Generating New York Consolidated or Combined Return CT-3-A in Lacerte

New York consolidated C corporations that meet the requirements may use Form CT-3-A, General Business Corporation Franchise Tax Return, in order to file on a combined basis. These companies may only be combined with other C corporations.

Although the parent corporation is not necessarily the corporation that files Form CT-3-A, for purposes of this form, the corporation responsible for filing will be designated as the parent. Any other corporations included in the combined return are designated as subsidiaries and must also file Form CT-3-A, except for a non-taxpayer included in the group. The only way the system will properly set up the necessary forms is if the return is set up to file a federal consolidated return.

Forms to File:

Form CT-3-A - as mentioned previously, is the main form. The corporations in the group must compute their entire net income, combined business and investment capital, and combined minimum taxable income according to NY statutes.

The form is laid out where one page has the line descriptions and the subsequent page has the actual numbers. On page 2b, there are columns to report the income. Column A is for the parent and column B for the subsidiaries. If there are more than 2 members of the group, the figures for column B come from Form CT-3-A/B, Subsidiary Detail Spreadsheet. Columns A & B are combined into C, then eliminations are subtracted from D leaving the total in E.

Form CT-C-A/C Report by a Corporation Included in a Combined Franchise Tax Return - Each member of the group must file their individual certification. It's automatically added for each member but can be excluded for a member (such as a non-taxpayer) by marking the box in Screen 53.091, New York Affiliate Info, that reads, Exclude this corporation from CT-3-A/C (NY subsidiary only).

Form CT-3-A/B Subsidiary Detail Spreadsheet - As previously discussed, generates only when there are 2 or more subsidiaries. It is used to calculate the total income for the subsidiaries.

Form CT-3-A/ATT Investment Capital and Subsidiary Capital - Only required by the members of the group that have such capital. Schedule A of this form is derived from input in Screen 46.093, NY Computation of Investment Capital and Investment Allocation %. Schedule B of this form comes from Screen 50.092, NY Computation & Allocation of Subsidiary Capital Base & Tax.

Other Possible Forms:

Form CT-51 Combined Filer Statement for Newly Formed Groups Only, for new groups and is triggered in Screen 53.093, New York Combined Miscellaneous.

NYC 3-A Combined General Corporation Tax Return is for combined returns within New York City. Automatic if filing a consolidated return and the box is marked in Client Information that a NYC return will be needed. Similar in structure to the state return, but uses the state attachment forms.

Form CT-60-QSSS Qualified Subchapter S Subsidiary Information Schedule - This form is for a parent that is an S corporation for federal purposes but may be either a C or an S corporation for the state. Kind of a paradox since generally this is used in a consolidated return and the program doesn't do S corporation consolidations. Nevertheless, this form gets attached to the other NY combined forms. This form is triggered from Screen 45.092, Qualified Subchapter S Sub...

There are additional NY forms that may be used, but they are the same that would be used for regular filings, too, and will not be covered here.