UPDATE: The Texas Comptroller has added time to file extended Texas Franchise Tax Reports. If you extended your Texas Franchise Tax Report on July 15, 2020 (for non-EFT Franchise Taxpayers) and August 15, 2020 (for EFT Franchise Taxpayers), the due date is now January 15, 2021. Their initial posting had said it was only extended to the normal November 15 deadline.
Most tax professionals outside of Texas don’t pay much attention to income tax deadlines in May. In fact, many of them are used to started their slower summer season. However, those of us in Texas are usually still focused on the May 15th tax deadline for the Texas Franchise Tax Report.
Fortunately, the Comptroller of Public Accounts has granted us some extra time this year. Based on the IRS’s moving of the federal tax deadline in April, the state of Texas is giving us until July 15, 2020 to either file the annual tax report or request an extension.
If you still have a Texas Franchise Tax Report due for your business, you’re going to want to review the Comptroller’s notice about the extension, because not all extensions are the same in Texas. The Comptroller’s website has instructions for both Non-EFT Franchise Tax Payers and EFT Franchise Tax Payers. If you’re not familiar with these types of payers, check out my post explaining it here.
Large companies in Texas, defined by the amount of the Franchise Tax in the prior year of $10,000 or more, will only get a one month extension and will need to file a second extension on August 15, 2020 in order to get an extension until January 15, 2021 (for 2020 Reports).
Finally, remember this is for the 2020 Texas Franchise Tax Report which generally applies to tax years that ended in 2019. You can refresh your memory on the due dates and fiscal periods periods for the Franchise Tax in my earlier post, here.