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The QBI deduction basics and a year-end tax tip that might help you qualify
If you own a business, you may wonder if you’re eligible to take the qualified business income (QBI) deduction. Sometimes this is referred to as the pass-through deduction or the Section 199A deduction.
The QBI deduction:
Is available to owners of sole proprietorships, single member limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships, and S corporations, as well as trusts and estates.
Is intended to reduce the tax rate on QBI to a rate that’s closer to the corporate tax rate.
Is taken “below the line.” In other words, it reduces your taxable income but not your adjusted gross income.
Is available regardless of whether you itemize deductions or take the standard deduction.
Taxpayers other than corporations may be entitled to a deduction of up to 20% of their QBI. For 2020, if taxable income exceeds $163,300 for single taxpayers, or $326,600 for a married couple filing jointly, the QBI deduction may be limited based on different scenarios. These include whether the taxpayer is engaged in a service-type of trade or business (such as law, accounting, health, or consulting), the amount of W-2 wages paid by the trade or business, and/or the unadjusted basis of qualified property (such as machinery and equipment) held by the trade or business.
The limitations are phased in. For example, the phase-in for 2020 applies to single filers with taxable income between $163,300 and $213,300 and joint filers with taxable income between $326,600 and $426,600.
For tax years beginning in 2021, the inflation-adjusted threshold amounts will be $164,900 for single taxpayers, and $329,800 for married couples filing jointly.
Year-end planning tip
Some taxpayers may be able to achieve significant savings with respect to this deduction, by deferring income or accelerating deductions at year end so that they come under the dollar thresholds (or be subject to a smaller phaseout of the deduction) for 2020. Depending on your business model, you also may be able to increase the deduction by increasing W-2 wages before year end. The rules are quite complex, so contact us with questions and consult with us before taking steps.
© 2020
Small businesses: Cash in on depreciation tax savers
As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good time to think about whether your business needs to buy business equipment and other depreciable property. If so, you may benefit from the Section 179 depreciation tax deduction for business property. The election provides a tax windfall to businesses, enabling them to claim immediate deductions for qualified assets, instead of taking depreciation deductions over time.
Even better, the Sec. 179 deduction isn’t the only avenue for immediate tax write-offs for qualified assets. Under the 100% bonus depreciation tax break, the entire cost of eligible assets placed in service in 2020 can be written off this year.
But to benefit for this tax year, you need to buy and place qualifying assets in service by December 31.
What qualifies?
The Sec. 179 deduction applies to tangible personal property such as machinery and equipment purchased for use in a trade or business, and, if the taxpayer elects, qualified real property. It’s generally available on a tax year basis and is subject to a dollar limit.
The annual deduction limit is $1.04 million for tax years beginning in 2020, subject to a phaseout rule. Under the rule, the deduction is phased out (reduced) if more than a specified amount of qualifying property is placed in service during the tax year. The amount is $2.59 million for tax years beginning in 2020. (Note: Different rules apply to heavy SUVs.)
There’s also a taxable income limit. If your taxable business income is less than the dollar limit for that year, the amount for which you can make the election is limited to that taxable income. However, any amount you can’t immediately deduct is carried forward and can be deducted in later years (to the extent permitted by the applicable dollar limit, the phaseout rule, and the taxable income limit).
In addition to significantly increasing the Sec. 179 deduction, the TCJA also expanded the definition of qualifying assets to include depreciable tangible personal property used mainly in the furnishing of lodging, such as furniture and appliances.
The TCJA also expanded the definition of qualified real property to include qualified improvement property and some improvements to nonresidential real property, such as roofs; heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment; fire protection and alarm systems; and security systems.
What about bonus depreciation?
With bonus depreciation, businesses are allowed to deduct 100% of the cost of certain assets in the first year, rather than capitalize them on their balance sheets and gradually depreciate them. (Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, you could deduct only 50% of the cost of qualified new property.)
This tax break applies to qualifying assets placed in service between September 28, 2017, and December 31, 2022 (by December 31, 2023, for certain assets with longer production periods and for aircraft). After that, the bonus depreciation percentage is reduced by 20% per year, until it’s fully phased out after 2026 (or after 2027 for certain assets described above).
Bonus depreciation is allowed for both new and used qualifying assets, which include most categories of tangible depreciable assets other than real estate.
Important: When both 100% first-year bonus depreciation and the Sec. 179 deduction are available for the same asset, it’s generally more advantageous to claim 100% bonus depreciation, because there are no limitations on it.
Need assistance?
These favorable depreciation deductions may deliver tax-saving benefits to your business on your 2020 return. Contact us if you have questions, or you want more information about how your business can maximize the deductions.
© 2020
Lessons of 2020: Change management
The year 2020 has taught businesses many lessons. The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic followed by drastic changes to the economy have forced companies to alter the size of their workforces, restructure work environments and revise sales models — just to name a few challenges. And what this has all meant for employees is change.
Even before this year’s public health crisis, many businesses were looking into and setting forth policies regarding change management. In short, this is a formalized approach to providing employees the information, training and ongoing coaching needed to successfully adapt to any modification to their day-to-day jobs.
There’s little doubt that one of the enduring lessons of 2020 is that businesses must be able to shepherd employees through difficult transitions, even (or especially) when the company itself didn’t bring about the change in question.
Why change is hard
Most employees resist change for many reasons. There’s often a perceived loss of, or threat to, job security or status. Inconvenience and unfamiliarity provoke apprehension. In some cases, perhaps because of misinformation, employees may distrust their employers’ motives for a change. And some workers will always simply believe the “old way is better.”
What’s worse, some changes might make employees’ jobs more difficult. For example, moving to a new location might enhance an organization’s image or provide safer or more productive facilities. But doing so also may increase some employees’ commuting times or put employees in a drastically different working environment. When their daily lives are affected in such ways, employees tend to question the decision and experience high levels of anxiety.
What you shouldn’t do
Often, when employees resist change, a company’s decision-makers can’t understand how ideas they’ve spent weeks, months or years deliberating could be so quickly rejected. (Of course, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, tough choices had to be made in a matter of days.) Some leadership teams forget that employees haven’t had time to adjust to a new idea. Instead of working to ease employee fears, executives or supervisors may double down on the change, more strictly enforcing new rules and showing little patience for disagreements or concerns.
