Schedules M-1 and M-3 reconcile book income to taxable income reported on the return. Only corporations with $50 million or more of assets are required to file Schedule M-3. Thus, the majority of the approximate two million corporate tax returns filed annually complete the Schedule M-1 rather than the Schedule M-3. It is important to first understand the Schedule M-1 reporting process before tackling the more complex reporting requirements of the Schedule M-3.

This course begins with looking at Schedule M-1, which reconciles book and taxable income for corporations with assets less than $50 million. It is important to first understand the Schedule M-1 reporting process before tackling the more complex Schedule M-3 reporting requirement for corporations with assets greater than $50 million. We'll look at which corporations are required to complete Schedule M-1and which are exempt from the requirement, and which corporations must file Schedule M-3. We'll also explore how to report book/tax differences on Schedule M-1, how to identify and disclose temporary differences, how to identify and disclose permanent differences, and how financial income reported on Schedule M-1 is used to reconcile beginning and ending retained earnings on Schedule M-2. This section concludes with a comprehensive example of Schedule M-1 and M-2 computation and reporting requirements is provided to reinforce your knowledge of the tax compliance process when disclosing book-tax differences.

Next we begin looking at Schedule M-3, Part 1 filing and reporting requirements. We look at a comprehensive example of Schedule M-3, Part I to reinforce your knowledge of the reporting and tax compliance process, and we'll also explore what disclosures are required regarding the accounting method used to determine financial income, how to compute the net income (loss) from the income statement used to reconcile book income to taxable income, and how financial income reported on Schedule M-3 is used to reconcile ending retained earnings reported on Schedule M-2.

Moving on to Schedule M-3, Part 2, which requires the disclosure of detailed information regarding book-tax differences when reporting income (loss) items. We'll look at the Schedule M-3, Part II filing and reporting requirements, including the four column reporting format for reconciling book income to taxable income, adequate and separate disclosure requirements for book-tax differences, disclosure of common book-tax income differences, and disclosure of financial income items even when there is no book-tax difference.

On to Schedule M-3, Part 3, which requires the disclosure of detailed information regarding book-tax differences when reporting expense/deduction items. Here we'll cover the Schedule M-3, Part III filing and reporting requirements, including the four column reporting format for reconciling book income to taxable income, adequate and separate disclosure requirements for book-tax differences, disclosure of common book-tax expense/deduction differences, disclosure of financial expense/deduction items even when there is no book-tax difference, reconciling net book income reported on part II with net income reported on part I, and reconciling net taxable income reported on part II with taxable income reported on form 1120.

Next we'll explore some of the unusual and nonrecurring disclosure requirements for Income (Loss) and expense/deduction items reported on the financial statements that must also be disclosed on Schedule M-3 that we haven't looked at yet. Most of these topics relate either to industry specific book-tax differences or to items that are not usually encountered in the annual accounting cycle. Nevertheless, when these items occur, they must be separately and adequately disclosed on Schedule M-3 as either “temporary” or ‘permanent” differences. It is important to “get the numbers right” when completing Parts II and III of Schedule M-3.

We then move on to the requirements for corporations with $50 million or more of assets who are required to file the more complex Schedule M-3. Completing the Schedule M-3 can be confusing when the corporation prepares consolidated financial statements since some entities eligible for consolidation on a financial basis are not eligible for consolidation on a tax basis, which is why we'll cover the Schedule M-3 filing and reporting requirements for a consolidated group, including, which entities in the consolidated financial statements are included/excluded on the consolidated tax return. Schedule M-3, Part I reporting requirements for a consolidated group, reconciliation of net income per books to reported on Schedule M-3 to Schedule M-2, reconciliation of retained earnings on Form 1120, schedule M-3, Parts II and III disclosure requirements for the consolidated return, the parent and other members of the consolidated group, adjustments for inter-company transactions, temporary versus permanent deferrals on Parts II and III of Schedule M-3, and how to report the current and deferred US tax expense for a consolidated group on Schedule M-3.

Finally, we cover the disclosure requirements for uncertain tax positions of temporary and permanent differences between financial and tax accounting. We'll explore the tax accrual process for an uncertain tax position when preparing the corporation’s financial statements and the requirements to adequately disclose an uncertain tax position on Schedule UTP. A comprehensive example of Schedule UTP disclosures is provided to reinforce your knowledge of identifying and reporting uncertain tax positions for both financial accounting and tax accounting purposes.

