 transmittal form.
  3. File Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, for the fourth quarter of the previous calendar year and deposit any undeposited income, social security, and Medicare taxes. If you made all required payments in full by the due dates, you have 10 more days to submit this form (by February 10th).

    File Form 944, Employer’s Annual Tax Return, for the previous calendar year instead of Form 941 if the IRS has notified you in writing to file Form 944.

  4. Use Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return, to report any FUTA tax, however, if you deposited all of the FUTA tax when it was due, you may file by February 10th.

  5. This is the due date to give a recipient a copy of the following IRS 1099 Forms:

Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income (Box 7);

Form 1099-A, Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property;

Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt;

Form 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions;

Form 1099-G, Certain Government Payments;

Form 1099-INT, Interest Income;

Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions;

Form 1099-PATR, Taxable Distributions Received From Cooperatives;

Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.;

Form 1099-OID, Original Issue Discount.

Use Form 1096, Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Information Returns, as a summary information sheet to physically transmit paper Forms 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, and W-2G to the IRS. The due date for giving the recipient these forms remains January 31. If you opt to file the forms electronically, you are not required to submit a 1096 transmittal form.

February 10th, 2020

Final date to submit Form 940 and Form 941 (if all previous payments have been made).

February 15th, 2020

  1. Give a recipient a copy of Form 1099-B, Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions, to report all proceeds from broker transactions and barter exchanges. Give an annual information statement to the recipients of certain payments you made during 2019 with the appropriate version of Form 1099 or any other information return. These payments include all payments reported on Form 1099-B, Form 1099-S and in Boxes 8 and 14 of Form 1099-MISC.
  2. Give a recipient a copy of Form 1099-S, Proceeds from Real Estate Transactions.
  3. Ask for a new Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, from each employee who claimed exemption from income tax withholding last year.

February 28th, 2020

  1. Due date to submit paper copies of Form 1099-MISC (Non-Box 7), Form 1099-AForm 1099-B, Form 1099-C, Form 1099-DIV, Form 1099-G, Form 1099-INT, Form 1099-K, Form 1099-PATR, Form 1099-R, Form 1099-S, Form 1099-OID.
  2. File Form 8027, Employer's Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips, to report to the IRS receipts and tips from their large food or beverage establishments If you’re an employer.
  3. This is also the final date to submit paper copies of the following forms:

Form 1097-BTC, Bond Tax Credit;

Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement;

Form 1098-C, Contributions of Motor Vehicles, Boats, and Airplanes;

Form 3921, Exercise of an Incentive Stock Option Under Section 422(b);

Form 3922, Transfer of Stock Acquired Through An Employee Stock Purchase Plan Under Section 423(c);

Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement;

Form W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings.

Use Form 1096, Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Information Returns, to transmit paper Forms 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, and W-2G to the Internal Revenue Service. Do not use this form if you plan to transmit electronically.

March 15th, 2020

  1. File Form 2553, Election by a Small Business Corporation if you would like your business to be treated as an S-Corporation starting in 2021.
  2. Foreign trusts with U.S.-based owners must file Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust With a U.S. Owner to provide information about the trust and its beneficiaries.
  3. This due date applies to the following 2019 calendar year returns:

Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income (for Partnerships);

Form 1120-S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation (for S Corporations);

Form 1065-B, U.S. Return of Income for Electing Large Partnerships (for Electing Large Partnerships);

Form 1066, U.S. Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) Income Tax Return (for Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits).

Form 1065X, Amended Return or Administrative Adjustment Request (AAR) may be filed to correct information on a previously filed Form 1065, Form 1065-B, or Form 1066.

Form 7004, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns, is used to request an automatic 6-month extension of time to file any of the returns above, shifting the date to September 15th, 2020.

March 16th, 2020

E-filing and paper filing due date for Form 1042-S, Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding, and Form 1042, Annual Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons.

March 31st, 2020

  1. Due date to e-file the Form 1099-MISC (Non-Box 7), Form 1099-AForm 1099-B, Form 1099-C, Form 1099-DIV, Form 1099-G, Form 1099-INT, Form 1099-K, Form 1099-PATR, Form 1099-R, Form 1099-S, Form 1099-OID.
  2. This is also the due date for the electronic filing of the following forms: 

Form 1097-BTC, Bond Tax Credit;

Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement;

Form 3921, Exercise of an Incentive Stock Option Under Section 422(b);

Form 3922, Transfer of Stock Acquired Through An Employee Stock Purchase Plan Under Section 423(c);

Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement;

Form W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings.

