Ensure your retirement benefits provider is truly providing

Many retirement plan sponsors consider converting to new providers starting with the new plan year. For calendar year plans, that means January 1. If this is the case for your company, now is a good time to ensure your service provider is truly providing.

Basic questions

A good provider should have demonstrable experience in your industry. Check to see whether your current provider (or a prospective one) has clients with plans similar to yours. Ask for references.

Service and administration should be easy, and communications clear. Reports from your provider should be timely and accurate. You shouldn’t have problems contacting your service provider, and they should give quick and accurate answers to routine questions.

Look for a provider that offers educational seminars for employees to help them understand the importance of maximizing their savings. Make sure the provider has a website that your employees can access, and that participant statements and reports are user-friendly.

The provider should give ongoing plan reviews. This includes open discussions of participation levels, deferral percentages, loans, nondiscrimination testing, and enrollment and communication strategies.

Cost considerations

Remember, cheapest isn’t always best. Certain providers market their services directly to plan sponsors with the idea that the cost of an advisor is unnecessary. Generally, this type of arrangement works only if the plan sponsor has an employee dedicated to certain 401(k) plan functions or the plan accepts less service.

The 401(k) fees paid by a company typically include a one-time fee to establish the plan and an ongoing annual, quarterly or monthly fee to manage it. The costs cover record keeping, support from an account manager, government-required testing and tax forms, and product and service improvements. Administrative expenses vary dramatically based on the provider and the total plan assets.

It’s also important that employees pay the least fees possible so they can invest more of their money. Add up the average fund expenses plus the management fees, participant record-keeping fees, custodial fees or any other fees charged to your employees.

Competitive necessity

Comprehensive, well-administered benefits are a competitive necessity in today’s business environment. Please contact us for help evaluating the services you’re receiving and their associated costs.

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Beware of income-based limits on itemized deductions and personal exemptions

Many tax breaks are reduced or eliminated for higher-income taxpayers. Two of particular note are the itemized deduction reduction and the personal exemption phaseout.

Income thresholds

If your adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeds the applicable threshold, most of your itemized deductions will be reduced by 3% of the AGI amount that exceeds the threshold (not to exceed 80% of otherwise allowable deductions). For 2016, the thresholds are $259,400 (single), $285,350 (head of household), $311,300 (married filing jointly) and $155,650 (married filing separately). The limitation doesn’t apply to deductions for medical expenses, investment interest, or casualty, theft or wagering losses.

Exceeding the applicable AGI threshold also could cause your personal exemptions to be reduced or even eliminated. The personal exemption phaseout reduces exemptions by 2% for each $2,500 (or portion thereof) by which a taxpayer’s AGI exceeds the applicable threshold (2% for each $1,250 for married taxpayers filing separately).

The limits in action

These AGI-based limits can be very costly to high-income taxpayers. Consider this example:

Steve and Mary are married and have four dependent children. In 2016, they expect to have an AGI of $1 million and will be in the top tax bracket (39.6%). Without the AGI-based exemption phaseout, their $24,300 of personal exemptions ($4,050 × 6) would save them $9,623 in taxes ($24,300 × 39.6%). But because their personal exemptions are completely phased out, they’ll lose that tax benefit.

The AGI-based itemized deduction reduction can also be expensive. Steve and Mary could lose the benefit of as much as $20,661 [3% × ($1 million − $311,300)] of their itemized deductions that are subject to the reduction — at a tax cost as high as $8,182 ($20,661 × 39.6%).

These two AGI-based provisions combined could increase the couple’s tax by $17,805!

Year-end tips

If your AGI is close to the applicable threshold, AGI-reduction strategies — such as contributing to a retirement plan or Health Savings Account — may allow you to stay under it. If that’s not possible, consider the reduced tax benefit of the affected deductions before implementing strategies to accelerate deductible expenses into 2016. If you expect to be under the threshold in 2017, you may be better off deferring certain deductible expenses to next year.

For more details on these and other income-based limits, help assessing whether you’re likely to be affected by them or more tips for reducing their impact, please contact us.