Learning Objectives
  • Recognize which entities are required to file Schedule M-1.
  • Identify book-tax differences that increase taxable income and reduce taxable income.
  • Discover how to reconcile retained earnings on Schedule M-2.
  • Identify which entities are required to file Schedule M-3, the basic financial information disclosure requirements, and how to reconcile worldwide consolidated net income, line 4 to net income of includible corporations, lines 4-11.
  • Discover how to reconcile retained earnings on Schedule M-2 using line 11, net income of includible corporations.
  • Recognize which entities are required to file Schedule M-3.
  • Identify the basic financial information disclosure requirements and how to reconcile worldwide consolidated net income, line 4 to net income of includible.
  • Recognize the disclosure requirements for the total assets and liabilities of includible entities reported on line 12.
  • Discover how to reconcile retained earnings on Schedule M-2 using line 11, net income of includible corporations and recognize the four column reporting format for reconciling book income to taxable income.
  • Discover how to report common book-tax expense/deduction differences.
  • Identify how to report other expense/deduction items with differences on line 37 and how to reconcile Part II, line 30 net income (loss) with financial income reported on line 11, Part I and with taxable income reported on line 28, form 1120.
  • Identify which unusual/nonrecurring book-tax differences must be disclosed on Schedule M-3.
  • Discover why it is important to “get the numbers right” and to separately and adequately disclose income and expense/deductions and recognize how to disclose the following Part II, income items and how to disclose the following Part III, expense/deduction items.
  • Identify which entities from the financial consolidated group are included/excluded on the consolidated tax return.
  • Discover the Schedule M-3, Part I reporting requirements for a consolidated group on the consolidated return.
  • Identify how to report the current/deferred US tax expense for a consolidated group on Lines 1 and 2 of Schedule M-3, part III and how to report intercompany transactions between members of the consolidated group.
  • Identify how to determine and report uncertain tax positions on the financial statements and the tax return.
  • Discover which uncertain tax positions must be disclosed on the tax return entify the Schedule UTP filing requirements and recognize the overlap of Schedule M-3 and Schedule UTP disclosure requirements.
Last updated/reviewed: August 19, 2023
10 Reviews (47 ratings)

Reviews

1
Anonymous Author
The materials contained errors and were outdated, but the overall the instruction and presentation was fine. However, the exam was horrible. It had too many questions for the number of course credits. It also contained several questions completely unrelated to this course. It appears that exam questions from other unrelated courses were added to the exam questions for this course.

3
Anonymous Author
While the module content is good, as others have stated, the exam is absurdly long relative to the module contents, includes questions on topics that are not covered by this module, and also contains a handful of errors. The exam is in serious need of tailoring for this module.

4
Anonymous Author
The course was great, but the final test has lots of questions that were not covered during this course (like DRD deduction, distributions from the corporation, dividend treatment), affordable care tax act. It is impossible to pass it withput prior extensive tax knowledge.

1
Member's Profile
Complete waste of time. Like others have said, 155 test questions is way too many for the CPE hours and a good portion of the test material was not covered in the course. Took the exam twice and couldn't pass. Never had that happen in 10 years of CPEs.

2
Anonymous Author
Long exam 155 questions for nine hours to much. Course is outdated in some areas and should be revamped for relevancy. Some questions on test are not covered in material.

5
Member's Profile
Length of the course was definitely required as a lot of in depth material is covered. Great for anybody seeking a career in professional taxation

5
Anonymous Author
A lot of valuable information and pretty dense. I don't deal with this subject all the time so the final exam was very difficult.

5
Anonymous Author
What you would expect for a foundation level course. The questions proved to be a nice refresher.

4
Anonymous Author
This course is PACKED with info. Almost a little too much info, but its good.

4
Member's Profile
A little outdated when comparing to current schedule M-3 on the IRS website.

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Advanced

No Advanced Preparation or Prerequisites are needed for this course.

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Course Questions and Answers(2 Questions)
Member's Profile

The final exam is 155 questions for a 9 CPE course. I thought that was a lot. Once I started I noticed questions that were not covered in the course. I quick after it started asking questions about E&P and dividend distributions. Can you please update the final exam to reflect only questions related to the material?

User picture

The final exam is ridiculous. Questions that are never covered are included in exam. Why? The course itself is outdated and includes no longer relevant information.

Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
Schedule M-1 Disclosure of Book-Tax Differences...
  Schedule M-1 Disclosure of Book-Tax Differences after 20171:25:05
  REVIEW QUESTION:Schedule M-1 Disclosure of Book-Tax Differences after 2017quiz
Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3, Part I ...
  Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3, Part I Compliance and Reporting Issues 55:24
  REVIEW QUESTION:Corporate Tax Filing: Schedule M-3: Part I: Compliance and Reporting Issuesquiz
Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Part II ...
  Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Part II Compliance and Reporting Issues 1:04:12
  REVIEW QUESTION:Corporate Tax Filing: Schedule M-3: Part II: Compliance and Reporting Issuesquiz
Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Part III ...
  Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Part III Compliance and Reporting Issues 1:01:16
  REVIEW QUESTION:Corporate Tax Filing: Schedule M-3: Part III: Compliance and Reporting Issuesquiz
Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Additional ...
  Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Additional Reporting in Parts II and III47:58
  REVIEW QUESTION:Corporate Tax Filing: Schedule M-3: Additional Reporting in Parts II and IIIquiz
Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Reporting ...
  Corporate Tax Filing Schedule M-3: Reporting Requirements for a Consolidated Group1:01:14
  REVIEW QUESTION:Corporate Tax Filing: Schedule M-3: Reporting Requirements for a Consolidated Groupquiz
Uncertain Tax Positions: Tax Reporting Requirement
  Uncertain Tax Positions: Tax Reporting Requirements after 20171:25:22
  REVIEW QUESTION:Uncertain Tax Positions: Tax Reporting Requirements after 2017quiz
Supporting Materials
  Reporting and Compliance for Book-Tax Differences Course SeriesZIP
REVEW AND TEST
 FINAL EXAMexam