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Tax-saving tips

New FinCEN Filings Go into Effect on January 1

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FinCEN Filings

For existing businesses, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) goes into effect on January 1, 2024, and imposes a brand-new federal filing requirement on most corporations, limited liability companies, and limited partnerships and on certain other business entities. 

No later than December 31, 2024, all non-exempt business entities must file a beneficial owner information report (BOI report) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)—the Treasury Department’s financial intelligence unit.

The BOI reports must disclose the identities and provide contact information for all of the entity’s “beneficial owners”: the humans who either (1) control 25 percent of the ownership interests in the entity or (2) exercise substantial control over the entity. 

Your BOI report must contain all the following information for each beneficial owner:

  • Full legal name
  • Date of birth
  • Complete current residential street address
  • A unique identifying number from either a current U.S. passport, state or local ID document, or driver’s license or, if the individual has none of those, a foreign passport
  • An image of the document from which the unique identifying number was obtained

FinCEN will create a new database called BOSS (Beneficial Ownership Secure System) for the BOI data and will deploy the BOSS to help law enforcement agencies prevent the use of anonymous shell companies for money laundering, tax evasion, terrorism, and other illegal purposes. It will not make the BOI reports publicly available.

The CTA applies only to business entities such as corporations and LLCs that are formed by filing a document with a state secretary of state or similar official. It also applies to foreign business entities that register to do business in the United States.

Some businesses are exempt from the CTA, including 

  • larger businesses with 20 or more employees and $5 million in receipts, and 
  • businesses already heavily regulated by the government, such as publicly traded corporations, banks, insurance companies, non-profits, and others.

The CTA does not apply to sole proprietors or general partnerships in most states. But it does apply to single-member LLCs, even though the tax code disregards such entities and taxes them on Schedule C, E, or F of Form 1040.

The initial BOI report filing does not expire, and you don’t need to renew it. But you have an ongoing duty to keep the BOI report up to date by reporting any changes to FinCEN within 30 days of occurrence.

Failure to comply can result in hefty monetary penalties and up to two years in prison.

Beat the Net Investment Income Tax 

Here is some important information regarding the net investment income tax (NIIT), which may be relevant to your financial situation.

NIIT Overview

The NIIT is a 3.8 percent tax that could apply if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeds $200,000 (single filers), $250,000 (married, filing jointly), or $125,000 (married, filing separately). It targets the lesser of your net investment income or the amount by which your MAGI exceeds the thresholds.

What Qualifies as Net Investment Income?

Net investment income includes income from investments (such as interest, dividends, and annuities), net rental income, and income from businesses in which you don’t materially participate. It does not include wages, self-employment income, tax-exempt income, and distributions from qualified retirement plans.

Reducing or Avoiding the NIIT

To mitigate the NIIT, it’s crucial to understand what’s triggering it—your net investment income or your MAGI. Here are some strategies:

  1. Invest in municipal bonds. Pick bonds that are exempt from the NIIT and from federal and state taxes.
  2. Donate appreciated assets. The correct asset donation avoids the NIIT and provides a tax deduction.
  3. Avoid selling appreciated stock. Buy growth stocks that don’t pay dividends, and hold them. 
  4. Utilize Section 1031. It avoids MAGI and net investment income, and defers taxes.
  5. Invest in life insurance and annuities. This typically defers tax until withdrawal.
  6. Harvest investment losses. This can offset gains and reduce taxable income.
  7. Invest in rental real estate. Structured correctly, this can minimize taxable income.

Other Strategies

  • Active participation in business. It avoids classifying income as net investment income.
  • Short-term rentals and real estate professional status. These also avoid classifying income as net investment income.
  • Alternative marital status. Though this option may seem extreme, two single taxpayers have a higher MAGI threshold than a married couple.
  • Retirement plan investments. These can reduce MAGI.
  • IRA conversions. Converting traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs may trigger the NIIT but can have long-term tax benefits.
  • Installment sales. They can level out MAGI over time.

The NIIT can be complex, but strategic planning can significantly reduce its impact.

Deducting Start-up Expenses for a Rental Property

Are you interested in becoming a commercial or residential landlord? 

