Businesses stand to miss out as March 1 deadline looms

By Gary Hunt, CAE, OSCPA communications director

Many Ohio businesses will miss out on the chance to save on some of their tax compliance burden – estimated by the Ohio Department of Taxation to collectively save Ohioans more than $800 million in administrative costs – if they ignore a deadline coming up March 1.

That deadline is Ohio businesses with a taxable year that begins Jan. 1 to register to file their 2019 municipal net profit tax return and make single quarterly estimated payments with the Ohio Department of Taxation.

This includes most businesses in the state, said OSCPA Tax Policy Director Greg Saul, Esq., CAE. The good news for them is there’s still time; there is more good news for many CPAs serving those businesses.

“One of the advantages that we didn’t have last year is that the Ohio Department of Taxation has worked with software vendors,” Saul said on an episode of our podcast, The State of Business with the Ohio Society of CPAs. “You can upload directly from your commercial software. They have six of them that have signed letters of intent with the department.” Those are:

• CCH ProSystem fx
• Corptax
• Drake Tax
• Tax Series (Tax Technologies, Inc.)
• Ultra Tax CS (Thomson Reuters)
• GoSystem/OneSource (Thomson Reuters)

Saul also pointed out that the tax data is uploaded through the IRS’ Modernized e-File (MeF) system.

“If you were thinking about this and sat on the sidelines last year, I would encourage you to strongly consider it this year and register your clients prior to March 1.”

Saul is joined on the podcast by Barbara Benton, CAE, OSCPA’s VP of government relations, who explains why centralized filing and other municipal tax reforms have been enduring goals for the Society. You can watch a preview of the conversation above, or on our YouTube Channel.

Next muni tax deadline is March 1

If you haven’t already opted in, don’t miss this chance to have your company or those businesses you represent save significant time and money on administrative hassles. Ohio businesses with a taxable year that begins on Jan. 1 that want to file their 2019 municipal net profit tax return with the Ohio Department of Taxation must register by midnight, March 1.

Click here to opt in now with the Ohio Department of Taxation. More details about this new filing and payment option are spelled out in ODT’s Taxpayer Information Guide.

Also by March 1, businesses that intend to file centrally must notify each municipal corporation in which the taxpayer conducted business during the previous taxable year on Form MNP-MN. The tax commissioner has prescribed two versions of the form: one for tax preparers and the other for taxpayers.