I have a client whom was late in filing their LLC return for a prior year. As part of our ongoing discussions I explained that there would be penalties for filing late.
Below, I have included from the IRS’s website the calculations of these penalties:
Late Filing of Return
A penalty is assessed against the partnership if it is required to file a partnership return and it (a) fails to file the return by the due date, including extensions or (b) files a return that fails to show all the information required, unless such failure is due to reasonable cause. The penalty is $195 for each month or part of a month (for a maximum of 12 months) the failure continues, multiplied by the total number of persons who were partners in the partnership during any part of the partnership’s tax year for which the return is due. If the partnership receives a notice about a penalty after it files the return, the partnership may send the IRS an explanation and the Service will determine if the explanation meets reasonable-cause criteria. Do not attach an explanation when filing the return.
Failure To Furnish Information Timely
For each failure to furnish Schedule K-1 to a partner when due and each failure to include on Schedule K-1 all the information required to be shown (or the inclusion of incorrect information), a $100 penalty may be imposed for each Schedule K-1 for which a failure occurs. The maximum penalty is $1.5 million for all such failures during a calendar year. If the requirement to report correct information is intentionally disregarded, each $100 penalty is increased to $250 or, if greater, 10% of the aggregate amount of items required to be reported, and the $1.5 million maximum does not apply.
Needless to say the client was horrified by the excessive penalties accessed by the Service.
We will be working with the client to have penalties minimized or abated.
But, both the service and Illinois are accessing more and more penalties for late payments, especially late estimated payments. Call with questions on how best to address your specific situation.