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Depreciation-related breaks offer 2016 tax savings on business real estate

Commercial buildings and improvements generally are depreciated over 39 years, which essentially means you can deduct a portion of the cost every year over the depreciation period. (Land isn’t depreciable.) But enhanced tax breaks that allow deductions to be taken more quickly are available for certain real estate investments:

1. 50% bonus depreciation. This additional first-year depreciation allowance is available for qualified improvement property. The break expired December 31, 2014, but has been extended through 2019. However, it will drop to 40% for 2018 and 30% for 2019. On the plus side, beginning in 2016, the qualified improvement property doesn’t have to be leased.

2. Section 179 expensing. This election to deduct under Sec. 179 (rather than depreciate over a number of years) qualified leasehold-improvement, restaurant and retail-improvement property expired December 31, 2014, but has been made permanent.

Beginning in 2016, the full Sec. 179 expensing limit of $500,000 can be applied to these investments. (Before 2016, only $250,000 of the expensing election limit, which also is available for tangible personal property and certain other assets, could be applied to leasehold-improvement, restaurant and retail-improvement property.)

The expensing limit is subject to a dollar-for-dollar phaseout if your qualified asset purchases for 2016 exceed $2,010,000. In other words, if, say, your qualified asset purchases for the year are $2,110,000, your expensing limit would be reduced by $100,000 (to $400,000).

Both the expensing limit and the purchase limit are now adjusted annually for inflation.

3. Accelerated depreciation. This break allows a shortened recovery period of 15 years for qualified leasehold-improvement, restaurant and retail-improvement property. It expired December 31, 2014, but has been made permanent.

Although these enhanced depreciation-related breaks may offer substantial savings on your 2016 tax bill, it’s possible they won’t prove beneficial over the long term. Taking these deductions now means forgoing deductions that could otherwise be taken later, over a period of years under normal depreciation schedules. In some situations — such as if in the future your business could be in a higher tax bracket or tax rates go up — the normal depreciation deductions could be more valuable.

For more information on these breaks or advice on whether you should take advantage of them, please contact us.

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Thinking big is the first step toward growing your business

Nearly every business owner wants to grow his or her company. But with growth comes risk, and that can keep you from taking the steps necessary to move forward. Yet if you don’t think big and come up with a long-term strategic plan, you’ll likely continue to spin your wheels.

Eyes on profits and value

Public companies answer to investors who consider earnings per share and stock price to be key indicators of their return on investment. Maximizing earnings is a short-term goal, but building value requires a long-term focus.

Many small to midsize businesses, however, have only their ownerships’ vision to motivate them. You also may have to operate much leaner, with more limited staff and overhead. In doing so, you may sacrifice value-building opportunities.

For example, a company that fails to invest in marketing may lose market share to a competitor that aggressively advertises and offers promotions. Or a business that hires managers only from within or chooses candidates based primarily on minimizing salary expense may lose out on the professional expertise that comes with a more seasoned management team.

Systematic, formal planning

Some companies may be able to run “lean and mean” for a while. But, eventually, most businesses need to grow. And a reasonably ambitious, long-term strategic plan is the first step. It will allow you to communicate a nuanced, specific vision for growth down the organizational chart.

Planning should extend to employees, too. What’s each worker’s expected role in your strategic vision? This is why annual performance reviews are so critical. They’ll help you gauge whether each employee is meeting or exceeding management’s expectations — or whether he or she is truly contributing to your long-term plan.

The right goals

Again, don’t be afraid to think big. A tentative or half-hearted long-term strategic plan may leave you disappointed — and fail to truly motivate anyone. Please contact our firm for help choosing the right goals and putting them into a feasible, reasonable financial context.

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What the self-employed need to know about employment taxes

In addition to income tax, you must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on earned income, such as salary and self-employment income. The 12.4% Social Security tax applies only up to the Social Security wage base of $118,500 for 2016. All earned income is subject to the 2.9% Medicare tax.

The taxes are split equally between the employee and the employer. But if you’re self-employed, you pay both the employee and employer portions of these taxes on your self-employment income.

Additional 0.9% Medicare tax

Another employment tax that higher-income taxpayers must be aware of is the additional 0.9% Medicare tax. It applies to FICA wages and net self-employment income exceeding $200,000 per year ($250,000 for married filing jointly and $125,000 for married filing separately).