And it’s here the implementation effort can break down and start costing the business real dollars and cents. Employees may resist change in many destructive ways, from taking very slow learning curves to calling in sick to filing formal complaints or lawsuits. Some might even quit.
The bottom line: by not engaging in some form of change management, you’re more likely to experience reduced productivity, bad morale and increased turnover.
How to cope
“Life comes at ya fast,” goes the popular saying. Given the events of this year, it’s safe to say that most business owners would agree. Identify ways you’ve been able to help employees deal with this year’s changes and document them so they can be of use to your company in the future. Contact us for help cost-effectively managing your business.
© 2020
Family business owners must weave together succession and estate planning
It’s been estimated that there are roughly 5 million family-owned businesses in the United States. Annually, these companies make substantial contributions to both employment figures and the gross domestic product. If you own a family business, one important issue to address is how to best weave together your succession plan with your estate plan.
Rise to the challenge
Transferring ownership of a family business is often difficult because of the distinction between ownership and management succession. From an estate planning perspective, transferring assets to the younger generation as early as possible allows you to remove future appreciation from your estate, minimizing any estate taxes. However, you may not be ready to hand over control of your business or you may feel that your children aren’t yet ready to run the company.
There are various ways to address this quandary. You could set up a family limited partnership, transfer nonvoting stock to heirs or establish an employee stock ownership plan.
Another reason to separate ownership and management succession is to deal with family members who aren’t involved in the business. Providing such heirs with nonvoting stock or other equity interests that don’t confer control can be an effective way to share the wealth with them while allowing those who work in the business to take over management.
Consider an installment sale
An additional challenge to family businesses is that older and younger generations may have conflicting financial needs. Fortunately, strategies are available to generate cash flow for the owner while minimizing the burden on the next generation.
For example, consider an installment sale. These transactions provide liquidity for the owner while improving the chances that the younger generation’s purchase can be funded by cash flows from the business. Plus, so long as the price and terms are comparable to arm’s-length transactions between unrelated parties, the sale shouldn’t trigger gift or estate taxes.
Explore trust types
Or, you might want to create a trust. By transferring business interests to a grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT), for instance, the owner obtains a variety of gift and estate tax benefits (provided he or she survives the trust term) while enjoying a fixed income stream for a period of years. At the end of the term, the business is transferred to the owner’s children or other beneficiaries. GRATs are typically designed to be gift-tax-free.
There are other options as well, such as an installment sale to an intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT). Essentially a properly structured IDGT allows an owner to sell the business on a tax-advantaged basis while enjoying an income stream and retaining control during the trust term. Once the installment payments are complete, the business passes to the owner’s beneficiaries free of gift taxes.
Protect your legacy
Family-owned businesses play an important role in the U.S. economy. We can help you integrate your succession plan with your estate plan to protect both the company itself and your financial legacy.
© 2020
The importance of S corporation basis and distribution elections
S corporations can provide tax advantages over C corporations in the right circumstances. This is true if you expect that the business will incur losses in its early years because shareholders in a C corporation generally get no tax benefit from such losses. Conversely, as an S corporation shareholder, you can deduct your percentage share of these losses on your personal tax return to the extent of your basis in the stock and any loans you personally make to the entity.
Losses that can’t be deducted because they exceed your basis are carried forward and can be deducted by you when there’s sufficient basis.
Therefore, your ability to use losses that pass through from an S corporation depends on your basis in the corporation’s stock and debt. And, basis is important for other purposes such as determining the amount of gain or loss you recognize if you sell the stock. Your basis in the corporation is adjusted to reflect various events such as distributions from the corporation, contributions you make to the corporation and the corporation’s income or loss.
Adjustments to basis
However, you may not be aware that several elections are available to an S corporation or its shareholders that can affect the basis adjustments caused by distributions and other events. Here is some information about four elections:
An S corporation shareholder may elect to reverse the normal order of basis reductions and have the corporation’s deductible losses reduce basis before basis is reduced by nondeductible, noncapital expenses. Making this election may permit the shareholder to deduct more pass-through losses.
An election that can help eliminate the corporation’s accumulated earnings and profits from C corporation years is the “deemed dividend election.” This election can be useful if the corporation isn’t able to, or doesn’t want to, make an actual dividend distribution.
If a shareholder’s interest in the corporation terminates during the year, the corporation and all affected shareholders can agree to elect to treat the corporation’s tax year as having closed on the date the shareholder’s interest terminated. This election affords flexibility in the allocation of the corporation’s income or loss to the shareholders and it may affect the category of accumulated income out of which a distribution is made.
An election to terminate the S corporation’s tax year may also be available if there has been a disposition by a shareholder of 20% or more of the corporation’s stock within a 30-day period.
Contact us if you would like to go over how these elections, as well as other S corporation planning strategies, can help maximize the tax benefits of operating as an S corporation.
© 2020
Putting the finishing touches on next year’s budget
By now, some businesses have completed their 2021 budgets while others are still crunching numbers and scrutinizing line items. As you put the finishing touches on your company’s spending plan for next year, be sure to cover the finer points of the process.
This means not just creating a budget for the sake of doing so but ensuring that it’s a useful and well-understood plan for everyone.
Obtain buy-in
Management teams are often frustrated by the budgeting process. There are so many details and so much uncertainty. All too often, the stated objective is to create a budget with or without everyone’s buy-in for how to get there.
To put a budget in the best position for success, every member of the leadership team needs to agree on common forecasting goals. Ideally, before sitting down to review a budget in process, much less view a presentation on a completed budget, you and your managers should’ve established some basic ground rules and reasonable expectations.
If you’re already down the road in creating a budget, it may not be too late. Call a meeting and get everyone on the same page before you issue the final product.
Account for variances
Many budgets fail because they rely on purely accounting-driven, historically minded budgeting techniques. To increase the likelihood of success, you need to actively anticipate “variances.” These are major risks that could leave your business vulnerable to high-impact financial hits if the threats materialize.
One type of risk to consider is the competition. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic impact has reengineered the competitive landscape in some markets. Unfortunately, many smaller businesses have closed, while larger, more financially stable companies have asserted their dominance. Be sure the budget accounts for your place in this hierarchy.