Second Quarter Tax Payments - April, May, and June

April 1st, 2020 

Due date to e-file Form 1098-C, Contributions of Motor Vehicles, Boats, and Airplanes.

April 15th, 2020                                         

  1. File Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, to report all deductions, income, losses, and gains from the operation of a trust or an estate.
  2. Use Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts, to report certain transactions with foreign trusts or gifts from foreign citizens to the IRS.
  3. Corporations must file a 2019 calendar year income tax return via Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, and deposit the first of four installments of estimated income tax for 2020. The correct amounts can be estimated using Form 1120-W, Estimated Tax for Corporations
  4. Corporations that would like to file a 6-month extension may use Form 7004, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns, and deposit what you estimate you owe in taxes.
  5. Use FinCen Form 114 to report financial interest in or signature authority over foreign financial accounts.
  6. The following forms are also due by this date:

Form 1120-FSC, U.S. Income Tax Return of a Foreign Sales Corporation;

Form 1120-H, U.S. Income Tax Return for Homeowners Associations;

Form 1120-L, U.S. Life Insurance Company Income Tax Return;

Form 1120-ND, Return for Nuclear Decommissioning Funds and Certain Related Persons;

○ Form 1120-PC, U.S. Property and Casualty Insurance Company Income Tax Return.

May 15th, 2020

  1. Paper copies of Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, and Form 990-PF, Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(A)(1) Trust Treated as Private Foundation are to be filed by companies exempt from income tax and filed by private foundations.
  2. Most nonprofits (excluding all churches and church-related organizations), must file one of the following forms for the previous year:

Form 990-N, Electronic Notice (E-Postcard), is filed by organizations with gross receipts of $50,000 or less;

Form 990-EZ, Short Form Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, is filed by companies with a gross receipt lower than $200,000 and total assets exceeding $500,000.

June 1st, 2020

Due date to file Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information.

June 15th, 2020

  1. Corporations must estimate their tax for the year with Form 1120-W, Estimated Tax for Corporations, and deposit the second installment of their estimated income tax for 2020.
  2. Form 1120-F, U.S. Income Tax Return of a Foreign Corporation, must be filed by foreign corporations to report their income, gains, losses, deductions, and credits.

Third Quarter - July, August, and September

July 31st, 2020

File Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return, if you have made all of the required payments in full by the due dates, you have 10 more days to submit this form (by August 10).

August 10th, 2020

Final date to submit Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return, as long as all of the previous payments have been made.

September 15th, 2020                  

  1. Corporations must estimate their tax for the year with Form 1120-W and deposit the third installment of estimated income tax for 2020.

  2. Form 1120-IC-DISC, Interest Charge Domestic International Sales Corporation Return, must be filed by interest charge domestic international sales corporations.

  3. This is the extended deadline for foreign trusts with a U.S.-based owner to file and submit Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust With a U.S. Owner.

  4. Extended due dates for Partnerships, S Corporations, and Electing large partnerships 2019 income tax returns if the taxpayer filled and submitted Form 7004 by March 15th, 2020:

○ File a 2019 calendar year return (Form 1065, Form 1065-B, or Form 1066). This due date applies only if you timely requested an automatic 6-month extension.

○ S Corporations need to file a 2019 calendar year income tax return (Form 1120-S) and pay any tax, interest, and penalties due. This due date applies only if you timely requested an automatic 6-month extension of time to file the return.

This is also the extended deadline for filing FinCEN Form 114, Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report.

September 30th, 2020

This is the extended deadline to report all income, gains, losses, deductions, and credits from the operation of a trust or an estate via Form 1041.

Fourth Quarter - October, November, and December

October 15th, 2020

Corporations must file a 2019 calendar year income tax return (Form 1120) and pay any tax, interest, and penalties due.

This due date applies only if you timely requested an automatic 6-month extension.

November 16th, 2020

This is an extended deadline given to nonprofit organizations to file any form of the Form 990 Series.

December 16, 2019

Corporations must estimate their fourth and final installment of estimated income tax for 2020. The amounts are estimated via Form 1120-W.


2020 Employer's Tax Guide

As an employer, it’s important to understand if the people that work at your business are your employees or self-employed. This can have an impact on any deductions or payments that you are legally required to make. Creating a structured tax calendar can help you to understand your tax responsibilities for any applicable tax returns using our tax deadline schedule for employers.