IRS Highlights Essentials for Tax Filing (IR-2025-23) The IRS encouraged taxpayers to make essential preparations and be aware of significant changes that may affect their 2024 tax returns. The deadline for submitting Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Ta...
IRS Offers Top Tips to Make Tax Time Easier (IR-2025-19) The IRS provided six tips to help taxpayers file their 2024 tax returns more easily. Taxpayers should follow these steps for a smoother filing process:Gather all necessary tax paperwork and records to...
2025 Standard Mileage Rates Released (Notice 2025-5; IR-2024-312) The IRS released the optional standard mileage rates for 2025. Most taxpayers may use these rates to compute deductible costs of operating vehicles for:business,medical, andcharitable purposesSome mem...
IRS Reminds Taxpayers of Disaster Deadlines (IR-2025-1) The IRS reminded disaster-area taxpayers that they have until February 3, 2025, to file their 2023 returns, in the entire states of Louisiana and Vermont, all of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and...
NJ - Property tax credit guidance for 22/23 updated New Jersey residents who typically do not file gross income tax returns may need to act to receive a property tax credit for 2022 and 2023 due to changes to the ANCHOR and Stay NJ property tax relief ...
PA - Employment, supply, and cleaning services taxability clarified Pennsylvania sales and use taxation of employment agency services, help supply services, and building cleaning services has been clarified. The purchase price is determined as the service fee paid by ...
In light of a recent Tax Court ruling, we are currently reviewing the files of our clients who are S corporation officers. It is possible that the decisions of the Tax Court may affect your corporation in the future.
In light of a recent Tax Court ruling, we are currently reviewing the files of our clients who are S corporation officers. It is possible that the decisions of the Tax Court may affect your corporation in the future. In their ruling, the Tax Court held that the sole shareholder and president of an S corporation performed duties similar to those an employee would perform and, therefore, had the status of employee for employment tax purposes. The IRS held the taxpayer liable for FICA and FUTA taxes that it failed to pay because of misclassification of the officer as an independent contractor.
Shareholder distributions versus salary payments may raise similar issues. For federal employment tax purposes, a corporate officer is considered an employee, unless the officer performs no services or only minor services to the corporation and neither receives nor is entitled to payment for these services. The form of payment is immaterial, the only relevant factor being whether the payments were actually received as compensation for employment. Distributions to shareholders may be reclassified as wages subject to FICA and FUTA taxes where compensation appears to be insufficient. Determining the range of reasonableness of compensation for your business where shareholder compensation should fall within that range depends upon many variables. With proper planning, we hope that you and your business can avoid similar scrutiny.
Please contact our office to review and discuss your corporation’s compensation structure.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced that the mandatory beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is back in effect. Because reporting companies may need additional time to comply with their BOI reporting obligations, FinCEN is generally extending the deadline 30 calendar days from February 19, 2025, for most companies.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced that the mandatory beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is back in effect. Because reporting companies may need additional time to comply with their BOI reporting obligations, FinCEN is generally extending the deadline 30 calendar days from February 19, 2025, for most companies.
FinCEN's announcement is based on the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler Division) to stay its prior nationwide injunction order against the reporting requirement (Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, DC Tex., 6:24-cv-00336, Feb. 17, 2025). This district court stayed its prior order, pending appeal, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent order to stay the nationwide injunction against the reporting requirement that had been ordered by a different federal district court in Texas (McHenry v. Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., SCt, No. 24A653, Jan. 23, 2025).
Given this latest district court decision, the regulations implementing the BOI reporting requirements of the CTA are no longer stayed.
Updated Reporting Deadlines
Subject to any applicable court orders, BOI reporting is now mandatory, but FinCEN is providing additional time for companies to report:
For most reporting companies, the extended deadline to file an initial, updated, and/or corrected BOI report is now March 21, 2025. FinCEN expects to provide an update before that date of any further modification of the deadline, recognizing that reporting companies may need additional time to comply.
Reporting companies that were previously given a reporting deadline later than March 21, 2025, must file their initial BOI report by that later deadline. For example, if a company’s reporting deadline is in April 2025 because it qualifies for certain disaster relief extensions, it should follow the April deadline, not the March deadline.
Plaintiffs inNational Small Business United v. Yellen, DC Ala., No. 5:22-cv-01448, are not required to report their beneficial ownership information to FinCEN at this time.
