Raleigh Estate Planning and Corporate Law Attorneys

Taxes

8 Ways To Avoid Tax Surprises In 2019

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2018 tax changes

The U.S. government quietly overhauled the tax code with the Tax Cuts and Job Act. They passed the law in 2017, and big changes apply to taxes for the 2018 tax year, the 2019 tax year and beyond. The tax changes are big, and most taxpayers are going to notice when they begin to prepare their 2018 taxes.

What are the U.S. tax changes in 2018?

The 2018 U.S. tax changes increase the standard deduction. At the same time, the changes reduce the things that people can claim as itemized deductions. The net effect is going to be that fewer people itemize their deductions and just take the standardized deduction instead. There are changes to withholdings and changes to the percentage rates of certain tax brackets.

How do I prepare for the 2018 tax changes?

With a little bit of advance planning, you can be ready for the 2018 tax changes. You may not realize how big the tax changes are until you begin to work on your 2018 taxes. If you don’t make adjustments, you might be in for a good – or bad – surprise come tax time. Of course, with some planning, you can avoid tax surprises in 2019. Here are 8 ways to avoid tax surprises in 2019:

1. Review your withholdings for 2018

The best way to avoid a surprise tax bill in 2018 is to review your withholdings. Your withholdings are the amount that your employer keeps from your pay and sends directly to the IRS. If your taxes are going up with the proposed changes, you want to make sure that you adjust your tax withholdings so that you’re taking out enough from each paycheck.

Of course, whether you need to increase your withholdings or you can rest easy depends on an estimate of your overall tax liability. Even with changes that drastically reduce things that you can deduct, many people are going to pay less in taxes overall than they did before. On the other hand, if you’re on the losing end of the changes, you might have to write Uncle Sam a check. A mid-year review of your withholdings can prevent you from having April 15, 2019 come with financial setbacks.

2. Stay on top of standardized deductions

The old tax code had both standardized deductions and personalized exemptions. Standardized deductions are the amount that taxpayers can deduct from their income. Exemptions are an amount of income for each person that’s exempt from taxes.

Under the new tax code, standardized deductions are up, and personal exemptions are out. The new tax code increases the standardized deduction to $12,000 for one person and $24,000 for a couple filing jointly. That’s a big increase over the prior standardized deductions. At the same time, personal exemptions are completely eliminated for everyone.

Fewer people qualify to itemize their deductions under the new tax code. If you’re going to make the jump from itemized deductions to standardized deductions, it’s helpful to know ahead of time so that you can go about your business accordingly. It’s also important to know what expenses are no longer deductible from income.

3. Cap on state and local taxes

If you don’t look twice, you may get a big surprise when you find out that the new tax code caps state and local taxes at $10,000. For families who pay property taxes, they may quickly reach the ceiling. Before, property taxes may have just been seen as par for the course, but now, there’s even more incentive to fight your property tax assessment and lower that local tax bill.

4. Elimination of unreimbursed employee expenses

Most people put at least some of their own money into their work even if they’re an employee. If you’re a teacher, you buy supplies. If you’re an office manager, you might pick up a ream of paper in an emergency. Under the old tax code, employees could deduct unreimbursed business expenses. In the new code, that’s no longer the case. If you pay significant amounts of your own income towards your job, now is the time to renegotiate reimbursements or a pay raise to cover the cost.

You may have a rough time paying the tax bill when you find that the new code doesn’t allow for employee expenses. Teachers may still deduct a limited amount for classroom expenses. In addition, business expenses are still deductible.

5. Make charitable changes

Americans are among the most generous people on earth. With the new tax changes, you may get more bang for your charitable buck by grouping your charitable donations into the same year. For example, you can make twice the deductions in 2019 and then give nothing in 2020. That way, you can take itemized deductions in one year instead of falling into the standardized deduction category two years in a row. The amount of income that you can deduct for charitable contributions increases under the new tax code.

6. Make charity pay with IRA giving

One way to avoid the sting of the new tax code is to give to charity from your IRA. Giving contributions directly from the IRA to the charity lets you avoid counting the IRA withdrawal as income only to take a standardized deduction that doesn’t account for your charitable gift.

