Month: January 2021

Preface: Why do we play games? The research indicates that it helps people experience emotions associated with intrinsic happiness reserves’ main factors

What Dutch Blitz Can Teach About Entrepreneurship 

Credit: Donald J. Sauder, CPA | CVA

Four decks of cards with forty cards in each deck…. two, three, or four players shuffling plows, pails, carriages, and pumps. Players can choose the deck they want. Each player shuffles their forty cards and places three top cards in the Post Pile, ten cards in the Blitz Pile. The objective? Dutch Blitz!

Dutch Blitz! The word to serious game enthusiast can conjure a gamut of feelings.

Winning at Dutch Blitz requires both luck and skill, and as with many games and trades, practice makes perfect. Enthusiasts create their own rules and add them to the standard rules to make the game more exciting and challenging.

So what is the connection between entrepreneurship and Dutch Blitz? With tax season approaching, we will take a moment to enjoy pace and look at a unique vantage point of business.

There is no business without a customer sale. That is a primary and elementary rule of business that every savvy entrepreneur appreciates. It differentiates companies from non-profits. Absent customer sales and revenue, everything is an expense!

Consider how Chegg earns revenue. College students will immediately recognize the name. Chegg Study is a $14.95 a month educational service that employs 70,000 subject experts to work free-lance online 24/7 providing step-by-step answers to questions from subscribers who are mostly students. Chegg helps students solve calculus problems, write bibliographies, and “get answers.”

A recent Forbes article on Chegg provides a surprising executive-level look at how CEO Dan Rosenwig has profited from building an online platform for higher education. College degrees can be now be achieved widely and with broad acceptance using techniques that breach university student honor policies. This has surged surprising with the conventional shifts to e-learning from the COVID-19 educational forums. Chegg bolstered degrees are the seeming growing future of the globe’s skilled trades. Future dentists, veterinarians, chemists, engineers are all onboard. The world is changing – rapidly.

These Chegg subscribers are who you may trust to help with provisions and health for your family. The social norms acceptance with modifications to the rules of education is likely to continue.

Many Dutch Blitz players migrate to more adventure, challenge, and thrill, as with entrepreneurship. And so, business norms continue to shift and advance.

Why do we play games? The research indicates that it helps people experience emotions associated with intrinsic happiness reserves’ main factors, i.e., we play games because they make us happy.

The game of business is to make a sale(s). Now, what Dutch Blitz teaches us about entrepreneurship? The majority of business sales are associated with credit. Credit cards bring purchasing power for fuel and food, bank financing for homes and autos, and HE-LOCS for lawnmowers.

The nation’s founding fathers gave clear warnings on the implications of credit-based economies and classic currencies. Two hundred forty-five years later, few are searching the scrips of 17th or 18th-century sages. Entrepreneurship  is a part of an overarching mega-financial Dutch Blitz game.

People are passionately attached to the factors of happiness in this game. Yet, like any Dutch Blitz game, when players start to cheat to a substantial degree for more significant “happiness factors,” the happiness for the other player(s) is usually at risk.

Endeavor to be a savvy contributor to your Dutch-Blitz game(s) to bridge the game’s “happiness factor” to all those observing. After-all that is the purpose of the fun.

Preface: With the baton of democracy peacefully transferred on January 20th, the Biden Administration now will be ideally positioned to introduce tax policy changes that should not be discounted nor unheeded with the deal making successes and cohesive union among current lawmakers. 

Looking Ahead: 2021 Tax Planning for A Biden Administrations Tentative Tax Policy Revisions

Credit: Donald J. Sauder, CPA | CVA

The good news on possible tax reforms? Any proposed sweeping tax legislation from the Biden Administration for tax reform likely will only be concerning for high-income taxpayers. The bad news? A curbing of high-income earner financial appetites will result in projected shifts to economic activity and require the government to have an increasingly crucial role in replacing recent decades’ economic stimulus measures from the marketplace.

What Biden’s Tax Plan Could Change?

With the House and Senate’s passage of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, top tax rates were reduced. A new tax reform proposal from the Biden Administration may increase the maximum rate back to near 40%, with a lower threshold applicable to an adjusted gross income of $400,000 and above.