If so, you’ll likely have to shell out plenty of money before ever collecting a dime in rent. The tax code treats some of those monies as start-up expenses.

Start-up expenses are some of the costs you incur before you offer a property for rent. There are two broad categories:

  1. Investigatory 
  2. Pre-opening costs, such as advertising, office expenses, salaries, insurance, and maintenance costs

Your cost of purchasing a rental property is not a start-up expense. Rental property and other long-term assets, such as furniture, must be depreciated once the rental business begins.

On the day you start your rental business, you can elect to deduct your start-up expenses.

The deduction is equal to

  • the lesser of your start-up expenditures or $5,000, reduced (but not below zero) by the amount by which such start-up expenditures exceed $50,000, plus
  • amortization of the remaining start-up expenses over the 180-month period beginning with the month in which the rental property business begins.

When you file your tax return, you automatically elect to deduct your start-up expenses when you label and deduct them on your Schedule E (or other appropriate return). 

Costs you pay to form a partnership, limited liability company, or corporation are not part of your start-up expenses. But under a different tax rule, you can deduct up to $5,000 of these costs the first year you’re in business and amortize any remaining costs over the first 180 months you are in business.

Note that the cost of expanding an existing business is a business operating expense, not a start-up expense. As long as business expansion costs are ordinary, necessary, and within the compass of your existing rental business, they are deductible.

The IRS and tax court take the position that your rental business exists only in your property’s geographic area. So, a landlord who buys (or seeks to buy) property in a different area is starting a new rental business, which means the expenses for expanding in the new location are start-up expenses.

You can’t deduct start-up expenses if you’re a mere investor in a rental business. You must be an active rental business owner to deduct them. 

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Donating Clothing to Goodwill and the Salvation Army

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Donating Clothing to Goodwill and the Salvation Army

As the year comes to a close, many taxpayers consider making clothing and household item donations both to give back and to optimize their tax deductions.

Recent cases, like the one involving Duncan Bass, underscore the significance of understanding and adhering to IRS regulations related to these contributions.

Mr. Bass made an astonishing 172 trips to Goodwill and the Salvation Army, strategically ensuring that each donation receipt remained below the $250 threshold. Unfortunately, he didn’t account for the rules on (a) aggregation of similar items and (b) appraisals.

But before delving into aggregation and appraisal, let’s clarify the $250 rule. If you make a single charitable contribution of $250 or more, you must obtain written acknowledgment from the charitable organization to validate your deduction. This is often referred to as a “contemporaneous written acknowledgment.”

  • It confirms the amount of cash or describes any property you contributed.
  • It must indicate whether the charity provided you with any goods or services in return for the gift. If so, it must furnish a description and a good faith estimate of the value of those goods or services.
  • If applicable, it must specify that the only benefit you received was an intangible religious benefit.

If you make multiple smaller gifts to the same charity throughout the year, you’ll need acknowledgment only if any single gift is $250 or more.

Determining fair market value can be the most challenging aspect. The fair market value is not what you originally paid for an item; rather, it’s what it’s worth presently. Numerous reputable resources, such as The Salvation Army and Goodwill, offer donation value guides.

If you claim a deduction of over $5,000 for a non-cash charitable contribution of one item or a group of similar items, you must obtain a qualified appraisal for that item or group of items and attach it to your tax return.

Key point. A “group of similar items” can trigger the appraisal requirement. This is precisely what occurred in Mr. Bass’s case. His 172 trips comprised clothing donations totaling $13,852 and $11,594 for the two years before the court—well surpassing the $5,000 appraisal requirement for the group.

Deduct Travel by Car, Train, Plane, or Boat

Say you are going to travel from your home in Washington, D.C., to San Francisco.

Will the tax law allow you to travel to San Francisco by car, train, plane, or boat, your choice?

Answer. Yes. But special rules apply. You need to know these rules to guarantee your deductions.

Travel by Car

The tax code does not dictate the fastest or cheapest form of travel. Therefore, you can travel for business by automobile or other vehicle from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco.