Another risk is compliance. Although regulatory oversight has diminished in many industries under the current presidential administration, this may change next year. Be it health care benefits, hiring and independent contractor policies, or waste disposal, factor compliance risk into your budget.
A third type of variance to consider is internal. If your business laid off employees this year, will you likely need to rehire some of them in 2021 as, one hopes, the economy rebounds from the pandemic? Also, investigate whether fraud affected this year’s budget and how next year’s edition may need more investment in internal controls to prevent losses.
Eyes on the prize
Above all, stay focused on the objective of creating a feasible, flexible budget. Many companies get caught up in trying to tie business improvement and strategic planning initiatives into the budgeting process. Doing so can lead to confusion and unexpectedly high demands of time and energy.
You’re looking to set a budget — not fix every minute aspect of the company. Our firm can help review your process and recommend improvements that will enable you to avoid common problems and get optimal use out of a well-constructed budget for next year.
© 2020
Health Savings Accounts for your small business
Small business owners are well aware of the increasing cost of employee health care benefits. As a result, your business may be interested in providing some of these benefits through an employer-sponsored Health Savings Account (HSA). Or perhaps you already have an HSA. It’s a good time to review how these accounts work since the IRS recently announced the relevant inflation-adjusted amounts for 2021.
The basics of HSAs
For eligible individuals, HSAs offer a tax-advantaged way to set aside funds (or have their employers do so) to meet future medical needs. Here are the key tax benefits:
Contributions that participants make to an HSA are deductible, within limits.
Contributions that employers make aren’t taxed to participants.
Earnings on the funds within an HSA aren’t taxed, so the money can accumulate year after year tax free.
HSA distributions to cover qualified medical expenses aren’t taxed.
Employers don’t have to pay payroll taxes on HSA contributions made by employees through payroll deductions.
Key 2020 and 2021 amounts
To be eligible for an HSA, an individual must be covered by a “high deductible health plan.” For 2020, a “high deductible health plan” is one with an annual deductible of at least $1,400 for self-only coverage, or at least $2,800 for family coverage. For 2021, these amounts are staying the same.
For self-only coverage, the 2020 limit on deductible contributions is $3,550. For family coverage, the 2020 limit on deductible contributions is $7,100. For 2021, these amounts are increasing to $3,600 and $7,200, respectively. Additionally, for 2020, annual out-of-pocket expenses required to be paid (other than for premiums) for covered benefits cannot exceed $6,900 for self-only coverage or $13,800 for family coverage. For 2021, these amounts are increasing to $7,000 and $14,000.
An individual (and the individual’s covered spouse, as well) who has reached age 55 before the close of the tax year (and is an eligible HSA contributor) may make additional “catch-up” contributions for 2020 and 2021 of up to $1,000.
Contributing on an employee’s behalf
If an employer contributes to the HSA of an eligible individual, the employer’s contribution is treated as employer-provided coverage for medical expenses under an accident or health plan and is excludable from an employee’s gross income up to the deduction limitation. There’s no “use-it-or-lose-it” provision, so funds can be built up for years. An employer that decides to make contributions on its employees’ behalf must generally make comparable contributions to the HSAs of all comparable participating employees for that calendar year. If the employer doesn’t make comparable contributions, the employer is subject to a 35% tax on the aggregate amount contributed by the employer to HSAs for that period.
Paying for eligible expenses
HSA distributions can be made to pay for qualified medical expenses. This generally means those expenses that would qualify for the medical expense itemized deduction. They include expenses such as doctors’ visits, prescriptions, chiropractic care and premiums for long-term care insurance.
If funds are withdrawn from the HSA for any other reason, the withdrawal is taxable. Additionally, an extra 20% tax will apply to the withdrawal, unless it’s made after reaching age 65, or in the event of death or disability.
As you can see, HSAs offer a flexible option for providing health care coverage, but the rules are somewhat complex. Contact us with questions or if you’d like to discuss offering this benefit to your employees.
© 2020
Hit the target with your email marketing
Online retail sales have been booming during the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend has been driven not only by the buying public’s increased inclination to minimize visits to brick-and-mortar stores, but also by the effectiveness of many retailers’ virtual marketing efforts.
One such effort that can benefit most any type of business is email marketing. Although social media marketing tends to get the lion’s share of attention these days, email remains a viable medium for getting out your message — particularly to existing customers.
As your company endeavors to continue marketing its products or services in an uncertain economy, be sure your emails hit the target by relying on some tried-and-true fundamentals.
Draw their attention
Every email starts with a subject line; be sure yours are catchy. They should be no longer than eight words and shouldn’t be in all caps. Put yourself in the customer’s place by paying close attention to demographics. Ask yourself whether you would open the email if you fit the profile. Also, clearly indicate the message’s content.
If your subject line is compelling enough, your recipients will open the email. And the first thing readers should see upon doing so is an equally memorable headline. Make sure it’s different from the subject line, short (four or five words) and in a larger font size than the body of the message.
Make your case
When it comes to the body of the email, make it a quick and easy read. Most people won’t read a lot of text. Think of each marketing email as an “elevator speech,” a quick and concise pitch for specific products or services.
Above all, be persuasive. Customers want to fulfill their needs at a reasonable price, but they may not always have a clear idea of what those needs are. Don’t expect them to search for answers about whether you can meet these expectations. Show them what you’ve got to offer and tell them why they should buy.
Add finishing touches
Consider including visual and interactive content in your marketing emails — such as images, GIFs and videos. Bear in mind, however, that not all email providers support every type of interactivity. Use it judiciously and gather feedback from customers on whether the content is a nice touch or an annoyance.
Last, but not least, close with a “call to action.” Instill a sense of urgency in readers by setting a deadline and telling them precisely what to do. Otherwise, they may interpret the email as merely informational and file it away for reference or simply delete it. Be sure to include clear, “clickable” contact info.
Measure and improve
These are just a few of the basics to keep in mind. We can help your business measure the results of its marketing activity, email and otherwise, and come up with cost-effective ideas for improving the profit-potential of how you interact with your customers and prospects.
© 2020
Do you want to withdraw cash from your closely held corporation at a low tax cost?
Owners of closely held corporations are often interested in easily withdrawing money from their businesses at the lowest possible tax cost. The simplest way is to distribute cash as a dividend. However, a dividend distribution isn’t tax-efficient, since it’s taxable to you to the extent of your corporation’s “earnings and profits.” And it’s not deductible by the corporation.
