If your business has co-owners, you probably need a buy-sell agreement
Are you buying a business that will have one or more co-owners? Or do you already own one fitting that description? If so, consider installing a buy-sell agreement. A well-drafted agreement can do these valuable things:
- Transform your business ownership interest into a more liquid asset,
- Prevent unwanted ownership changes, and
- Avoid hassles with the IRS.
Agreement basics
There are two basic types of buy-sell agreements: Cross-purchase agreements and redemption agreements (sometimes called liquidation agreements).
A cross-purchase agreement is a contract between you and the other co-owners. Under the agreement, a withdrawing co-owner’s ownership interest must be purchased by the remaining co-owners if a triggering event, such as a death or disability, occurs.
A redemption agreement is a contract between the business entity and its co-owners (including you). Under the agreement, a withdrawing co-owner’s ownership interest must be purchased by the entity if a triggering event occurs.
Triggering events
You and the other co-owners specify the triggering events you want to include in your agreement. You’ll certainly want to include obvious events like death, disability and attainment of a stated retirement age. You can also include other events that you deem appropriate, such as divorce.
Valuation and payment terms
Make sure your buy-sell agreement stipulates an acceptable method for valuing the business ownership interests. Common valuation methods include using a fixed per-share price, an appraised fair market value figure, or a formula that sets the selling price as a multiple of earnings or cash flow.
Also ensure the agreement specifies how amounts will be paid out to withdrawing co-owners or their heirs under various triggering events.
Life insurance to fund the agreement
The death of a co-owner is perhaps the most common, and catastrophic, triggering event. You can use life insurance policies to form the financial backbone of your buy-sell agreement.
In the simplest case of a cross-purchase agreement between two co-owners, each co-owner purchases a life insurance policy on the other. If one co-owner dies, the surviving co-owner collects the insurance death benefit proceeds and uses them to buy out the deceased co-owner’s interest from the estate, surviving spouse or other heir(s). The insurance death benefit proceeds are free of any federal income tax, so long as the surviving co-owner is the original purchaser of the policy on the other co-owner.
However, a seemingly simple cross-purchase arrangement between more than two co-owners can get complicated, because each co-owner must buy life insurance policies on all the other co-owners. In this scenario, you may want to use a trust or partnership to buy and maintain one policy on each co-owner. Then, if a co-owner dies, the trust or partnership collects the death benefit proceeds tax-free and distributes the cash to the remaining co-owners. They then use the money to fund their buyout obligations under the cross-purchase agreement.
To fund a redemption buy-sell agreement, the business entity itself buys policies on the lives of all co-owners and then uses the death benefit proceeds buy out deceased co-owners.
Specify in your agreement that any buyout that isn’t funded with insurance death benefit proceeds will be paid out under a multi-year installment payment arrangement. This gives you (and any remaining co-owners) some breathing room to come up with the cash needed to fulfill your buyout obligation.
Create certainty for heirs
If you’re like many business co-owners, the value of your share of the business comprises a big percentage of your estate. Having a buy-sell agreement ensures that your ownership interest can be sold by your heir(s) under terms that you approved when you set it up. Also, the price set by a properly drafted agreement establishes the value of your ownership interest for federal estate tax purposes, thus avoiding possible IRS hassles.
As a co-owner of a valuable business, having a well-drafted buy-sell agreement in place is pretty much a no-brainer. It provides financial protection to you and your heir(s) as well as to your co-owners and their heirs. The agreement also avoids hassles with the IRS over estate taxes.
Buy-sell agreements aren’t DIY projects. Contact us about setting one up.
© 2024
Six tax issues to consider if you’re getting divorced
Divorce entails difficult personal issues, and taxes are probably the farthest thing from your mind. However, several tax concerns may need to be addressed to ensure that taxes are kept to a minimum and that important tax-related decisions are properly made. Here are six issues to be aware of if you’re in the process of getting a divorce.
1. Personal residence sale
In general, if a couple sells their home in connection with a divorce or legal separation, they should be able to avoid tax on up to $500,000 of gain (as long as they’ve owned and used the home as their principal residence for two of the previous five years). If one former spouse continues to live in the home and the other moves out (but they both remain owners of the home), they may still be able to avoid gain on the future sale of the home (up to $250,000 each), but special language may have to be included in the divorce decree or separation agreement to protect this tax exclusion for the spouse who moves out.