The IRS has issued Notice 2025-15, providing guidance on an alternative method for furnishing health coverage statements under Code Secs. 6055 and 6056. This method allows insurers and applicable large employers (ALEs) to comply with their reporting obligations by posting an online notice rather than automatically furnishing statements to individuals.
The IRS has issuedNotice 2025-15, providing guidance on an alternative method for furnishing health coverage statements underCode Secs. 6055and6056. This method allows insurers and applicable large employers (ALEs) to comply with their reporting obligations by posting an online notice rather than automatically furnishing statements to individuals.
UnderCode Sec. 6055, entities providing minimum essential coverage must report coverage details to the IRS and furnish statements to responsible individuals. Similarly,Code Sec. 6056requires ALEs, generally those with 50 or more full-time employees, to report health insurance information for those employees. The Paperwork Burden Reduction Act amended these sections to introduce an alternative furnishing method, effective for statements related to returns for calendar years after 2023.
Instead of automatically providing statements, reporting entities may post a clear and conspicuous notice on their websites, informing individuals that they may request a copy of their statement. The notice must be posted by the original furnishing deadline, including any automatic 30-day extension, and must remain accessible through October 15 of the following year. If a responsible individual or full-time employee requests a statement, the reporting entity must furnish it within 30 days of the request or by January 31 of the following year, whichever is later.
For statements related to the 2024 calendar year, the notice must be posted by March 3, 2025. Statements may be furnished electronically if permitted underReg. § 1.6055-2for minimum essential coverage providers andReg. § 301.6056-2for ALEs.
This alternative method applies regardless of whether the individual shared responsibility payment underCode Sec. 5000Ais zero. The guidance clarifies that this method applies to statements required under bothCode Sec. 6055andCode Sec. 6056.Reg. § 1.6055-1(g)(4)(ii)(B)sets forth the requirements for the alternative manner of furnishing statements underCode Sec. 6055, while the same framework applies toCode Sec. 6056with relevant terminology adjustments. Form 1095-B, used for reporting minimum essential coverage, and Form 1095-C, used by ALEs to report health insurance offers, may be provided under this alternative method.
The IRS has issued the luxury car depreciation limits for business vehicles placed in service in 2025 and the lease inclusion amounts for business vehicles first leased in 2025.
The IRS has issued the luxury car depreciation limits for business vehicles placed in service in 2025 and the lease inclusion amounts for business vehicles first leased in 2025.
Luxury Passenger Car Depreciation Caps
The luxury car depreciation caps for a passenger car placed in service in 2025 limit annual depreciation deductions to:
$12,200 for the first year without bonus depreciation
$20,200 for the first year with bonus depreciation
$19,600 for the second year
$11,800 for the third year
$7,060 for the fourth through sixth year
Depreciation Caps for SUVs, Trucks and Vans
The luxury car depreciation caps for a sport utility vehicle, truck, or van placed in service in 2025 are:
$12,200 for the first year without bonus depreciation
$20,200 for the first year with bonus depreciation
$19,600 for the second year
$11,800 for the third year
$7,060 for the fourth through sixth year
Excess Depreciation on Luxury Vehicles
If depreciation exceeds the annual cap, the excess depreciation is deducted beginning in the year after the vehicle’s regular depreciation period ends.
The annual cap for this excess depreciation is:
$7,060 for passenger cars and
$7,060 for SUVS, trucks, and vans.
Lease Inclusion Amounts for Cars, SUVs, Trucks and Vans
If a vehicle is first leased in 2025, a taxpayer must add a lease inclusion amount to gross income in each year of the lease if its fair market value at the time of the lease is more than:
$62,000 for a passenger car, or
$62,000 for an SUV, truck or van.
The 2025 lease inclusion tables provide the lease inclusion amounts for each year of the lease.
The lease inclusion amount results in a permanent reduction in the taxpayer’s deduction for the lease payments.
The leadership of the Senate Finance Committee have issued a discussion draft of bipartisan legislative proposals to make administrative and procedural improvements to the Internal Revenue Service.
The leadership of the Senate Finance Committee have issued a discussion draft of bipartisan legislative proposals to make administrative and procedural improvements to the Internal Revenue Service.
These fixes were described as"common sense"in a joint press release issued by committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
"As the tax filing season gets underway, this draft legislation suggests practical ways to improve the taxpayer experience,"the two said in the joint statement."These adjustments to the laws governing IRS procedure and administration are designed to facilitate communication between the agency and taxpayers, streamline processes for tax compliance, and ensure taxpayers have access to timely expert assistance."