Other strategies
Fortunately, there are several alternative methods that may allow you to withdraw cash from a corporation while avoiding dividend treatment. Here are five strategies to consider:
Capital repayments. To the extent that you’ve capitalized the corporation with debt, including amounts that you’ve advanced to the business, the corporation can repay the debt without the repayment being treated as a dividend. Additionally, interest paid on the debt can be deducted by the corporation. This assumes that the debt has been properly documented with terms that characterize debt and that the corporation doesn’t have an excessively high debt-to-equity ratio. If not, the “debt” repayment may be taxed as a dividend. If you make future cash contributions to the corporation, consider structuring them as debt to facilitate later withdrawals on a tax-advantaged basis.
Compensation. Reasonable compensation that you, or family members, receive for services rendered to the corporation is deductible by the business. However, it’s also taxable to the recipient(s). This same rule applies to any compensation (in the form of rent) that you receive from the corporation for the use of property. In both cases, the compensation amount must be reasonable in terms of the services rendered or the value of the property provided. If it’s considered excessive, the excess will be a nondeductible corporate distribution.
Loans. You can withdraw cash tax free from the corporation by borrowing money from it. However, to prevent having the loan characterized as a corporate distribution, it should be properly documented in a loan agreement or note. It should also be made on terms that are comparable to those in which an unrelated third party would lend money to you, including a provision for interest and principal. Also, consider what the corporation’s receipt of interest income will mean.
Fringe benefits. You may want to obtain the equivalent of a cash withdrawal in fringe benefits, which aren’t taxable to you and are deductible by the corporation. Examples include life insurance, certain medical benefits, disability insurance and dependent care. Most of these benefits are tax-free only if provided on a nondiscriminatory basis to other corporation employees. You can also establish a salary reduction plan that allows you (and other employees) to take a portion of your compensation as nontaxable benefits, rather than as taxable compensation.
Property sales. You can withdraw cash from the corporation by selling property to it. However, certain sales should be avoided. For example, you shouldn’t sell property to a more than 50%-owned corporation at a loss, since the loss will be disallowed. And you shouldn’t sell depreciable property to a more than 50%-owned corporation at a gain, since the gain will be treated as ordinary income, rather than capital gain. A sale should be on terms that are comparable to those in which an unrelated third party would purchase the property. You may need to obtain an independent appraisal to establish the property’s value.
Minimize taxes
If you’re interested in discussing any of these ideas, contact us. We can help you get the most out of your corporation at the lowest tax cost.
© 2020
How to avoid tax scams
Scam artists seem to come out of the woodwork when there’s money involved — and taxes are no exception. Fortunately, if you familiarize yourself with common tax scams and understand what the IRS will and won’t do, it’s easy to avoid them.
Common scams
Here are some common tax fraud schemes:
Calls from IRS impersonators. Fraudsters impersonating IRS employees call or leave a message, typically using fake names and phony identification badge numbers and often altering the caller ID to make it look like a legitimate IRS number. They tell victims that they owe money to the IRS and threaten them with arrest, suspension of business or driver’s licenses, or even deportation unless they pay promptly using gift cards, prepaid debit cards or wire transfers.
Phishing. Fraud perpetrators send fake emails, designed to look like official communications from the IRS, tax software companies or even victims’ tax advisors. The intention is to gain access to victims’ financial information or trick them into downloading malware that allows access to their computers. These emails often contain links to bogus websites that mirror the official IRS site and ask victims to “update your IRS e-file immediately.” Fraudsters use this information to file false income tax returns or engage in other identity theft schemes.
Property lien scam. With this fraud type, a thief sends a letter from a nonexistent agency asserting that the victim owes overdue taxes and threatens an IRS lien or levy on the victim’s property. Typically, the fake agency has a legitimate-sounding name, such as Bureau of Tax Enforcement.
These are just a few examples of the hundreds of tax-related scams the IRS sees on a regular basis. Fraudsters are continually developing new, more sophisticated schemes as well as variations of tried and true ones. So it’s important to be on high alert whenever you receive communications that purport to be from the IRS, a state or local tax authority, or a collection agency working on their behalf.
Things to remember
Tax scams can be complex and widely varied, but they’re easy to avoid if you know how the IRS operates. The IRS will not initiate contact about a tax matter by phone, email or in person, without first sending you a bill or notice by regular mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. There may be special circumstances — such as an overdue tax bill, delinquent return, audit or criminal investigation — that prompt a visit from an IRS representative. But these visits are almost always preceded by a series of notices in the mail.
In addition, the IRS won’t:
· Demand that you pay taxes immediately without an opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe,
· Threaten you with arrest for nonpayment of taxes, or
· Threaten you with deportation or revocation of a driver’s or business license.
Finally, the IRS will never demand payment using a specific method, such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer,
Where to turn
If you receive suspicious communications, contact your tax advisor. In addition, if you receive a suspected phone scam, consider reporting it to the Federal Trade Commission using the FTC Complaint Assistant at FTC.gov. You can forward suspected phishing emails to phishing@irs.gov, and report IRS impersonation scams to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at treasury.gov/tigta.
© 2020
Rolling over capital gains into a qualified opportunity fund
If you’re selling a business interest, real estate or other highly appreciated property, you could get hit with a substantial capital gains tax bill. One way to soften the blow — if you’re willing to tie up the funds long term — is to “roll over” the gain into a qualified opportunity fund (QOF).
What is a QOF?
A QOF is an investment fund, organized as a corporation or partnership, designed to invest in one or more Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs). A QOZ is a distressed area that meets certain low-income criteria, as designated by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Currently, there are more than 9,000 QOZs in the United States and its territories. QOFs can be structured as multi-investor funds or as single-investor funds established by an individual or business. To qualify for tax benefits, at least 90% of a QOF’s funds must be QOZ property, which includes:
QOZ business property. This is tangible property that’s used by a trade or business within a QOZ and that meets certain other requirements.
QOZ stock or partnership interests. These are equity interests in corporations or partnerships, with substantially all their assets in QOZ property.
Final regulations define “substantially all” to mean at least 70%.
What are the benefits?
