Do you know how to choose a business structure? Do you know which entity type is best for your business?
This video goes into significant detail on the various tax saving strategies and asset protection strategies associated with each entity type.
Check out this featured Q&A from our Member Forum! Remember, for all Wealth.GPS users, the Member Forum is a powerful tool for sharing ideas, asking questions and generally getting support from like-minded individuals!
Q: What are some of the most important reports I should be analyzing for my business?
A: Always keep in mind the reason for reporting in a business – accountability and proper planning. Reports help you gauge whether what you expected matched what happened, and if not, why.
One of the most commonplace reports is called a “budget to actual” report. This report helps you see whether you’re overspending, and whether projects are being completed on time. You can do that by checking to see if any projects are underspending, and then tracing back if that signifies a purchase that should have been made but has not been.
When multiple business entities make a decision to start a new business together as a cooperative arrangement, they form what is known as a joint venture. In creating a joint venture, each of the involved entities agrees to what assets they will contribute, how they are going to distribute income and share expenses, and how the new entity will move forward.
Before deciding to get involved in a joint venture, business owners need to carefully assess how they plan to proceed. It is essential that every detail of the new organization’s operations be thought out and addressed ahead of time, from its management and tax liabilities to how profits and losses will be distributed.
Even though a joint venture represents a cooperative between two or more business entities, each of those original entities retails its original legal status, whether as companies or corporations or as an individual or group of individuals. Not all joint...
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The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CCA), which was passed by Congress and signed by the president late last December, included a very tax-beneficial provision that liberalized the interaction between PPP loans and the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). Prior to its passage, if an employer obtained a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, the employer was ineligible to claim the ERC.
However, under the legislation, an employer that is eligible for the ERC can claim the ERC even if the employer has received a PPP loan, under the following circumstances.
As if 2020 wasn’t challenging enough, this season’s tax-filing is going to be even more complicated than usual. Though the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program were put into place to help small businesses, the old adage about “no such thing as a free lunch” is proving true once again as business owners sit down to gather their documents and realize just how big an impact the changes will make on what they can and can’t deduct, on payroll tax, and many other elements of their filing. We encourage you to speak with our office as soon as possible so that you can get some insights into the specific effect on you and your business. Start by asking these questions and go from there.
The PPP loans were attractive because they were forgivable if used for the intended purposes. Normally, under tax law, when debt is forgiven it becomes taxable income. However, by law the PPP loan...
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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), each year, computes standard mileage rates for the use of a vehicle for business, medical and moving purposes based on a number of factors, to determine the standard mileage rates for the following year.
As it does annually around the end of the year, the IRS has announced the 2021 optional standard mileage rates. Thus, beginning on Jan. 1, 2021, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (or a van, pickup or panel truck) are:
Filing annual wage reports is just one of the many end-of-year responsibilities expected of every business. But the task is not as straightforward as some would think. The reports get sent to the people who have received wages, and at the same time they get filed with the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In some cases, they get filed with both. The question of which is appropriate rests entirely on who is being paid and how the relationship between them and the business is categorized.
Wage reports are prepared for employees as well as for independent contractors, but each type of wage earner receives a different form for filing their income tax returns. The information that a business provides to the appropriate government agency needs to match the information submitted by the wage earner, both to ensure accuracy and that they are paying the taxes that they owe. Businesses are expected to use the correct form, and in order to do that...
December 1 - Time for Year-End Tax Planning
December is the month to take final actions that can affect your tax result for 2020. Taxpayers with substantial increases or decreases in income, changes in marital status or dependent status, and those who sold property during 2020 should call for a tax planning consultation appointment.
December 10 - Report Tips to Employer
If you are an employee who works for tips and received more than $20 in tips during November, you are required to report them to your employer on IRS Form 4070 no later than December 10. Your employer is required to withhold FICA taxes and income tax withholding for these tips from your regular wages. If your regular wages are insufficient to cover the FICA and tax withholding, the employer will report the amount of the uncollected withholding in box 12 of your W-2 for the year. You will be required to pay the uncollected withholding when your return for the year is filed.
December 31 - Last Day to...
It is common practice this time of year for employers to give their employees gifts. Where a gift is infrequently offered and has a fair market value so low that it is impractical and unreasonable to account for it, the gift’s value would be treated as a de minimis fringe benefit. As such, it would be tax-free to the employee, and its cost would be tax deductible by the employer.
De Minimis Benefits - In general, a de minimis benefit is one that, considering its value and the frequency with which it is provided, is so minor as to make accounting for it unreasonable or impractical. De minimis benefits are excluded from income under Internal Revenue Code section 132(a)(4) and include items not specifically excluded under other sections of the Code. Examples of de minimis benefits include such items as:
When Congress initially authorized the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), its intent was to provide loans that would be partially or completely forgiven if used for the intended purposes of helping businesses affected by COVID-19 stay afloat and to help those businesses maintain payroll. As part of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) loan application, Form 2483 or lender’s equivalent form, borrowers had to certify under penalty of imprisonment and monetary penalties to the following:
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