Thedraft legislation, currently named the Taxpayer Assistance and Services Act, covers a range of subject areas, including:
Tax administration and customer service;
American citizens abroad;
Judicial review;
Improvements to the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate;
Tax Return Preparers;
Improvements to the Independent Office of Appeals;
Whistleblowers;
Stopping tax penalties on American hostages;
Small business; and
Other miscellaneous issues.
A summary of the legislative provisions can be foundhere.
Some of the policies include streamlining the review of offers-in-compromise to help taxpayers resolve tax debts; clarifying and expanding Tax Court jurisdiction to help taxpayers pursue claims in the appropriate venue; expand the independent of the National Taxpayer Advocate; increase civil and criminal penalties on tax professionals that do deliberate harm; and extend the so-called"mailbox rule"to electronic submissions to provide more certainty that submissions to the IRS are done in a timely manner.
National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in a statement that the legislation"would significantly strengthen taxpayer rights in nearly every facet of tax administration."
Likewise, the American Institute of CPAs voiced their support for the legislative proposal.
Melaine Lauridsen, vice president of Tax Policy and Advocacy at AICPA, said in a statement that the proposal"will be instrumental in establishing a foundation that helps simplify some of the laborious tax filing processes and allows taxpayers to better meet their tax obligation. We look forward to working with Senators Wyden and Crapo as this discussion draft moves forward."
A limited liability company (LLC) classified as a TEFRA partnership could not claim a charitable contribution deduction for a conservation easement because the easement deed failed to comply with the perpetuity requirements under Code Sec. 170(h)(5)(A) and Reg. § 1.170A-14(g)(6). The Tax Court determined that the language of the deed did not satisfy statutory requirements, rendering the claimed deduction invalid.
A limited liability company (LLC) classified as a TEFRA partnership could not claim a charitable contribution deduction for a conservation easement because the easement deed failed to comply with the perpetuity requirements underCode Sec. 170(h)(5)(A)andReg. § 1.170A-14(g)(6). The Tax Court determined that the language of the deed did not satisfy statutory requirements, rendering the claimed deduction invalid.
Easement Valuation
The taxpayer asserted that the highest and best use of the property was as a commercial mining site, supporting a valuation significantly higher than its purchase price. However, the Court concluded that the record did not support this assertion. The Court found that the proposed mining use was not financially feasible or maximally productive. The IRS’s expert relied on comparable sales data, while the taxpayer’s valuation method was based on a discounted cash-flow analysis, which the Court found speculative and not supported by market data.
Penalties
The taxpayer contended that the IRS did not comply with supervisory approval process underCode Sec. 6751(b)prior to imposing penalties. However, the Court found that the concerned IRS revenue agent duly obtained prior supervisory approval and the IRS satisfied the procedural requirements underCode Sec. 6751(b). Because the valuation of the easement reported on the taxpayer’s return exceeded 200 percent of the Court-determined value, the misstatement was deemed"gross"underCode Sec. 6662(h)(2)(A)(i). Accordingly, the Court upheld accuracy-related penalties underCode Sec. 6662for gross valuation misstatement, substantial understatement, and negligence.
Green Valley Investors, LLC, TC Memo. 2025-15,Dec. 62,617(M)
The Tax Court ruled that IRS Appeals Officers and Team Managers were not "Officers of the United States." Therefore, they did not need to be appointed under the Appointments Clause.
The Tax Court ruled that IRS Appeals Officers and Team Managers were not"Officers of the United States."Therefore, they did not need to be appointed under the Appointments Clause.
The taxpayer filed income taxes for tax years 2012 (TY) through TY 2017, but he did not pay tax. During a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing, the taxpayer raised constitutional arguments that IRS Appeals and associated employees serve in violation of the Appointments Clause and the constitutional separation of powers.
No Significant Authority
The court noted that IRS Appeals officers do not wield significant authority. For instance, the officers do not have authority to examine witnesses, unlike Tax Court Special Trial Judges (STJs) and SEC Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). The Appeals officers also lack the power to issue, serve, and enforce summonses through the IRS’s general power to examine books and witnesses.
