What tax year should I enter on Form 1065/8865 for partnership returns? So confused...
I need some help figuring out this Form 8865 for a foreign partnership I'm part of, and I think the same issue applies to Form 1065 for domestic partnerships too. Every single year I get stuck on literally the first line of the form where you have to enter the tax year. Looking at the instructions for Form 8865, it says: **Tax Year** >Enter in the space below the title of Form 8865 the tax year of the foreign partnership that ended with or within the tax year of the person filing this form. Here's my situation: I've filed an extension for my 2024 taxes (filing in 2025), and I'm working on this now. The foreign partnership I'm in has a fiscal year that runs from June 1 to May 31. So what exactly am I supposed to put as the tax year on Form 8865? The partnership's fiscal year that ended in my tax year? Or something else? This seems like it should be simple but it's driving me crazy every year. Does anyone have experience with this who can explain it in plain English?
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Mateo Gonzalez
The instructions are actually trying to tell you to enter the partnership's tax year that ends within your personal tax year. Let me break it down in simpler terms: You're filing your 2024 personal return (in 2025). Your personal tax year is Jan 1, 2024 - Dec 31, 2024. Your partnership has a fiscal year of June 1 - May 31. So during your 2024 personal tax year, the partnership's fiscal year that ended was June 1, 2023 - May 31, 2024. That's the tax year you should enter on Form 8865: "June 1, 2023 - May 31, 2024" or simply "2023-2024" depending on the format required. The key is figuring out which complete partnership tax year ended within your personal tax year. In your case, the May 31, 2024 ending date falls within your 2024 personal tax year, so that's the partnership year you report.
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Nia Williams
•Wait, so if the partnership's fiscal year ended on May 31, 2024, wouldn't I just put "2024" on the form? Or do I need to write the actual dates like "6/1/2023 - 5/31/2024"? The form has such a tiny space for this! Also, what if the partnership changed their fiscal year during my tax year? Does that change anything about how I should report it?
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Mateo Gonzalez
•You would typically enter "2024" on the form since that's the year in which the partnership's fiscal year ended. The IRS generally wants the ending year of the partnership's fiscal period. If the partnership changed its fiscal year during your tax year, you would report the tax year that ended within your tax year. If two partnership tax years ended within your personal tax year due to a change, you would need to file two separate Forms 8865, one for each partnership tax year.
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Luca Ricci
I went through the exact same headache with my foreign partnership returns and finally figured it out after calling my accountant. I discovered this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that actually helped me understand all these confusing international partnership forms. I uploaded my prior year returns and some documents from my foreign partnership, and it explained exactly which tax year to use on Form 8865 based on my situation. It even flagged that I had been doing it wrong for the last two years and showed me how to fix it. The tool walks you through the forms step by step and translates all that IRS jargon into normal human language. Saved me hours of confusion and probably prevented another notice from the IRS.
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Aisha Mohammed
•Does it work for other international tax forms too? I have a foreign corporation (Form 5471) and it's even more confusing than partnerships.
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Ethan Campbell
•I'm always skeptical of these tax tools. How exactly does it explain things better than the IRS instructions? And can it actually handle complex situations like multiple foreign partnerships with different fiscal years?
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Luca Ricci
•It absolutely works for Form 5471 and other international forms. It's specifically designed for expats and people with international tax situations. I believe they support all the common international forms like 8938, 5471, 8865, 3520, etc. The biggest difference from IRS instructions is that it's interactive and contextual. It doesn't just give you generic explanations - it looks at your specific situation and documents, then tells you exactly what applies to you. For example, with multiple partnerships having different fiscal years, it creates a calendar visualization showing which partnership tax years fall within your personal tax year.
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Aisha Mohammed
Just wanted to follow up about taxr.ai that someone mentioned above. I tried it with my Form 5471 situation and it was seriously helpful! I've been confused about the tax year reporting for my foreign corporation for ages. The tool analyzed my corporate documents and immediately identified that I needed to report the corporate tax year that ended on March 31, 2024 on my 2024 personal return. It even flagged that I had a Section 962 election opportunity that my previous accountant missed. Really straightforward interface and the explanations were way clearer than anything I've found on the IRS website. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with these international forms!