7. Your home is no longer an office

People work at home these days more than ever before. Unfortunately, if you’re an employee, you can no longer claim a deduction for your home office. If you’re self-employed, the home office is still a deduction. For everyone else, home is only home from now on.

8. Child tax credits are going to increase

The child tax credits are better for everyone under the new plan. The credits are higher, the maximum income to qualify is higher and even the definition of who is a qualifying child has expanded. The good thing about the child tax credit is that it’s a direct deduction from your tax liability and not a deduction from your taxable income. It’s a straight credit of the dollars you owe in taxes. Under the new tax code, $1,400 of the child tax credit is refundable, so it can even put dollars in your pocket.

Planning to avoid tax surprises in 2018

Paying taxes is never fun. There are a lot of changes in 2018 and again in 2019. The right planning can help you avoid surprises and use the new tax code to your advantage. The professionals at Wilson Ratledge can help examine your case in order to structure your personal and business taxes in the best way possible.

What Business Owners Need To Know About The 2018 Tax Law Changes

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2018 will see the first significant tax reform since 1986. This reform affects everything in the economy as well as everyone in the country. The ways it will affect individuals, couples, corporations and small business owners will vary, but everyone will see changes in 2018.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a tax reform bill that will provide tax cuts for both corporations and small business owners and will restore some tax benefits to individuals. This tax reform will not affect 2017 taxes, and some provisions in the final tax bill will remain until 2025.

70 percent of Americans claim a standard deduction when filing taxes and they will see slight increases in income with the 2018 tax reform bill, which is still being fleshed out as of January. Many people are unaware how their taxes are calculated and what deductions mean for them. Businesses have a different set of tax codes and many businesses employ the expertise of an experienced tax attorney to ensure their business taxes are properly calculated and paid.

What The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act means for business owners is substantial. The new tax reform changes both tax brackets and income ranges. The IRS has published an announcement which lists many new provisions, some of which are unrelated to the new reform bill. Individuals, as well as business owners, will see these changes in the 2018 tax year.

Some of the reform’s changes which will affect business owners in 2018 include:

  • Lowers the tax burden on pass-through businesses (owners of a business who pay taxes on income derived from that business on their personal income tax returns)
    Small business owners can start deducting 20 percent of their qualified business income in 2018 whether that is a sole proprietorship, partnership or S corporation which already sees lower taxes. There are some limits such as a limit of $157,500 individually claimed and a $315,000 limit of jointly claimed income.
  • The tax reform includes a rule to prevent abuse of the pass-through tax break
    If a partner in a pass-through also earns a salary from the jointly-owned business, their income would be subject to regular income tax rates. To prevent people from claiming their salary income as a business profit in order to take advantage of the pass-through deduction, the bill places limits on how much income qualifies for the deduction.
  • Territorial tax system
    U.S. corporations are required to pay U.S. taxes on profits they have earned abroad, The new system will end the double taxation and they will pay one tax.
  • Repatriation of foreign assets
    Many corporations and businesses hold assets abroad. U.S. Corporations have approximately $2.5 trillion in foreign profits. The new tax reform bill provides an incentive to bring these assets back to the U.S., assessing a one-time repatriation rate of 15.5 percent on cash and equivalent assets and 8 percent on liquid assets over a period of 8 years.
  • Dividend Reduction and Net Losses
    The reform bill reduces 80 percent deductions on dividends received to 65 percent deductions, and 70 percent deductions on dividends received to 50 percent deductions. The reform also limits the deduction for net operating loss carryovers up to 80 percent of the business’s taxable income.

If you are a small business owner, you may want to consult one of our experienced tax attorneys regarding these new changes for what they may mean for you both individually and as a business owner. We can help interpret the tax law as it applies to your situation, and help you navigate your way through the changes.