When you travel by automobile, your direct route expenses for meals, lodging, and other costs of sustaining life on the road are deductible in addition to the vehicle expenses.

Side trips, say to the Grand Canyon, count as personal days and miles. You can combine business and pleasure, but you can deduct only the business part.

Business Day

You might ask: how many miles do I have to drive in my direct route to qualify the day as a business day? There’s no guidance here. This is a facts and circumstances test. Here are some facts and circumstances.

You need to prove that your days traveling in the direct route to San Francisco were business days. In general, this requires passing the primary purpose test, where time spent is an important factor.

Example. On day three of the trip, you spend one hour packing and unpacking and five hours driving 300 miles in a direct route from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. Day three of this trip is a business day. Your miles are business miles. In addition, you deduct your meals, lodging, and other expenses of sustaining life for the day.

What If You Bring Your Family?

When you travel by car, you spend nothing extra to have the family in the car.

But family presence makes the trip smell more like a vacation than a business trip. This gives you another good reason to make sure your records are in good shape. 

Example. You stop at a hotel and the single rate is $209 a night and the two-person rate is $229. You are limited to the $209 rate—what it would have cost if you traveled alone.

With meals, your business meals are deductible. Meals for your other family members are non-deductible personal meals.

Travel by Train

Your travel by train faces no special rules other than the reasonably direct route.

You can deduct the cost of the tickets if you buy sleeping rooms or simply travel by first class or coach.

Example. You travel for business from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco by train. You buy a sleeping room on the train for the trip. Your Amtrak travel fare is $3,000, and it is fully deductible.

Travel by Plane

By plane, you can travel in coach, in first class, by charter, or in your own aircraft.

No special rules apply to commercial travel. You simply deduct the cost of getting to your business destination by a reasonably direct route. 

Example. Say that on your trip from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, you take a side trip to Kansas City. You figure your deduction based on the direct route airfare and deduct that. Say you spent $900 on the trip that included Kansas City. If the direct route fare to San Francisco was $500, you deduct $500, and $400 is the cost of your personal side trip.

Travel by Boat

Special rules apply to travel by boat. For this purpose, your boat is considered a cruise ship, and any vessel that sails is a cruise ship.

If you travel by cruise ship from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, you may not deduct more than the daily luxury boat limits, which for 2023 are as follows:

  • $1,128 a day from 1/1 to 3/31
  • $996 a day from 4/1 to 4/30
  • $796 a day from 5/1 to 5/31
  • $1,076 a day from 6/1 to 9/30 
  • $776 a day from 10/1 to 10/31 
  • $734 a day from 11/1 to 11/30
  • $1,128 a day from 12/1 to 12/31

Example. You travel from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco in November by cruise ship. It takes 10 days. The law limits your cruise ship deduction to a maximum of $7,340 per business traveler ($734 x 10).

Tax-Free Rental Income with the Augusta Rule

The Augusta rule gets its name from the Masters Golf Tournament, where some members and others who live in the area receive tax-free rent by renting their homes for a week or two. You don’t have to live in Augusta to benefit from this rule.

IRC Section 280A(g), also known as the Augusta rule, states: “Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or section 183, if a dwelling unit is used during the taxable year by the taxpayer as a residence and such dwelling unit is actually rented for less than 15 days during the taxable year, then—

  • no deduction otherwise allowable under this chapter because of the rental use of such dwelling unit shall be allowed, and
  • the income derived from such use for the taxable year shall not be included in the gross income of such taxpayer under section 61.”

Here’s an example: John rents his home at $3,000 a day for 14 days. By applying the Augusta rule, he qualifies for no rental deductions. But, and this is the good news, he excludes the rent, $42,000 ($3,000 x 14) from his income.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

HSAs for Business Owners

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HSAs for Business Owners

When enacted, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) eliminated most small-business health plans that reimbursed individually purchased health insurance. Consequently, many small business owners with fewer than 50 employees chose health savings accounts (HSAs) or opted to provide no health coverage at all.

As of 2022, over 35 million HSAs were active, with assets amounting to $104 billion. A 2022 Devenir survey expects this to increase to 43 million accounts with $150 billion in assets by 2025.

