Will Your Deductions Be Cut to Solve Deficit Woes?

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (JSC) is set to convene soon with the goal of reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion. How will they come up with that amount? Some sources think they may consider fundamental tax changes that include cutbacks to itemized deductions for individuals.

Although both parties purport to be against increasing taxes for the middle class who already shoulder a significant portion of this nation’s tax burden, reducing itemized deductions is a tax increase by another name.

The health care law has already limited medical deductions by increasing the AGI limitation from 7.5% to 10% beginning in 2013.

Just a few years back, Congress tightened up the charitable contribution deduction by imposing strict verification rules. The economy has also taken a toll on charitable contributions, with more and more individuals taking the position that charity begins at home.

All that remains is the deductions for taxes, home mortgage interest, and miscellaneous deductions. Of those, the deduction for home mortgage interest makes up a substantial portion of the itemized deductions, thus making it the rumored target for reduction. We will have wait and see if either party wants to be seen as attacking the American dream of home ownership.

Of concern to any homeowner is what changes to the mortgage interest deduction will do to their tax picture. Many individuals were able to afford their homes based on the tax savings generated by the interest deduction. Without the deduction or with a reduced deduction, will they still be able to manage their mortgage payments? Could tinkering with mortgage interest deductions trigger another round of defaults and foreclosures? Congress needs to act carefully to avoid further impacting an already fragile housing market.

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Without a Fix, the AMT will Snare Millions of Taxpayers - Are You in the Crosshairs?

A recently released Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report entitled “The Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals” examines the effects of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) without yet another Congressional fix.

The AMT is another way of computing an individual’s income tax with limited deductions and the elimination of certain tax preferences. Taxpayers pay the higher of the regular computed tax and the AMT.

When calculating the AMT, taxpayers are allowed to deduct a specified amount that is not taxable; this is called the AMT exemption. This exemption is not automatically inflation-adjusted, like most other tax deductions, but Congress has been adjusting it annually. For example, the permanent exemption amounts are $33,750 for unmarried taxpayers and $45,000 for joint filers. Congress has temporarily increased these amounts over the years, and for 2011, the exemption amounts were $48,450 for unmarried taxpayers and $74,450 for joint filers. Without Congressional action, these AMT exemption amounts will revert to the permanent amounts in 2012.

Another temporary adjustment to the AMT allows a number of personal credits to be deducted from the AMT. The credits affected include child and dependent care credit, elderly and disabled credit, mortgage credit, and the Hope and Lifetime education credits. These will no longer offset the AMT after 2011 unless Congress acts.

The CRS Report notes that without Congressional action, an estimated 30 million taxpayers (approximately 20% of all taxpayers) will be hit by the AMT in 2012. Compare this to the roughly 600,000 taxpayers (approximately 1% of all 1997 taxpayers) who were subject to the AMT in 1997.

A permanent fix to the AMT without adjustments to the regular tax could be expensive. For example, the CRS Report notes that if the AMT is repealed, the lost revenue would be over $1.3 trillion between 2011 and 2022 if the Bush era tax cuts are not extended and over $2.7 trillion if they are extended.

It is difficult to say what the Congressional Tax Reform committee (also referred to as the “super committee”) will come up with in November. But one thing is for sure: some taxpayers will have to pay more to fix the deficit problem.

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Don’t Miss Out on the Domestic Production Deduction

Originally enacted to help offset the repeal of a tax break for U.S. exporters, this provision of the tax code provides a deduction for many U.S. businesses that’s allowed for both regular tax and alternative minimum tax (AMT) purposes. And, despite the deduction’s history, it’s fully available to taxpayers who don’t export.

For 2010 and later years, the deduction equals 9% of the net income from eligible activities but cannot exceed 50% of the wages paid to employees whose work relates to the production of the income eligible for the deduction. This means that businesses operated as sole proprietorships or partnerships with no employees aren’t eligible for the deduction. To take advantage of the deduction, such businesses can incorporate and pay W-2 wages to their principals. (However, the decision to incorporate should not be based solely on claiming this credit--many other factors need to be considered.)


The domestic production activities deduction is allowed with respect to the following activities:


The deduction is allowed to all taxpayers, including individuals, C corporations, farming cooperatives, estates, trusts, and their beneficiaries. The deduction is allowed to partners and the owners of S corporations and may be passed through by farming cooperatives to their patrons.

A broad range of activities qualify as eligible manufacturing or production activities. The taxpayer's raw materials and finished products may be brand new, or they may be made out of scrap, salvage, or junk material. Manufacturing or producing components used by another party in later manufacturing or production activities is an eligible activity, as is manufacturing or producing finished items from components manufactured or produced by others.

The processing and preparation of food products for sale at wholesale are eligible “production” activities, but the preparation of food and beverages for sale at retail is not.

Construction activities are eligible for the deduction, but only if the construction is of real property and it is performed in the United States. The real property may consist of residential or commercial buildings and permanent structures. Eligible construction activities don’t include tangential services such as hauling trash and debris or delivering materials, even if the tangential services are essential for construction.

