Header Right

MEDICAL PRACTICES

Unfiled tax returns?

by

“Better late than never” applies when it comes to filing income tax returns.

Here’s what you should know. 

Maybe you didn‘t get your 1040 done in time in a previous year and figured you couldn’t still file your income taxes. Or you thought you owed money that you didn’t have. The IRS knows that people file late sometimes, and it has systems in place to deal with that.

It’s absolutely critical that you file every year, for a variety of very good reasons. Failure to file means that you might:

  • Incur interest and penalties.
  • Lose a refund (you can claim a refund for up to three years after the return due date).
  • Reduce your Social Security benefits. If you’re self-employed and don’t file, you will not be credited for income that year.
  • May not qualify for credit and lending opportunities.
  • Certain professional licenses (CPA, legal) may be revoked in some states.
  • May be prohibited from serving in public office

Extenuating circumstances? Don’t Panic!

Were you or a family member extremely ill or disabled? Did you suffer severe hardships due to natural disasters? If you didn’t file because of hardships, we at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs can assist you in requesting an abatement from the IRS of penalties imposed due to the late filing.

File It ASAP

As soon as you realize you have a past-due tax return, you should prepare and file it.

If you can’t pay what you owe when you file, you can ask for an additional 60-120 days to fulfill your financial obligation. If that’s not enough time and/or you’re going to need to pay in installments, you can apply for an IRS Payment Plan.

What If You Don’t File?

The IRS may file a substitute return for you. If this happens, you may not get all of the deductions and credits that you should. We advise you to still file a tax return that includes everything, even if the IRS already prepared a substitute return. The IRS usually adjusts the return they created to reflect credits, deductions, and exemptions when they’re made aware of them.

The IRS will notify you if they file a substitute return. If you don’t’ file or submit a petition to Tax Court, the IRS will proceed with its proposed assessment, which will trigger a tax bill. Failure to pay it will result in your account going into the collection process. This can include the filing of a federal tax lien or a levy on your bank account or wages. If you continue to ignore the bill, you may be subject to additional penalties and/or criminal prosecution.

If prior year information is required, we can assist you in obtaining IRS transcripts. These transcripts provide all sources of payors of wages, interest, dividends, pensions and proceeds from sale of securities and real estate.

On Your Mark, Get Set, File!

Any correspondence from the IRS can create anxiety, as can realizing you missed a tax deadline. At Urbach & Avraham, CPAS, we encourage you to contact us if you’re concerned about a return you didn’t file. We can help you understand what your options are and how to proceed. We can assist you in abating penalties and obtaining IRS Transcripts if necessary. We can also help with tax planning throughout the year, so you don’t have to deal with a past-due return again.

 

Sole Proprietor vs S-Corporation     

by

   

Converting from Sole Proprietor to Sub-S has both tax savings and risks. Review them before making the move.  The structure you choose affects how your business is taxed and the degree to which you can be personally liable. Here’s a comparison of these two popular business structures.

Sole Proprietor This is a classic structure for single-owner businesses. No separate business entity is formed. A sole proprietorship does not limit liability, but insurance may be purchased. You report your business income and expenses on your personal income tax return (Schedule C of Form 1040). Net earnings the business generates are subject to both self-employment taxes and income taxes. Sole proprietors may have employees but don’t take paychecks themselves.
S-Corporation A corporation is a separate legal entity that files its own corporate income tax returns. Shareholders generally are protected from personal liability but can be held responsible for repaying any business debts they’ve personally guaranteed. If you make a “Subchapter S” election, shareholders will be taxed individually on their share of corporate income. This S-Corporation structure generally avoids federal income taxes at the corporate level.
Are there additional costs to being an S- Corporation? The switch from a Schedule C to an S-corporation increases the costs of doing business. Here are some of the additional expenses:
• Minimum state taxes
• Accounting fees for preparation of separate corporate tax return
• Payroll servicing costs -if business had no employees as a Schedule C, the owner now is required to receive a salary
• Unemployment tax on owner’s salary, in NJ is almost $1,000

Are there any tax savings? The tax you save is the steep 15.3% self-employment (SE) tax. You pay it on the entire sole proprietor earnings. You only pay the SE tax on the salary portion of your S-Corp earnings. For example, if there is net income of $142,800 (the Social Security max wage base for 2021) and you pay yourself a salary of $50,000, it saves you 15.3% of the difference or approximately $14,000. The greater the difference between your wages and net income, the greater the savings of the SE tax.

Both sole proprietorships and S-Corporations generally offer no difference in the calculation of income tax only the SE tax.

Any caveats? There are many considerations. Here are the main concerns:
• The IRS expects you to take a “fair” salary from your business, known as Reasonable Compensation. E.g., A solo physician or engineer with net income of $200,000 can’t justify a salary of only $50,000. Determination of reasonable compensation is complex and based on many factors. At Urbach & Avraham we make these calculations for use in business valuations in both litigation and non-litigated matters. We can assist you in determining a defensible figure should you decide to operate as a Sub-S Corporation.

