Section 280-RICR-20-25-10.17 - Filing of ReturnA. For purposes of combined reporting, the Tax Administrator intends to make the necessary schedule(s) and instructions available in a timely fashion for taxpayers, their advisers, and software developers.B. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, the designated agent of a combined group shall file the Rhode Island Business Corporation Tax Return, Form RI-1120C and, on schedules attached to the return, include information required by the Tax Administrator for each member of the combined group. (Please see § 10.19 of this Part below, for appointment of a designated agent.) Thus, for combined reporting purposes, the annual return shall be filed as a single unit, with all the required combined reporting schedules attached to the Form RI-1120C; the schedules shall not be filed separately from the return. The return shall be filed in accordance with the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-11-3, subject to any extended due dates permitted by the Tax Administrator under the authority granted in R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-11-5, as set forth below in § 10.17 of this Part.C. The extended due date for a combined group's return on Form RI-1120C shall be seven months after the normal due date. Thus, for a calendar-year filer whose normal filing due date is March 15, the extended due date shall be October 15. It is an extension of the time to file, not of the time to pay; payments continue to be due by the regular due date.D. If the statute of limitations applicable to refund claims and assessments is open with respect to a particular member of the combined group, the statute of limitations is open with respect to that particular taxpayer notwithstanding the fact that the statute of limitations may have expired for one or more other members of the combined group. The statute of limitations applicable to refund claims and assessments for members of a combined group which have filed their tax return based on a fiscal reporting period matched to the accounting period of the designated agent shall be the statute of limitations determined and computed based on the fiscal accounting period.E. If a combined return is filed on behalf of a combined group, the Tax Administrator may examine and audit that return, and collect any deficiency from a combined group member for whom the statute of limitations for assessments has not expired, even if the statute of limitations for other members which filed included in the same combined return has expired. Any deficiency assessed pursuant to the audit or examination will not cause a reopening of the statute of limitations for those other members for whom the statute of limitations has expired and who were included in the same combined report.F. A paid preparer filing a Rhode Island corporate income tax return reflecting combined reporting must file the return electronically in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-1-31.1 and Rhode Island Division of Taxation regulation Electronic Filing for Paid Preparers, Subchapter 30 Part 2 of this Chapter.G. A combined group's application of the rules set forth in this regulation must be based on objective criteria and must consider all sources of information reasonably available to the taxpayer at the time of its tax filing including, without limitation, the taxpayer's books and records kept in the ordinary course of business. A taxpayer's method of determining the composition of the combined group and assigning its sales must be determined in good faith, applied in good faith, and applied consistently with respect to similar transactions and year to year. A taxpayer must retain contemporaneous records that explain the determination and application of its method of determining the composition of the combined group and assigning its sales, including underlying assumptions, and must provide such records to the Tax Administrator upon request.H. The provisions of § 10.17 of this Part shall also apply to affiliated groups making the federal consolidated group election for Rhode Island combined reporting purposes (as described in § 10.9 of this Part).280 R.I. Code R. § 280-RICR-20-25-10.17