Gifting, Taxes, and Long Term Care

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One of the more common concepts that clients get confused about is taxes on gifts to children or grandchildren, and how it all works together when you’re thinking about planning for Medicaid or long-term care.  This normally happens with our older clients who are getting to a point where paying for care is a concern.  The conversation normally goes something like this:

Client: “I want to give my kids $50,000.00 each.  I know I can give some amount away each year to my kids and the government won’t count it, right?”

Me: “You’re allowed to give $14,000 to an individual without incurring any gift tax liability.”

Client: “So they can’t come back and get it if I need to go into the nursing home?”

And this is where the confusion begins.  Many clients confuse the rules related to taxes on gifts with the rules related to gifts related to the Medicaid lookback, or they assume that one rule covers everything.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

The website “The Motley Fool” has a good, succinct article about when a person should consider making gifts to heirs.  The article, which can be found here, has as straightforward an explanation of gifts and taxes as I’ve seen.  It also raises a good point, namely, have you considered how you are going to pay for long-term care after you’ve made these gifts?

The important points to remember are:

  1. Gifts made for tax purposes are not always protected from the Medicaid lookback rules, if such gifts are made within five years of applying for Medicaid assistance.  This five year period is also called the “lookback” period, and it is what it says.  Social Services is looking back through your financial history to determine whether you have made gifts of assets that should have instead been used to pay for your long-term care.  There are certain situations in which you may be able to overcome this presumption, but the safe rule of thumb is that Social Services will count those gifts against you.
  2. If you have your cost of care covered, either with long-term care insurance, or with other assets, remember to take into consideration the assets you are gifting.  Gifts of stocks or real property can result in adverse tax consequences down the road for the recipient.  Why?  Because generally speaking, gifts during the life of the donor (donor is the person making the gift) retain the basis of the donor in the hands of the donee (the person receiving the gift).  In English?  OK, OK.  Let’s say I bought 5,000 shares of stock in ABC Corporation for $1.00 each 20 years ago.  My basis in these shares is $5,000.00.  If today they are worth $10.00 per share, and I sold them, I would have a taxable gain of $45,000.00.

If I give the shares away to my sister when they are worth $10.00 per share, my sister’s basis would not be $50,000.00, it would be what I paid for them: $5,000.00, meaning that if my sister were to sell the shares, she would be taxed on the $45,000.00.

If I retained my shares, and gave them to my sister via my Will when I died, she would receive the shares with the basis “stepped up” to the value of the shares the day I died.  So if when I died, the shares were worth $100 per share, my sister’s basis would be $100 per share.  If she sold the stock that same day, she would owe no taxes on the money received from the sale.

So what does this mean?  If you’re going to make gifts, think about the type of asset you’re giving.  If it’s something you didn’t pay much for but is worth an awful lot now, consider holding onto that asset and passing it at death, or consulting with us regarding better ways to plan for tax consequences.

Where does this tie in with the Medicaid lookback rules?  If you’re worried about protecting assets for long-term care and/or Medicaid eligibility, but want to make sure that your beneficiaries retain the advantages of a stepped-up basis in the asset, consider estate planning that will do both.  There are several different ways to ensure that assets will not be subject to estate recovery should you need Medicaid assistance, while retaining the step-up in basis provided by an on-death transfer.  Irrevocable trusts and gift deeds reserving life estate are one common way of doing this, but it needs to be done properly, and it needs to be part of an overall plan that will leave you with the assets you need and access you need to be able to live comfortably during retirement.

If you have questions about these issues, or need advice about planning for long-term care, talk to an attorney who deals specifically with these matters.

IRS Raises Tangible Property Expensing Threshold to $2,500 For Small Businesses

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The Internal Revenue Service today simplified the paperwork and recordkeeping requirements for small businesses by raising the safe harbor threshold from $500 to $2,500 for deducting certain capital items.

The change affects businesses that do not maintain an applicable financial statement (audited financial statement). It applies to amounts spent to acquire, produce or improve tangible property that would normally qualify as a capital item.

The new $2,500 threshold applies to any such item substantiated by an invoice. As a result, small businesses will be able to immediately deduct many expenditures that would otherwise need to be spread over a period of years through annual depreciation deductions.

