Who Has To Efile In NY State?

Most people have the option to choose between paper filing and efiling their taxes. However, this isn’t necessarily the case if you own a business in New York! To save paper and streamline the process, the state has made it mandatory for businesses in the state to file their NY state tax forms online. With the IRS and now New York requiring efiling, one wonders if this is the way of the future for all states or just a fad.

Either way, this year you’re forced to file your tax forms electronically. In years past, some businesses were able to opt out of efiling. These forms were called the Taxpayer Opt-Out and Reasonable Cause Record for Tax Return Preparers NYS tax forms, but if you’re looking for them for 2011, you won’t find them. They’ve been totally eliminated.

How to Comply
Most approved software will allow you to efile your NYS tax forms. This includes corporation tax returns and any extensions. However, if your tax software doesn’t support efiling, you must do one of two things.

• Get approved software capable of efiling
• Gain an Electronic Filer Identification Number issued by the IRS

Only then can you can complete the mandatory efiling required by the New York state tax office. This will let you get through your NY state tax forms.

Furthermore, you must efile extensions for Article 9, 9-A, 32 and 33. This is even if the subsequent return and NY state tax forms cannot be efiled.

You must also provide efile corporation tax return transaction details. Make sure all your information is in order ahead of time before file your corporation NYS tax forms to prevent any errors, as they could lead to fines.

Fines
There are some stiff fines and penalties for not efiling your NYS tax forms. Before, there was only a $50 penalty for each efileable return or extension that you failed to efile.

Starting back on December 30^th, 2010, though, other fees for not efiling began to apply. For a first time failing to send in your NY state tax forms online, your business will be hit with a $500 fine. After that, each infraction is a $1,000 penalty! You can see why it’s important to efile, as the tax office is taking this very seriously.

---