CPA Blog

Act soon if you want to help your child buy a home

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Published: Tuesday, 24 November 2015 09:09

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Mortgage interest rates are still at historically low levels, but they’re expected to go up by year end. So if you’ve been thinking about helping your child — or grandchild — buy a home, consider acting soon. There also are some favorable tax factors that will help:

0% capital gains rate. If the child is in the 10% or 15% tax bracket, instead of giving cash to help fund a down payment, consider giving long-term appreciated assets such as stock or mutual fund shares. The child can sell the assets without incurring any federal income taxes on the gain, and you can save the taxes you’d owe if you sold the assets yourself. As long as the assets are worth $14,000 or less (when combined with any other 2015 gifts to the child), there will be no federal gift tax consequences — thanks to the annual gift tax exclusion.

Low federal interest rates. Another tax-friendly option is lending funds to the child. Now is a good time for taking this step, too. Currently, Applicable Federal Rates — the rates that can be charged on intrafamily loans without causing unwanted tax consequences — are very low by historical standards. But these rates are also expected to increase by year end.

If you have questions about these or other tax-efficient ways to help your child or grandchild buy a home, please contact us.

© 2015

Independent contractors offer expertise, potential risks

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Published: Thursday, 19 November 2015 16:43

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Turning to independent contractors can be a smart option in a number of situations, such as when you have a seasonal upswing in workload or need a specialized skill for a short period. But independent contractors come with potential risks, too. They may not help you trim your total workforce costs if you use them excessively. More important, there can be tax and legal ramifications if you mishandle the relationship.

The IRS has long scrutinized employers’ use of independent contractors as a way to avoid payroll tax obligations. If the IRS recharacterizes an independent contractor as an employee, you could be on the hook for:

• Back payroll taxes you should have paid,
• Back payroll and income taxes you should have withheld, and
• Interest and penalties.

Also, earlier this year, the Department of Labor renewed its focus on employee misclassification. Its Wage and Hour Division released Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2015-1, which includes six factors to help employers determine proper classification and warns of serious potential penalties.

Independent contractors can give you flexibility to even out the peaks and valleys of your workforce needs. But these arrangements have risks. We can help you understand the tax implications and work with your legal advisors to keep you in compliance.

Tread carefully when determining compensation for S corp. shareholder-employees

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Published: Tuesday, 17 November 2015 15:28

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

By distributing profits in the form of dividends rather than salary, an S corporation and its owners can avoid payroll taxes on these amounts. Because of the additional 0.9% Medicare tax on wages in excess of $200,000 ($250,000 for joint filers and $125,000 for married filing separately), the potential tax savings may be even greater than it once would have been. (S corporation dividends paid to shareholder-employees generally won’t be subject to the 3.8% net investment income tax.)

But paying little or no salary to S corporation shareholder-employees is risky. The IRS has targeted S corporations, assessing unpaid payroll taxes, penalties and interest against companies whose owners’ salaries are unreasonably low. To avoid such a result, S corporations should establish and document reasonable salaries for each position using compensation surveys, company financial data and other evidence.

Do you have questions about compensating S corporation shareholder-employees? Contact us — we can help you determine the mix of salary and dividends that can keep tax liability as low as possible while standing up to IRS scrutiny.

Keep an eye on KPIs as your company rolls along

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Published: Monday, 16 November 2015 09:21

Written by Phillip Strickler, CPA.CITP

Like race car drivers, business owners need to monitor gauges on their dashboards to keep an eye out for serious operational failures before a total breakdown occurs. These gauges are commonly referred to as key performance indicators (KPIs).

There are two broad categories of KPIs: financial and nonfinancial. Financial KPIs often take the form of ratios, such as:

• Debt to Equity: Total Debt / Shareholder’s Equity,
• Current Ratio: Current Assets / Current Liabilities, and
• Days Sales Outstanding: Number of Days × Accounts Receivable / Credit Sales.

Nonfinancial KPIs may include measurable metrics in the areas of customer service, sales and marketing. For example, if a company’s goal is to improve its response time to customer complaints, its KPI might be to initially respond to complaints within 24 hours, and to eventually resolve at least 80% of complaints to the customer’s satisfaction.

KPIs differ from one company to the next based on industry, company type (B2B or B2C, for example) and, most important, strategic objectives. Your KPIs will stem mainly from your mission statement and your short-, medium- and long-term goals.