More often than not, an S corporation has only one owner. This allows the owner to set salaries for employees, including his own salary. The IRS is sensitive to the potential for manipulating the tax laws in this area and is applying extra scrutiny to the salaries of S corporation owners.
• If you are injured or disabled, you can’t claim lost wages of $200,000 but rather only the W-2 wages of $50,000
• Pension contributions are only made on wages of an S-corporation, not on the net income. The lower the wages, the smaller the retirement benefits
• Your Social Security benefits are calculated on an average of 35 years of wages. The lower the wages, the lower the benefits
• Your Qualified Business Interest Deduction may decrease or increase – based on various factors

Which is suitable for my business? Schedule C or S-Corporation?
Different business entities offer different advantages. You should consider all of them and speak to a tax professional at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs to determine which advantages can help you the most given your current circumstances. You may discover, over time, as your circumstances change, so, too, does your choice of preferred business entity.

Tax Gifts for Self-Employed

by

Tis the Season – Now is the time for business owners to review potential tax saving possibilities. People who are self-employed have many opportunities to cut taxes that regular employees don’t have.

Health Insurance– Self-employed individuals can deduct health-insurance costs above-the-line. That’s better than deducting them on Schedule A, ( Itemized Deductions) where they are limited.

If the spouse of the owner is an employee and the insured person on the medical insurance, then the medical insurance premiums can be deducted directly on Schedule C as a business expense.

Health insurance premiums paid for long-term care insurance may also be deducted (with some limitations) above-the-line for self-employed business owners.

Qualified Business Income (QBI) Deduction– The 2017 tax overhaul added a QBI deduction of 20% of the net income of self-employed people. Depending upon the type of business, the 20% deduction may be limited when taxable income is $160,700 for single filers and $321,400 for married couples filing jointly. Self-employed workers whose incomes will exceed the limits may get below them by making tax-deductible donations to charity before year-end or contributing more to tax-deductible retirement plans.

Self- employed business owners whose taxable incomes are over the limits, may still receive the QBI deduction depending upon the type of business and subject to additional limits. The amount of the tax deduction will vary depending on the specific taxpayer circumstances.

Office in the Home Deduction– Many self-employed individuals operate their businesses from their home. If you qualify for the home office deduction, you can deduct all direct expenses and part of your indirect expenses involved in working from home. Indirect expenses are costs that benefit your entire home, such as rent, deductible mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and homeowner’s insurance. You can deduct only the business portion of your indirect expenses.

More people are taking the now higher standard deduction or their real estate tax deduction is limited as a result of the state and local income tax limitation. By deducting office in the home expenses, one can deduct a portion of the mortgage interest and real estate taxes that otherwise may be not be deductible.

Retirement Plan Contributions- Self-employed individuals can often make larger tax-deductible contributions to retirement plans than employees. The 2019 contribution to a traditional IRA is a maximum of $7,000. The 2019 limits are over $50,000 for SEP IRAs and Solo 401(k)s.

Retirement Plan Deadlines– For 2019, traditional IRAs can be set up and funded until April 15, 2020. The deadline for a SEP-IRA maybe as late as Oct. 15, 2020 if a valid extension is filed. It is important to remember that requesting a filing extension does not provide an extension on paying the taxes that will eventually be due. The Solo 401(k)s have a catch: for 2019, the contribution deadline can be as late as Oct. 15, 2020. However, the plan must be set up by Dec. 31, 2019.

Review Estimated Taxes– Self-employed workers usually owe estimated taxes. There is a penalty for underpayment. For self-employed who also have W-2 wage income earned either by them or their spouses one can avoid quarterly taxes by increasing their withholding on wages. If the wage-earner doesn’t increase his withholdings until late in the year, that is fine- as long as the IRS receives about 90% of the total tax due by year-end.

Everyone’s tax and financial situation is different. Please contact a tax professional at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs about your business tax options.

 

Compensation- or Dividend in Disguise?

by

When your corporation has a profitable year, do you take more salary or pay yourself a year-end bonus? Since you are pivotal to your company’s success, paying yourself more in the good years only makes sense. Increasing or decreasing your compensation from year to year based on company performance can also help manage your company’s cash flow — and the amount of income taxes it has to pay.

Tax Impact

A corporation may deduct compensation as a business expense if it is reasonable in amount. Distributing profits as salaries and bonuses can help minimize taxable corporate income, although you and other recipients will be taxed individually on the compensation you receive.

You may decide that paying additional compensation is preferable to paying out profits as dividends. Unlike compensation, dividends are not deductible. Result: C-Corporate profits are taxed twice — once at the corporate level and again to the shareholders who receive the dividends.

A Word of Caution

If the amount of compensation paid to you and other shareholder-employees is deemed to be unreasonable, the IRS could challenge your company’s deduction for the expense, reclassifying the “excessive” amounts as nondeductible dividends. This applies to C-Corporations.