The 199A Qualified Business Income deduction of up to 20% could perhaps be eliminated with tax reform leading to immediate increases to tax costs for Main Street business owners. This would be in addition to any possible income tax rate changes and threshold adjustments outlined above. A business that qualified under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 for the 199A tax deduction experienced more than ideal business tax conditions—introducing new tax reforms would somewhat likely phase-out this tax-saving attribute for Main Street business owners.

Of note, while present tax reform guidance is silent on the accelerated depreciation features from the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 that were almost too good to be true for business owners, including 100% bonus deductions on both new and used capital expenditures and a substantial increase in the long-standing Section 179 tax deduction. Any proposed tax reforms may change these features of accelerated deductions on capital expenditures, and therefore, lower permissible and beneficial tax deferments, leading to high immediate tax costs.

Current information on possible reform to itemized deductions, while unknown, the possibility is likely. This would be most applicable and focused on high-income earnings, say above the $400,00 adjusted gross income threshold.

Revisions to social security taxes are also under discussion, and current proposals apply only to high-income taxpayers above the $400,000 adjusted gross income threshold.

For estate planners and high-net-worth individuals, a Biden tax reform may propose an estate exemption reduction from $11.5M to say $3.5M, resulting in increased restrictions on wealth transfers among generations with a tax-free pass. Additionally, the step-up basis of inherited assets could be eliminated. This is a tax feature whereby the cost basis of appreciated assets is increased to the fair market value in an estate transfer that therefore reduces the amount of the investment subject to capital gain or ordinary taxes on the future sale of the asset(s).

Finally, capital gains on capital asset transactions are also subject to revisions with any proposed tax reforms. Firstly, an increase in long-term capital gains from 20% to an ordinary rate of 39.6% again for high-income earnings above, say $1.0M in adjusted gross income, or when harvesting such levels of gains. Secondly, 1031 tax exchanges may be eliminated with a Biden tax reform plan. This would disallow the deferment of tax gains on the sale of a property when proceeds are invested in like-kind property and a widely used tax defer tool for real estate investments.

For business budgeting, keep foremost in mind that the higher levels of cash flow required for amortized debt payments (debt is paid with after-tax cash-flows, leverages with higher tax rates and earnings threshold) will be subject to coverage of additional tax costs. Bottom-Line of these tax reform implications? Higher tax rates from possible tax reform will lead to reduced cash flow for debt payment. Management that planned debt-financed capital expenditure payments under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 rates in recent years, aligned with tight payments margins on cash flow, should heed this caution immediately. Prudent planning could include appropriate cash flow management plan revisions and perhaps discussions with lenders.

Trump’s tax reform for businesses with the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 may be the lowest tax rates Main Street business may see for the next decade(s). We are advising clients to defer as little taxable income as possible and capitalized on the low tax rates for the 2020 year to build equity and balance sheet strength, pay down debts, and prepare for what may be likely reforms with tax planning that will require additional diligence in cash flow management.

With the baton of democracy successful transferred on January 20th, the Biden Administration now will be ideally positioned to introduce tax policy changes that should not be discounted nor unheeded with the deal making successes and miracles of the cohesive union among current lawmakers. Please begin to plan appropriately and discussing the tax and cash flow implications with your tax advisor.

Preface: A Wall Street Journal headline declared “Biden Tax-Increase Agenda Revived as Democrats Win Senate”. At the time of writing, we do not know exactly what tax increases will or will not come. 

Should I Extend my Tax Return?

 Tax Season

Time marches onward. Another year has ended, another year has begun. With the change of the calendar comes tax season.

Some taxpayers always file timely, some always file an extension. Which option is right for you? Read this article to consider the benefits of both timely filing and filing after an extension.

Benefits of Timely Filing

• • • • Clarity and Precision
      • Avoid Procrastination
      • Allow Partners to File Timely
      • Calculate Quarterly Estimates

A taxpayer might file timely to gain clarity and precision. Before the taxes are prepared for filing, the taxpayer likely does not know precisely how much the tax bill will be. Good tax planning, however, might give an idea of the amount. Think of tax planning as watching a deer walking through the field 250 yards away with the unaided eye. You can see it with the eye, but the clarity increases when the scope is placed between the eye and the deer. Likewise, preparing the tax return brings the tax bill into focus. A hunter catching sight of a big buck might shake with buck fever, and a taxpayer catching a glimpse of a huge tax liability might tremble as well.