If you recognize capital gain by selling or exchanging property, and you reinvest an amount up to the amount of gain in a QOF within 180 days, you’ll enjoy several tax benefits:
· Taxes will be deferred on the reinvested gain until the earlier of December 31, 2026, or the date you dispose of your QOF investment.
· There will be a permanent reduction of the taxability of your gain by 10% if you hold the QOF investment for at least five years — and an additional 5% if you hold it for at least seven years.
· If you hold the QOF investment for at least 10 years, you’ll incur tax-free capital gains attributable to appreciation of the QOF investment itself.
The only way to obtain these benefits is to first sell or exchange a capital asset in a transaction that results in gain recognition. You then would reinvest some or all of the gain in a QOF. You can’t simply invest cash.
You or your heirs will eventually be liable for taxes on some or all of the original gain. Consider ways to avoid those taxes, such as holding the original property for life or doing a tax-free exchange.
How do you report QOF gains?
In February 2020, the IRS issued guidance on reporting gains from QOFs. It gives instructions on how to report the deferral of eligible gains and how to include those gains when the QOF investment is sold or exchanged.
Taxpayers who defer eligible gains from such property (including gains from installment sales and like-kind exchanges) by investing in a QOF must report the deferral election on Form 8949, “Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets,” in the deferral tax year. And taxpayers selling or exchanging a QOF investment must report the inclusion of the eligible gain on the form.
Who can help?
The rules surrounding these QOFs are complex. We can help you further explore the idea.
© 2020
The ins and outs of the easing of loss limitation rules
To provide businesses and their owners with some relief from the financial effects of the COVID-19 crisis, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act eases the rules for claiming certain tax losses. Here’s a look at the — mostly temporary — modifications.
Liberalized rules for NOL carryforwards
The CARES Act includes favorable changes to the rules for deducting net operating losses (NOLs). First, it eases the taxable income limitation on deducting NOLs.
Under an unfavorable provision included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), an NOL arising in a tax year beginning in 2018 or beyond and carried forward to a later tax year couldn’t offset more than 80% of the taxable income for the carryforward year (the later tax year), calculated before the NOL deduction.
For tax years beginning before 2021, the CARES Act removes the TCJA taxable income limitation on deductions for prior-year NOLs carried forward into those years. So NOL carryforwards to tax years beginning before 2021 can be used to fully offset taxable income for those years.
For tax years beginning after 2020, the CARES Act allows NOL deductions equal to the sum of:
· 100% of NOL carryforwards from pre-2018 tax years, plus
· The lesser of 1) 100% of NOL carryforwards from post-2017 tax years, or 2) 80% of remaining taxable income (if any) after deducting NOL carryforwards from pre-2018 tax years.
As you can see, this is a complicated rule. But it’s more taxpayer-friendly than what the TCJA allowed. This favorable change is permanent.
Carrybacks allowed for certain NOLs
Under another unfavorable TCJA provision, NOLs arising in tax years ending after 2017 generally couldn’t be carried back to earlier tax years and used to offset taxable income in those earlier years. Instead, NOLs arising in tax years ending after 2017 could only be carried forward to later years. But they could be carried forward for an unlimited number of years.
Under the CARES Act, NOLs that arise in tax years beginning in 2018 through 2020 can be carried back for five years. For example, a taxpayer could carry back an NOL arising in 2020 to 2015 and recover federal income tax paid for that year. That could be very beneficial, because the federal income tax rates for both individuals and corporations were higher before the TCJA rate cuts took effect in 2018.
When advantageous, taxpayers can elect to waive the carryback privilege for an NOL and, instead, carry the NOL forward to future tax years. In addition, barring a further tax-law change, the no-carryback rule will come back into play for NOLs that arise in tax years beginning after 2020.
Excess business loss rules postponed
Another unfavorable TCJA provision disallowed current deductions for so-called “excess business losses” incurred by individuals and other noncorporate taxpayers in tax years beginning in 2018 through 2025.
An excess business loss is one that exceeds $250,000 ($500,000 for a married joint-filing couple). These limits are adjusted annually for inflation.
The CARES Act removes the excess business loss disallowance rule for losses arising in tax years beginning in 2018 through 2020.
Barring a further tax-law change, the excess business loss disallowance rule will come back into play for losses that arise in tax years beginning in 2021 through 2025. Any disallowed excess business loss for one of those years will be carried forward to the following year and can be deducted under the rules for NOL carryforwards.
Amended return opportunities
These taxpayer-friendly CARES Act changes can affect prior tax years for which you’ve already filed returns. Amended returns may be needed to benefit from the changes. Contact your tax professional for more information.
When 15-year depreciation for QIP might be better than 100% bonus depreciation
Earlier this year, Congress finally passed legislation that corrects a drafting error related to real estate qualified improvement property (QIP). The correction is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The correction retroactively allows real property owners to depreciate QIP faster than before, either 100% the year the QIP is placed in service or over a 15-year period. The 100% bonus depreciation might sound a lot better, but in some cases 15-year depreciation will provide more tax savings in the long run.
Background
QIP is defined as an improvement to an interior portion of a nonresidential building that’s placed in service after the date the building was first placed in service. However, QIP doesn’t include any expenditures attributable to:
· The enlargement of the building,
· Any elevator or escalator, or
· The building’s internal structural framework.
When drafting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017, members of Congress made it clear that they intended to allow 100% first-year bonus depreciation for QIP placed in service in 2018 through 2022. Congress also intended to give you the option of claiming 15-year straight-line depreciation for QIP placed in service in 2018 and beyond.
Due to a drafting error, however, neither first-year bonus depreciation for QIP nor 15-year straight-line depreciation made it into the actual statutory language of the TCJA. The only way to fix the mistake was to make a so-called technical correction to the statutory language.
Error fixed
Because the CARES Act made that correction, QIP is now included in the Internal Revenue Code’s definition of 15-year property. In other words, it can be depreciated over 15 years for federal income tax purposes.
In turn, that classification makes QIP eligible for first-year bonus depreciation. So, real estate owners can now claim 100% first-year bonus depreciation for QIP placed in service in 2018 through 2022.
The technical correction has a retroactive effect for QIP that was placed in service in 2018 and 2019. Before the correction, QIP placed in service in those years generally had to be treated as nonresidential real property and depreciated over 39 years using the straight-line method.
