taxes

Report Common Owner Information for Texas Franchise Tax

Who is a Common Owner?

A “common owner” is an individual or entity that owns more than 50 percent interest (directly or indirectly) of each member in a combined group. The common owner of the group may or may not be the reporting entity filing the group’s franchise tax report.

Filing Requirements

To prevent processing delays, file the common owner information report with, or before, your franchise tax report. Filing it after you file your tax report will delay processing.

Before you can electronically file a common owner information report, you need

  • Your Texas Comptroller eSystems User ID and password.
    • New users create these when logging in to the system the first time.
    • Returning users log in with their previously created User ID and password.
  • The reporting entity’s 11-digit Texas taxpayer number and Webfile number.
  • The common owner's Social Security number, Federal Employer Identification Number or 11-digit Texas taxpayer number and the common owner's mailing address.
  • The date that the common owner first owned more than 50 percent ownership-interest in the combined group.
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When a combined group has a temporary credit for business loss carryforward preserved for any member of the group, the group’s reporting entity must file the Common Owner Report by the group’s franchise tax report due date using one of these methods:

The report must be filed even if the group is not claiming the credit on the report. The filing of the group’s franchise tax report is incomplete without the Common Owner Report.

Changing Common Owner Information

File common owner changes and corrections by completing and mailing Form 05-177, Common Owner Information Report with a letter explaining the reason for the change or correction. Be sure your letter includes the following:

  • reporting entity Texas taxpayer number
  • reporting entity taxpayer name
  • common owner(s) identification information
  • common owner(s) name

Mail to:

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
P.O. Box 149348
Austin, TX 78714-9348

Please note that you cannot make corrections through Webfile or your approved third-party software provider.