Business owners, help your estate by gifting company stock

Everyone needs a solid estate plan to distribute assets according to their wishes and benefit their heirs. But this necessity is especially keen for business owners, many of whom have spent years working hard to build up the values of their companies.

If you can relate to this statement, one effective way to reduce estate taxes is to limit the amount of appreciation in your estate — and your company may provide just the ticket for doing so.

Why appreciation?

You’ll save the most in estate taxes by giving away assets with the highest probability of future appreciation. Why? Because gifting these assets today will keep future appreciation on those assets out of your taxable estate. Thus, there may be no better gift than your company stock, which could be the most rapidly appreciating asset you own.

For example, assume your business is worth $5 million today but is likely to be worth $15 million in several years. By giving away some of the stock today, you’ll keep a substantial portion of the future appreciation out of your taxable estate.

What are the limits?

Naturally, there are limits to how much you can give without tax consequences. Each individual is entitled to give as much as $14,000 per year per recipient without incurring any gift tax or using any of his or her $5.45 million lifetime gift, estate or generation-skipping transfer tax exemption amount.

Also be aware that, because you’re giving away company stock, the IRS may challenge the value you place on the gift and try to increase it substantially. The agency is required to make any challenges to a gift tax return within the normal three-year statute of limitations — even when no tax is payable with the return. But the statute of limitations applies only if certain disclosures are made on the gift tax return. Generally, for gifts of stock that isn’t publicly traded, a professional business valuation is highly recommended.

Who can help?

If the idea of giving away portions of your business to reduce estate tax exposure intrigues you, please contact us. We can help you fully assess the feasibility of this strategy as it pertains to your specific situation.

© 2016

Get 2 tax benefits from 1 donation: Give appreciated stock instead of cash

If you’re charitably inclined, making donations is probably one of your key year-end tax planning strategies. But if you typically give cash, you may want to consider another option that provides not just one but two tax benefits: Donating long-term appreciated stock.

More tax savings

Appreciated publicly traded stock you’ve held more than one year is long-term capital gains property. If you donate it to a qualified charity, you can enjoy two benefits: 1) You can claim a charitable deduction equal to the stock’s fair market value, and 2) you can avoid the capital gains tax you’d pay if you sold the stock. This will be especially beneficial to taxpayers facing the 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT) or the top 20% long-term capital gains rate this year.

Let’s say you donate $10,000 of stock that you paid $3,000 for, your ordinary-income tax rate is 39.6% and your long-term capital gains rate is 20%. If you sold the stock, you’d pay $1,400 in tax on the $7,000 gain. If you were also subject to the 3.8% NIIT, you’d pay another $266 in NIIT.

By instead donating the stock to charity, you save $5,626 in federal tax ($1,666 in capital gains tax and NIIT plus $3,960 from the $10,000 income tax deduction). If you donated $10,000 in cash, your federal tax savings would be only $3,960.

Tread carefully

Beware that donations of long-term capital gains property are subject to tighter deduction limits — 30% of your adjusted gross income for gifts to public charities, 20% for gifts to nonoperating private foundations (compared to 50% and 30%, respectively, for cash donations).

And don’t donate stock that’s worth less than your basis. Instead, sell the stock so you can deduct the loss and then donate the cash proceeds to charity.

If you own appreciated stock that you’d like to sell, but you’re concerned about the tax hit, donating it to charity might be right for you. For more details on this and other strategies to achieve your charitable giving and tax-saving goals, contact us.

© 2016

Boost your 2016 deductions by buying a business vehicle this year

If you’re looking to boost your deductions — and reduce your 2016 tax bill — you may want to consider purchasing a business vehicle before year end. Business-related purchases of new or used vehicles may be eligible for Section 179 expensing, which allows you to immediately deduct, rather than depreciate over a period of years, some or all of the vehicle’s cost. But the size of your deduction will depend in part on the gross vehicle weight rating.

The limits

The normal Sec. 179 expensing limit generally applies to vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 14,000 pounds. The limit for 2016 is $500,000, and the break begins to phase out dollar-for-dollar when total asset acquisitions for the tax year exceed $2.01 million.

But a $25,000 limit applies to SUVs rated at more than 6,000 pounds but no more than 14,000 pounds. Vehicles rated at 6,000 pounds or less are subject to the passenger automobile limits. For 2016 the depreciation limit is $3,160. The amount that may be deducted under the combination of Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) depreciation and Sec. 179 for the first year is limited under the luxury auto rules to $11,160.

In addition, if a vehicle is used for business and personal purposes, the associated expenses, including depreciation, must be allocated between deductible business use and nondeductible personal use. The depreciation limit is reduced if the business use is less than 100%. If the business use is 50% or less, you can’t use Sec. 179 expensing or the accelerated regular MACRS; you must use the straight-line method.

Maximize your tax benefits

Many additional rules and limits apply to these breaks. So if you’re considering a business vehicle purchase, contact us to learn what tax benefits you might enjoy if you make the purchase by December 31.

© 2016

Proper education can drive retirement plan participation

Employers who offer retirement savings plans are already helping their workforces. But not all employees take advantage of these plans. And many who do still don’t contribute enough to retire comfortably. As a business owner, you can help your employees even more — and drive plan participation — by providing proper education on retirement planning.

