By now, you’ve likely heard that certain businesses can qualify for a 20% income deduction under the new tax law. This is true for an “active trade or business.” Earlier this year the IRS issued a proposed safe harbor setting out how rental real estate activities can qualify as an active trade or business for the 20% business deduction. By safe harbor, we mean rules that should work, but taxpayers can still use case law to show their activities qualify as an active trade or business. In other words, this safe harbor can allow you to reduce the effective rate […]
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Deferring taxable income to a later year is often an effective strategy for paying less in income taxes and keeping more of your wealth working for you. For example, if you are organized as an S Corporation or Partnership for income tax purposes and anticipate being in the same or a higher tax bracket in 2018 than in 2019, then you may benefit from deferring income into 2019. Here are four ways you might achieve this: (1) Cash Method of Accounting The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expanded the number of businesses that can use the cash method of […]
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The end of year is a busy time for many reasons. Travel plans, holiday hosting, and family visits tend to keep your calendar packed. But as a small business owner you have additional obligations that need to be addressed. The end of year is a perfect time to assess your current business, make some decisions, and set some overall goals to ensure you start the New Year off right. When 2019 rolls around be sure you took the time to self-assess with this Checklist: ( ) December is not too late to make a number of moves that can lower […]
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In today’s litigious society, we often have clients calling us and asking for advice on how to protect themselves and their assets from creditors and lawsuits. Many worries stem from concerns over rental properties and vacation homes (including toys such as jet skis) owned by our clients. There are several techniques that can help the owner of a vacation home relax whenever he rents out the house to vacationers. Often an important starting point is the use of a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”). Below, we highlight some major aspects. Reduced Liability This is a big one. Imagine someone is staying […]
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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”) has dramatically changed the tax landscape this year. Two important changes include the new 20% deduction for pass-through entities, such as S-corporations and partnerships, and the 21% flat tax rate for C-corporations. Where conventional wisdom once dictated that most small business owners elect S-corporation tax status for their companies (a “pass-through” option), these new rules should have owners re-considering whether C-corporation tax status might offer better tax results. In this post, we will compare S-corporation (pass-through taxation) and C-corporation (corporate taxation) tax classifications for business owners at two different income […]
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In our last post, we detailed many of the new individual and corporate tax laws. Here we’ll take a closer look at three practical steps you should consider taking in light of these. 1. Revisit the income tax classification of your corporation or LLC. For decades now, the S corporation has been the income tax classification of choice for most non-real estate businesses. The fact that it offers a single level of tax versus “double taxation” in C corporations has mostly been the deciding factor. Now, while C corporations still expose their owners to double tax (first on corporate income […]
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