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Yuki Watanabe
If you're still trying to get answers about Form 8865 and partnership tax years, good luck getting through to the IRS international tax line. I've been trying for WEEKS. Always "high call volume" then they hang up. I finally tried Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) after seeing it recommended here, and they got me connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that for Form 8865, you report the partnership tax year that ended within your personal tax year. So for a partnership with fiscal year ending May 31, 2024, on your 2024 personal return, you'd enter 2024 (or the full fiscal year dates if there's room). Saved me from going back and forth with my preparer who was telling me something different.
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Carmen Sanchez
•How does this Claimyr thing actually work? Do they just sit on hold for you or something? I don't understand how they can get through when nobody else can.
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Ethan Campbell
•Yeah right. Nothing can get you through to the IRS faster. They're deliberately understaffed to make it impossible to get help. I've tried calling over 30 times this year and never got a human. I don't believe for a second that any service can magically fix that.
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Yuki Watanabe
•They use technology to continuously call the IRS until they get through, then they connect you once they have an agent on the line. So yes, they basically handle the hold time for you. It's not magic - they're just automating the painful process of calling, getting disconnected, and calling again. Once they get through, you get a text message to join the call with the IRS agent already on the line. I was skeptical too, but after wasting hours trying to get through myself, it was absolutely worth it.
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Ethan Campbell
Well I owe someone an apology. I was completely skeptical about that Claimyr service mentioned above, but I was desperate enough to try it yesterday. I'm honestly shocked to report that it worked exactly as described. After 3 weeks of trying to reach someone at the IRS about my partnership forms, I got connected to an agent in about 35 minutes. The text alert came through, I joined the call, and suddenly I was talking to an actual IRS international tax specialist. She confirmed everything about the tax year reporting on Form 8865 and even helped me understand some K-1 reporting issues I was having. The agent told me that for my situation with a partnership fiscal year ending August 31, 2024, I should report "2024" on my 2024 personal return. Never been so happy to be wrong about something!
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Andre Dupont
One thing to keep in mind about partnership years: if you have a foreign partnership with a fiscal year-end that doesn't match up with your tax year, you might have a mismatch between when income is earned and when it's reported. For example, if your foreign partnership's fiscal year ends on May 31, 2024, you're reporting income on your 2024 return that was actually earned between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024. Some of that income was from 2023! This is all normal and how it's supposed to work, but it can create planning challenges if the partnership has significant fluctuations in income from year to year.
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MoonlightSonata
•That's a really good point I hadn't considered. So even though some of the partnership income was earned in 2023, I'm reporting all of it on my 2024 personal return because the partnership's fiscal year ended within my 2024 tax year? Does this create any issues if I also have to file foreign bank account reports (FBARs) or Form 8938? Do those forms follow the same rules?
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Andre Dupont
•Yes, that's exactly right. All of the partnership income from their complete fiscal year (June 2023-May 2024) goes on your 2024 personal return. That's just how partnership taxation works. For FBARs and Form 8938, those follow different rules. Those forms are based on the calendar year reporting and the maximum value of accounts during that calendar year. So your FBAR and 8938 for 2024 would cover January 1 to December 31, 2024, regardless of any partnership fiscal years.
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Zoe Papadakis
Has anyone tried calling the Taxpayer Advocate Service about this instead of the regular IRS number? I've heard they can sometimes help with confusing form issues like this.
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ThunderBolt7
•The Taxpayer Advocate Service is really only for when you have an actual tax problem that hasn't been resolved through normal IRS channels. They probably won't help with just form questions unless you've already filed incorrectly and are having issues. Your best bet for form questions is either the regular IRS help line (if you can get through) or a qualified tax professional who specializes in international taxation.
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