“We received many thoughtful comments from taxpayers, their representatives and the professional tax community”, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “This important step simplifies taxes for small businesses, easing the recordkeeping and paperwork burden on small business owners and their tax preparers.”

Responding to a February comment request, the IRS received more than 150 letters from businesses and their representatives suggesting an increase in the threshold. Commenters noted that the existing $500 threshold was too low to effectively reduce administrative burden on small business. Moreover, the cost of many commonly expensed items such as tablet-style personal computers, smart phones, and machinery and equipment parts typically surpass the $500 threshold.

As before, businesses can still claim otherwise deductible repair and maintenance costs, even if they exceed the $2,500 threshold.

The new $2,500 threshold takes effect starting with tax year 2016. In addition, the IRS will provide audit protection to eligible businesses by not challenging use of the new $2,500 threshold in tax years prior to 2016.

For taxpayers with an applicable financial statement, the de minimis or small-dollar threshold remains $5,000. Further details on this change can be found in Notice 2015-82, posted today on IRS.gov.

For any questions about your specific tax situation, call one of our tax planning experts at 919-787-7711 or contact us online to schedule a consultation.

IRS Urges Public to Stay Alert for Scam Phone Calls

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The IRS continues to warn consumers to guard against scam phone calls from thieves intent on stealing their money or their identity. Criminals pose as the IRS to trick victims out of their money or personal information. Here are several tips to help you avoid being a victim of these scams:

  • Scammers make unsolicited calls.  Thieves call taxpayers claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may also leave “urgent” callback requests through phone “robo-calls,” or via phishing email.
  • Callers try to scare their victims.  Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the license of their victim if they don’t get the money.
  • Scams use caller ID spoofing.  Scammers often alter caller ID to make it look like the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to appear legitimate. They may use the victim’s name, address and other personal information to make the call sound official.
  • Cons try new tricks all the time.  Some schemes provide an actual IRS address where they tell the victim to mail a receipt for the payment they make. Others use emails that contain a fake IRS document with a phone number or an email address for a reply. These scams often use official IRS letterhead in emails or regular mail that they send to their victims. They try these ploys to make the ruse look official.
  • Scams cost victims over $23 million.  The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, has received reports of about 736,000 scam contacts since October 2013. Nearly 4,550 victims have collectively paid over $23 million as a result of the scam.

The IRS will not:

  • Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.
  • Demand that you pay taxes and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.
  • Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For instance, require that you pay with a prepaid debit card.
  • Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
  • Threaten to bring in police or other agencies to arrest you for not paying.

If you don’t owe taxes, or have no reason to think that you do:

If you know you owe, or think you may owe tax:

Phone scams first tried to sting older people, new immigrants to the U.S. and those who speak English as a second language. Now the crooks try to swindle just about anyone. And they’ve ripped-off people in every state in the nation.

Stay alert to scams that use the IRS as a lure. Tax scams can happen any time of year, not just at tax time. For more, visit “Tax Scams and Consumer Alerts” on IRS.gov.

Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on IRS.gov.

If you need to get in touch with one of our tax experts to discuss your specific situation, call us today at 919-787-7711 or fill out our online contact form.

IRS Provides Tax Relief for Victims of Severe Storms and Flooding in South Carolina

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Victims of the severe storms and flooding that took place beginning on October 1, 2015 in parts of South Carolina may qualify for tax relief from the Internal Revenue Service. Following the recent disaster declaration for individual assistance issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the IRS announced today that affected taxpayers in South Carolina will receive tax relief. The President has declared Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Clarendon, Darlington, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Kershaw, Lee, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland, Sumter and Williamsburg counties a federal disaster area. Individuals who reside or have a business in these counties may qualify for tax relief.

The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area. For instance, certain deadlines falling on or after Oct. 1, and on or before February 16, 2016 have been postponed to February 16, 2016. This includes the Oct. 15 deadline for those who received an extension to file their 2014 return. In addition, the IRS is waiving the failure-to-deposit penalties for employment and excise tax deposits due on or after Oct. 1, as long as the deposits were made by Oct. 16, 2015.

