Blue-Ribbon Accounting & Tax, Inc.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from us at Blue-Ribbon Accounting & Tax!

5 Ways to Stay off The IRS Audit Radar:

1. Underreporting income – Underreporting income would be the first red flag. Unintentionally leaving out a small portion of your income may not get you audited. But if there’s a bigger discrepancy between the income you actually earned and what you reported on your return — and if it’s intentional — chances are higher that you may get audited.

2. Overstating your tax deductions – Whether you’re claiming business tax deductions like meal and entertainment expenses or personal ones like charitable donations, you may hear from the IRS if the claimed amount seems off based on your income. The IRS system that roots out suspicious tax returns may flag a return that has deductions that are too high for the reported income level. Additionally, mixing business and personal expenses can be a red flag for the IRS. Some small business tax deductions that could pose a problem if disproportionate to your income are expenses for vehicles, home office, meals, and entertainment, among others.

3. High-income earner – if you are in a higher income bracket, your chances of being audited increase. While the overall audit rate for 2018 was 0.6%, the chances of being audited was much higher for high-income earners. Taxpayers reporting income from $500,000 to $1,000,000 were almost twice as likely to be audited at 1.1%. That rate went up to 2.2% for taxpayers making from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. Those earning $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 saw an audit rate of 4.2%, while those making above that threshold saw the highest rate of 6.7%.

4. Claiming a dependent – Only one parent is allowed to claim a child on their taxes, even if the parents are filing their taxes separately. The IRS may send an audit letter to determine which taxpayer is entitled to claim the child as a dependent. A child can be claimed as a dependent if the child is under the age of 19 or is a full-time student under the age of 24 and lives with you for more than six months of the calendar year.

5. Foreign accounts and income – Failing to report a foreign financial asset like a bank account, brokerage, or mutual fund may also bring the IRS knocking. If you hold foreign assets worth over $50,000 for a single filer and $100,000 for joint filers, you must fill out Form 8938, identifying the institution where the assets are held and the highest value of those assets in the last year. Additionally, if you take the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion break, the IRS may carefully review your return for any discrepancies. U.S. citizens who are bona fide residents of a foreign country can exclude up to $108,700 of their 2021 income if they were in that country for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months.

Some great news for the taxpayers!

New York State has passed a law and the IRS has issued regulations that allow for the deduction of SALT taxes at the entity level. This will allow taxpayers to pay the tax due on income from Pass Through Entities (Partnerships, LLC’s and S Corporations) and thus reduce their federal income tax liability. At a time where expected federal tax hikes are coming this is an excellent opportunity to mitigate some of that projected increase in taxes.

This election MUST be made annually by the taxpayer. Your tax professional is not and can not be authorized to make the election on your behalf. However, please notify us if you make the election.

Tax Highlights of New York’s 2021-2022 Budget Bill

On April 19, 2021, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the state’s 2021-2022 Budget Bill, which contains significant tax measures including, but not limited to, increased taxes on businesses and high-net-worth individuals and an elective pass-through entity (PTE) tax.

Read the key tax provisions in this comprehensive Budget Bill HERE. To this end, we anticipate that additional guidance will be issued by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (“the Department”), especially addressing the newly enacted PTE tax.

Corporation tax

The Budget Bill sets the tax rate for corporations with business income that exceeds $5 million at 7.25%, up from 6.5%. It also delays the scheduled phase-out of the capital base tax to Jan. 1, 2024, and establishes a tax rate of 0.1875% for tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2021. Note that the phase-out delay does not apply to manufacturers and small businesses.

Personal income tax

The Budget Bill increases the personal income tax rates on high-income earners for the 2021 through 2027 tax years. The new rates are as follows:

65% for individuals with income over $1,077,550 but not over $5 million; joint filers with income over $2,155,350 but not over $5 million; and heads of household with income over $1,646,450 but not over $5 million
30% for all classes of taxpayers with income over $5 million but not over $25 million
90% for all classes of taxpayers with income over $25 million
Factoring in the current New York City personal income tax rate (3.876%), these new rates will result in a combined state and local personal income tax rate of 14.776% for affected high-income taxpayers with taxable income exceeding $25 million. Clearly, high-net-worth individuals will be significantly impacted by this increase in personal income tax rates.

