Plan Now for Deferring Tax on Advance Payments
With year-end fast approaching, now is a good time to review strategies that could affect your business’s 2026 tax liability. One area that may deserve attention is the tax treatment of advance payments. Some accrual-basis businesses may be able to defer recognizing a portion of that income.
A Tax-Planning Strategy
For federal income tax purposes, advance payments generally must be reported as taxable income in the year received. This treatment always applies if your business uses the cash method of accounting for tax purposes. However, if your business uses the accrual method, it may qualify for favorable tax deferral treatment.
Accrual-basis businesses can elect to postpone including all or part of an eligible advance payment in taxable income until the year after it’s received. To qualify, among other requirements, an advance payment must:
- Be at least partially included in revenue for a later year according to the business’s applicable financial statement (AFS) or, if there’s no AFS, be treated as earned in a later year, and
- Be received for goods, services or other eligible items listed in IRS guidance.
If your accrual-basis business receives eligible advance payments in 2026, you potentially can elect to defer reporting some or all of that income until 2027 for federal tax purposes.
The AFS Requirement
An AFS can be an audited financial statement used for credit or financial reporting purposes, certain reports submitted to federal or state agencies, or a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as a Form 10-K or annual report.
If your business doesn’t have an AFS and elects the deferral method, the advance payment generally must be included in taxable income in the year received to the extent your business treats it as earned that year. Any remaining amount is included in income the following year.
Identifying Eligible Payments
Advance payments that may qualify for deferral include payments for services, goods, gift cards, intellectual property and computer software licenses, warranty contracts, and subscriptions. Certain other payments may also qualify under IRS guidance.
However, rents (with some exceptions), certain insurance premiums, payments for financial instruments and some service warranty contracts aren’t eligible.
Timing Is Key
The rules surrounding the tax treatment of advance payments can be complex. Contact the office to discuss whether your business may qualify to defer recognition of advance payments and how this strategy could fit into your overall tax-planning approach.