Tax Benefits of S-Corporations

Tax Benefits of S-Corporations

Like this content? We’d love to have you subscribe to our updates!

As a small business owner, figuring out which form of business structure to use when you started was one of the most important decisions you had to make; however, it’s always a good idea to periodically revisit that decision as your business grows. For example, as a sole proprietor, you must pay a self-employment tax rate of 15% in addition to your individual tax rate; however, if you were to revise your business structure to become a corporation and elect S-Corporation status you could take advantage of a lower tax rate.

What is an S-Corporation?

An S-Corporation (or S-Corp) is a regular corporation whose owners elect to pass corporate income, losses, deductions, and credits through to their shareholders for federal tax (and sometimes state) purposes. That is, an S-corporation is a corporation or a limited liability company that’s made a Subchapter S election (so named after a chapter of the tax code). Rather than a business entity per se, it is a type of tax classification. Shareholders then report the flow-through of income and losses on their personal tax returns and are assessed tax at their individual income tax rates, which allows S-corporations to avoid double taxation on corporate income. S-corporations are, however, responsible for tax on certain built-in gains and passive income at the entity level.

To qualify for S-corporation status, the corporation must submit a Form 2553, Election by a Small Business Corporation to the IRS, signed by all the shareholders, and meet the following requirements:

  • Be a domestic corporation
  • Have only allowable shareholders. Shareholders may be individuals, certain trusts, and estates but may not be partnerships, corporations or non-resident alien shareholders.
  • Have no more than 100 shareholders
  • Have only one class of stock
  • Not be an ineligible corporation (i.e. certain financial institutions, insurance companies, and domestic international sales corporations).

What are the Tax Advantages of an S-Corp?

Personal Income and Employment Tax Savings

S-corporation owners can choose to receive both a salary and dividend payments from the corporation (i.e., distributions from earnings and profits that pass through the corporation to you as an owner, not as an employee in compensation for your services). Dividends are taxed at a lower rate than self-employment income, which lowers taxable income. S-corp owners also save on Social Security and Medicare taxes because their salary is less than it would be if they were operating a sole proprietorship, for instance.

The split between salary and dividends must be “reasonable” in the eyes of the IRS, however, e.g., paying self-employment tax on 50% or less of profits or a salary that is in line with similar businesses. Furthermore, some S-corp owners may be able to take advantage of the 20% deductions for pass-through entities as well, thanks to tax reform.

Losses are Deductible

As a corporation, profits and losses are allocated between the owners based on the percentage of ownership or number of shares held. If the S-corporation loses money, these losses are deductible on the shareholder’s individual tax return. For example, if you and another person are the owners and the corporation’s losses amount to $20,000, each shareholder is able to take $10,000 as a deduction on their tax return.

No Corporate Income Tax

Although S-corps are corporations, there is no corporate income tax because business income is passed through to the owners instead of being taxed at the corporate rate, thereby avoiding the double taxation issue, which occurs when dividend income is taxed at both the corporate level and at the shareholder level.

Less Risk of Audit

In 2014, S-corps faced an audit risk of just 0.42% compared to Schedule C filers with gross receipts of $100,000 who faced an audit rate of 2.3%. While still low, individuals filing Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business) are at higher risk of being audited due to IRS concerns about small business owners underreporting income or taking deductions they shouldn’t be.

Help is just a phone call away.

Whether you keep your existing structure or decide to change it to a different one, keep in mind that your decision should always be based on the specific needs and practices of the business. If you have any questions about electing S-Corporation status or are wondering whether it’s time to choose a different business entity altogether, don’t hesitate to call.

Go to top

Five Tax Deductions that Disappeared in 2018

Five Tax Deductions that Disappeared in 2018

Like this content? We’d love to have you subscribe to our updates!

Under tax reform, taxpayers who itemize should be aware that deductions they may have previously counted on to reduce their taxable income have disappeared in 2018.

