Like clockwork, every year “tax day” rolls around. Tax Day has different meanings to individuals, businesses, non-profits, trusts, and other entities, but one element is consistent: a deadline to file forms advising the government about the past year’s activities.
The failure to timely file tax forms can result in substantial penalties, interest, or other enforcement actions.
The Law Offices of Michael Raff helps its clients to meet their filing obligations and stay in compliance with the IRS and Illinois Department of Revenue’s requirements by proactively ensuring that no deadline is missed while returns are accurately reported.
Understanding Tax Compliance Obligations
Annual Tax Compliance comes in many different filing types, such as a 1040 form for individuals, a 1065 for partnerships, an 1120 for corporations, an 1120-S for S-Corporations, a 990 for Non-Profits, a 1041 for Trusts, or a 709 for gifts.
In addition, there are other types of annual returns, such as 1099 informational filings and W-2 wage forms.
Employers have special quarterly requirements. They are required to file 941 quarterly employment and payroll tax forms. Employers must also make scheduled deposits towards the employment tax liability on a shorter timeframe.
The Law Offices of Michael Raff helps to educate its clients as to the type of forms that are required to be filed with the IRS and the Illinois Department of Revenue to avoid missed compliance that can result in substantial fees.
Individual Taxpayer Compliance
The Law Offices of Michael Raff works with individual clients to file accurate Federal and State income tax returns. The firm helps its recurring clients with ongoing current-year tax preparation by ensuring that engagement agreements, tax questionnaires, and organizers are sent early for review, providing a secure platform to upload documents for preparation, and the timely turning around a draft of a return for review to ensure collaboration. The tax returns also come with drafting of estimated tax payments for those tax returns that require quarterly contributions to the IRS and state to avoid penalties for failure to pay estimated taxes.
The Law Offices of Michael Raff also assists those individuals who have fallen behind on annual filings to get caught up and back into filing compliance.
Business Entity Compliance
The Law Offices of Michael Raff tackles business income reporting requirements for entities taxed as S-corporations, partnerships, and corporations. Every year, the firm assists business owners by:
- Filing annual income tax return forms 1065 (partnership), 1120 (corporations), and 1120-S (S-corporations)
- Preparing K-1 forms and reporting for the pass-through entities (partnerships and S-corporations) that have multiple business owners who will use those forms to report income on their personal tax returns.
- Drafting and filing W-2 and 1099 income reporting forms.
- Creating withholding and estimated payment forms
- Calculations for Illinois-specific issues, such as the pass-through entity tax, which helps business owners pay taxes at the entity level and helps to reduce their overall tax burden.
Foreign Reporting Requirements
The IRS and other agencies (such as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or “FinCEN”) require certain individuals to file international informational returns each year. The Law Offices of Michael Raff is experienced in helping clients navigate these complex rules.
Some of the international-related forms required that are filed outside of the 1040 tax return are:
Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBAR): A form filed with FinCEN that discloses financial interest or signature authority over non-United States Accounts if at any point in the calendar year the totality of account values exceeds $10,000. The term accounts is broad and encompasses foreign items such as bank accounts, certificates of deposit, escrows, pensions, or life insurance that has cash value.
IRS Form 3520: A form filed with the IRS that discloses transactions or ownership of a foreign trust or discloses gifts received from non-United States individuals when the totality of those gifts in a calendar year exceeds a threshold amount.
IRS Form 3520-A: A form that the trustee of a foreign trust files with the IRS that discloses the income that was derived from the foreign trust in a calendar year.
The failure to report foreign accounts, income, and assets can result in significant penalties, a potential loss of foreign tax credits, and leave the statute of limitations for the IRS to make an assessment open for a time, so it is imperative to correctly and timely file each year.
Why Tax Compliance Matters
Staying on time with filing and in the good graces of the Internal Revenue Service and the Illinois Department of Revenue is critical to assisting with:
- Avoiding penalties and interest: both agencies will charge penalties for late filing and payment, and interest will start accruing from the date any payment is delinquent past the tax return deadline.
- Reducing risk of criminal investigation: One of the easier crimes to investigate is the willful failure-to-file charge, as the required element is simply a knowledge of the requirement to file, as well as non-filing. Timely filing of a tax return eliminates the possibility of being charged with this crime.
- Maintaining good legal and financial standing for business entities, where required annual compliance is often necessary to keep an entity in good standing with its own requirements.
- Keeping clean financial records for future planning, especially for those trying to secure home ownership through a mortgage, where a tax return review is a requirement.