If the couple doesn’t meet the two-year ownership and use tests, any gain from the sale may qualify for a reduced exclusion due to unforeseen circumstances.
2. Pension benefits
A spouse’s pension benefits are often part of a divorce property settlement. In these cases, the commonly preferred method to handle the benefits is to get a “qualified domestic relations order” (QDRO). This gives one former spouse the right to share in the pension benefits of the other and taxes the former spouse who receives the benefits. Without a QDRO, the former spouse who earned the benefits will still be taxed on them even though they’re paid out to the other former spouse.
3. Filing status
If you’re still married at the end of the year, but in the process of getting divorced, you’re still treated as married for tax purposes. We’ll help you determine how to file your 2024 tax return — as married filing jointly or married filing separately. Some separated individuals may qualify for “head of household” status if they meet the requirements.
4. Alimony or support payments
For alimony under divorce or separation agreements that are executed after 2018, there’s no deduction for alimony and separation support payments for the former spouse making them. And the alimony payments aren’t included in the gross income of the former spouse receiving them. (The rules are different for divorce or separation agreements executed before 2019.) This was a change made in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. However, unlike some provisions of the law that are temporary, the repeal of alimony and support payment deduction is permanent.
5. Child support and child-related tax return filing
No matter when the divorce or separation instrument is executed, child support payments aren’t deductible by the paying former spouse (or taxable to the recipient). You and your ex-spouse will also need to determine who will claim your child or children on your tax returns in order to claim related tax breaks.
6. Business interests
If certain types of business interests are transferred in connection with divorce, care should be taken to make sure “tax attributes” aren’t forfeited. For example, interests in S corporations may result in “suspended” losses (losses that are carried into future years instead of being deducted in the year they’re incurred). When these interests change hands in a divorce, the suspended losses may be forfeited. If a partnership interest is transferred, a variety of more complex issues may arise involving partners’ shares of partnership debt, capital accounts, built-in gains on contributed property and other complex issues.
A range of tax challenges
These are just some of the issues you may have to cope with if you’re getting a divorce. In addition, you may need to adjust your income tax withholding, and you should notify the IRS of any new address or name change. There are also estate planning considerations. We can help you tackle the financial issues involved in divorce.
© 2024
Vroom vroom: What businesses should know about sales velocity
Owning and running a company tends to test one’s patience. You wait for strategies to play out. You wait for materials, supplies or equipment to arrive. You wait for key positions to be filled. But, when it comes to sales, how patient should you be? A widely used metric called “sales velocity” can help you decide.
Four-point formula
In a nutshell, sales velocity tells you how quickly deals move through the various stages of your sales cycle to fruition, where revenue is generated.
Putting a number to sales velocity can enable you to benchmark it internally going forward, typically with the goal of speeding it up. Or you may even be able to find industry standards, so you can benchmark your number against those of other similar companies.
So, how do you calculate it? The most widely used formula for sales velocity comprises four components measured over a predetermined period:
- Number of qualified opportunities (leads that meet certain criteria),
- Average deal value in dollars,
- Win rate (percentage of opportunities converted to actual sales), and
- Sales cycle length in months.
The formula is then expressed as:
Sales Velocity = Opportunities × Deal Value × Win Rate / Sales Cycle Length.
How often you should assess sales velocity depends on your strategic goals. If you really want to improve it, calculate the formula quarterly so you can see how quickly or slowly deals are moving over a year or more. If you’re approaching the subject from more of a curiosity standpoint, you might calculate it annually or semi-annually.
Common challenges
When businesses begin calculating and tracking sales velocity, they run into a variety of common challenges.
First, you might have trouble locating or trusting the four data points included in the formula. If you’re not tracking them regularly, or the information you have is inconsistent or contradictory, you won’t get much benefit from the metric.
In such situations, you’ll probably need to reassess and improve how your business gathers sales data. Make sure you have the right software for your company size and type, and that everyone is using it regularly and properly.