Another reason to file timely is to avoid procrastination. The wise old saying attributed to Ben Franklin “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today” might inspire some taxpayers to take care of their taxes quickly, even though they could delay if they chose to do so. Filing an extension causes a delay. It does not drive taxes away permanently.

One important reason for partnerships to consider timely filing is that the individual partners will need a K-1 from the partnership to file their personal tax returns. A partnership might therefore choose to file timely if some or all the partners want to file their personal tax returns timely.

A fourth reason to file timely is to calculate quarterly estimates for the next year. One factor in the safe harbor for tax estimates involves the income of the prior year. If a taxpayer wants to use that safe harbor, it helps to know the prior year income. If the taxpayer does not know it, then they may pay more estimates than necessary, or perhaps pay too little and miss the safe harbor.

Benefits of Extensions

So why would anyone ever extend a tax return? In some cases, the prudent taxpayer will file an extension. Here are some reasons.

• • • • Wait to See if the Next Year Looks Profitable
      • Save on Accounting Fees
      • Wait to See if Tax Rates Increase

Many tax returns are filed on an annual basis. Tax accountants file scores of returns after December 31 but before April 15. As you can imagine, that provides a buildup of work for tax accountants. If you normally file timely but do not care when you file, consider asking your accountant if you can go on extension to get a discount since you are leveling out their workload. The price savings may make it worth the wait. Good things take time. Sometimes the first buck trotting along the path is not the biggest buck.

From time to time throughout history, tax rates go up. Taxpayers could be entering such a time. A Wall Street Journal headline declared “Biden Tax-Increase Agenda Revived as Democrats Win Senate”. At the time of writing, we do not know exactly what tax increases will or will not come.

If taxes increase significantly, some taxpayers may prefer to defer depreciation until future years, when tax rates are higher, rather than accelerate depreciation on new purchases this year when rates are lower. Without knowing the tax rates, that decision is more difficult. Some taxpayers may benefit from extending to see how it ends up. Patience sometimes pays.

Another reason to extend is to assess how profitable next year will be. If a taxpayer files in February, they have a small idea of how the next year will be, and they might find it difficult to make tax decisions on tax elections, such as depreciation. Alternatively, a taxpayer filing in July would have a much longer timeframe to assess how well the next year is going.

If the next year appears to be going well, the taxpayer may save some depreciation to reduce income in that year. Alternatively, if the year past was great and the next year is challenging, the taxpayer may elect to accelerate depreciation into the high-income year. The additional months may reduce the guesswork

To Extend or not to Extend?

As you read the article, did any of the points resonate with you? Different taxpayers will make different decisions. Do not automatically file on time, and do not automatically file for an extension. Consider which path makes sense in your situation. Hopefully this article brings some clarity and perspective to you as you hunt for the answers.

This article is general in nature, and it does not contain legal advice. Contact your advisors to discuss your specific situation.

 

Preface: Setting up a good legal structure for your business will minimize future risks, and can position you for the best legal protection and tax savings.

Why You Should Consider Converting Your Business to an LLC

By Nevin Beiler, Attorney

A large part of my law practice consists of forming and restructuring business entities for business owners. People often ask me what would be the best form of entity for their business. Although there are exceptions, in the vast majority of cases the answer to that question is a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”). If you have a business that is located in Pennsylvania and is structured as something other than an LLC, you may want to at least consider restructuring it. This is especially true if your business is a sole proprietorship or a general partnership.

In this article I will explain the main benefits of being structured as an LLC. But first, a quick story about some clients I assisted in restructuring their business from a general partnership to an LLC. As always, I have changed the names and some details in order to protect the confidentiality of my clients.

A father and his three sons came to my office one day to discuss restructuring their construction business. For the past 15 years they had been operating as a general partnership. At the time of the meeting, the father owned 90% of the business, his three sons owned 2% each, and two other workers owned 2% each.