15-year vs. bonus depreciation
Claiming 100% first-year bonus depreciation for QIP expenditures makes sense if your primary objective is to minimize taxable income for the year the QIP is placed in service. But should that be your primary objective? Here are three reasons you might choose to depreciate QIP over 15 years, rather than claim 100% first-year bonus depreciation:
1. You may qualify for a lower tax rate on any gain from depreciation. When you sell property for which you’ve claimed 100% bonus depreciation for QIP expenditures, any taxable gain up to the amount of the bonus depreciation is treated as higher-taxed ordinary income rather than lower-taxed long-term capital gain. Under the current federal income tax regime, ordinary income recognized by an individual taxpayer can be taxed at rates as high as 37%.
In contrast, if you depreciate QIP over 15 years using the straight-line method, the current maximum individual federal rate on long-term gain attributable to that depreciation is “only” 25%. The gain is so-called “unrecaptured Section 1250 gain,” which is basically a special category of long-term capital gain. Higher income individuals may also owe the 3.8% net investment income tax on both ordinary income gain and long-term gain attributable to real estate depreciation.
The point is, claiming 100% bonus depreciation for QIP expenditures on a property can cause a higher tax rate on part of your gain when you eventually sell the property. Of course, if you don’t anticipate selling for many years, this consideration is less important.
2. Depreciation deductions may be more valuable in future years. When you claim 100% first-year bonus depreciation for QIP expenditures, your depreciation deductions for future years are reduced by the bonus depreciation amount. If tax rates go up (or you end up in a higher tax bracket), you’ve effectively traded more valuable future-year depreciation write-offs for a less-valuable first-year bonus depreciation write-off. Of course, there’s no certainty about where future tax rates are headed.
3. Claiming 100% bonus depreciation may lower your deduction for qualified business income (QBI) from a pass-through entity. Under the Section 199 deduction, sole proprietors and individual taxpayers who own pass-through entities, such as partnerships, S corporations, and limited liability companies treated as sole proprietorships, partnerships or S corporations for tax purposes, can claim a federal income tax deduction for up to 20% of QBI from the business activity. However, the Sec. 199 deduction from an activity can’t exceed 20% of net income from that activity for the year, calculated before the Sec. 199 deduction.
Net income from the activity of renting out nonresidential property will usually count as QBI. But claiming 100% first-year bonus depreciation for QIP expenditures for the property will lower the net income and potentially result in a lower Sec. 199 deduction.
In addition, the Sec. 199 deduction for a year can’t exceed 20% of your taxable income for that year, calculated before the Sec. 199 deduction and before any net capital gain (net long-term capital gains in excess of net short-term capital losses plus qualified dividends). So, moves that reduce your taxable income — such as claiming 100% bonus depreciation for QIP expenditures — can potentially have the adverse side effect of reducing your allowable Sec. 199 deduction.
The Sec. 199 deduction may be a use-it-or-lose it proposition, because it’s scheduled to expire after 2025. And it could disappear sooner, depending on political developments. If you forgo claiming bonus depreciation, your Sec. 199 deduction may be higher — and the foregone depreciation isn’t lost. You’ll just deduct it in later years when write-offs also might be more valuable because tax rates are higher.
Amended return opportunity
It’s also important to keep in mind that the CARES Act’s technical correction retroactively affects how you can depreciate QIP that was placed in service in 2018 and 2019. So, you may benefit from amending your 2018 or 2019 federal income tax returns already filed. Contact your tax advisor to determine the right course of action based on your situation.
Relaxed limit on business interest deductions
To provide tax relief to businesses suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act temporarily relaxes the limitation on deductions for business interest expense. Here’s the story.
TCJA created new limitation
Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), some corporations were subject to the so-called “earnings stripping” rules. Those rules attempted to limit deductions by U.S. corporations for interest paid to related foreign entities that weren’t subject to U.S. income tax. Other taxpayers could generally fully deduct business interest expense (subject to other tax-law restrictions, such as the passive loss rules and the at-risk rules).
The TCJA shifted the business interest deduction playing field. For tax years beginning in 2018 and beyond, it limited a taxpayer’s deduction for business interest expense for the year to the sum of:
· Business interest income,
· 30% of adjusted taxable income (ATI), and
· Floor plan financing interest expense paid by certain vehicle dealers.
Business interest expense is defined as interest on debt that's properly allocable to a trade or business. However, the term trade or business doesn't include the following excepted activities:
· Performing services as an employee,
· Electing real property businesses,
· Electing farming businesses, and
· Selling electrical energy, water, sewage disposal services, gas or steam through a local distribution system, or transportation of gas or steam by pipeline, if the rates are established by a specified governing body.
Interest expense that’s disallowed under the limitation rules is carried forward to future tax years indefinitely and treated as business interest expense incurred in the carry-forward year.
Small business exception
Many businesses are exempt from the interest expense limitation rules under what we’ll call the small business exception. Under this exception, a taxpayer (other than a tax shelter) is exempt from the limitation if the taxpayer’s average annual gross receipts are $25 million or less for the three-tax-year period ending with the preceding tax year. Businesses that have fluctuating annual gross receipts may qualify for the small business exception for some years but not for others — depending on the average annual receipts amount for the preceding three-tax-year period.
For example, if your business has three good years, it may be subject to the interest expense limitation rules for the following year. But if your business has a bad year, it may qualify for the small business exception for the following year. If average annual receipts are typically over the $25 million threshold, but not by much, judicious planning may allow you to qualify for the small business exception for at least some years.
Special rules for partnerships and S corporations
The interest expense deduction limitation rules get more complicated for businesses operating as partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs) treated as partnerships for tax purposes and S corporations.
Basically, the limitation is calculated at both the entity level and at the owner level. Special rules prevent double counting of income when calculating an owner's ATI for purposes of applying the limitation rules at the owner level.
IRS proposed regs set forth the special rules for applying the business interest expense limitation to partnerships and S corporations and their owners. The rules are complex and present significant compliance challenges.
Favorable CARES Act changes
The CARES Act generally allows businesses, unless they elect otherwise, to increase the interest expense deduction limitation to 50% of ATI for tax years beginning in 2019 or 2020. Businesses can also elect to use 2019 ATI to calculate the 2020 ATI limitation, which can allow for a larger deduction if 2020 ATI is less, which may be the case for many businesses.