The court found no reason to deviate from earlier judgments inTucker v. Commissioner (Tucker I), 135 T.C. 114,Dec. 58,279); andTucker v. Commissioner (Tucker II), CA-DC, 676 F.3d 1129,2012-1ustc¶50,312). Both judgments emphasized the court’s observations in the current case. InBuckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (per curiam), the Supreme Court similarly held that Federal Election Commission (FEC) commissioners were not appointed in accordance with the Appointments Clause, and thus none of them were permitted to exercise"significant authority."
The taxpayer lacked standing to challenge the appointment of the IRS Appeals Chief, and said officers under the Appointments Clause, and the removal of the Chief under the separation of powers doctrine.
IRC Chief of Appeals
The taxpayer failed to prove that the Chief’s tenure affected his hearing and prejudiced him in some way, under standards inUnited States v. Smith, 962 F.3d 755 (4th Cir. 2020) andUnited States v. Castillo, 772 F. App’x 11 (3d Cir. 2019). The Chief did not participate in the taxpayer's CDP hearing, and so the Chief did not injure the taxpayer. The taxpayer's injury was not fairly traceable to the appointment (or lack thereof) of the Chief, and the Chief was too distant from the case for any court order pointed to him to redress the taxpayer's harm.
As an individual or business, it is your responsibility to be aware of and to meet your tax filing/reporting deadlines. This calendar summarizes important federal tax reporting and filing data for individuals, businesses and other taxpayers for the month of June 2014.
As an individual or business, it is your responsibility to be aware of and to meet your tax filing/reporting deadlines. This calendar summarizes important federal tax reporting and filing data for individuals, businesses and other taxpayers for the month of June 2014.
June 4 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates May 28-30.
June 6 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates May 31-June 3.
June 10 Employees who work for tips. Employees who received $20 or more in tips during May must report them to their employer using Form 4070.
June 11 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 4-6.
June 13 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 7-10.
June 16 Individuals. Individuals, partnerships, passthrough entities and corporations make the second installment of 2014 estimated quarterly tax payments.
Individuals. U.S. citizens or resident aliens living and working (or on military duty) outside the United States and Puerto Rico must file Form 1040 and pay any tax, interest, and penalties due.
June 18 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 11-13.
June 20 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 14-17.
June 25 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 18-20.
June 27 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 21-24.
June 30 Foreign Assets. FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) (formerly Form TD F 90-22.1) due. FinCEN Notice 2013-1 extended the due date for filing FBARs by certain individuals with signature authority over, but no financial interest in, foreign financial accounts of their employer or a closely related entity, to June 30, 2015.
July 2 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 25-27.
July 7 Employers. Semi-weekly depositors must deposit employment taxes for payroll dates June 28-30.
Retired employees often start taking benefits by age 65 and, under the minimum distribution rules, must begin taking distributions from their retirement plans when they reach age 70 ½. According to Treasury, a 65-year old female has an even chance of living past age 86, while a 65-year old male has an even chance of living past age 84. The government has become concerned that taxpayers who normally retire at age 65 or even age 70 will outlive their retirement benefits.
Retired employees often start taking benefits by age 65 and, under the minimum distribution rules, must begin taking distributions from their retirement plans when they reach age 70 ½. According to Treasury, a 65-year old female has an even chance of living past age 86, while a 65-year old male has an even chance of living past age 84. The government has become concerned that taxpayers who normally retire at age 65 or even age 70 will outlive their retirement benefits.
The government has found that most employees want at least a partial lump sum payment at retirement, so that some cash is currently available for living expenses. However, under current rules, most employer plans do not offer a partial lump sum coupled with a partial annuity. Employees often are faced with an “all or nothing” decision, where they would have to take their entire retirement benefit either as a lump sum payment when they retire, or as an annuity that does not make available any immediate lump-sum cash cushion. For retirees who live longer, it becomes difficult to stretch their lump sum benefits.
Longevity solution
To address this dilemma, the government is proposing new retirement plan rules to allow plans to make available a partial lump sum payment while allowing participants to take an annuity with the other portion of their benefits. Furthermore, to address the problem of employees outliving their benefits, the government would also encourage plans to offer “longevity” annuities. These annuities would not begin paying benefits until ages 80 or 85. They would provide you a larger annual payment for the same funds than would an annuity starting at age 70 ½. Of course, one reason for the better buy-in price is that you or your heirs would receive nothing if you die before the age 80 or 85 starting date. But many experts believe that it is worth the cost to have the security of knowing that this will help prevent you from “outliving your money.”
