Filing Date of S Corporation Shareholder's Return Triggers Statute of Limitations: Bufferd v. Commissioner

In Bufferd v. Commissioner (1993), the US Supreme Court held that a deficiency asserted against an S corporation shareholder was timely when it was asserted more than 3 years after the filing of the S corporation return, but within an extended assessment period for the shareholder's individual return. The Court recognized that the statute of limitations period for imposing income tax liability on an S corporation shareholder begins to run on the date that the shareholder files his return, rather than on the date that the S corporation files its return. In reaching this conclusiion, the Court ended the extensive controversy involving the statute of limitations for S corporations not governed by Section 6244 and, most probably, also ended a similar controversy for partnerships not governed by Section 6229.