Assuming your data is solid, you might eventually be able to diagnose your business with other typical maladies related to suboptimal sales velocity. One example: lack of alignment between marketing and sales. If the marketing department is focused on certain features or solutions related to your products or services, but your sales staff must constantly readjust the expectations of prospects and customers, closing deals can take much longer.
Other times, sales velocity can reveal issues with the quality or volume of qualified opportunities. It all starts with your leads; bad or shaky ones usually take much longer to turn into qualified opportunities. And even if they do, the criteria used to classify leads as qualified opportunities may be flawed. Also, sometimes businesses overfocus on volume of leads and opportunities. If you’re chasing too many prospects, your sales cycle will tend to take much longer to play out.
Last, there’s the most obvious problem: Your sales processes are too complicated! Sales velocity can often be increased by simplifying workflows, reducing unnecessary steps and redundancies, improving internal or external communication (or both), and upskilling salespeople.
Sweet spot
Although it’s tempting to want to make your sales cycle as short as possible, you don’t want to rush things recklessly. The optimal goal of sales velocity is to find your sweet spot and then make continuous improvements and adjustments to stay there. Our firm can help you gather, organize and analyze your sales data.
© 2024
Closing a business involves a number of tax responsibilities
While many facets of the economy have improved this year, the rising cost of living and other economic factors have caused many businesses to close their doors. If this is your situation, we can help you, including taking care of various tax responsibilities.
To start with, a business must file a final federal income tax return and some other related forms for the year it closes its doors. The type of return that must be filed depends on the type of business you have. For example:
- Sole Proprietors will need to file the usual Schedule C, “Profit or Loss from Business,” with their individual returns for the year they close their businesses. They may also need to report self-employment tax.
- Partnerships must file Form 1065, “U.S. Return of Partnership Income,” for the year they close. They also must report capital gains and losses on Schedule D. They indicate that this is the final return and do the same on Schedule K-1, “Partner’s Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc.”
- All Corporations need to file Form 966, “Corporate Dissolution or Liquidation,” if they adopt a resolution or plan to dissolve an entity or liquidate any of its stock.
- C Corporations must file Form 1120, “U.S. Corporate Income Tax Return,” for the year they close. They report capital gains and losses on Schedule D and indicate this is the final return.
- S Corporations need to file Form 1120-S, “U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation,” for the year of closing. They report capital gains and losses on Schedule D. The “final return” box must be checked on Schedule K-1.
- All Businesses may need to be filed other tax forms to report sales of business property and asset acquisitions if they sell the business.
Tying up loose ends with workers
If you have employees, you must pay them final wages and compensation owed, make final federal tax deposits and report employment taxes. Failure to withhold or deposit employee income, Social Security and Medicare taxes can result in full personal liability for what’s known as the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty.
If you’ve paid any contractors at least $600 during the calendar year in which you close your business, you must report those payments on Form 1099-NEC, “Nonemployee Compensation.”
You may face more obligations
If your business has a retirement plan for employees, you’ll generally need to terminate the plan and distribute benefits to participants. There are detailed notice, funding, timing and filing requirements that must be met when terminating a plan. There are also complex requirements related to flexible spending accounts, Health Savings Accounts, and other programs for employees.
We can assist you with many other complicated tax issues related to closing your business, including debt cancellation, use of net operating losses, freeing up any remaining passive activity losses, depreciation recapture, and possible bankruptcy issues.
You also must cancel your Employer Identification Number (EIN) and close your IRS business account. In addition, you need to keep business records for a certain amount of time.
If your business is unable to pay all the taxes it owes, we can explain the available payment options to you. Contact us to discuss these responsibilities and get answers to any questions.
© 2024
How are Series EE savings bonds taxed?
Savings bonds are purchased by many Americans, often as a way to help fund college or show their patriotism. Series EE bonds, which replaced Series E bonds, were first issued in 1980. From 2001 to 2011, they were designated as “Patriot Bonds” as a way for Americans “to express support for our nation’s anti-terrorism efforts,” according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Perhaps you purchased some Series EE bonds many years ago and put them in a file cabinet or safe deposit box. Or maybe you bought them electronically and don’t think about them often. You may wonder: How is the interest you earn on EE bonds taxed? And if they reach final maturity, what steps do you need to take to ensure there’s no loss of interest or unanticipated tax consequences?