To potentially reduce the chances of problems with the IRS, consider these strategies:

  • Divide the profits and pay out a portion as bonuses. Leave enough money in the company to generate a small amount of taxable income.
  • When setting bonuses, avoid using ownership percentages to determine the amounts shareholders will receive, since that method suggests the payment of dividends.
  • Adopt and follow a formal compensation plan for executives that includes bonus payments based on meeting specified financial goals.
  • Earmark a portion of company profits for dividends. Individual shareholders will generally pay federal income tax on qualified dividends at a maximum rate of 20%, which is significantly lower than the maximum rate on compensation and other ordinary income.

What is reasonable compensation? The following factors must be considered :

  • The profession
  • Your specialty within the profession
  • Years of experience
  • Geographic area of business
  • Job responsibilities

Your tax situation, profession and circumstances are unique. Jeff Urbach, CPA and partner at Urbach & Avraham, CPAs is an expert is determining reasonable compensation. Jeff is also a CVA (Certified Valuation Analyst) and an ABV (Accredited in Business Valuations). Contact us for a consultation regarding your situation.

Choice of Business Entity

by

When you start a business, there are endless decisions to make. Among the most important is how to structure your business. Why is it so significant? Because the structure you choose will affect how your business is taxed and the degree to which you (and other owners) can be held personally liable. Here’s an overview of the various structures.

Sole Proprietorship

This is a popular structure for single-owner businesses. No separate business entity is formed, although the business may have a name (often referred to as a DBA, short for “doing business as”). A sole proprietorship does not limit liability, but insurance may be purchased. You report your business income and expenses on Schedule C, an attachment to your personal income tax return (Form 1040). Net earnings the business generates are subject to both self-employment taxes and income taxes. Sole proprietors may have employees but don’t take paychecks themselves.

Limited Liability Company

If you want protection for your personal assets in the event your business is sued, you might prefer a limited liability company (LLC). An LLC is a separate legal entity that can have one or more owners (called “members”). A one-member LLC is considered to be a “disregarded entity” by the IRS. Usually, income is taxed to the owners individually on Form Schedule C- Business Income (part of Form 1040), and earnings are subject to self-employment taxes. Note: It’s not unusual for lenders to require a small LLC’s owners to personally guarantee any business loans.

An LLC can make an election to be taxed as a corporation or a partnership by filing IRS Form 8832- Entity Classification Election.

Corporation

A corporation is a separate legal entity that can transact business in its own name and files corporate income tax returns. Like an LLC, a corporation can have one or more owners (shareholders). Shareholders generally are protected from personal liability but can be held responsible for repaying any business debts they’ve personally guaranteed. If you make a “Subchapter S” election, shareholders will be taxed individually on their share of corporate income. This structure generally avoids federal income taxes at the corporate level.

Partnership

In certain respects, a partnership is similar to an LLC or an S corporation. However, partnerships must have at least one general partner who is personally liable for the partnership’s debts and obligations. Profits and losses are divided among the partners and taxed to them individually.

Summary

There is no right or wrong entity. The question is which one is correct for your company, needs and circumstances. Call us for a consultation to help you select the appropriate entity form for your business and family.

Do a Financial Review Mid-Year

by

Before you get involved with other things this late summer, schedule a mid-year checkup. No, we’re not talking about the height/weight/blood pressure kind of checkup, we’re talking about the income statement/balance sheet/cash flow kind of checkup — a review of your business’s financial operating fundamentals.

If you review your vital financial information only when year-end rolls around, you may not know there’s a problem until it’s too late. The more often you take your company’s “pulse,” the sooner you’ll be able to notice — and react to — changes in your business situation.

Check Your Vital Signs

What should you be looking at? Start with the operating fundamentals. For example, what’s the status of accounts payable? When’s the last time you ran an aging report for accounts receivable? How long are your A/R outstanding? How quickly is your inventory turning? What is your profit margin?

These numbers are critical to running your business. You can’t make accurate decisions if your figures are old. And, by keeping track of key financial ratios, you can more readily spot trends that should be addressed sooner rather than later. Your A/R should be reviewed by an appropriate attorney to verify that the language of your agreements and invoices covers you in case of slow or non-payers.

Monitor Your Budget

Next, check your spending. If overspending is a problem, creating a comprehensive budget that establishes realistic guidelines is an effective remedy. Make sure you have a budgeted amount for every line item expense on your operating statement. Then track and compare actual spending to budgeted amounts on a regular basis.

Certain expenses should be reviewed by a specialist to reduce expenses and verify adequate services. For example, business insurance should be reviewed with an insurance agent, bank and credit card charges with your banker, telephone expense with a communications expert.

Reduce Your Debt

Avoid the temptation to take out all your profits in good years. Instead, consider reinvesting some of those earnings in the business. Using retained earnings instead of debt to capitalize your business saves money — and provides a safety net that will be there to help you through periods of lackluster sales or unexpected expenses. Review your cash flow and investments with your investment adviser. A healthy debt-to-equity ratio will also look great when it’s time to borrow money or sell your business.

See a Specialist

Helping owners build and maintain healthy businesses is our specialty. Let’s schedule that mid-year review of your company’s finances soon.

To learn more about financial reviews give us a call today. In addition, we work with many competent insurance agents, investment advisers and collection attorneys who can review your operations.