Engineering and architectural services are eligible for the deduction, but only if they’re performed in the United States for real property construction projects in the United States.

The foregoing is only an overview of this deduction; careful analysis of its application to each type of manufacturing activity must be done. The deduction applies to both large and small businesses, so don’t assume that just because your business is small, you won’t benefit from the deduction. If you have questions related to how the domestic production deduction might apply to your specific circumstances, please give this office a call.

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Don’t Forget Your Retirement!

Even though retirement may be years away, and it may not be the most pressing issue on your mind these days, don’t forget your retirement contributions, especially with generous government incentives involved.

There are a variety of retirement plans available to small businesses that allow the employer and employee a tax-favored way to save for retirement. Contributions made by the owner on his or her own behalf and for employees can be tax-deductible. Furthermore, the earnings on the contributions grow tax-free until the money is distributed from the plan. Here are some retirement plan options:

• Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP). This plan was designed to avoid the complications of a qualified plan. Contributions to the plan are held in the beneficiaries’ IRA accounts; hence, the title “simplified.” Deductible contributions for 2011 are limited to the lesser of 25% of the participant’s compensation (up to $245,000) or $49,000. A SEP can be established and funded after the close of the year.
  
  
• Qualified Plan (Keogh). Generally, the rules surrounding a Keogh are more complex. This type of plan may include a discretionary contribution profit sharing plan or a mandatory contribution money purchase plan, or a combination of these. SEP plans are favored over Keogh plans by most self-employed individuals. For 2011, deductible contributions are limited to the lesser of 25% of the participant’s compensation (up to $245,000) or $49,000. These plans must be established before the end of the tax year, but contributions can be made afterwards.
  
  
• Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE Plan). Under this plan, the business owner takes a deduction, and employees receive a salary deferral. The contribution limit is $11,500 (per employer or employee), with an additional catch-up contribution limit of $2,500 for participants aged 50 or older. The employer can match the contribution up to 3% of compensation or make a non-elective contribution of 2% of compensation.
  
  
• Individual 401(k) Plan. The individual 401(k) plan is similar to the traditional 401(k) plan with added benefits for the small business owner. The owner can contribute and deduct up to 25% of compensation plus an additional $16,500 salary deferral, up to a $49,000 maximum ($54,500 for those who are age 50 and over). For employees, the contribution and salary deferral limit is $16,500, with an additional $5,500 catch-up contribution available to those aged 50 or over. Employers can match employee contributions.

If you do establish a new qualified pension plan for your business, you may be entitled to the “small employer pension startup credit.” The credit is equal to 50% of administrative and retirement-related education expenses for the plan for each of the first three plan years, with a maximum credit of $500 for each year. Plan-related expenses in excess of the amount of the credit claimed are generally deductible as ordinary expenses of the business.

The first credit year is the tax year that includes the date the plan becomes effective, or, electively, the preceding tax year. Examples of qualifying expenses include the costs related to changing the employer’s payroll system, consulting fees, and set-up fees for investment vehicles.

If you would like assistance in selecting a retirement plan for your business or to explore the tax benefits relevant to your particular circumstances, please give this office a call.

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Did Your 2010 Roth-Converted Account Decline in 2011?

If you converted your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA during 2010 and paid (or will pay) the tax on the conversion and then watched the value of the account decrease due to the overall decline of the stock market in 2011, you still have an opportunity to do something about it.

If you filed your return on time or are on extension, you automatically receive a 6-month extension from the return’s original due date to recharacterize the Roth account back to a Traditional account, thereby avoiding paying taxes on IRA values that have evaporated. Once you make the recharacterization, you must wait 30 days before reconverting the IRA back to a Roth. Be aware that the two-year tax payment option for conversions only applied to the year 2010, making the tax on the reconverted amount due in full on your 2011 return when you file it in 2012.

However, the deadline for both completing your recharacterization and filing or amending your 2010 return is October 17. So if you have questions or wish to implement this strategy, you will need to call this office right away.

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Last Year for Tax-Free Charitable Donations from IRAs

If you are 70.5 years of age or older and are considering making a donation to a charity, you may wish to consider the option of making the contribution from your IRA account.

For 2011, you can donate up to $100,000 to your favorite charity, provided it is an eligible charitable organization, tax free from your traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or a SEP or SIMPLE IRA. To be considered valid, the distribution from the IRA to the charity must be made directly. It cannot pass through your hands or other accounts. Note: These distributions are not permitted from ongoing SEP or Simple Plans, i.e. plans to which a contribution has been made for the year.

Here are the pertinent facts related to making a donation using this provision of the law:

• The distribution is not taxable and does not add to your income for the year. The advantage is that your income remains low and helps to minimize taxable Social Security income and tax disadvantages associated with higher income.
  
  
• There is no charitable donation, as the distribution was tax free. However, this can be a considerable benefit to taxpayers who take the standard deduction and do not itemize anyway.
  
