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I have a 2 year old LLC and I have Never paid Taxes b/c I never ended up using the company. What will happen If I never pay?
Anonymous4 views3 answers
I'm wondering what will happen If I never pay any taxes b/c I never used the company. When will the company become inactive? What happens to me if the LLC I created years back becomes inactive? Thanks for the support.
Sit down with your CPA and discuss filing your Company's late Tax Returns for the past two years. The CPA may suggest using a 'No Activity' Return to be in compliance but without owing taxes. Then I'd have your Business Attorney guide you through a Dissolution of the Company.
If you never used the LLC for anything then it is inactive and always has been. For federal income tax purposes, the consequences will depend on whether you were the only owner or if there were other owners.
If you were the only owner, and there were never any employees, then there are no federal tax consequences so long as you didn't elect to treat the LLC as a corporation. Assuming that you didn't make that election, the LLC is treated as a so-called "disregarded entity" for federal income tax purposes. That means that for all practical purposes the LLC did not exist for income tax purposes. As such, there is nothing you would need to do for federal income tax purposes.
If there was at least one other owner, and you didn't elect to treat the LLC as a corporation, then the LLC would have been taxed as a partnership, in which case you should file partnership returns for those two years just to make sure the statute of limitations on assessment starts running (otherwise, the IRS could technically come after you if it discovered what it thought was unreported income 15 years from now).
If you elected to treat the LLC as a corporation (regardless of how many owners there were), then you should file corporation tax returns for those two years.
You should also check on the state filing requirements. New Jersey generally follows the federal treatment of an LLC, so the filing requirements should be similar; however, since I am not licensed to practice in NJ I would strongly urge you to check with a local accountant.
Finally, depending on which state you formed the LLC in (e.g., Delaware), you may have to file a franchise tax return for each of those two years. If the LLC was formed in Delaware, e.g., there is an annual franchise tax (I think it's still less than $200 a year).
Once you've made sure all of the tax matters are cleaned up and all loose ends taken care of, you should file a certificate of dissolution to formally dissolve the LLC.
A competent accountant should be able to handle everything for you; based on the facts you described I don't think you need an attorney, particularly since an attorney will cost you more.
If the company has never conducted business and has no employees, then you should owe no taxes.
You should consider properly dissolving the corporation.