How interest accrues
Series EE bonds don’t pay interest currently. Instead, the accrued interest is reflected in the redemption value of the bond. The U.S. Treasury issues tables showing the redemption values.
The interest on EE bonds isn’t taxed as it accrues unless the owner elects to have it taxed annually. If an election is made, all previously accrued but untaxed interest is also reported in the election year. In most cases, this election isn’t made, so bond holders receive the benefits of tax deferral.
If the election to report the interest annually is made, it will apply to all bonds and for all future years. That is, the election cannot be made on a bond-by-bond or year-by-year basis. However, there’s a procedure under which the election can be canceled.
If the election isn’t made, all the accrued interest is finally taxed when the bond is redeemed or otherwise disposed of (unless it was exchanged for a Series HH bond).
Note: Interest on EE bonds isn’t subject to state income tax. And using the money for higher education may keep you from paying federal income tax on the interest.
Reaching final maturity
One of the main reasons for buying EE bonds is the fact that interest can build up without having to currently report or pay tax on it. Unfortunately, the law doesn’t allow for this tax-free buildup to continue indefinitely. When the bonds reach final maturity, they stop earning interest.
Series EE bonds issued in January 1994 reached final maturity after 30 years, in January 2024. That means that not only have they stopped earning interest, but all the accrued and as yet untaxed interest is taxable in 2024.
If you own EE bonds (paper or electronic), check the issue dates on your bonds. If they’re no longer earning interest, you probably want to redeem them and put the money into something more profitable. One option is Series I bonds, which feature an interest rate based on inflation. Contact us if you have any questions about savings bond taxation.
© 2024
Strategic planning for businesses needs to include innovation
When the leadership teams of many companies engage in strategic planning, they may be inclined to play it safe. And that’s understandable; sticking to strengths and slow, measured growth are often safe pathways to success.
But substantial growth — and, in some industries, just staying competitive — calls for innovation. That’s why, as your business looks to the future, be sure you’re creating an environment where you and your employees can innovate in ways big or small.
Encourage ideas
It’s sometimes assumed that innovation requires limitless resources or is solely the province of those in technical or research roles. But every department, from accounting to human resources, can come up with ways to work more efficiently or even devise a game-changing product or service concept.
Developing an innovative business culture typically calls for actively encouraging employees to come up with ideas and explore their feasibility without fear of making mistakes. As part of your strategic plan every year, challenge staff to identify problems, ask questions, and seek out solutions and answers. In addition, build and maintain a strong structure for innovation. Doing so includes:
- Establishing policies that promote research and development,
- Incorporating discussions about innovation into performance reviews,
- Allowing some or all employees to occasionally shift from their usual responsibilities to focus on innovative processes or new product or service ideas, and
- Allocating funds to innovation in the company budget.
Ideas can come from other sources, too. For example, what do your customers complain about or ask for? Customer feedback can be an excellent source of innovative concepts. Encourage employees to engage in conversations with customers about what new products or services they may be looking for, as well as about ways to improve your current ones.
Hold brainstorming sessions
Innovation is rarely a straight shot. Outrageous, seemingly unworkable ideas may be the genesis of concepts that ultimately prove both viable and profitable. Employees need to be confident they can propose ideas without fear of ridicule or adverse employment actions. One way to make this happen is through regularly scheduled strategic innovation brainstorming sessions. The goal of these meetings is to help staff get comfortable suggesting bold ideas without censoring themselves or harshly criticizing others. Make it clear to participants that there are no bad ideas.
Be sure to include employees from throughout the business. People tend to feel comfortable with co-workers they know well and work with regularly, but “echo chambers” may develop that limit the feasibility of ideas. Staff members from other departments are often able to provide different perspectives. They can help employees with ideas question their assumptions and view concepts from different angles. In other words, when pursuing prospective innovations, it’s helpful to assemble cross-functional teams that can cover more ground.
