J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes 2017

APPENDIX A Information Returns

1. Dividends
2. Large Cash Transactions
3. Payments to Independent Contractors
4. Pension and Retirement Plan Distributions
5. Retirement and Employee Benefit Plans
6. Small Cash Transactions
7. Wages
8. Health Coverage
9. Merchant Transactions
10. Foreign Accounts

Businesses are in a unique position to monitor certain activities with which they are involved, and the federal government has harnessed this power by requiring certain reporting for tax and financial purposes. Reporting enables the government, where possible, to make sure that income is reported as it should be and to keep tabs on certain monetary activities.

Reporting requirements vary from return to return. Filing deadlines are completely independent of your tax year (when you file your income tax return), and many of these deadlines have been changed for information returns required to be filed for the 2016 tax year (i.e., filed in 2017). If a filing deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, then the deadline becomes the next business day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

The following is a review of the most common business-reporting requirements, some or all of which may apply to you. (Some of these responsibilities are explained in greater detail within the book as indicated.) Penalties for making mistakes, filing late, or not filing at all, are explained in Appendix B.

Dividends

Who Must Report

If your corporation pays out dividends or distributions to shareholders (including ...