Under chapter 173 of the Acts of 2008 (the Act), entities that were formerly taxed as corporate trusts under the now-repealed G.L. c. 62, § 8 are now classified for Massachusetts tax purposes in the same manner they are classified for federal income tax purposes. The Act provides that any tax-free earnings and profits accumulated by an entity that was in existence and treated as a corporate trust on or after July 3, 2008 shall be subject to tax under chapter 62 or 63 of the General Laws. St. 2008, c. 173, § 96. See 830 CMR 63.30.3(3)(d)1. To assist in achieving this legislative directive, the Commissioner will require all such former corporate trusts or their successors to file an accounting of all tax-free earnings and profits that have been earned, accumulated, or distributed by the corporate trust. 830 CMR 63.30.3(3)(d)1. See also DD 09-6.

The mechanism for reporting these tax-free earnings and profits is now available online. To access the program, taxpayers should either click on the following link or manually copy and paste the entire URL address into their web browser:

https://wfb.dor.state.ma.us/WEBFILE/BUSINESS/Public/Webforms/Checkthebox/options.aspx

The reporting required in this TIR and the regulation must be completed by the later of January 31, 2010, or 90 days following an entity's Massachusetts tax return filing for the last year during any portion of which such entity or a predecessor was treated as a corporate trust under G.L. c. 62, § 8. All entities that were treated as corporate trusts on or after July 3, 2008 must complete this reporting, whether they filed returns or not.

/s/Navjeet K. Bal
 Navjeet K. Bal
Commissioner of Revenue

NKB:MTF:dt

November 12, 2009

TIR 09-22