Income taxes Flashcards
What is the use of the tax return?
It is prepared to calculate taxes payable to the authorities.
Describe the purpose of the tax return.
- Taxes payable result in an outflow of cash from the firm, so firms try to minimize taxes payable and retain cash.
- This objective is achieved by recognizing higher expenses on the tax return, which leads to lower taxable income and, consequently, lower taxes payable.
What is the use of financial statements?
They are prepared to report the company’s operating performance over the year to shareholders, financial institutions,s and other stakeholders.
Describe the purpose of the financial statements.
- For financial reporting purposes, companies try to show healthy performance and profitability.
- This objective is achieved by recognizing lower expenses on the IS, which lead to higher pretax income, and (despite higher income tax expense) higher NI than on tax return.
What is the tax base of an asset or liability?
It is the amount that is recognized on the BS for tax purposes.
What is the carrying value?
It is the amount recognized on the BS for financial reporting purposes.
What is an asset’s tax base?
It is the amount that will be expensed on tax returns in the future as economic benefits are realized from the asset.
What is the carrying value of an asset?
It is the historical cost of the asset minus the accumulated depreciation charged against it in previous years on the company’s financial statement.
What happens to the carrying value and tax base of an asset that is not taxable?
The carrying value equals the tax base.
What are the 2 types of liabilities that can result from accrual accounting?
- Unearned revenues
- Accrued expenses
What is the carrying value of unearned revenues and accrued expenses?
It is the amount recognized on the BS in the financial statements.
How do you calculate the tax base of accrued expense liability?
It is equal to the carrying amount of the liability minus amounts that have not been expensed for tax purposes yet; but can be expensed in the future.
How do you calculate the tax base of unearned revenue liability?
It is equal to the carrying value of the liability minus the amount of revenue that has already been taxed and, therefore, will not be taxed in the future.
What is the reporting strategy for depreciation for the 2 statements under US GAAP?
- Firms try to record higher depreciation expenses on their tax returns to minimize taxes payable.
- Firms try to recognize lower depreciation expenses on their financial reports to maximize reported profits.
What is a temporary difference?
It is a difference in expense recognition across the 2 statements that reverses.
What are the major sources of temporary difference?
- Depreciation of fixed assets.
- Amortization of financial assets.
- Revenue recognition policies.
- Asset write-ups/Write-downs
- Fair value adjustments in business combinations (excluding goodwill)
- Unused losses/tax credits.
What happens if the expense recognition for tax purposes is relatively aggressive?
It will give rise to a deferred tax liability (DTL) which will make the company pay less taxes now and pay more taxes in the future.