If your wages or self-employment income varies significantly from year to year or you’re close to the threshold for triggering the additional Medicare tax, income timing strategies may help you avoid or minimize it. For example, as a self-employed taxpayer, you may have flexibility on when you purchase new equipment or invoice customers. If your self-employment income is from a part-time activity and you’re also an employee elsewhere, perhaps you can time with your employer when you receive a bonus.

Something else to consider in this situation is the withholding rules. Employers must withhold the additional Medicare tax beginning in the pay period when wages exceed $200,000 for the calendar year — without regard to an employee’s filing status or income from other sources. So your employer might not withhold the tax even though you are liable for it due to your self-employment income.

If you do owe the tax but your employer isn’t withholding it, consider filing a W-4 form to request additional income tax withholding, which can be used to cover the shortfall and avoid interest and penalties. Or you can make estimated tax payments.

Deductions for the self-employed

For the self-employed, the employer portion of employment taxes (6.2% for Social Security tax and 1.45% for Medicare tax) is deductible above the line. (No portion of the additional Medicare tax is deductible, because there’s no employer portion of that tax.)

As a self-employed taxpayer, you may benefit from other above-the-line deductions as well. You can deduct 100% of health insurance costs for yourself, your spouse and your dependents, up to your net self-employment income. You also can deduct contributions to a retirement plan and, if you’re eligible, an HSA for yourself. Above-the-line deductions are particularly valuable because they reduce your adjusted gross income (AGI) and modified AGI (MAGI), which are the triggers for certain additional taxes and the phaseouts of many tax breaks.

For more information on the ins and outs of employment taxes and tax breaks for the self-employed, please contact us.

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Installment sales offer both tax pluses and tax minuses

Whether you’re selling your business or acquiring another company, the tax consequences can have a major impact on the transaction’s success or failure.

Consider installment sales, for example. The sale of a business might be structured as an installment sale if the buyer lacks sufficient cash or pays a contingent amount based on the business’s performance. And it sometimes — but not always — can offer the seller tax advantages.

Pluses

An installment sale may make sense if the seller wishes to spread the gain over a number of years. This could be especially beneficial if it would allow the seller to stay under the thresholds for triggering the 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT) or the 20% long-term capital gains rate.

For 2016, taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over $200,000 per year ($250,000 for married filing jointly and $125,000 for married filing separately) will owe NIIT on some or all of their investment income. And the 20% long-term capital gains rate kicks in when 2016 taxable income exceeds $415,050 for singles, $441,000 for heads of households and $466,950 for joint filers (half that for separate filers).

Minuses

But an installment sale can backfire on the seller. For example:

• Depreciation recapture must be reported as gain in the year of sale, no matter how much cash the seller receives.
• If tax rates increase, the overall tax could wind up being more.

Please let us know if you’d like more information on installment sales — or other aspects of tax planning in mergers and acquisitions. Of course, tax consequences are only one of many important considerations.

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How can your business make the most of the cloud?

Like many companies, yours probably stores at least some of its business files, documents and information in “the cloud.” This is the widely used term referring to the seemingly infinite data storage capacity of the Internet.

Using the cloud generally means lower IT costs, because you don’t have to deploy a lot of expensive hardware and software on-site and it’s scalable — in other words, you can easily expand or diminish your data storage capabilities as necessary. Most cloud services also feature automatic backups and updates.

But these inherently great features don’t guarantee you’ll get a good return on investment. To make the most of the cloud, you’ll need to identify and follow some best practices. Here are two to consider.

A carefully vetted provider

Moving from on-premises, server-based data storage to cloud-based data storage requires a different mindset. You’ll be unable to physically look at and touch a server box and say, “That’s where my data is stored.”

This makes it critical to choose a cloud services provider you can trust and build a strong relationship with as a true business partner. Ask potential providers for the names of two or three of their clients you can speak with about issues such as level of security, responsiveness and technological sophistication.

Well-defined objectives

You need to pinpoint your recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives (that is, the most critical data points for your business) concerning the backup and recovery of your data in an emergency. Be sure you’ve clearly communicated these to your cloud services provider.