  
• If you have not already taken your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year, the charitable distribution can count toward this year’s RMD. Without Congressional action, 2011 will be the last year in which this option will be available.

Please call this office for additional information related to this tax provision and how it might help your tax picture for 2011.

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Last-Chance Opportunity to Deduct General Sales and Use Taxes?

For 2011, taxpayers have the option of deducting the amount of state and local income tax that they paid during the year or, if they so elect, of deducting their state and local general sales and use taxes as an itemized deduction on their federal income tax return. This choice is currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2011.

If a taxpayer elects to deduct the sales and use tax, then the taxpayer may opt to deduct the actual sales and use taxes paid or use the amount indicated in the tables published by the IRS, alongside certain big ticket items, such as vehicles, motor homes, boats, aircraft, and mobile and prefabricated homes. The IRS tables take the state of residence, taxpayer’s income, sales and use tax rates, and family size into account.

Although the sales tax option primarily benefits taxpayers in states with no state income tax, it can also benefit taxpayers who make big-ticket purchases. Their sales tax deduction may exceed their state income tax deduction when they itemize their deductions.

Thus, if you are considering a big-ticket purchase, making the purchase prior to the end of the year may enable you to benefit from a potentially increased tax deduction. If you do plan on deducting sales tax in 2011 and you are paying state income tax estimates, you should avoid paying the fourth-quarter estimate installment until after the first of the year. Paying it in 2011 provides no additional benefit for 2011 on your federal return when electing to deduct sales and use tax.

Congress has extended this tax provision before, but at this time, there is no way of telling if it will do so again. Please give this office a call if you have concerns about how the sales tax election and purchasing big-ticket items before the end of the year might benefit you.

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QuickBooks 2012: New Paths to Better, Faster Financial Management

As it usually does this time of year, Intuit has introduced new versions of its Pro and Premier products. QuickBooks 2012 promises to help you get better organized, save steps, and acquire more in-depth financial insights.

The new Express Start is designed for businesses that want to blast through setup and start entering customers and invoices. You have two other options, though: Advanced Setup is the old EasyStep interview that solicits more details. You can also open an existing file or convert data from Quicken or other accounting software.

Express Start requires minimal input: company name, industry, company type, tax ID, and contact information. After you save your company file, it lets you start adding or importing customers/vendors/employees, products/services, and bank accounts.



Figure 1: Express Start simplifies company setup.

An Activity-Driven Calendar
QuickBooks' Reminders keep you apprised of each day's tasks, but they don't provide any information about the past or future. QuickBooks 2012 solves this problem with its new Calendar. When you enter an appointment, to-do, or key business task (invoices, bills, purchase orders, etc.), it appears in the calendar. You can display a graphical view of the month that tallies activities for each day and lists them below. Daily and weekly views are in list form. And links open the original documents.



Figure 2: The new Calendar displays daily, weekly, and monthly views of your financial transactions.

Save Excel Formatting
Once you've formatted a QuickBooks report in Excel, it's frustrating to have to reformat it each time you run it for different time periods and/or with your ever-changing content. Excel Integration Refresh simplifies this process. You can now export a report to Excel, make formatting changes and save them, and then reapply them later to the same type of report using different date ranges and your updated QuickBooks data. Acceptable alterations include:

• Row and column header font formatting
• New formulas
• Renamed column and row headers, and report titles
• Resized columns
• Inserted columns and rows
• Inserted formula text

You can do this by opening your report in QuickBooks and clicking Update an existing worksheet, or by launching your report in Excel and clicking the QuickBooks tab on the toolbar, then the Update Report button.



Figure 3: This window opens when you click Update Report in Excel.

A New Report Community
There's always room for more report formats. QuickBooks 2012 offers a library of Contributed Reports, variations created either by Intuit or your fellow users. You can select one of these, like Customer Sales By Quantity By Item Detail and instantly populate it with your own data.

You can sort these templates by industry and rating, and view them as a list, in a grid, or in the Report Center's Carousel view.

Centralized Operations
QuickBooks 2012 also saves you time with its new Centers. The Inventory Center works similarly to those available for customers, vendors, and employees. It's a clearinghouse of item records and transactions that can be viewed and sorted. You can also do inventory housekeeping tasks here, like adding items and launching transactions.

The Lead Center helps you carefully track new leads that you either paste in from Excel or enter manually. You can add to-dos and notes to contact records, and convert them into customers.

Upgrading Can Be Tricky
Intuit has included other, smaller time-saving organizational and reporting tools in QuickBooks 2012, like One-Click Transactions, which lets you create related transactions from existing ones (i.e., invoice to credit memo) with one click.

There's nothing especially difficult about using most of QuickBooks 2012's new features. But upgrading and setup are sometimes quirky, and the Excel Integration Refresh tool has a learning curve. We're happy to help you start your company file on the right foot or get acclimated to this latest version.



Figure 4; Track your leads and convert them into customers in the new Lead Center.

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