Find your next breakthrough
Waiting around for the next big breakthrough in your business or industry to fall in your lap is a huge gamble. By making room for innovation in your strategic planning, you’ll increase the likelihood that you’ll find it.
© 2024
Business website expenses: How they’re handled for tax purposes
Most businesses have websites today. Despite their widespread use, the IRS hasn’t issued formal guidance on when website costs can be deducted.
But there are established rules that generally apply to the deductibility of business expenses and provide business taxpayers launching a website with some guidance about proper treatment. In addition, businesses can turn to IRS guidance on software costs. Here are some answers to questions you may have.
What are the tax differences between hardware and software?
Let’s start with the hardware you may need to operate a website. The costs fall under the standard rules for depreciable equipment. Specifically, for 2024, once these assets are operating, you can deduct 60% of the cost in the first year they’re placed in service. This favorable treatment is allowed under the first-year bonus depreciation break.
Note: The bonus depreciation rate was 100% for property placed in service in 2022 and was reduced to 80% in 2023, 60% in 2024 and it will continue to decrease until it’s fully phased out in 2027 (unless Congress acts to extend or increase it).
Alternatively, you may be able to deduct all or most of these costs in the year the assets are placed in service under the Section 179 first-year depreciation deduction privilege. However, Sec. 179 deductions are subject to several limitations.
For tax years beginning in 2024, the maximum Sec. 179 deduction is $1.22 million, subject to a phaseout rule. Under the rule, the deduction is phased out if more than a specified amount ($3.05 million in 2024) of qualified property is placed in service during the year.
There’s also a taxable income limit. Under it, your Sec. 179 deduction can’t exceed your business taxable income. In other words, Sec. 179 deductions can’t create or increase an overall tax loss. However, any Sec. 179 deduction amount that you can’t immediately deduct is carried forward and can be deducted in later years (to the extent permitted by the applicable limits).
Similar rules apply to purchased off-the-shelf software. However, software license fees are treated differently from purchased software costs for tax purposes. Payments for leased or licensed software used for your website are currently deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses.
Was the software developed internally?
If, instead of being purchased, the website is designed in-house by the taxpayer launching it (or designed by a contractor who isn’t at risk if the software doesn’t perform), bonus depreciation applies to the extent described above. If bonus depreciation doesn’t apply, the taxpayer can either:
- Deduct the development costs in the year paid or incurred, or
- Choose one of several alternative amortization periods over which to deduct the costs.
Generally, the only allowable treatment will be to amortize the costs over the five-year period beginning with the midpoint of the tax year in which the expenditures are paid or incurred.
If your website is primarily for advertising, you can currently deduct internal website software development costs as ordinary and necessary business expenses.
What if you pay a third party?
Some companies hire third parties to set up and run their websites. In general, payments to third parties are currently deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses.
What about expenses before business begins?
Start-up expenses can include website development costs. Up to $5,000 of otherwise deductible expenses that are incurred before your business commences can generally be deducted in the year business commences. However, if your start-up expenses exceed $50,000, the $5,000 current deduction limit starts to be chipped away. Above this amount, you must capitalize some, or all, of your start-up expenses and amortize them over 60 months, starting with the month that business commences.
We can help
We can determine the appropriate tax treatment of website costs. Contact us if you want more information.
© 2024
The tax implications of disability income benefits
Many Americans receive disability income. Are you one of them, or will you soon be? If so, you may ask: Is the income taxed and if it is, how? It depends on the type of disability benefit and your overall income.
The key issue is: Who paid for the benefit? If the income is paid directly to you by your employer, it’s taxable to you just as your ordinary salary would be. (Taxable benefits are also subject to federal income tax withholding. However, depending on the employer’s disability plan, in some cases they aren’t subject to Social Security tax.)
Frequently, the payments aren’t made by an employer but by an insurance company under a policy providing disability coverage. In other cases, they’re made under an arrangement having the effect of accident or health insurance. In these cases, the tax treatment depends on who paid for the insurance coverage. If your employer paid for it, then the income is taxed to you just as if it was paid directly to you by the employer. On the other hand, if it’s a policy you paid for, the payments you receive under it aren’t taxable.
