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Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation > IRS

IRS Clears Up a Confusing Business Tax Reporting Question

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What You Need to Know

  • The IRS has published new guidance about reporting losses on a tax form used to disclose pass-through entity profits.
  • Schedules K-2 and K-3, used to report items of international tax relevance, do not allow reporting of negative amounts.
  • Taxpayers should write a zero on the form and attach additional info, the IRS says.

The Internal Revenue Service has published Fact Sheet 2023-20, an FAQ-style document meant to provide guidance to pass-through entities for electronically filing Schedules K-2 and K-3 to the IRS to report negative amounts.

As noted in the fact sheet, the 2022 tax year schema for Schedule K-2 and K-3 do not permit negative values. The FAQ provides guidance to pass-through entities about how to report losses.

As detailed on the IRS website, Schedule K-2 is an extension of Form 1120-S, known as Schedule K, and is used to report items of international tax relevance from the operation of an S corporation. Schedule K-3 is an extension of Schedule K-1 and is generally used to report to shareholders their share of the items reported on Schedule K-2.

The question posed in the document goes as follows: “For the 2022 tax year, a pass-through entity receives information (for example, a Schedule K-3 from a lower-tier pass-through entity) that certain gross income amounts to be reported on the Schedules K-2 and K-3 are negative.

“However, the current schema for electronic filing of the Schedules K-2 and K-3 does not permit negative values for certain line items in Part II, Section 1 of Schedules K-2 and K-3. How should these negative amounts be reported on Schedules K-2 and K-3 to the IRS and to the partners or members?”

According to the new fact sheet, a pass-through entity electronically filing the Schedules K-2 and K-3 for the 2022 tax year should enter zero on the line items in Schedules K-2 and K-3, Part II, Section 1 for which the schema does not permit negative values.

“A pass-through entity must attach a General Dependency schema to the Schedule K-2 identifying the line items and the negative values for which the pass-through entity reported zero on Part II, Section 1,” the fact sheet explains. “Additionally, a pass-through entity should attach a list of the impacted line items and the negative numbers, partner by partner.”

As the IRS further spells out, a pass-through entity should report to its partners or members any changes to the amounts reported on the original Schedules K-3 issued to the partners or members.

In the FAQ, the IRS does not opine on whether it is legally appropriate to use negative values.

As the IRS notes, the new FAQ is being issued to provide general information to taxpayers and tax professionals as expeditiously as possible. Accordingly, it may not address any particular taxpayer’s specific facts and circumstances, and it may be updated or modified upon further review.

Nonetheless, a taxpayer who reasonably and in good faith relies on this FAQ will not be subject to a penalty that provides a reasonable cause standard for relief, including a negligence penalty or other accuracy-related penalty, to the extent that reliance results in an underpayment of tax.

Credit: Bloomberg 


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