HSA basics:

  • To open an HSA, you must have high-deductible health insurance.
  • 2023 contribution limits are $3,850 for individuals and $7,750 for families. These limits increase slightly in 2024.
  • If you’re 55 or older by the end of the year, you can contribute an extra $1,000.
  • HSAs come with substantial tax benefits, including deductible contributions, tax-free earnings, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified health expenses.

Monies taken from HSAs are tax-free when used for qualified medical expenses. If you don’t use the funds for medical expenses, those funds grow. Once you reach Medicare age, you can either

  • withdraw the funds and pay taxes, or 
  • use the funds tax-free for medical expenses.

You generally cannot make HSA contributions if you have a non-high-deductible health plan that overlaps with the high-deductible plan. Similarly, you cannot contribute to an HSA and a general-purpose healthcare flexible spending account (FSA) in the same year.

HSAs are similar to IRAs. They are trust or custodial accounts you set up at banks, insurance companies, or brokerage firms. The purpose of your HSA is solely to pay your qualified medical expenses. Like IRAs, HSAs can offer various investment options, though some trustees might limit choices to more conservative options.

The benefits of HSAs have grown significantly in recent years, making them a mainstream and advantageous choice for many. Given their tax advantages and flexibility, the HSA could be a good fit for you as a business owner.

Act Now! Get Your Safe-Harbor Expensing in Place

For 2024, you can elect the de minimis safe harbor to expense assets costing $2,500 or less ($5,000 with audited financial statements or similar).

The term “safe harbor” means that the IRS will accept your expensing of the qualified assets if you properly abided by the safe harbor rules.

Here are three benefits of this safe harbor:

  1. Safe-harbor expensing is superior to Section 179 expensing and depreciation because you don’t have the recapture period that can complicate your taxes.
  2. Safe-harbor expensing simplifies your tax and business records because you don’t have the assets cluttering your books.
  3. The safe harbor does not reduce your overall ceiling on Section 179 expensing.

Here’s how the safe harbor works. Say you are a small business that elects the $2,500 ceiling for safe-harbor expensing, and you buy two desks costing $2,100 each. On the invoice, you see the quantity “two” and the total cost of $4,200, plus sales tax of $378 and a $200 delivery and setup charge, for a total of $4,778.

Before this safe harbor, you would have capitalized each desk at $2,389 ($4,778 ÷ 2) and then either Section 179 expensed or depreciated it. You would have kept the desks in your depreciation schedule until you disposed of them.

With the safe harbor, you expense the desks as office supplies—your tax records life is easier.

To benefit from the safe harbor, you and your tax preparer (meaning us) do a two-step process. It works like this:

Step 1—you. For safe harbor protection, you must have in place an accounting policy—at the beginning of the tax year—that requires expensing an amount of your choosing, up to the $2,500 or $5,000 limit. We can help you with this.

Step 2—us. When we prepare your tax return, we make the election on your tax return for you to use safe harbor expensing. We do this with an election statement on your federal tax return and then file that tax return by the due date (including extensions). 

If you want to use this safe harbor in 2024, you need your accounting policy in place on January 1. 

Key Insights into Depreciation

Here are some crucial insights into depreciation, particularly regarding business or rental assets.

When Does Depreciation Start?

Technically, depreciation begins not when you use an asset but when it’s ready and available for its intended purpose. For instance:

  • A rental property begins depreciating when it’s available to rent, even if it hasn’t been rented yet.
  • A farming tool is set to begin depreciation when you receive it, regardless of when you’ll use it.
  • A business vehicle begins to depreciate when bought for business purposes, even if not driven yet. 

Best Practices

To prevent any ambiguity, if a property is ready for rent, list it. For business vehicles, it’s ideal to drive them for business soon after purchase. This ensures there’s no question about their intent and use.

Assets That Are Vacant, Idle, or Standing By

Even if your asset is temporarily not in use, it doesn’t mean you stop claiming its depreciation. The continued depreciation applies to machines that are momentarily idle because of a lack of demand and to a vacant rental property while you search for tenants.

When Does Depreciation End?