Even if your employer arranges for the coverage (in a policy made available to you at work), the benefits aren’t taxed to you if you (and not your employer) pay the premiums. For these purposes, if the premiums are paid by the employer but the amount paid is included as part of your taxable income from work, the premiums will be treated as paid by you. In these cases, the tax treatment of the benefits received depends on the tax treatment of the premiums paid.
Illustrative example
Let’s say your salary is $1,050 a week ($54,600 a year). Additionally, under a disability insurance arrangement made available to you by your employer, $15 a week ($780 annually) is paid on your behalf by your employer to an insurance company. You include $55,380 in income as your wages for the year ($54,600 paid to you plus $780 in disability insurance premiums). Under these circumstances, the insurance is treated as paid for by you. If you become disabled and receive benefits under the policy, the benefits aren’t taxable income to you.
Now assume that you include only $54,600 in income as your wages for the year because the amount paid for the insurance coverage qualifies as excludable under the rules for employer-provided health and accident plans. In this case, the insurance is treated as paid for by the employer. If you become disabled and receive benefits under the policy, the benefits are taxable income to you.
There are special rules if there is a permanent loss (or loss of the use) of a member or function of the body or a permanent disfigurement. In these cases, employer disability payments aren’t taxed, as long as they aren’t computed based on amount of time lost from work.
Social Security disability benefits
This discussion doesn’t cover the tax treatment of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. They may be taxed to you under the rules that govern Social Security benefits. These rules make a portion of SSDI benefits taxable if your annual income exceeds $25,000 for individuals and $32,000 for married couples.
State rules may differ
If you receive disability benefits, your state may or not tax them. Consult with us to find out and to discuss this issue further.
When deciding how much disability coverage you need to protect yourself and your family, take the tax treatment into consideration. If you’re buying a private policy yourself, you only have to replace your “after tax” (take-home) income because your benefits won’t be taxed. On the other hand, if your employer is paying for the benefit, keep in mind that you’ll lose a percentage of it to taxes. If your current coverage is insufficient, you may want to supplement the employer benefit with a policy you take out on your own.
© 2024
Would an adoption assistance program suit your company?
There’s no one-size-fits-all benefits package for today’s businesses. The optimal combination of tax-friendly fringe benefits depends on various factors, including the size and demographics of your workforce. One option to consider, if you haven’t already, is an adoption assistance program.
Purpose and covered expenses
The purpose of adoption assistance programs is to provide participants with payments or reimbursements for qualified adoption expenses. Under the Internal Revenue Code, such programs must adhere to formal, written plan documents that specify the terms under which payments or reimbursements will be provided.
Adoption assistance programs are generally funded by employers. Because of the relatively limited number of potential participants, they’re often offered as a menu item in cafeteria plans.
To qualify for favorable tax treatment, program benefits must be provided, as mentioned, under a written plan document. In addition, all eligible employees must be notified about the program’s existence — even if they’re unlikely to be interested in participating. Businesses can’t set up programs to discriminate in favor of owners, officers or highly paid employees.
Qualified adoption expenses must be “reasonable and necessary” and meet other requirements. Some expenses typically covered under an adoption assistance program include:
- Adoption agency fees,
- Court costs,
- Attorneys’ fees,
- Travel costs (including meals and lodging), and
- Additional expenses incurred to adopt a foreign child.
Programs may set annual or lifetime limits on the dollar amount of benefits that participants can receive.
Tax and nontax advantages
Normally, taxpayers can claim a credit for qualified adoption expenses on their federal tax returns, up to a stated annual limit. Although the credit isn’t available for payments or reimbursements received through an employer’s adoption assistance program, qualified adoption expenses reimbursed through an eligible program are tax-free to employees up to the program’s stated limit.
Let’s back up. Under the Internal Revenue Code, an employee can exclude from tax up to a maximum of $16,810 in eligible adoption expenses in 2024. This amount is exempt from income tax withholding and “FICA” tax (payroll tax under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act). In 2024, FICA tax is 6.2% on the first $168,600 of wages along with a 1.45% Medicare tax. These rates also apply to the employer’s share of FICA tax. (Note: There’s no exclusion for federal unemployment tax under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, commonly referred to as “FUTA.”)