Your provider should be able to work with you on an individualized basis to ensure that your objectives will be met. You don’t want to find out during a crisis that you’ve lost mission-critical data.

Worth considering

If you haven’t ventured into the cloud yet, give it some consideration — these services are becoming increasingly common. And if you have, be sure you’re getting your money’s worth.

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Are you coordinating your income tax planning with your estate plan?

Until recently, estate planning strategies typically focused on minimizing federal gift and estate taxes, such as by giving away assets during life to reduce the taxable estate. Today, however, the focus has moved toward income taxes, making the coordination of income tax planning and estate planning more important.

Why the change?

Since 2001, the federal exemption has grown from $675,000 to $5.45 million, meaning that fewer people have to worry about gift and estate tax liability. In addition, the top gift and estate tax rate has decreased from 55% to 40%, while the top individual income tax rate has increased to 39.6% — nearly as high as the top gift and estate tax rate.

The heightened importance of income taxes means that holding assets until death may be advantageous. If you give away an appreciated asset, the recipient takes over your tax basis in the asset, triggering capital gains tax should he or she turn around and sell it.

When an appreciated asset is inherited, on the other hand, the recipient’s basis is “stepped up” to the asset’s fair market value on the date of death, erasing the built-in capital gain. So retaining appreciating assets until death can save significant income tax.

Year end strategy

It is, however, possible to transfer appreciated assets now without your family taking a capital gains tax hit. Such a strategy can be beneficial if you have appreciated assets you’ve held more than one year that you’d like to sell, but you’re concerned about the impact on your 2016 tax bill.

You just need to have family members who are in the 10% or 15% regular income tax bracket and thus eligible for the 0% long-term capital gains rate. Then you can transfer the appreciated assets to them and they can sell the assets tax-free (to the extent the gains don’t push them into a higher bracket).

The transfer won’t create gift tax liability, either, as long as you can apply your $14,000 per year per recipient gift tax annual exclusion or a portion of your lifetime exemption. But before transferring the assets, make sure the recipient won’t be subject to the “kiddie” tax.

Of course, depending on the outcome of the November elections, gift and estate taxes could again surpass income taxes in estate planning importance for some families. If you have questions about coordinating your income tax planning with your estate plan, please contact us.

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Are you timing business income and expenses to your tax advantage?

Typically, it’s better to defer tax. One way is through controlling when your business recognizes income and incurs deductible expenses. Here are two timing strategies that can help businesses do this:

1. Defer income to next year. If your business uses the cash method of accounting, you can defer billing for your products or services. Or, if you use the accrual method, you can delay shipping products or delivering services.
2. Accelerate deductible expenses into the current year. If you’re a cash-basis taxpayer, you may make a state estimated tax payment before Dec. 31, so you can deduct it this year rather than next. Both cash- and accrual-basis taxpayers can charge expenses on a credit card and deduct them in the year charged, regardless of when the credit card bill is paid.

But if you think you’ll be in a higher tax bracket next year (or you expect tax rates to go up), consider taking the opposite approach instead — accelerating income and deferring deductible expenses. This will increase your tax bill this year but can save you tax over the two-year period.

These are only some of the nuances to consider. Please contact us to discuss what timing strategies will work to your tax advantage, based on your specific situation.

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5 ways to speed up collections

Turning receivables into cash is among the most important things a business must do. Of course, it’s easier said than done. Here are five ways to speed up collections:

1. Streamline the billing process. You can’t collect what you don’t bill. Invoice customers promptly — as soon as the product ships, if possible. Or, if your company provides services, track billable hours daily and bill monthly — or as often as permitted under the customer’s contract. Implementing an electronic payment system, or upgrading your existing one, may accelerate invoicing and enable faster receipt of receivables.

2. Reward early birds and penalize procrastinators. Enticing customers to pay before the due date may require early-bird discounts, such as a small percentage off bills or value-added perks for those who pay on time or improve their payment histories. Conversely, you might consider assessing fees on past-due payments. However, many companies decide to waive late charges as an act of goodwill when customers immediately resolve outstanding balances.