To streamline the calculation of partial annuities, the government would allow employees receiving lump-sum payouts from their 401(k) plans to transfer assets into the employer’s existing defined benefit (DB) plan and to purchase an annuity through the DB plan. This would give employees access to the DB plans low-cost annuity purchase rates.
According to the government, the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules are a deterrent to longevity annuities. Because of the minimum distribution rules, plan benefits that could otherwise be deferred until ages 80 or 85 have to start being distributed to a retired employee at age 70 ½. These rules can affect distributions from 401(k) plans, 403(b) tax-sheltered annuities, individual retirement accounts under Code Sec. 408, and eligible governmental deferred compensation plans under Code Sec. 457.
Tentative limitations
The IRS proposes to modify the RMD rules to allow a portion of a participant’s retirement account to be set aside to fund the purchase of a deferred annuity. Participants would be able to exclude the value of this qualified longevity annuity contract (QLAC) from the account balance used to calculate RMDs. Under this approach, up to 25 percent of the account balance could be excluded. The amount is limited to 25 percent to deter the use of longevity annuities as an estate planning device to pass on assets to descendants.
Coming soon
Many of these changes are in proposed regulations and would not take effect until the government issues final regulations. The changes would apply to distributions with annuity starting dates in plan years beginning after final regulations are published, which could be before the end of 2012. Our office will continue to monitor the progress of this important development.
A consequence of the economic downturn for many investors has been significant losses on their investments in retirement accounts, including traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts (IRAs). This article discusses when and how taxpayers can deduct losses suffered in Roth IRAs and traditional IRAs ...and when no deduction will be allowed.
A consequence of the economic downturn for many investors has been significant losses on their investments in retirement accounts, including traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts (IRAs). This article discusses when and how taxpayers can deduct losses suffered in Roth IRAs and traditional IRAs ...and when no deduction will be allowed.
Traditional IRAs
Losses on investments held in a traditional IRA, funded only by contributions that you deducted when you made them, are never deductible. Even when you cash out the IRA after retirement, losses cannot be deducted. The theory behind this rule is that you already received a tax benefit in your deduction for making contributions and any loss lowers the amount of taxable income you must realize when you make retirement withdrawals. The technical explanation is that you are presumed to have a zero basis in your account.
On the other hand, if you make nondeductible traditional IRA contributions, and liquidate all of the investments in your traditional IRA, a loss can be recognized if the amounts distributed are less than the remaining unrecovered basis in the traditional IRA. You claim a loss in a traditional IRA on Schedule A, Form 1040, as a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to the two percent AGI floor.
Example. During 2008, you made $2,000 in nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA. Your basis in the IRA at the end of 2008 is $2,000. During 2008, the IRA earned $400 in dividend income and you withdrew $600 from the account. As a result, at the end of 2008 the value of your IRA was $1,800 ($2,000 contributed plus $400 dividends minus $600 withdrawal). You compute and report the taxable portion of your $600 withdrawal and your remaining basis on Form 8606, Nondeductible IRA.
In 2009, the year you retired, your IRA lost $500 in value. At the end of 2009, your IRA balance was $1,300 ($1,800 balance at the end of 2008 minus the $500 loss). Your remaining basis at that time in your IRA is $1,500 ($2,000 nondeductible contributions minus the $500 basis in the prior withdrawal). You withdraw the $1,300 balance remaining in the IRA. You can claim a loss of $200 (your $1,500 basis minus the $1,300 withdrawn) on Form 1040, Schedule A. The allowable loss is further subject to the two percent adjusted gross income (AGI) floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions.
If you made significant nondeductible contributions to an IRA over the last few years, and may be considering withdrawing the entire balance in all of your traditional IRAs before the end of the year in order to recognize a loss, keep in mind doing so will mean losing the opportunity to defer gain if the value of your investments in the accounts increases. Those withdrawn amounts cannot be recontributed at a later date.
Roth IRA losses
When you experience losses on Roth IRA investments, you can only recognize the loss for income tax purposes, if and when all the amounts in the Roth IRA accounts have been distributed and the total distributions are less than your basis (e.g. regular and conversion contributions).
To report a loss in a Roth IRA, all the investments held in your Roth IRA (but not traditional IRAs) must be liquidated. Moreover, the loss is an ordinary loss for income tax purposes, not a capital loss, and can only be claimed as a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to the two percent of AGI floor that applies to miscellaneous itemized deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A.