Business and rental properties typically remain depreciable until you remove them from their designated use, often when you sell or dispose of them.

If you have questions about HSAs for Business Owners, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Tax Credits for Electric Vehicles: The Latest from the IRS

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Tax Credits for Electric Vehicles

The IRS recently issued new guidance on electric vehicles. There are four ways you can potentially benefit from a federal tax credit for an EV you place in service in 2023 or later:

  1. Purchase an EV, and claim the clean vehicle credit.
  2. Lease an EV, and benefit from the lessor’s EV discount.
  3. Purchase a used EV that qualifies for the used EV tax credit.
  4. Purchase an EV for business use, and claim the new commercial clean vehicle tax credit.

The new clean vehicle credit is available through 2032, with a maximum credit of $7,500. 

To qualify for the clean vehicle credit, you must meet specific criteria, including income limits, vehicle price caps, and domestic assembly requirements. The credit amount for vehicles delivered on or after April 18, 2023, depends on the vehicle meeting critical minerals sourcing and/or battery components sourcing requirements.

If you can’t find an EV that qualifies for the credit or your income is too high, you can lease an EV from a leasing company that can claim up to a $7,500 commercial clean vehicle tax credit. The leasing company may then pass on all or part of the credit to you through reduced leasing costs.

For used EV purchases, you can earn a credit of up to $4,000, but you must buy the vehicle from a dealer and meet the law’s income caps and other restrictions. 

Finally, if you purchase an EV for business use, you can qualify for the commercial clean vehicle tax credit, which is not subject to critical minerals or battery components rules, making it easier to qualify for this credit starting April 18, 2023.

To claim an EV credit, the seller must complete a seller’s report and provide a copy to you and the IRS. For the clean vehicle credit, you will file IRS Form 8936; for the commercial clean vehicle credit, you will file IRS Form 8936-A.

Using Family Loans to Secure Better Home Loan Interest Rates 

Here’s some information on how you can help a family member buy a home by making a loan to them while ensuring that you and the family member benefit from a tax-smart loan structure.

With the current national average interest rates for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages at 6.81 percent and 6.13 percent, respectively, family loans can offer a much more attractive alternative. By charging the Applicable Federal Rate (AFR) as interest, you can give the borrower a good deal without giving yourself a tax headache.

The IRS issues new AFRs for term loans every month. The rates for April 2023 are as follows:

  • Short-term loan (three years or less): 4.86 percent
  • Mid-term loan (over three years but not more than nine years): 4.15 percent
  • Long-term loan (over nine years): 4.02 percent

Charging at least the AFR for a term loan to a family member allows you to avoid federal income tax and federal gift tax complications. 

But if you charge less than the AFR, you may need to navigate some tax complications. Two tax-law exceptions, the $10,000 and $100,000 loopholes, can help you avoid these complications, although they may not be suitable for all home loans.

It is crucial to document the loan with a written promissory note and secure it with the borrower’s home for them to claim deductions for qualified residence interest expenses. Make sure the borrower signs the note and that the note includes details such as the interest rate, a schedule of interest and principal payments, and any security or collateral for the loan.

In conclusion, family loans can provide homebuyers with better interest rates than commercial lenders offer, especially if family members charge the AFR. Remember to consider the loan terms and tax consequences when structuring the loan.

Basic Estate Planning

You need an estate plan, regardless of whether or not you are among the ultra-rich. As recent news has shown, even those who have won the lottery or have substantial wealth can fall victim to poor estate planning.

While federal estate taxes may not concern you, you need a will to have your wishes honored after your death. Without a will, state law dictates the distribution of your assets, which may not align with your intentions. Additionally, if you have minor children, a will allows you to name a guardian to care for them in the event of your untimely passing.

Your heirs will want to avoid probate because it can be a costly and time-consuming legal process. A living trust gives you a valuable tool to avoid probate. By transferring legal ownership of your assets to the trust, you can ensure that your beneficiaries receive them without suffering through probate. 

You can amend your living trust as circumstances change, providing flexibility and control over your assets.

It is also essential to keep your beneficiary designations up-to-date, as they take precedence over wills and living trusts regarding asset distribution. 