For partnerships (including LLCs treated as partnerships for tax purposes), the 30% of ATI limitation remains in place for tax years beginning in 2019 but is 50% for 2020. Disallowed partnership business interest expense from a partnership’s 2019 tax year is allocated to partners and carried over to their 2020 tax years.
Unless a partner elects otherwise, 50% of carried-over partnership business interest expense from 2019 is deductible in the partner’s 2020 tax year without regard to the business interest expense limitation rules. The remaining 50% is subject to the normal limitation rules, calculated at the partner level, for carried-over partnership business interest expense. Like other businesses, partnerships can elect to use 2019 ATI to calculate the 2020 ATI limitation.
Help is available
As you can see, the business interest expense limitation rules are complicated. The temporarily relaxed limitations can allow affected businesses to reduce their federal tax liabilities for 2019 and 2020. However, for partnerships and partners, limitation rules are relaxed only for 2020. Your tax advisor can help your business take advantage of the relaxed rules for business interest expense deductions and benefit from other tax relief measures made available by the CARES Act.
© 2020
Should you go phishing with your employees?
Every business owner is aware of the threat posed by cybercriminals. If a hacker were to gain access to the sensitive data about your business, customers or employees, the damage to your reputation and profitability could be severe.
You’re also probably aware of the specific danger of “phishing.” This is when a fraudster sends a phony communication (usually an email, but sometimes a text or instant message) that appears to be from a reputable source. The criminal’s objective is either to get recipients to reveal sensitive personal or company information or to click on a link exposing their computers to malicious software.
It’s a terrible thing to do, of course. Maybe you should give it a try.
An upfront investment
That’s right, many businesses are intentionally sending fake emails to their employees to determine how many recipients will fall for the scams and how much risk the companies face. These “phishing simulations” can be revealing and helpful, but they’re also fraught with hazards both financial and ethical.
On the financial side, a phishing simulation generally calls for an investment in software designed to create and distribute “realistic” phishing emails and then gather risk-assessment data. There are free, open-source platforms you might try. But their functionality is limited, and you’ll have to install and use them yourself without external tech support.
Commercially available phishing simulators are rich in features. Many come with educational tools so you can not only determine whether employees will fall for phishing scams, but also teach them how to avoid doing so. Developers typically offer installation assistance and ongoing support as well.
However, you’ll need to establish a budget and shop carefully. You must then regularly use the software as part of your company’s wider IT security measures to get an adequate return on investment.
Ethical quandaries
As mentioned, phishing simulations present ethical risks. Some might say that the very act of sending a deceptive email to employees is a betrayal of trust. What’s worse, if the simulated phishing message exploits particularly sensitive fears, you could incur a backlash from both employees and the public at large.
A major media company recently learned this the hard way when it tried to lure employees to respond to a phishing simulation email with promises of cash bonuses to those who remained on staff following layoffs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Users who “clicked through” were met with a shaming message that they’d just failed a cybersecurity test. Angry employees took to social media, the story spread and the company’s reputation as an employer took a major hit.
Plan carefully
Adding phishing simulations to your cybersecurity arsenal may be a good idea. Just bear in mind that these aren’t a “one and done” type of activity. Simulations must be part of a well-planned, long-term and broadly executed effort that seeks to empathetically educate users, not alienate them. Contact us to discuss ways to prudently handle IT costs.
© 2020
Now more than ever, carefully track payroll records
The subject of payroll has been top-of-mind for business owners this year. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered economic changes that caused considerable fluctuations in the size of many companies’ workforces. Employees have been laid off, furloughed and, in some cases, rehired. There has also been crisis relief for eligible businesses in the form of the Paycheck Protection Program and the payroll tax credit.
Payroll recordkeeping was important in the “old normal,” but it’s even more important now as businesses continue to navigate their way through a slowly recovering economy and ongoing public health crisis.
Four years
Most employers must withhold federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes from their employees’ paychecks. As such, you must keep records relating to these taxes for at least four years after the due date of an employee’s personal income tax return (generally, April 15) for the year in which the payment was made. This is often referred to as the “records-in-general rule.”
These records include your Employer Identification Number, as well as your employees’ names, addresses, occupations and Social Security numbers. You should also keep for four years the total amounts and dates of payments of compensation and amounts withheld for taxes or otherwise — including reported tips and the fair market value of noncash payments.
In addition, track and retain the compensation amounts subject to withholding for federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes, as well as the corresponding amounts withheld for each tax (and the date withheld if withholding occurred on a day different from the payment date). Where applicable, note the reason(s) why total compensation and taxable amount for each tax rate are different.
So much more
A variety of other data and documents fall under the records-in-general rule. Examples include:
The pay period covered by each payment of compensation,
Forms W-4, “Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate,” and
Each employee’s beginning and ending dates of employment.
If your business involves customer tipping, you should retain statements provided by employees reporting tips received. Also carefully track fringe benefits provided to employees, including any required substantiation. Retain evidence of adjustments or settlements of taxes and amounts and dates of tax deposits.
Follow the records-in-general rule, too, for records relating to wage continuation payments made to employees by the employer or third party under an accident or health plan. Documentation should include the beginning and ending dates of the period of absence, and the amount and weekly rate of each payment (including payments made by third parties).
Last, keep copies of each employee’s Form W-4S, “Request for Federal Income Tax Withholding From Sick Pay,” and, where applicable, copies of Form 8922, “Third-Party Sick Pay Recap.”
Valuable information
Proper and comprehensive payroll recordkeeping has become even more critical — and potentially more complex — this year. Our firm can help review your processes in this area and identify improvements that will enable you to avoid compliance problems and make better use of this valuable information.
© 2020
New business? It’s a good time to start a retirement plan
New business? It’s a good time to start a retirement plan
If you recently launched a business, you may want to set up a tax-favored retirement plan for yourself and your employees. There are several types of qualified plans that are eligible for these tax advantages:
A current deduction from income to the employer for contributions to the plan,
Tax-free buildup of the value of plan investments, and
The deferral of income (augmented by investment earnings) to employees until funds are distributed.
There are two basic types of plans.
