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Filing Reminders for Individual
Income Tax
2012 Virginia Individual Income Tax is due on or before May 1, 2013.
If your client is planning to take advantage of Virginia's automatic six-month extension for filing, please read the section below this one called "Virginia's Automatic Six-Month Filing Extension." It contains important information.
The first Estimated Income Tax Payment for calendar year 2013 income taxis also due May 1, 2013. Paying estimated income tax using our free online system is the fastest and most efficient way. For more information about whether your client may need to make estimated payments, click here.
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Virginia's Automatic 6-Month
Filing Extension
The due date for 2012 Virginia Individual Income Tax is Wednesday, May 1, 2013. If your client is thinking of taking advantage of Virginia's automatic six-month extension to file their Virginia taxes this year, here are a few reminders about the rules for automatic extensions.
- The extension only covers time to submit the tax return. It does not allow you additional time to pay any balance of tax due.
- Your client does not need to submit an application for the extension - it is applied automatically as long as 90% of the tax due is paid by May 1, and the return is then filed by the end of the extension period.
- Interest will always apply to any unpaid tax amounts and will accrue beginning from the original due date for filing and ending with the date all tax, penalty, and interest is paid in full.
- Extension penalty applies to unpaid tax if 90% of the total tax liability is not paid by the original filing due date and your client files during the automatic extension period. Ensuring that 90% of the total tax due is paid by the original due date will avoid extension penalty accruing until the return is filed as long as it is filed on or before the extended due date of November 1, 2013.
- Failure to file during the automatic extension period will void the extension and reset the due date back to the original date. The maximum late filing penalty of 30% will be assessed on the balance of tax due with the return.
- Even if your client files on time during the extension period, failure to pay the tax due with the filing will cause a late payment penalty to be assessed. In that circumstance, late payment penalty will accrue at 6% per month on unpaid tax amounts, beginning with the date the return is filed. This is in addition to any extension penalty that may already be assessed.
- No penalty or interest are assessed on tax returns due a refund, regardless of whether they are filed during the extension period or after the extended due date.
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Reminders from Previous 2013 e-Alerts
Help Get Your Clients Ready to File Their Returns
- Have your clients gather their tax records and information such as current banking information, change of address, income statements and any supporting documentation in advance and have everything that you will need when delivering their files to your office.
- Especially make sure you have their birth date(s), current banking information, if they are using Direct Deposit, and any address changes before they leave your office.
- Please make sure the client is aware of the two refund options and have them make the selection that works best for them.
- Make sure your clients are aware that they can e-file and warehouse their payment for any date in the future right up to, and on, the due date.
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Refund Expectations
- Refunds using any of the e-File options requesting a Direct Deposit take approximately 1 week.
- Refunds using any of the e-File options requesting a Refund Debit Card take approximately 2 weeks.
- Refunds from paper filed returns requesting a Direct Deposit take approximately 6 weeks.
- Refunds from paper filed returns requesting a Refund Debit Cardtake approximately 7 weeks.
Reminder: When selecting direct deposit, always clear the taxpayer's saved bank routing and account information from the previous year and reenter the information again for the current year.
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Important Information for
Military Spouses
The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act provides exemptions from income and personal property taxes when certain criteria are met. Under this law the spouse of military service members do not automatically become liable for income and personal property taxes as Virginia residents when they are present in Virginia solely because their spouse is a member of the military serving in Virginia. Visit the Department's website for details.
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Spouse Tax Adjustment Information
for Joint Filers
If filing a joint return on Form 760, your client may qualify for a reduction in net tax of as much as $259.00 by taking advantage of the Spouse Tax Adjustment (STA). Taxpayers must use
Filing Status 2, and each spouse must have taxable income and their combined income must be at least $3,000.
As you know, married taxpayers filing separately automatically receive the benefit of a lower tax rate on each of their individual returns but when filing jointly and combining their income they must take the STA to receive the benefit of a lower tax rate.
The STA is calculated based on each spouse's portion of the joint Virginia Adjusted Gross Income (VAGI). To claim the STA for your clients, complete Form 760, Lines 16a and 16b using the spouses separate VAGI amounts. Verify that the total of the separate VAGIs equal the total on Form 760, Line 9. An STA calculator is located on the Department's website.