Additionally, if your estate will suffer from federal or state death taxes, you should plan to minimize your exposure.

Estate planning is not a one-time event but a process that you should review and update regularly to accommodate life changes and fluctuations in estate and death tax rules. It is recommended that you check your estate plan annually to ensure it aligns with your wishes and circumstances.

One Ugly Rule for S Corp Owners Deducting Health Insurance

When your S corporation covers or reimburses your more-than-2-percent-shareholder-employee health insurance expenses, it classifies the payments as box 1 W-2 wages but not box 3 or box 5 wages.

When calculating the amount eligible for the Form 1040 self-employed health insurance deduction, you must use your Medicare wages (listed in box 5 of Form W-2) as your “earned income” rather than the amount reported in box 1.

Here are two examples that show you the impact of this rule:

  • Ted’s S corporation pays him $0 in cash wages and reimburses him $18,000 for health insurance. His W-2 shows $18,000 as box 1 wages and $0 as box 3 and box 5 wages. Although Ted has $18,000 in taxable wage income from the corporation’s reimbursement of his health insurance, his Form 1040 self-employed health insurance deduction is $0 due to his lack of Medicare wages.
  • Janet’s corporation pays her $107,000 in cash wages and reimburses her $22,000 for health insurance. Janet’s W-2 from her S corporation shows box 1 wages of $129,000, box 3 wages of $107,000, and box 5 wages of $107,000. The IRS allows her Form 1040 self-employed health insurance deduction of $22,000 because her Medicare wages exceed the insurance cost.

To avoid unfavorable tax outcomes, ensure that your S corporation reports Medicare wages (box 5) equal to or greater than the health insurance costs paid or reimbursed.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Holding Real Property in a Corporation

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Good or Bad Idea?

Holding Real Property in a Corporation

As the real estate market has cooled off in many parts of the country, investing in property may seem wise in the long run. But taxes can be a significant concern. 

Owning real estate in a C corporation may not be wise when considering taxes because it puts you at risk of being double-taxed. 

This means that if you sell the property and make a profit, the gain may be subject to taxation twice—once at the corporate level and again at the shareholder level when the corporation pays out profits to shareholders as dividends.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the double taxation threat, but with our current federal debt, you face the risk that lawmakers will hike the corporate tax rates and possibly also tax dividends at higher ordinary income rates.

To avoid this threat, I usually recommend using a single-member LLC or revocable trust to hold real property. A disregarded single-member LLC delivers super-simple tax treatment combined with corporation-like liability protection, while a revocable trust can avoid probate and save time and money.

If you are a co-owner of real property, it is advisable to set up a multi-member LLC to hold the property. The partnership taxation rules that multi-member LLCs follow have several advantages, including pass-through taxation.

In conclusion, holding real property in a C corporation can expose you to the risk of double taxation, and I don’t recommend it. Instead, consider a single-member LLC, revocable trust, or multi-member LLC, depending on your situation.

Helicopter View of 2023 Meals and Entertainment 

As you may already know, there have been some major changes to the business meal deduction for 2023 and beyond. The deduction for business meals has been reduced to 50 percent, a significant change from the previous 100 percent deduction for business meals in and from restaurants, which was applicable only for the years 2021 and 2022.

To help you better understand the current situation, see the table below:

Table for Holding Real Property in a Corporation

Are You a Regular Investor or a Tax-Favored Securities Trader?

As we navigate the recent volatility in the stock market, you may want to think about the possible favorable federal income tax treatment the tax code gives to a securities trader. 

Suppose you can qualify as a securities trader for federal income tax purposes. In that case, you deduct your trading-related expenses on Schedule C of Form 1040 and make the taxpayer-friendly mark-to-market election, which is not available to garden-variety investors.

The mark-to-market election has two important federal income tax advantages: 

  1. Exemption from the capital loss deduction limitation 
  2. Exemption from the wash sale rule

But there is a price to pay for these tax advantages. As a trader who has made the mark-to-market election, you must pretend to sell your entire trading portfolio at market on the last trading day of the year, which may have little or no tax impact if you have little or nothing in your trading portfolio at year-end.