In the past, the sons and two other workers had been listed as partners mainly to avoid payroll taxes. The father wanted to increase his son’s percentage of ownership and give them more management responsibilities. He was also considering putting the other two workers on payroll because he had heard that the strategy of having workers be low-percentage partners to avoid payroll taxes was causing some partnerships to incur fines and penalties in Pennsylvania Unemployment Tax audits (he was right about that).

The father had also heard somewhere that he should consider changing from being a general partnership to an LLC partnership, but he wasn’t totally sure why. I explained that one reason he should convert to an LLC partnership was to limit the personal liability of the partners for lawsuits against the business. He seemed to have a “lightbulb moment” when I said that, and said, “do you mean that if the business is sued all the money in my sons’ personal bank accounts would be at risk”? When I answered “yes” and also said that the personal assets of his other workers were also at risk, he become very concerned. His sons had worked hard for the business since their teen years, and had each developed sizable savings accounts. He was also uncomfortable with the thought that his workers, who functioned essentially like employees, were sharing in the risk of the business due to the fact that they were 2% general partners.

The realization that the way his business was structured was putting his sons’ savings and his employees at risk provided a substantial motivation for the father to change the general partnership to an LLC partnership. As part of that change, he put the other workers on payroll and increased his son’s percentages of ownership in the business. He also increased the liability insurance of the business. The good news for them was that converting a general partnership to an LLC partnership is fairly simply in Pennsylvania. The bad news was that the conversion and the limited liability it brought would only apply to the future. Any potential lawsuits for activities prior to the date of the conversion to an LLC would still put the partner’s personal assets at risk.

The Benefits of a Limited Liability Company

The above story illustrates one of the main benefits that an LLC has over sole proprietorships, general partnerships, and general partners in limited partnerships, which is that partners in an LLC (typically called “members”) do not have personal liability for lawsuits against the LLC. The members of an LLC also generally do not have personal liability for the debts or other liabilities of an LLC, unless they sign a personal guarantee for the liability. They are at risk of losing the value of their share of the business if an accident or lawsuit is not covered by the business’s insurance policy, but their personal assets would be protected.

On the other hand, the personal assets of all the partners in a general partnership (including a 1% partner) can be fully at risk for the liabilities of the partnership (including loans, audits assessments, lawsuits, etc.), regardless of which general partner of the partnership incurred the liability or caused the lawsuit. The same is true of sole proprietors, who are generally fully responsible for both their own actions, and the actions of their employees during the workday. Most businesses should and do carry liability insurance that will cover unexpected accidents and lawsuits. However, not everything can be covered by insurance, and sometimes insurance coverage limits are lower than a lawsuit amount, so having the extra protection of the LLC structure can be a big help in protecting the owners of the business when things go majorly wrong.

Another benefit of the LLC structure is its administrative and structural simplicity and flexibility. Unlike corporations (which were more common before LLCs became available), LLCs do not require many formalities like annual meetings, electing directors, director meetings, etc. An LLC can require certain formalities in its Operating Agreement, but very few formalities are required by law for LLCs.

Similar to a general partnership, an LLC can be structured as “member managed” (meaning it is managed by all its members) or “manager managed” (meaning the members elect one or more managers from among or outside the membership to manage the LLC). The provisions regarding voting, compensation, profit sharing, buy/sell agreements, etc., are all very flexible in an LLC and can be customized in the LLC’s Operating Agreement to suit the needs of the members.

LLC’s are also very flexible when it comes to how they are taxed. A single member LLC is normally taxed as a disregarded entity, meaning that the income and expenses of the LLC are reported on the appropriate schedule of the owner’s Form 1040 (e.g. on Schedule C). However, a single member LLC can elect to be taxed as an S Corp or C Corp if that would be advantageous to its owners (not common for those exempt from FICA taxes).

A partnership LLC (an LLC with more than one member), like a general partnership, is normally taxed as a pass-through entity, meaning that the partnership entity files an information tax return but all income taxes are paid by the individual members. However, the members can choose to have the partnership be taxed as an S Corp or C Corp if that would be advantageous to the members. The flexibility to choose between the full range of tax elections could become an advantage over corporations, which are limited to C Corp and S Corp tax options. With the Qualified Business Income Deduction (new for the 2018 tax year), more small corporations may want to consider whether changing their structure to an LLC would be advantageous. Doing so would allow them to be taxed as a disregarded entity (one owner) or partnership (multiple owners) and potentially maximize the QBI Deduction.