3. Take a multifaceted approach. A variety of strategies, rather than a single phone call demanding payment, can yield better results. Courtesy calls may allow you to more quickly discover discrepancies (such as wrong addresses) and settle disputes. Payment plans can help distressed customers catch up on overdue accounts. And promissory notes can help prevent future billing disagreements.

4. Minimize risky business. Before conducting business with anyone, review a prospective customer’s payment history, references and credit score to assess ability to pay. Poor credit shouldn’t necessarily stop you from providing products or services to a customer. But be prepared to alter your typical payment terms when dealing with high-risk buyers.

5. Look for outside help. If late payments become a serious concern, third parties can offer assistance. Turning over particularly bad debts to a reputable collection agency allows you to distance yourself from the matter and focus on business. And let it not go unsaid that our CPA firm can review your financial statements and collection procedures to help you set specific, achievable goals in getting paid faster.

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Tax-smart options for your old retirement plan when you change jobs

There’s a lot to think about when you change jobs, and it’s easy for a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan to get lost in the shuffle. But to keep building tax-deferred savings, it’s important to make an informed decision about your old plan. First and foremost, don’t take a lump-sum distribution from your old employer’s retirement plan. It generally will be taxable and, if you’re under age 59½, subject to a 10% early-withdrawal penalty. Here are three tax-smart alternatives:

1. Stay put. You may be able to leave your money in your old plan. But if you’ll be participating in your new employer’s plan or you already have an IRA, keeping track of multiple plans can make managing your retirement assets more difficult. Also consider how well the old plan’s investment options meet your needs.

2. Roll over to your new employer’s plan. This may be beneficial if it leaves you with only one retirement plan to keep track of. But evaluate the new plan’s investment options.

3. Roll over to an IRA. If you participate in your new employer’s plan, this will require keeping track of two plans. But it may be the best alternative because IRAs offer nearly unlimited investment choices.

If you choose a rollover, request a direct rollover from your old plan to your new plan or IRA. If instead the funds are sent to you by check, you’ll need to make an indirect rollover (that is, deposit the funds into an IRA) within 60 days to avoid tax and potential penalties.

Also, be aware that the check you receive from your old plan will, unless an exception applies, be net of 20% federal income tax withholding. If you don’t roll over the gross amount (making up for the withheld amount with other funds), you’ll be subject to income tax — and potentially the 10% penalty — on the difference.

There are additional issues to consider when deciding what to do with your old retirement plan. We can help you make an informed decision — and avoid potential tax traps.

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Help retain employees with tax-free fringe benefits

One way your business can find and keep valuable employees is to offer an attractive compensation package. Fringe benefits are an important incentive — especially those that are tax-free. Here’s a rundown of some common perks and their tax implications.

• Medical coverage. If you maintain a health care plan for employees, coverage under the plan isn’t taxable to them. Employee contributions are excluded from income if pretax coverage is elected under a cafeteria plan. Otherwise, such amounts are included in their wages, but are deductible on a limited basis as itemized deductions. Employers must meet a number of requirements when providing coverage. For instance, benefits must be provided through a group health plan (fully insured or self-insured).
• Disability insurance. Your premium payments aren’t included in employees’ income, nor are your contributions to a trust providing disability benefits. Employees’ premium payments (or other contributions to the plan) generally aren’t deductible by them or excludable from their income. However, they can make pretax contributions to a cafeteria plan for disability benefits, which are excludable from their income.
• Long-term care insurance. Your premium payments aren’t taxable to employees. However, long-term care insurance can’t be provided through a cafeteria plan.
• Life insurance. Your employees generally can exclude from gross income premiums you pay on up to $50,000 of qualified group term life insurance coverage. Premiums you pay for qualified coverage exceeding $50,000 are taxable to the extent they exceed the employee’s coverage contributions.
• Dependent care. You can provide employees with tax-free dependent care assistance up to certain limits during the year.
• Educational assistance. You can help employees on a tax-free basis through educational assistance plans (up to $5,250 per year), job-related educational assistance, and qualified scholarships.

Other tax-free benefits include adoption assistance (up to a certain amount), on-premises athletic facilities and meals provided occasionally to employees who work overtime. Contact us for more information about how to treat fringe benefits for tax purposes.

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