Tax Year

A tax year is the year covered by a particular tax return. In the U.S., the tax year for individuals runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 and includes taxes owed on earnings during the year. For example, taxes withheld or owed for earnings during calendar year 2019 would be included on the tax return that’s due to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in April of 2020. 

A tax year is an annual accounting period for paying or withholding taxes, keeping records, and reporting income and expenses. Individuals adhere to a calendar tax year, where taxes owed for 2019 would be due by April 15, 2020. Businesses can either use the calendar year or fiscal year for the start and end date of its tax year for income reporting.

A tax year that follows the calendar year refers to the twelve consecutive months beginning Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31. The fiscal year is any twelve consecutive month period that ends on any day of any month, except the last day of December. When a company’s tax year is shorter than 12 months, it is simply referred to as a short tax year.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows most businesses to use either a calendar year or the firm’s fiscal year as its tax year. Exceptions to this are firms that are required to use the calendar year ending Dec. 31 as their tax year. Taxpayers who start a sole proprietorship, become a partner in a partnership, or become a shareholder in an S corporation must continue to file using a calendar year unless they obtain approval from the IRS to change it.

Every state handles taxation independent of the federal system, but most that do impose income taxes use April 15 as their required filing date. Virginia is one exception, with a filing deadline of May 1. Several states that do not charge income taxes impose taxes on other revenue, such as stock dividends. New Hampshire, which has no income or sales tax, compensates by charging a relatively high property tax. The New Hampshire property tax year runs from April 1 to March 31 for all property owners.

A short tax year is a fiscal or calendar tax year that is less than 12 months in length. Short tax years occur either when a business is started or a business’s accounting period changes. Short tax years usually occur only for businesses. Generally, individual taxpayers must file on a calendar-year basis and do not have the option of choosing a fiscal year.

A short tax year can also occur when a business decides to change its taxable year, a change that requires the approval of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after the entity files Form 1128. In this case, the short tax period begins on the first day after the close of the old tax year and ends on the day before the first day of the new tax year. For example, a business that reports income from June to June every year decides to change its fiscal year to begin in October. Therefore, a short tax year from June to October must be reported.

Individuals generally use a Dec. 31 tax year, with an annual return due on April 15 of the following year. When the 16th Amendment was passed in 1913, granting taxation authority to the federal government, Congress designated March 1 as tax filing day. This date was moved progressively backward to where it is today, on April 15.

When the deadline was changed in 1954, the IRS claimed that it helped to spread out the workload due to so many returns coming at once. Whatever the case, the movement from February to March to April has coincided with an increase in the pool of eligible taxpayers. When the 16th Amendment was passed, a small number of very wealthy individuals were expected to pay federal tax. The pool of taxpayers has grown significantly since then.