Say Goodbye to the Bonus

Accrual basis taxpayers are generally permitted to deduct accrued compensation if it’s paid out within 2 1/2 months after year end.  In a recent Chief Counsel Advice, the IRS announced that they would not permit deductions for accrued bonuses if payment is contingent upon continued employment at the date the bonus is actually paid.  If you haven’t finalized your year-end bonus plan and expect a deduction, you should ensure that employees are not required to be employed at the payment date.  This may be difficult for many companies, as bonus policies are usually established well in advance of the year-end, but there’s still time to change it if you can.

Tax Help for All Businesses Great and Small

In February the normal two year carryback period for Net Operating Losses (NOL’s) was extended to 3, 4 or 5 years for electing small businesses. Earlier this month, the 3, 4 or 5 year NOL carryback election was extended to all business (except taxpayers receiving help from the Federal government under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act). The carryback is valid for any years ending after December 31, 2007 and commencing before January 1, 2010 – you can even make the election if you previously elected to forego the 2 year carryback period.

What’s the catch? Well, you can only make the election once (qualifying small businesses who were previously eligible now get to make the election twice). Also, if you elect the 5 year carryback, you can only offset 50% of that year’s income with the NOL. Other guidelines, including details for how to elect the carryback were issued by the IRS last week.

Extended carryback periods have been used by the IRS before, and should help many businesses who were profitable by expediting the tax benefit from recent losses. We certainly hope it helps more businesses to keep going during tough economic times, and keep more people employed.

S Corporation Pitfalls – Part 1

S Corporations are a popular business entity - they allow for limitation of liability, may reduce self-employment taxes, and income is passed through to the owners, resulting in only one level of taxation, while providing a “corporate veil” for liability protection.  There are a number of possible pitfalls for the unwary, particularly if the company operated as a C Corporation prior to electing S Corporation status.  This series on S Corporation pitfalls will discuss some of the more common issues, and some of the more serious… pitfalls that can have costly results without proper planning…

First, as a rule of thumb, do not hold appreciable assets, such as real estate or passive investments in an S Corporation. Why not? You probably know that there is generally no resulting tax when cash is distributed from S Corporation earnings. What many people fail to realize is that the distribution of appreciated property will result in a taxable transaction. When property is distributed from any type of Corporation (S Corporation or C Corporation) the distribution is made at the property’s Fair Market Value. This means that there is a realized taxable gain on the difference between the Fair Market Value at the date of distribution and the tax basis. You will pay tax on the transaction, and your resulting tax basis in the asset after distribution will be its Fair Market Value at the date of distribution.

This problem is most commonly avoided by distributing cash from the S Corporation to the owners, who then use the funds to purchase real estate, or other passive investments.  These assets are frequently purchased through a limited liability company (LLC) to preserve pass through treatment of the income.  If the real property is used by the S Corporation in its business, the property is then rented back to the S Corporation. The difference is that distributions from LLC’s (and partnerships) are made at the asset’s tax basis, with no gain or loss recognized on the distribution (resulting in a deferral of tax until the property is actually disposed of). Your basis in the distributed asset will be the same as it was in the hands of the LLC.

Placing appreciable assets into LLC’s instead of S Corporations will provide greater flexibility for future tax planning, and possibly defer the payment of income tax.