How The Law Offices of Michael Raff Can Help
The Law Offices of Michael Raff assists its clients with year-in year-out tax help by:
- Performing a thorough review of prior-year compliance before onboarding a new client, ensuring to ask any questions that would make go forward reporting difficult without sufficient information, such as securing prior depreciation schedules and carry forward loss information.
- Coordinating with financial advisors to tax effectively distribute income from tax-deferred accounts.
- Providing strategic compliance planning for future years by ensuring that a business understands tax brackets so it may strategically accelerate income or deductions into the current year.
Tax work should be personalized, and the Law Offices of Illinois has a deep knowledge of federal and Illinois rules, which serves to keep its clients in compliance but not paying more than necessary to the taxing authorities.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I miss a tax filing deadline?
Missing a tax filing deadline has different consequences depending on whether it is an income tax return or an informational tax return. If you miss a tax filing deadline while you have a balance, you will be hit with both a failure-to-file penalty, a failure-to-pay penalty, and interest from the date the return was due.
If you miss a tax filing deadline while you have already paid in all your taxes (or potentially even owed a refund), then there will likely not be immediate consequences, but if you are owed a refund and wait over three years to file the return, you will be out of statute to receive money back.
Failure to file an informational return by the deadline carries a potential for substantial penalties, even if the items being disclosed are minimal.
If I am a United States citizen or a Green Card holder, do I need to file a tax return if I live abroad?
Yes! The United States requires its citizens and long-term residents to file a tax return each year, even if the individual resides outside of the country. Furthermore, many United States expatriates will have foreign informational returns required in this scenario, as they are likely to have bank and retirement accounts abroad. Foreign tax reporting is one of the most complex areas of the Internal Revenue Code, so those in this scenario are highly encouraged to work with a qualified tax professional.
What is the Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET)?
Pass-through entity taxation allows a business entity to pay certain state income taxes that historically were paid by an individual at the business level. While the state will still tax that individual at the individual level, it will provide a credit that the individual can use to offset that tax.
The purpose of this PTET tax is to allow a reduction of federal income (because the state tax paid by the business is an allowable deduction to the business), subject to tax, so while it is a state tax program, it is ultimately only lowering the federal tax bill.
Example: S-Corporation A earns $100,000 of taxable income, which will be taxed to individual A at 25% federally and 5% by Illinois. Absent a PTET election, individual A will pay $30,000 in tax. With a PTET election, S-Corporation A will pay $5,000 of tax at the entity level, reducing A’s taxable income to $95,000, for which the individual will pay $23,750 of taxes. When added to the $5,000 of taxes paid at the entity level, this is $28,750 of total taxes. The PTET election saved the individual $1,250 in total taxes.
Can you help me catch up on unfiled tax returns?
Of course! The Law Offices of Michael Raff is equipped not only to assist with the preparation and filing of delinquent taxes, but also to strategize as to the best methodology to get a taxpayer back in compliance, which may not include filing every return that has been missed.
What records should I keep for tax compliance?
For tax compliance purposes, it is best to keep records available for 6 years post-filing. While many of the informational items can be obtained from the IRS for ten years after filing, the forms it is imperative to keep are anything that may show state income tax withholding, such as W-2 forms or K-1 statements, business records such as mileage logs and receipts for purchases, and business use of home records and apportionments.
Protect Your Finances with Trusted Tax Compliance Support in Illinois
Staying current with your tax obligations is one of the most important steps you can take to safeguard your financial future. Whether you’re an individual, business, trust, or nonprofit, timely and accurate filing isn’t just about meeting deadlines—it’s about protecting your assets, avoiding unnecessary penalties, and maintaining your good standing with both federal and state tax authorities.
At The Law Offices of Michael Raff, tax compliance is handled with precision, professionalism, and a proactive mindset. The firm works year-round to ensure clients never miss a filing deadline and that every return—from 1040s and 1120s to 941s, 990s, and specialized foreign reporting forms—is completed accurately and strategically. Their team helps clients understand what needs to be filed, when, and how to minimize exposure to penalties or enforcement actions.
With extensive experience assisting both individuals and businesses, The Law Offices of Michael Raff provides personalized tax compliance planning tailored to each client’s unique situation. From addressing unfiled returns and catching up on past obligations to coordinating with financial advisors for forward-looking tax strategies, the firm ensures every client is equipped for long-term success.
No matter how far behind you may feel, it’s never too late to get back on track. The Law Offices of Michael Raff stands ready to guide you—confidentially and professionally—through every step of restoring and maintaining compliance.
Schedule a consultation today to partner with a trusted Illinois tax attorney who will help you protect your finances, reduce your risks, and regain complete peace of mind.