Your trading activities must constitute a business for you to qualify as a securities trader, and you must meet both of the following requirements: 

  1. Your trading must be frequent and substantial.
  2. You must seek to profit from short-term market swings rather than longer-term strategies.

If you are a calendar-year taxpayer, the deadline to make the mark-to-market election for your 2023 tax year is April 18, 2023 (that’s right around the corner). You make the election by including a statement with your 2022 Form 1040 filed by that date or with a Form 4868 extension request for your 2022 return filed by that date.

Avoid This Family-Member S Corporation Health Insurance Mistake

There are two important issues related to health insurance deductions for S corporations. 

First, if you own more than 2 percent of an S corporation, there are three steps you need to follow to claim a deduction for health insurance:

  • Step 1. The cost of the insurance must be on the S corporation’s books.
  • Step 2. The corporation must include the cost of the health insurance premiums on your W-2 form as taxable income (but not subject to payroll taxes).
  • Step 3. If eligible, you must claim the health insurance deduction as an above-the-line deduction on Schedule 1 of Form 1040.

Second, this three-step procedure applies to your spouse, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents if they work for your S corporation and the corporation covers them with health insurance. 

The three rules apply to the relatives listed above who work in the S corporation, even if they don’t own any stock directly. For health insurance purposes, the tax code attributes your stock ownership to them and deems that they own what you own.

It’s crucial to get this right, as failing to do so could result in a lost health insurance deduction for your family members and zero deductions or the S corporation.

If you or your S corporation did not handle this correctly in the past, you need to amend the returns to ensure that you create and protect the proper tax deductions.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

2023 Health Insurance for S Corporation Owners: An Update

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2023 Health Insurance for S Corporation Owner

Here’s an update on the latest developments in 2023 health insurance for S corporation owners. As a more-than-2-percent S corporation owner, you are entitled to some good news when it comes to your health insurance.

To ensure that your health insurance deductions are in order, and to avoid the $100-a-day penalties for violating the rules of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you should take the following steps:

  1. Get the cost of the health insurance on the S corporation’s books, either by making the premium payments directly or through reimbursement.
  2. Ensure that the S corporation includes the health insurance premiums on the owner-employee’s W-2 form, including the additional compensation in box 1 but not in boxes 3 or 5.
  3. If you are an owner-employee with more than 2 percent ownership, claim the health insurance deduction as “self-employed health insurance” on line 17 of Schedule 1 of Form 1040. You must meet the two rules of not having access to employer-subsidized health insurance and having adequate salary.

For rank-and-file employees, the S corporation does not have to provide health insurance benefits, but if it does, it must use an acceptable ACA plan, such as (among others) the qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA) or the individual coverage HRA (ICHRA). 

The S corporation can reimburse more-than-2-percent owners for individually purchased insurance without any penalties, but if it reimburses rank-and-file employees without using the QSEHRA or ICHRA, it faces the $100-a-day penalty per employee.

If you are looking to provide health benefits to employees through the S corporation, there are many tax-advantaged options available. If the S corporation provides group health insurance to all employees, including the shareholder-employee, the same rules apply.

 

SECURE 2.0 Act Creates New Tax Strategies for RMDs 

 

As you are likely aware, if you have an IRA or other tax-deferred retirement account, you must start taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) once you reach a certain age. 

The SECURE 2.0 Act raises the age at which RMDs must first be taken, from age 72 to age 75, over the next 10 years. Specifically, the RMD age will be 73 for those born between 1951 and 1959 and 75 for those born in 1960 or later.

The purpose of RMDs is to ensure that you use the funds in your retirement accounts while you are still alive, rather than using those accounts as an estate planning device to pass money to your heirs tax-free.

The amount you are required to withdraw as an RMD depends on your age and the balance of your retirement account as of December 31 of the previous year. RMDs are required for traditional IRAs; SEP-IRAs; SIMPLE IRAs; solo 401(k) plans; and all employer-sponsored tax-deferred retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, profit-sharing plans, and 457(b) plans.

