Income Tax Planning Flashcards
Taxation on Scholarships
- NOT INLUDED IN GROSS INCOME - when used for tuition and books as long as recipient is a candidate for a degree
- INCLUDED IN GROSS INCOME - money received for living expenses, meals, housing & stipends
Below Mkt loan - Imputed Interest
Loan Amount <$10K $0 Imputed Interest
$10K < $100K = Lesser of:
- Net Inv Inc (Inv Inc - Inv Exp)
OR
- Int Calc Using AFR - Int using
stated loan rate
**if borrowers NII < $1K, $0 Imputed int
> $100K = Int Calc using AFR - Int Using stated
loan rate
Adoption Credit Limits
Limited to the lesser of:
- Qualifying Adoption Expenses
- Credit of $15,950
- Amount of tax due
*Not Refundable
Section 1231 vs 1245 vs 1250
1231 assets are held for longer than 1 year and include personalty assets (S 1245) and real assets (S 1250) used in trade or business
S 1231 Benefits
- Depreciation recatpure is treated as ordinary income
- Gains over the original price are treated as capital gains. Only way to have a S 1231 gain on a S 1245 property is to sell it for more than it was originally purchased for
- Losses are treated as ordinary losses and not subject to the capital loss limits
*C Corps pay the same rate of tax on ordinary income and capital gains. The corp can recognize losses without having to generate capital gains to offset them
S 1245 Details
- Tangible property used in trade or business & includes depreciation property (equip), patents, copyrights and other intangibles.
- if gain, recaptured depreciation is ordinary income & anything above that is a 1231 gain
- if loss, ordinary loss
S 1250 Details
Governs recapture of depreciation on Real S 1231 assets that includes buildings and RE
Steps:
- Recapture excess depreciation and tax at ordinary rates (Dep taken- Straight Line)
- If gain exceeds, the lesser gain or straight-line is taxed at 25%
- Any gain in excess of the above is taxed according to S 1231
5 Year lookback on S 1231 description
Forces the TP to net S 1231 gains and losses over a 5 year period.
- if there are losses, TP will have to take the total of the previous losses as ordinary gains and any remaining gain would be classified as a 1231 gain
Sole Proprietor Summary
Advantages
- Easy to form
- simple to operate
- easy to sell business assets
- few admin burdens
- income generally passed through to owner on Schedule C of Form 1040
Disadvantages
- Limited sources of capital
- Unlimited Liability
- no guarantee of continuity beyond the proprietor
- business income subject to SE tax
Calculation of SE Tax
Net Self-Employment Income x 92.35% (100 - 6.20% -1.45% = 92.35%) =
Net Earnings subject to SE Tax
x 12.40% up to $160,200 (SS Wage Base) + 2.90% on all income (1.45% x 2 = 2.90%) = Self-Employment Tax
Partnership Summary
Advantages
- More sources of initial capital than proprietorships
- Usually have more management resources available than proprietorships
- Have fewer admin burdens than corps
- Income and losses are generally passed through to the partners for tax purposes
Disadvantages
- Transfers of interest is more difficult than for proprietorships
- Unlimited Liability - each partner is liable for partnership debts and obligations
- Partnership income tax and basis adjustment rules can be complex
- Business net income is subject to self-employment tax
- Partners are entitled to few tax-free fringe benefits that are generally available to employees
LP Summary
Advantages
- Favorable pass-through partnership taxation status
- Flexibility in structuring ownership interest
- Limited partners are not personally liable for the debts and obligations of the LP as long as they do not engage in management
Disadvantages
- must file with the state to register
- in most states, general partners are liable for debts and other obligations of the LP
- losses for limited partners are generally passive losses
LLP Summary
Advantages
- Favorable pass-through partnership taxation status available
- Flexibility in structuring ownership interest
- Partners can insulate themselves from the acts of other partners
Disadvantages
- required to file with the state to register
- unlimited liability for own acts of malpractice
Family Limited Partnerships Summary
Advantages
- Control retained by senior family member
- Valuation discounts are available for minority interests
- annual exclusion gifts are generally used to transfer interests to family members
- Some creditor protection
- Restrictions can be placed on transferability of LP interest of junior family members
- FLP is commonly used as an estate planning strategy
Disadvantages
- Attorney setup fees and costs
- periodic valuation costs
- operational requirements
- potential IRS challenges regarding valuation and discounts
LLC Summary
Advantages
- members have limited liability
- number of members is unlimited but a single member LLC is a disregarded entity for tax purposes
- members may be individuals, corps, trusts, other LLC and other entities
- income is passed through to the members, usually a k-1
- double taxation affecting most C corps is avoided if partnership tax status is elected
- members can participate in managing the LLC
- distributions to members do not have to be directly proportional to the members’ ownership interest as they do for S corps
- can have multiple classes of ownership
- entity may elect to be taxed as a partnership, an S corp or a C Corp
Disadvantages
- may have limited life
- transfer of interest is difficult and sometimes limited by operating agreement
- some industries or professions may not be permitted to use LLC
- laws vary from state to state regarding LLCs
- laws are relatively new for LLCs
- for tax purposes, the complex partnership rules generally apply
- members not meeting exceptions are subject to SE tax on all income earned if partnership status is elected
C Corp Summary
Advantages
- relative ease of raising capital
- limited liability of shareholders
- unlimited life of entity
- ease of transfer of ownership interest
- generally more management resources
- shareholder may receive full array of employer-provided tax-free fringe benefits
Disadvantages
- potential for double taxation due to entity level taxation
- administrative burdens
- more difficult to form and dissolution can cause taxable gains
- borrowing may be difficult without stockholder personal guarantees
- requires a registered agent
- requires a federal tax ID
S Corp Summary
Advantages
- income is passed through to the shareholders for federal income tax purposes
- income is taxed at the individual level which may be a lower tax rate than the applicable corporate rate
- shareholders have limited liability
- distributions from S corps are exempt from the payroll tax system, assuming the corp provides adequate comp to those shareholders who are employees of the corp
Disadvantages
- limited to 100 shareholders
- only one class of stock
- can’t have corporate, partnership, certain trust or nonresident alien shareholders
- shareholder employees owning more than 2% must pay taxes on a range of employee fringe benefits that would be tax free to a shareholder/employee of a c corp
- the tax rate of the individual shareholder may be higher than the corporate tax rate
- borrowing may be difficult without stockholder personal guarantees, which negates part of the advantage of limited liability
Personal Holding Company Definition
A corp is a PHC if both are met:
- at least 60% of the corp adj ordinary gross income for the tax year is from divs, interest, rent and royalties
- more than 50% of the corps outstanding stock is owned by 5 or fewer individuals
**if PHC has too much undistributed income, a penalty tax of 20% can be imposed
Tax filing for different business orgs
Sole Prop - Schedule C 1040
GP, LP, FLP - Form 1065, k-1 flows to Schedule E of 1040
LLP - may file as corp or partnership
LLC - 1 member > Schedule c of 1040. 2 or more, form 1065 (Partnership), Form
1120-S (S Corp) or form 1120 (C Corp)
S Corp - 1120S, k-1 to shareholders
C Corp - Form 1120
Taxation Concepts of different business orgs
Sole Proprietor - individual
C Corp - Entity
GP, LP, LLP, FLP, LLC, S Corp - Flow through
Deduction for Business Income From Pass-through Entities and Sole Props
- individuals generally may deduct 20% of QBI from a partnership, S corp, or Sole prop as well as 20% of aggregate qualified REIT dividends, qualified cooperative divs, and qualified publicly traded partnership income
- not allowed in computing AGI but rather a deduction reducing taxable income