Year-End Tax Planning Moves for Small Businesses
With year-end approaching, now is the time to take steps to cut your 2018 tax bill. Here are some relatively foolproof year-end tax planning moves for small businesses to consider, taking into account changes included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
Establish a Tax-Favored Retirement Plan. If your business doesn’t already have a retirement plan, now might be the time to take the plunge. Current retirement plan rules allow for significant deductible contributions. For example, if you are self-employed and set up a SEP-IRA, you can contribute up to 20 percent of your self-employment earnings, with a maximum contribution of $55,000 for 2018. If you are employed by your own corporation, up to 25 percent of your salary can be contributed with a maximum contribution of $55,000.
Other small business retirement plan options include the 401(k) plan (which can be set-up for just one person), the defined benefit pension plan, and the SIMPLE-IRA. Depending on your circumstances, these other types of plans may allow bigger deductible contributions.
The deadline for setting up a SEP-IRA for a sole proprietorship and making the initial deductible contribution for the 2018 tax year is October 15, 2019 if you extend your 2018 return to that date. Other types of plans generally must be established by December 31, 2018 if you want to make a deductible contribution for the 2018 tax year, but the deadline for the contribution itself is the extended due date of your 2018 return. However, to make a SIMPLE-IRA contribution for 2018, you must have set up the plan by October 1st. So, you might have to wait until next year if the SIMPLE-IRA option is appealing.
Contact us for more information on small business retirement plan alternatives, and be aware that if your business has employees, you may have to cover them too.
Take Advantage of Liberalized Depreciation Tax Breaks. The TCJA included a number of very favorable changes to the depreciation tax rules, including 100 percent first-year bonus depreciation for qualifying assets and much more generous Section 179 deduction rules. Contact us for details on eligible assets and how your business can take advantage of these new changes.
Time Business Income and Deductions for Tax Savings. If you conduct your business using a pass-through entity (sole proprietorship, S corporation, LLC, or partnership), your shares of the business’s income and deductions are passed through to you and taxed at your personal rates. Assuming the current tax rules will still apply in 2019, next year’s individual Federal income tax rate brackets will be the same as this year’s (with modest bumps for inflation). In that case, the traditional strategy of deferring income into next year while accelerating deductible expenditures into this year makes sense if you expect to be in the same or lower tax bracket next year. Deferring income and accelerating deductions will, at a minimum, postpone part of your tax bill from 2018 until 2019.
On the other hand, if you expect to be in a higher tax bracket in 2019, take the opposite approach. Accelerate income into this year (if possible) and postpone deductible expenditures until 2019. That way, more income will be taxed at this year’s lower rate instead of next year’s higher rate. Contact us for more information on timing strategies.
Maximize the New Deduction for Pass-Through Business Income. The new deduction based on Qualified Business Income (QBI) from pass-through entities was a key element of the TCJA. For tax years beginning in 2018-2025, the deduction can be up to 20 percent of a pass-through entity owner’s QBI, subject to restrictions that can apply at higher income levels and another restriction based on the owner’s taxable income. The QBI deduction also can be claimed for up to 20 percent of income from qualified REIT dividends and 20 percent of qualified income from publicly-traded partnerships.
For QBI deduction purposes, pass-through entities are defined as sole proprietorships, single-member LLCs that are treated as sole proprietorships for tax purposes, partnerships, LLCs that are treated as partnerships for tax purposes, and S corporations. The QBI deduction is only available to noncorporate taxpayers (individuals, trusts, and estates).
Because of the various limitations on the QBI deduction, tax planning moves (or nonmoves) can have the side effect of increasing or decreasing your allowable QBI deduction. So, individuals who can benefit from the deduction must be really careful at year-end tax planning time. We can help you put together strategies that give you the best overall tax results for the year.
Claim 100 Percent Gain Exclusion for Qualified Small Business Stock. There is a 100 percent Federal income tax gain exclusion privilege for eligible sales of Qualified Small Business Corporation (QSBC) stock that was acquired after September 27, 2010. QSBC shares must be held for more than five years to be eligible for the gain exclusion break. Contact us if you think you own stock that could qualify.
Final Thoughts
This only covers some of the year-end tax planning moves that could potentially benefit you and your business, and not all the planning ideas will apply or make sense for your particular situation. To learn more, check out our comprehensive 2018 Year-End Tax Planning Guide. You can also read our Year-End Tax Planning Moves for Individuals article. If you’d like to explore any of the suggestions above, or any other year-end planning options, please contact us. We can help in designing a year-end planning package that delivers the best tax results for your particular circumstances.