1. Moving Expenses

Prior to tax reform (i.e., for tax years starting before January 1, 2018), taxpayers could deduct expenses related to moving for a job as long as the move met certain IRS criteria. However, for tax years 2018 through 2025, moving expenses are no longer deductible–unless you are a member of the Armed Forces on active duty who moves because of a military order.

2. Unreimbursed Job Expenses

For tax years starting in 2018 and expiring at the end of 2025, miscellaneous unreimbursed job-related expenses that exceed 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) are no longer deductible on Schedule A (Form 1040). Examples of unreimbursed job-related expenses include union dues, continuing education, employer-required medical tests, regulatory and license fees (provided the employee was not reimbursed), and out-of-pocket expenses paid by an employee for uniforms, tools, and supplies.

3. Tax Preparation Fees

Tax preparation fees, which fall under miscellaneous fees on Schedule A of Form 1040 (also subject to the 2% floor), have been eliminated for tax years 2018 through 2025. Tax preparation fees include payments to accountants, tax prep firms, as well as the cost of tax preparation software.

4. Personal Exemptions

Repealed for tax years 2018 through 2025, the personal exemption enabled individual taxpayers to reduce taxable income ($4,050 in 2017). Each household dependent was able to take the deduction as well. While the standard deduction did increase significantly ($12,000 for individuals, $24,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly, $18,000 for heads of household) to compensate, some taxpayers may still lose out.

5. Subsidized Parking and Transit Reimbursements for Employers

Before tax reform, employees could take advantage of a perk offered by many employers whereby parking and transit pass costs (up to $255 per month in 2017) were reimbursed by their employers tax-free. These reimbursements were not included in the employee’s taxable income and were deductible to companies on their tax returns. However, for tax years starting in 2018, the employer deduction is no longer available.

If you have any questions about tax reform and how it affects your particular tax situation, don’t hesitate to call.

Tax Planning For Small Business Owners

Tax Planning For Small Business Owners

Like this content? We’d love to have you subscribe to our updates!

Tax planning is the process of looking at various tax options in order to determine when, whether, and how to conduct business and personal transactions to reduce or eliminate tax liability.

Many small business owners ignore tax planning. They don’t even think about their taxes until it’s time to meet with their accountants, but tax planning is an ongoing process and good tax advice is a valuable commodity. It is to your benefit to review your income and expenses monthly and meet with your CPA or tax advisor quarterly to analyze how you can take full advantage of the provisions, credits, and deductions that are legally available to you.

Although tax avoidance planning is legal, tax evasion – the reduction of tax through deceit, subterfuge, or concealment – is not. Frequently what sets tax evasion apart from tax avoidance is the IRS’s finding that there was fraudulent intent on the part of the business owner. The following are four of the areas the IRS examiners commonly focus on as pointing to possible fraud:

Failure to report substantial amounts of income such as a shareholder’s failure to report dividends or a store owner’s failure to report a portion of the daily business receipts.
Claims for fictitious or improper deductions on a return such as a sales representative’s substantial overstatement of travel expenses or a taxpayer’s claim of a large deduction for charitable contributions when no verification exists.

  1. Accounting irregularities such as a business’s failure to keep adequate records or a discrepancy between amounts reported on a corporation’s return and amounts reported on its financial statements.
  2. Improper allocation of income to a related taxpayer who is in a lower tax bracket such as where a corporation makes distributions to the controlling shareholder’s children.

 

Tax Planning Strategies

Countless tax planning strategies are available to small business owners. Some are aimed at the owner’s individual tax situation and some at the business itself, but regardless of how simple or how complex a tax strategy is, it will be based on structuring the strategy to accomplish one or more of these often overlapping goals:

  • Reducing the amount of taxable income
  • Lowering your tax rate
  • Controlling the time when the tax must be paid
  • Claiming any available tax credits
  • Controlling the effects of the Alternative Minimum Tax
  • Avoiding the most common tax planning mistakes

In order to plan effectively, you’ll need to estimate your personal and business income for the next few years. This is necessary because many tax planning strategies will save tax dollars at one income level, but will create a larger tax bill at other income levels. You will want to avoid having the “right” tax plan made “wrong” by erroneous income projections. Once you know what your approximate income will be, you can take the next step: estimating your tax bracket.