However, you may establish your own annual limits on qualified adoption expense payments or reimbursements under the program (and in the plan document) that are less than the federal maximum exclusion amount — for instance $5,000 or $10,000. If you choose this option, a portion of the benefits that participants receive may be subject to taxes. Also, you’re responsible for reporting payment or reimbursement amounts to participating employees on their Forms W-2, “Wage and Tax Statement.”
Bear in mind that businesses can’t claim a tax credit for paying or reimbursing adoption expenses. However, as with other fringe benefits, companies generally can deduct expenses incurred to launch and administer the program.
There are also nontax advantages to adoption assistance programs. Many companies add them to their cafeteria plan menu to help attract a wider array of job candidates. Programs that make adoption more affordable can also increase staff loyalty and enhance your employer brand as a family-friendly business that respects work-life balance.
One option among many
Again, an adoption assistance program represents just one type of fringe benefit among many possibilities. But if it’s something that your employees would value — and that would likely draw quality job candidates in your industry — you should probably take a closer look. We can help you assess the costs, potential advantages and risks, and tax impact of any fringe benefit your business is considering.
© 2024
The possible tax landscape for businesses in the future
Get ready: The upcoming presidential and congressional elections may significantly alter the tax landscape for businesses in the United States. The reason has to do with a tax law that’s scheduled to expire in about 17 months and how politicians in Washington would like to handle it.
How we got here
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which generally took effect in 2018, made extensive changes to small business taxes. Many of its provisions are set to expire on December 31, 2025.
As we get closer to the law sunsetting, you may be concerned about the future federal tax bill of your business. The impact isn’t clear because the Democrats and Republicans have different views about how to approach the various provisions in the TCJA.
Corporate and pass-through business rates
The TCJA cut the maximum corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. It also lowered rates for individual taxpayers involved in noncorporate pass-through entities, including S corporations and partnerships, as well as from sole proprietorships. The highest rate today is 37%, down from 39.6% before the TCJA became effective.
But while the individual rate cuts expire in 2025, the law made the corporate tax cut “permanent.” (In other words, there’s no scheduled expiration date. However, tax legislation could still raise or lower the corporate tax rate.)
In addition to lowering rates, the TCJA affects tax law in many other ways. For small business owners, one of the most significant changes is the potential expiration of the Section 199A qualified business income (QBI) deduction. This is the write-off for up to 20% of QBI from noncorporate entities.
Another of the expiring TCJA business provisions is the gradual phaseout of first-year bonus depreciation. Under the TCJA,100% bonus depreciation was available for qualified new and used property that was placed in service in calendar year 2022. It was reduced to 80% in 2023, 60% in 2024, 40% in 2025, 20% in 2026 and 0% in 2027.
Potential Outcomes
The outcome of the presidential election in three months, as well as the balance of power in Congress, will determine the TCJA’s future. Here are four potential outcomes:
- All of the TCJA provisions scheduled to expire will actually expire at the end of 2025.
- All of the TCJA provisions scheduled to expire will be extended past 2025 (or made permanent).
- Some TCJA provisions will be allowed to expire, while others will be extended (or made permanent).
- Some or all of the temporary TCJA provisions will expire — and new laws will be enacted that provide different tax breaks and/or different tax rates.
How your tax bill will be affected in 2026 will partially depend on which one of these outcomes actually happens and whether your tax bill went down or up when the TCJA became effective years ago. That was based on a number of factors including your business income, your filing status, where you live (the SALT limitation negatively affects taxpayers in certain states), and whether you have children or other dependents.
Your tax situation will also be affected by who wins the presidential election and who controls Congress because Democrats and Republicans have competing visions about how to proceed. Keep in mind that tax proposals can become law only if tax legislation passes both houses of Congress and is signed by the President (or there are enough votes in Congress to override a presidential veto).
Look to the future
As the TCJA provisions get closer to expiring, and the election gets settled, it’s important to know what might change and what tax-wise moves you can make if the law does change. We can answer any questions you have and you can count on us to keep you informed about the latest news.
© 2024