Here are five ways to go:

1. Teach them about the general concepts of investing. Many employees are unfamiliar with basic economic and investing concepts. Offer instruction on concepts such as:

• Compounding growth,
• Tax implications of different types of savings plans, and
• How much they need to save to reach a certain sum at retirement.

Providing such information can help your employees make informed decisions about their options.

2. Explain how the plan functions. For instance, do they need to enroll in the plan, or are they automatically enrolled? Once enrolled, how do they decide how much to contribute and how to allocate their money among different investments?

3. Provide information in various formats. Webinars or other online communication methods will resonate with some employees, while others will prefer printed material. By offering a mix of options, you’ll likely be effective in reaching different segments of your workforce.

4. Arrange face-to-face sessions. Even if your business offers printed and electronic materials, in-person sessions can go a long way in helping employees understand the plan. These sessions also provide an opportunity to reinforce the value of a retirement plan as part of the employee’s overall compensation package. If one-on-one sessions are impractical, consider small groups.

5. Offer information regularly. Providing consistent education is a great way to remind employees of the value of their retirement savings plans.

Remember, employees aren’t the only ones who benefit from proper retirement savings education. As participation increases, plan fees may diminish. And the more non–highly compensated employees sock away in a plan, the more its highly compensated employees can contribute. Please contact our firm for more ways to maximize the strategic value of your retirement plan.

© 2016

Prepaid tuition vs. college savings: Which type of 529 plan is better?

Section 529 plans provide a tax-advantaged way to help pay for college expenses. Here are just a few of the benefits:

• Although contributions aren’t deductible for federal purposes, plan assets can grow tax-deferred.
• Some states offer tax incentives for contributing in the form of deductions or credits.
• The plans usually offer high contribution limits, and there are no income limits for contributing.

Prepaid tuition plans

With this type of 529 plan, if your contract is for four years of tuition, tuition is guaranteed regardless of its cost at the time the beneficiary actually attends the school. This can provide substantial savings if you invest when the child is still very young.

One downside is that there’s uncertainty in how benefits will be applied if the beneficiary attends a different school. Another is that the plan doesn’t cover costs other than tuition, such as room and board.

Savings plan

This type of 529 plan can be used to pay a student’s expenses at most postsecondary educational institutions. Distributions used to pay qualified expenses (such as tuition, mandatory fees, books, supplies, computer equipment, software, Internet service and, generally, room and board) are income-tax-free for federal purposes and typically for state purposes as well, thus making the tax deferral a permanent savings.

The biggest downside may be that you don’t have direct control over investment decisions; you’re limited to the options the plan offers. Additionally, for funds already in the plan, you can make changes to your investment options only twice during the year or when you change beneficiaries.

But each time you make a new contribution to a 529 savings plan, you can select a different option for that contribution, regardless of how many times you contribute throughout the year. And every 12 months you can make a tax-free rollover to a different 529 plan for the same child.

As you can see, each 529 plan type has its pluses and minuses. Whether a prepaid tuition plan or a savings plan is better depends on your situation and goals. If you’d like help choosing, please contact us.

© 2016

Businesses can also be disrupted by tax identity theft

A great deal of attention is paid to individual tax identity theft — when a taxpayer’s personal information (including Social Security number) is used to fraudulently obtain a refund or commit other crimes. But businesses can also be victims of tax identity theft.

Significant consequences

Business tax identity theft occurs when a criminal uses the identifying information of a business, without permission, to obtain tax benefits or to enable individual identity theft schemes. For example, a thief could use an Employer Identification Number (EIN) and file a fraudulent business tax return to claim a refund or refundable tax credits. Or a fraudster may report income and withholding for fake employees on false W-2 forms. Then, he or she can file fraudulent individual tax returns for the “employees” to claim refunds.

In many cases, businesses don’t even know their information has been stolen until they’re contacted by the IRS. The consequences can include significant dollar amounts, lost time sorting out the mess and damage to your reputation.

Signs your business could be a victim

There are some red flags that indicate possible tax identity theft. For example, your business’s identity may have been compromised if you receive:

• A notice from the IRS about fictitious employees.
• An IRS letter stating that more than one tax return has been filed in your business name.
• A notice from the IRS that you have a balance due when you haven’t yet filed a return.

Steps to take

If you receive a letter or notice from the IRS that leads you to believe someone fraudulently has used your business EIN, respond immediately to the contact information provided. Contact us for more information about how to proceed.

© 2016

Forthcoming regs will identify two new foreign tax credit “splitter arrangements.”

In a Notice, IRS has announced that it intends to issue regs under Code Sec. 909 to address the separation of related income from foreign income taxes paid by a “section 902 corporation” pursuant to a foreign-initiated adjustment. The regs will identify two new “splitter arrangements,” one of which involves a change to ownership structure made in anticipation of the foreign-initiated adjustment, and the other of which involves making an extraordinary distribution before paying the adjustment so as to generate substantial amounts of foreign taxes deemed paid without a corresponding U.S. income inclusion. Notice 2016-52, 2016-40 IRB