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Tips and Tools for Tax Professionals
Please take advantage of the following resources/tools.
Tax Professionals Hotline (804) 367-9286 - Open Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM to provide quick responses to your inquiries about client accounts or other tax questions for any tax type administered by the Department.
Tax Professionals Page on the Department's website - Provides electronic filing information, early release forms, instructional materials, and special contact information.
Laws, Rules and Decisions Page on the Department's website - Offers a variety of information, from Tax Bulletins to Legislative Summaries, to Rulings of the Commissioner. This is a great tool for researching the latest interpretations of Virginia tax law.
Other website features and servicesyou may find helpful are the Department's "What's New" pages for both individual and business tax types, tax forms, online filing and secure messaging service, and agency publications, just to list a few.
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Filing Reminders for
Pass-Through Entities
This is a reminder that 2012 Form 502 Pass-Through Entity (PTE) calendar year returns are due to be filed by April 15, 2013.
While the Form 502 return and schedules must be filed on paper, the Department suggests that you file VK-1s electronically via Web Upload, eliminating the need to print and mail them.
Web Upload is a free, easy, and secure way to electronically submit VK-1s. Simply upload the electronically-stored VK-1 data, and mark the "Check if VK-1s filed via Web Upload" box on Form 502. The return and VK-1 document will be matched up in processing.
All Web Upload file types are supported. Excel files may only contain up to 65,536 records (this is an Excel limitation). Visit the Web Upload page of the Department's website for complete information on submitting your VK-1 file.
If your client is subject to the withholding requirement for nonresident owners, remember that the withholding tax payment must also be made by April 15, 2013. This applies even if your client chooses to take advantage of the automatic six-month filing extension.
For more information about PTE filing requirements, see the instructions for Form 502.
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Exemptions from PTE Withholding Requirement
Although pass-through entities are generally required to withhold tax on the Virginia taxable income they pass through to their nonresident owners, Virginia law provides the following exemptions from the requirement. If an owner or entity is exempt, DO NOT withhold tax from their Virginia distributions.
- At the entity level, publicly traded partnerships are not required to withhold from their nonresident owners. In addition, pass-through entities that file unified Virginia income tax returns on behalf of their nonresident owners are exempt from the withholding requirement.
- At the owner level, no withholding is required for owners that are pass-through entities, or for other individual and corporate owners that are exempt from paying federal income taxes, or individual owners who will have sufficient credits for taxes paid to other states to offset their Virginia income tax liabilities. In addition, exemption are provided for non-captive REITs and for nonresident landlords who own four or fewer dwelling units in Virginia.
- Virginia law also provides for an exemption based on undue hardship. The entity must request the exemption in writing, and be able to demonstrate that the withholding requirement will result in undue hardship with respect to the administrative costs associated with compliance. The amount of the tax itself is not considered to be a cost of compliance with respect to consideration for granting a hardship waiver. Requests for hardship exemptions may be faxed to the Department of Taxation at (804) 786-2645.
For complete information on the withholding requirements for pass-through entities, see the instructions for Form 502 on our website.
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Filing Reminders for Corporation Income Tax
Corporation Income Tax and Pass-Through Entity Income Tax returns for the taxable year ending on Dec. 31, 2012 must be filed on or before April 15, 2013. Even though Virginia law provides for an automatic six-month extension, it is an extension to file, not an extension to pay. At least 90 percent of the total tax liability for the taxable year must be paid on or before the due date of the return. Visit the Virginia Department of Taxation's websitefor more information.
The automatic six-month extension to file Corporation Income Tax returns for the taxable year ending on June 30, 2012, ends on April 15, 2013. In order to take advantage of Virginia's automatic extension, the return must be filed on or before the end of the extension period.
The first Corporation Estimated Income Tax Payment for calendar year 2013 filers is also due April 15, 2013.
Please have your client use our Business iFile system to notify us if they close their business or a specific business location, to update their account with address or contact changes, to add a new tax to their account, or to let us know they are no longer liable for a specific tax. It is very important that we maintain accurate information regarding your client's business.
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