Since all Roth IRAs must be completely liquidated to generate a loss deduction, it generally provides only a small comfort to investments gone sour. Closing all your Roth IRAs generally forgoes future appreciation on that amount.
If you are considering liquidating your Roth IRA or traditional IRA to take the loss, please contact our office and we can discuss the tax and financial consequences before finalizing any plans.
In order to be tax deductible, compensation must be a reasonable payment for services. Smaller companies, whose employees frequently hold significant ownership interests, are particularly vulnerable to IRS attack on their compensation deductions.
In order to be tax deductible, compensation must be a reasonable payment for services. Smaller companies, whose employees frequently hold significant ownership interests, are particularly vulnerable to IRS attack on their compensation deductions.
Reasonable compensation is generally defined as the amount that would ordinarily be paid for like services by like enterprises under like circumstances. This broad definition is supplemented, for purposes of determining whether compensation is deductible as an ordinary and necessary expense, by a number of more specific factors expressed in varying forms by the IRS, the Tax Court and the Circuit Courts of Appeal, and generally relating to the type and extent of services provided, the financial concerns of the company, and the nature of the relationship between the employee and the employer.
Why IRS Is Interested
A chief concern behind the IRS's keen interest in what a company calls "compensation" is the possibility that what is being labeled compensation is in fact a constructive dividend. If employees with ownership interests are being paid excessive amounts by the company, the IRS may challenge compensation deductions on the grounds that what is being called deductible compensation is, in fact, a nondeductible dividend.
Another area of concern for the IRS is the payment of personal expenses of an employee that are disguised as businesses expenses. There, the business is trying to obtain a business expense deduction without the offsetting tax paid by the employee in recognizing income. In such cases, a business and its owners can end up with a triple loss after an IRS audit: taxable income to the individual, no deduction to the business and a tax penalty due from both parties.
Factors Examined
The factors most often examined by the IRS in deciding whether payments are reasonable compensation for services or are, instead, disguised dividend payments, include:
The salary history of the individual employee
Compensation paid by comparable employers to comparable employees
The salary history of other employees of the company
Special employee expertise or efforts
Year-end payments
Independent inactive investor analysis
Deferred compensation plan contributions
Independence of the board of directors
Viewpoint of a hypothetical investor contemplating purchase of the company as to whether such potential investor would be willing to pay the compensation.
Failure to pass the reasonable compensation test will result in the company's loss of all or part of its deduction. Analysis and examination of a company's compensation deductions in light of the relevant listed factors can provide the company with the assurance that the compensation it pays will be treated as reasonable -- and may in the process prevent the loss of its deductions.
Note: In the case of publicly held corporations, a separate $1 million dollar per person cap is also placed on deductible compensation paid to the CEO and each of the four other highest-paid officers identified for SEC purposes. (Certain types of compensation, including performance-based compensation approved by outside directors, are not included in the $1 million limitation.)
The S Corp Enigma
The opposite side of the reasonable compensation coin is present in the case of some S corporations. By characterizing compensation payments as dividends, the owners of these corporations seek to reduce employment taxes due on amounts paid to them by their companies. In these cases, the IRS attempts to recharacterize dividends as salary if the amounts were, in fact, paid to the shareholders for services rendered to the corporation.
Caution. In the course of performing the compensation-dividend analysis, watch out for contingent compensation arrangements and for compensation that is proportional to stock ownership. While not always indicators that payments are distributions of dividends instead of compensation for services, their presence does suggest the possibility. Compensation plans should not be keyed to ownership interests. Contingent and incentive arrangements are also scrutinized by the IRS. The courts have frequently ruled that a shareholder has a built-in interest in seeing that the company is successful and rewarding him for increasing the value of his own property is inappropriate. Similar to the reasonable compensation test, however, this rule is not hard and fast. Accordingly, the rules followed in each jurisdiction will control there.
Conclusions
Determining whether a shareholder-employee's compensation is reasonable depends upon many variables, such as the contributions that employee makes to your business, the compensation levels within your industry, and whether an independent investor in your company would accept the employee's compensation as reasonable.
Please call our office for a more customized analysis of how your particular compensation package fits into the various rules and guidelines. Further examination of your practices not only may help your business better sustain its compensation deductions; it may also help you take advantage of other compensation arrangements and opportunities.