Another advantage, though perhaps smaller than the ones discussed above, is that registering a business as an LLC provides more protection for the registered business name than filing a fictitious name registration (as is required for sole proprietorships and general partnerships). Many business owners are surprised when I tell them this, but the reality is that filing a fictitious name registration does not result in exclusive use of that name in Pennsylvania (and probably many other states). If only a fictitious name registration is filed in Pennsylvania, another business owner could come along and register the same name as an LLC or Corporation (or other registered entity). But once a name is registered as an LLC (or other registered entity) in Pennsylvania, nobody can come along and register a business under that same name in Pennsylvania. (Businesses that want exclusive use of a name in multiple states may want to consider registering a Trademark for their name.)

Starting an LLC or Converting to an LLC

Starting an LLC in Pennsylvania is fairly simply. New LLCs in Pennsylvania do not require legal advertising (which is required for fictitious names and new corporations), so that helps to keep the cost down. Also, Pennsylvania has a conversion process by which a general partnership can convert to an LLC partnership without re-titling assets or getting a new EIN number. This greatly simplifies the administrative hassle of these conversions.

An existing sole proprietorship business will generally need a new EIN in order to change to a single member LLC. This means a little more administrative burden (usually involving a new bank account, new payroll accounts if there are employees, new PA Dept. of Revenue accounts, and transferring business assets to the new LLC), but it is very manageable for most businesses.

When starting a new business or changing your business structure, you should seek good legal advice and tax advice. Setting up a good structure for your business will minimize complications down the road, and can position you for the best legal protection and tax savings.

Nevin Beiler is an attorney licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania (no other states). He practices primarily in the areas of wills & trusts, settling estates, and business formations & agreements. Nevin and his wife Nancy are part of the conservative Mennonite community, and Nevin previously served as the in-house accountant for Anabaptist Financial before leaving to become an attorney. Nevin’s office is located at 105 S Hoover Ave, New Holland, PA 17557, and he can be contacted by email at info@beilerlegalservices.com or by phone at 717-287-1688. More information can be found at www.beilerlegalservices.com.

 Disclaimer: This article is general in nature and is not intended to provide specific legal or tax advice. Please contact Nevin or another attorney licensed in your state to discuss your specific legal questions. This article was initially published in the PCBE.

 

Gearing up for the New Year of 2021

Credit: Donald J. Sauder, CPA | CVA

January 2020 began just like the Great Roaring ’20s. The decade of the 1920’s lifted all social classes on the winds and wings of a surging economy and profuse consumerism from sales of mass-produced goods that made lives more comfortable, including radio’s refrigerators, and washing machines. The social landscape was changing quickly from automobile travel’s increasing affordability and a Model T less than 400 dollars. Businesses began issuing consumer credit, it was a “Goldilocks” economy, and as they say, “The rest is history.”

Then, fast forward one century. Likely most of us would consider 2020 a year of tremendous challenge with the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the rapid changes in social, business, and educational life. Time has never stood still, and here we are, welcoming the New Year of 2021.

Looking forward to 2021 and expecting life to return to pre-Covid-19 normalcy maybe a soupcon unrealistic. Yet predicting what’s ahead for 2021 is best deferred to the experts.

So to help us plan to thrive in 2021, no matter what the New Year 2021 may bring, a plan to bring hope to hardship, even if as simple as supporting your local entrepreneurs and therefore local families is a good start to the year ahead. Or perhaps helping to build your local community into a healthier and more sustainable place through say concerted organizational successes will likely be smart allocations of equity with your time and resources.

And foremost, investments of gratitude for these simple freedoms may never have been more critical to our individual and collective futures and why our community(s) can experience memorable enjoyments in each season and profusions from ae quality of life.

Now, we may perhaps find a helpful idea or two in the following article:

You Survived 2020. These 4 Ideas Will Help You Thrive In 2021

We wish you a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year!