Pass-through Entity Tax

Partnerships and S corporations can elect to pay an optional pass-through entity income tax on the entity’s taxable income at rates ranging from 6.85% to 10.9%. Partners/shareholders of electing partnerships and S corporations will be allowed to take an offsetting personal income tax credit for the portions of the PTE tax paid by the entity that are attributable to such partners/shareholders.

An irrevocable, annual election must be made by the due date of the first estimated tax payment. For the 2021 tax year, the election must be made on or before Oct. 15, 2021, and there are no estimated taxes required to be remitted.

Resident Tax Credit

The Budget Bill also amends the resident tax credit provisions, and, effective for the 2021 tax year, New York residents who are partners or shareholders in entities that pay “substantially similar” PTE in other jurisdictions will be allowed a credit for their respective share of PTE taxes paid to other states. Prior to this amendment, it was the Department’s position that residents were not eligible for such a resident tax credit for entity-level taxes paid.

Sales and Use Tax

The Budget Bill increases the threshold from $300,000 to $500,000 for gross receipts from property delivered into New York State and maintains the threshold of 100 sales transactions in the state to require vendors to register in response to the Wayfair decision.

Real Estate Transfer Tax

The Budget Bill clarifies that the Real Estate Transfer Tax is the responsibility of the grantor. The grantor cannot pass the liability to the grantee unless there is a contract or a written agreement between both parties.

Real Property Tax Relief Credit

Individuals with qualified adjusted gross income of less than $250,000 will be eligible for a new credit if New York real property taxes on their New York State principal residence exceed 6% of qualified adjusted gross income. The credit is based on the real property tax paid in excess of that 6% amount, and the rate is determined on a gradual sliding scale from 14% to 0%.

Qualified Opportunity Funds

Effective Jan. 1, 2021, taxpayers will no longer be able to defer current capital gains by reinvesting them into Qualified Opportunity Funds. The Budget Bill no longer allows a federal exclusion of the reinvested capital gain amount, and now requires an add-back modification for the gains deferred in the year of such deferral.

Restaurant Return-to-Work Tax Credit

The Budget Bill creates a new “Restaurant Return-to-Work-Tax Credit” program. Eligible businesses can claim a $5,000 credit for each full-time net employee increase, up to a total of $50,000 in tax credits. To qualify, the restaurant should have experienced at least a 40% decrease in gross receipts and/or average full-time employment due to the pandemic.

Employees working outside N.Y. due to COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, many businesses have New York-based employees working remotely. The Budget Bill allows these businesses to treat “such remote work as having been performed at the location such work was performed prior to the declaration of such state disaster emergency,” in order to claim tax credits and incentives requiring a minimum number of employees.

It is critical to note that the Budget Act does not address the personal income tax implications of remote workers. That is, the Department has already made its position clear on remote workers and its interpretation of its “convenience of the employee” rule. In this regard, “if you are a nonresident [of New York] whose primary office is in New York State, your days telecommuting during the pandemic are considered days worked in the state unless your employer has established a bona fide employer office at your telecommuting location.”

Given the magnitude and complexity of the tax changes in the Budget Bill, all taxpayers (New York and non-New Yorkers) should review the new provisions to see how these changes impact their specific tax positions. In addition, given New York State’s tax rate increases on high-net-worth individuals and businesses, coupled with the pandemic’s current remote workforce climate, we would anticipate more individuals contemplating a change in domicile/residency outside of New York State and businesses exploring whether they need to have a physical location within the State of New York.

Moreover, partnerships and S corporations also need to evaluate whether the newly enacted PTE tax should be timely elected and whether this would be beneficial to their respective entities and partners/shareholders. We expect that the Department will need to issue clarifying guidance on the PTE, as we anticipate there will be many open questions that will have to be addressed based on what we have seen in other states that are administering a PTE.

SBA Rolls Out New $5B Grant Program for Small Businesses

Small businesses and nonprofit groups hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic now are eligible for additional support under a $5 billion Small Business Administration program.
The new round of Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance, known as Supplemental Targeted Advances, is available for up to 1 million small businesses and nonprofits with no more than 10 employees.
To qualify, applicants must be located in a low-income community; suffered greater than a 50% economic loss over an 8-week period since March 2, 2020 compared to the previous year; and have 10 or fewer employees.