Your first RMD must be taken by April 1 of the year following the year you reach the age of RMD. For example, if you turn 73 in 2024, you have until April 1, 2025, to take your first taxable RMD. And then, including in 2025 and every year thereafter, you must take an annual RMD on or before December 31.

It’s important to note that taking two RMDs in one year could increase your tax bracket and even your Medicare premiums. If you are faced with this situation, it’s best to take the first RMD in the year you reach the age of RMD.

In the past, the IRS imposed an “excess accumulation” penalty tax of 50 percent if you failed to take your full RMD by the deadline. But starting in 2023, the SECURE 2.0 Act reduces the penalty to 25 percent. If you correct the shortfall within the “correction window,” you can reduce the penalty to 10 percent. The correction window begins on January 1 of the year following the RMD shortfall and ends on the earlier of 

  • when the IRS mails a Notice of Deficiency, 
  • when the penalty is assessed, or 
  • the last day of the second tax year after the penalty is imposed.

If the shortfall was due to reasonable error and you took reasonable steps to remedy it, you may request a penalty waiver by filing IRS Form 5329 and a letter explaining the reasonable error. Before filing the waiver request, you should make a catch-up distribution from your retirement accounts to make up for the RMD shortfall.

 

Plan Your Passive Activity Losses for Tax-Deduction Relevance

 

In 1986, lawmakers drove a stake through the heart of your rental property tax deductions.

That stake, called the passive-loss rules, causes myriad complications that now, 37 years later, are still commonly misunderstood.

 

The Trap

 

In 1986, lawmakers made you shovel your taxable activities into three basic tax buckets. Looking at the buckets from a business perspective, you find the following:

  1. Portfolio bucket for your stocks and bonds
  2. Active business bucket for your material participation business activities
  3. Passive-loss bucket for your rentals plus other activities in which you do not materially participate

This letter explains three escapes from the passive-loss trap so that you can realize the tax benefits from your rental losses.

 

Escape 1: Get Out of Jail Free

 

Lawmakers allow taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less to deduct up to $25,000 of rental property losses. Once your income goes above $100,000, the get-out-of-jail-free loss deduction drops by 50 cents on the dollar and disappears altogether at $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income.

 

Escape 2: Changes in Operations

 

If you, or you and your spouse, have modified adjusted gross income that exceeds the threshold, you need a different plan to obtain immediate benefit from your rental property tax losses. 

To begin, let’s review how the tax-benefit dollars get trapped in the first place. As you may remember, to benefit from your rental property tax loss, you must either

  1. have passive income from other properties or another source, or
  2. both qualify as a real estate professional and materially participate in the rental property. 

Example. Say the taxable income on your Form 1040 is $200,000 and you have one rental property. Say further that rental has produced a tax loss of $10,000 a year for the past six years, none of which you have been able to deduct because you have no other passive income and you do not qualify as a tax-law-defined real estate professional.

So here you sit: $60,000 in tax deductions trapped in the passive-loss bucket—not available for deduction against the income from the other buckets.

 

Not Lost, Just Waiting

 

This is sad, no doubt, but there’s some good news even in this bucket as you now see it. The $60,000 is not going to drown, disappear, or lose its tax-deduction attributes in some other way. That $60,000 simply waits in the bucket for you to give it an escape route.

Here are four possibilities for the escape route:

  1. Generate passive income.
  2. Change the character of the rental to non-passive.
  3. Change your status to that of a real estate professional, and pass the material participation test for this property.
  4. Sell the property, as explained in Escape 3 below.

 

Escape 3: Total Release

 

The $60,000 that’s trapped in the passive-loss bucket is like money in the bank. You can tap the trap when you want to release the deductions. It’s really quite easy.

Here we are talking about releasing the entire $60,000 at once (a major jailbreak). You might want to do this right now, or you can wait. You have many options, and the good news is that you are the one in charge of this total release of your passive losses.

To release the losses, you need to make a complete disposition. For example, say you sell 100 percent of the property to a third party. Presto! You now deduct the entire $60,000 in trapped passive losses.

 

Takeaway

 

The one thing to know is that if you have rental property losses that are trapped by the passive-loss rules, you have some strategies available.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.