Defined benefit pension plans
A defined benefit plan provides for a fixed benefit in retirement, based generally upon years of service and compensation. While defined benefit plans generally pay benefits in the form of an annuity (for example, over the life of the participant, or joint lives of the participant and his or her spouse), some defined benefit plans provide for a lump sum payment of benefits. In certain “cash balance plans,” the benefit is typically paid and expressed as a cash lump sum.
Adoption of a defined benefit plan requires a commitment to fund it. These plans often provide the greatest current deduction from income and the greatest retirement benefit, if the business owners are nearing retirement. However, the administrative expenses associated with defined benefit plans (for example, actuarial costs) can make them less attractive than the second type of plan.
Defined contribution plans
A defined contribution plan provides for an individual account for each participant. Benefits are based solely on the amount contributed to the participant’s account and any investment income, expenses, gains, losses and forfeitures (usually from departing employees) that may be allocated to a participant’s account. Profit-sharing plans and 401(k)s are defined contribution plans.
A 401(k) plan provides for employer contributions made at the direction of an employee under a salary reduction agreement. Specifically, the employee elects to have a certain amount of pay deferred and contributed by the employer on his or her behalf to the plan. Employee contributions can be made either:
On a pre-tax basis, saving employees current income tax on the amount contributed, or
On an after-tax basis. This includes Roth 401(k) contributions (if permitted), which will allow distributions (including earnings) to be made to the employee tax-free in retirement, if conditions are satisfied.
Automatic-deferral provisions, if adopted, require employees to opt out of participation.
An employer may, or may not, provide matching contributions on behalf of employees who make elective deferrals to the plan. Matching contributions may be subject to a vesting schedule. While 401(k) plans are subject to testing requirements, so that “highly compensated” employees don’t contribute too much more than non-highly-compensated employees, these tests can be avoided if you adopt a “safe harbor” 401(k) plan. A highly compensated employee in 2020 is defined as one who earned more than $130,000 in the preceding year.
There are other types of tax-favored retirement plans within these general categories, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).
Other plans
Small businesses can also adopt a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP), and receive similar tax advantages to “qualified” plans by making contributions on behalf of employees. And a business with 100 or fewer employees can establish a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE). Under a SIMPLE, generally an IRA is established for each employee and the employer makes matching contributions based on contributions elected by employees.
There may be other options. Contact us to discuss the types of retirement plans available to you.
© 2020
Inventory management is especially important this year
As year-end draws near, many businesses will be not only be generating their fourth quarter financial statements, but also looking back on the entire year’s financials. And what a year it’s been. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic fallout have likely affected your sales and expenses, and you’ve probably noticed the impact on both. However, don’t overlook the importance of inventory management and its impact on your financial statements.
Cut back as necessary
Carrying too much inventory can reflect poorly on a business as the value of surplus items drops throughout the year. In turn, your financial statements won’t look as good as they could if they report a substantial amount of unsold goods.
Taking stock and perhaps cutting back on excess inventory reduces interest and storage costs. Doing so also improves your ability to detect fraud and theft. Yet another benefit is that, if you conduct inventory checks regularly, your processes should evolve over time — increasing your capacity to track what’s in stock, what’s selling and what’s not.
One improvement to perhaps budget for here: upgraded inventory tracking and ordering software. Newer applications can help you better forecast demand, minimize overstocking, and share data with suppliers to improve accuracy and efficiency.
Make tough decisions
If yours is a more service-oriented business, you can apply a similar approach. Check into whether you’re “overstocking” on services that just aren’t adding enough revenue to the bottom line anymore. Keeping infrastructure and, yes, even employees in place that aren’t contributing to profitability is much like leaving items on the shelves that aren’t selling.
Making improvements may require some tough calls. Sadly, this probably wouldn’t be the first time you’ve had to make difficult decisions in recent months. Many business owners have had to lay off or furlough employees and substantively alter how they deliver their products or services during the COVID-19 crisis.
You might have long-time customers to whom you provide certain services that just aren’t profitable anymore. If your company might start losing money on these customers, you may have to discontinue the services and sacrifice their business.
You can ease difficult transitions like this by referring customers to another, reputable service provider. Meanwhile, your business should be looking to either find new service areas to generate revenue or expand existing services to more robust market segments.
Take a hard look
As of this writing, the economy appears to be slowly recovering for most (though not all) industries. An environment like this means every dollar is precious and any type of waste or redundancy is even more dangerous.
Take a hard look at your approach to inventory management, or how you’re managing the services you provide, to ensure you’re in step with the times. We can help your business implement cost-effective inventory tracking processes, as well as assist you in gaining key insights from your financial statements.
© 2020
The 2021 “Social Security wage base” is increasing
If your small business is planning for payroll next year, be aware that the “Social Security wage base” is increasing.
The Social Security Administration recently announced that the maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax will increase from $137,700 in 2020 to $142,800 in 2021.
For 2021, the FICA tax rate for both employers and employees is 7.65% (6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare).
For 2021, the Social Security tax rate is 6.2% each for the employer and employee (12.4% total) on the first $142,800 of employee wages. The tax rate for Medicare is 1.45% each for the employee and employer (2.9% total). There’s no wage base limit for Medicare tax so all covered wages are subject to Medicare tax.
In addition to withholding Medicare tax at 1.45%, an employer must withhold a 0.9% additional Medicare tax from wages paid to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year.
Employees working more than one job
You may have employees who work for your business and who also have a second job. They may ask if you can stop withholding Social Security taxes at a certain point in the year because they’ve already reached the Social Security wage base amount. Unfortunately, you generally can’t stop the withholding, but the employees will get a credit on their tax returns for any excess withheld.
Older employees
If your business has older employees, they may have to deal with the “retirement earnings test.” It remains in effect for individuals below normal retirement age (age 65 to 67 depending on the year of birth) who continue to work while collecting Social Security benefits. For affected individuals, $1 in benefits will be withheld for every $2 in earnings above $18,960 in 2021 (up from $18,240 in 2020).
For working individuals collecting benefits who reach normal retirement age in 2021, $1 in benefits will be withheld for every $3 in earnings above $46,920 (up from $48,600 in 2020), until the month that the individual reaches normal retirement age. After that month, there’s no limit on earnings.
Contact us if you have questions. We can assist you with the details of payroll taxes and keep you in compliance with payroll laws and regulations.
© 2020