Business losses have become all-too common during COVID-19. Though new tax benefits have been introduced, understanding whether these will benefit a specific business can be a complicated process. One common COVID-era benefit is the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. Businesses celebrated the news that PPP funds are tax exempt, so
Over the last two weeks we have outlined a strategy to intentionally fail the test for material participation, for purposes of converting non-passive income to passive income. Why might we want to do that? The first and most obvious reason is to save self-employment tax. A second reason you might
This week’s blog focuses on a loophole to the $3,000 deduction on capital loss losses. Businesses don’t always go as people hope they will. Unfortunately, in the last year we’ve seen a lot of struggle. Many businesses in specific industries, including food and entertainment, have had to close their doors.
If you haven’t looked at last week’s blog (“Reclassifying Non-Passive Income”), we suggest you do that first. Last week, we focused on classifying activities as either passive or non-passive. This week, we want to look at the rules of material participation. When intentionally trying to recharacterize income from non-passive to
One strategy regarding income recharacterization is to shift non-passive income to passive income. Non-passive income is any income earned actively by the taxpayer: wages, salaries, self-employment income, etc. Passive income includes income derived from real estate, limited partnerships, interest in dividends, and more. In summary, passive income is any activity
Somewhere within your county, likely at this very moment, a Property Valuation Assessor (PVA) is determining the value of a specific piece of property. Who is your PVA? What is their role? And why does it matter? If you familiarize yourself with your local PVA, you can potentially realize significant
Property tax is one of our country’s oldest taxes; it was even established prior to federal income tax. As far back as the founding of the United States of America, property taxes were assessed on colonists who were settling this country. Property tax is (and has been) one of the
This is our second posting on the topic, so please check out Thursday’s blog, if you missed it. There have been so many tax changes this year! As you might expect, it is difficult to cover them all. We’ll try to highlight a handful of changes that we think will
There have been so many tax changes this year! As you might expect, it is difficult to cover them all. We’ll try to highlight a handful of changes that we think will be most relevant to you as a tax professional. We’ll skip over the changes that are compliance-related, and
Good news on forgivable expenses! There is a lot more that is eligible for forgiveness, and not just for new loans. The expanded categories apply retroactively to initial loans, as long as the taxpayer (the borrower) has not already applied for forgiveness. Let’s start with payroll costs. Under the old