If an affected taxpayer receives a penalty notice from the IRS, the taxpayer should call the telephone number on the notice to have the IRS abate any interest and any late filing or late payment penalties that would otherwise apply. Penalties or interest will be abated only for taxpayers who have an original or extended filing, payment or deposit due date, including an extended filing or payment due date, that falls within the postponement period. The IRS automatically identifies taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and applies automatic filing and payment relief. But affected taxpayers who reside or have a business located outside the covered disaster area must call the IRS disaster hotline at 866-562-5227 to request this tax relief.

Affected Taxpayers

Taxpayers considered to be affected taxpayers eligible for the postponement of time to file returns, pay taxes and perform other time-sensitive acts are those taxpayers listed in Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A- 1(d)(1), and include individuals who live, and businesses whose principal place of business is located, in the covered disaster area. Taxpayers not in the covered disaster area, but whose records necessary to meet a deadline listed in Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(c) are in the covered disaster area, are also entitled to relief. In addition, all relief workers affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization assisting in the relief activities in the covered disaster area and any individual visiting the covered disaster area that was killed or injured as a result of the disaster are entitled to relief.

Grant of Relief

Under section 7508A, the IRS gives affected taxpayers until Feb. 16, 2016 to file most tax returns (including individual, corporate, and estate and trust income tax returns; partnership returns, S corporation returns, and trust returns; estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax returns; and employment and certain excise tax returns), or to make tax payments, including estimated tax payments, that have either an original or extended due date occurring on or after Oct. 1 and on or before Feb. 16, 2016. The IRS also gives affected taxpayers until Feb. 16, 2016 to perform other time-sensitive actions described in Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(c)(1) and Rev. Proc. 2007-56, 2007-34 I.R.B. 388 (Aug. 20, 2007), that are due to be performed on or after Oct. 1 and on or before Feb. 16, 2016. This relief also includes the filing of Form 5500 series returns, in the manner described in section 8 of Rev. Proc. 2007-56. The relief described in section 17 of Rev. Proc. 2007-56, pertaining to like-kind exchanges of property, also applies to certain taxpayers who are not otherwise affected taxpayers and may include acts required to be performed before or after the period above. The postponement of time to file and pay does not apply to information returns in the W-2, 1098, 1099 series, or to Forms 1042-S or 8027. Penalties for failure to timely file information returns can be waived under existing procedures for reasonable cause. Likewise, the postponement does not apply to employment and excise tax deposits. The IRS, however, will abate penalties for failure to make timely employment and excise tax deposits due on or after Oct. 1, and on or before Oct. 16 provided the taxpayer made these deposits by Oct. 16, 2015.

Casualty Losses

Affected taxpayers in a federally declared disaster area have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax return for either this year or last year. Claiming the loss on an original or amended return for last year will get the taxpayer an earlier refund, but waiting to claim the loss on this year’s return could result in a greater tax saving, depending on other income factors. Individuals may deduct personal property losses that are not covered by insurance or other reimbursements. For details, see Form 4684 and its instructions. Affected taxpayers claiming the disaster loss on last year’s return should put the Disaster Designation “South Carolina, Severe Storms and Flooding” at the top of the form so that the IRS can expedite the processing of the refund.

Other Relief

The IRS will waive the usual fees and expedite requests for copies of previously filed tax returns for affected taxpayers. Taxpayers should put the assigned Disaster Designation “Severe Storms and Flooding in South Carolina” in red ink at the top of Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return, or Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return, as appropriate, and submit it to the IRS. Affected taxpayers who are contacted by the IRS on a collection or examination matter should explain how the disaster impacts them so that the IRS can provide appropriate consideration to their case. Taxpayers may download forms and publications from the official IRS website, irs.gov, or order them by calling 800-829-3676. The IRS toll-free number for general tax questions is 800-829-1040.

Call Our Tax Planning Experts

If you have been affected by the historical flooding and storms in South Carolina and have tax questions, call one of our tax planning experts today at 919-787-7711 to get a review of your specific situation.