The effort to come up with crystal-ball estimates may be difficult and by its very nature will be inexact. On the other hand, you should already be projecting your sales revenues, income, and cash flow for general business planning purposes. The better your estimates are, the better the odds that your tax planning efforts will succeed.

Maximizing Business Entertainment Expenses

Entertainment expenses are legitimate deductions that can lower your tax bill and save you money, provided you follow certain guidelines.

In order to qualify as a deduction, business must be discussed before, during, or after the meal and the surroundings must be conducive to a business discussion. For instance, a small, quiet restaurant would be an ideal location for a business dinner. A nightclub would not.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the deduction remains at 50 percent for taxpayers who incur food and beverage expenses associated with operating a trade or business. For tax years 2018 through 2025, however, the 50 percent deduction expands to include expenses incurred for meals furnished to employees for the convenience of the employer. Amounts after 2025 are not deductible. Employee meals while on business travel also remain deductible at 50 percent.

For tax years 2018 through 2025; however, the 50 percent deduction expands to include expenses incurred for meals furnished to employees for the convenience of the employer. Amounts after 2025 are not deductible. Additionally, the deduction for business entertainment expenses is eliminated (only meals at 50 percent).

Important Business Automobile Deductions

If you use your car for business such as visiting clients or going to business meetings away from your regular workplace you may be able to take certain deductions for the cost of operating and maintaining your vehicle. You can deduct car expenses by taking either the standard mileage rate or using actual expenses.

The mileage reimbursement rates for 2018 are 54.5 cents per business mile (53.5 cents per mile in 2017), 14 cents per charitable mile (unchanged from 2017) and 18 cents for moving and medical miles (up from 17 cents per mile in 2017).

If you own two cars, another way to increase deductions is to include both cars in your deductions. This works because business miles driven is determined by business use. To figure business use, divide the business miles driven by the total miles driven. This strategy can result in significant deductions. Whichever method you decide to use to take the deduction, always be sure to keep accurate records such as a mileage log and receipts.

Increase Your Bottom Line When You Work At Home

The home office deduction is quite possibly one of the most difficult deductions ever to come around the block. Yet, there are so many tax advantages it becomes worth the navigational trouble. Here are a few common tips for home office deductions that can make tax season significantly less traumatic for those of you with a home office.

Try prominently displaying your home phone number and address on business cards, have business guests sign a guest log book when they visit your office, deduct long-distance phone charges, keep a time and work activity log, retain receipts and paid invoices. Keeping these receipts makes it so much easier to determine percentages of deductions later on in the year.

Section 179 expensing for tax year 2018 allows you to immediately deduct, rather than depreciate over time, $1 million of the first $2,500,000 million of qualifying equipment placed in service during the current tax year. Equipment can be new or used and includes certain software. All home office depreciable equipment meets the qualification. Indexed to inflation after 2018, the deduction was enhanced under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to include improvements to nonresidential qualified real property such as roofs, fire protection and alarm systems and security systems, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems.

The “Bonus Depreciation” for qualified assets (new equipment only–no used equipment and no software) placed in service for tax years 2015, 2016, and through September 26, 2017, is 50 percent. Businesses with eligible property placed in service after September 27, 2017, and before January 1, 2023, are allowed to immediately deduct 100 percent of the cost. The bonus depreciation will be phased downward over a four-year period: 80 percent in 2023, 60 percent in 2024, 40 percent in 2025, and 20 percent in 2026.

Some deductions can be taken whether or not you qualify for the home office deduction itself. Consider meeting with a tax professional to learn more about home office deductions.