Tax Reform Provides New 20% Deduction
The new 2018 Section 199A tax deduction that you can claim on your IRS Form 1040 is a big deal. There are many rules (all new, of course), but your odds as a business owner of benefiting from this new deduction are excellent.
Rejoice if you operate your business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S corporation because your 2018 income from these businesses can qualify for some or all of the new 20 percent deduction.
You also can qualify for the new 20 percent 2018 tax deduction on the income you receive from your real estate investments, publicly traded partnerships, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and qualified cooperatives.
When can you as a business owner qualify for this new 20 percent tax deduction with almost no complications?
To qualify for the 20 percent with almost no complications, you need two things: First, you need qualified business income from one of the sources above to which you can apply the 20 percent. Second, to avoid complications, you need “defined taxable income” of $315,000 or less if married filing a joint return, or $157,500 or less if filing as a single taxpayer.
Example. You are single and operate your business as a proprietorship. It produces $150,000 of qualified business income. Your other income and deductions result in defined taxable income of $153,000. You qualify for a deduction of $30,000 ($150,000 x 20 percent).
If you operate your business as a partnership or S corporation and you have the qualified business income and defined taxable income numbers above, you qualify for the same $30,000 deduction. The same is true if your income comes from a rental property, real estate investment trust, or limited partnership.
Some unfriendly rules apply to what Section 199A calls a specified service trade or business, such as operating as a law or accounting firm. But if the doctor, lawyer, actor, or accountant has defined taxable income less than the thresholds above, he or she qualifies for the full 20 percent deduction on his or her qualified business income. In other words, if you are a lawyer with the same facts as in the example above, you would qualify for the $30,000 deduction.
Once you are above the thresholds and phaseouts ($50,000 single, $100,000 married filing jointly), you can qualify for the Section 199A deduction only when you are:
- not in the out-of-favor group (accountant, doctor, lawyer, etc.),
- and your qualified business pays W-2 wages and/or has property.
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Last Minute 2020 Biz Deductions
The purpose of this post is to get the IRS to owe you money.
Of course, the IRS is not likely to cut you a check for this money (although in the right circumstances, that will happen), but you’ll realize the cash when you pay less in taxes.
Here are seven powerful business tax deduction strategies that you can easily understand and implement before the end of 2020.
Want to know more? Have some tax questions of your own? Get in touch with us and we’ll guide you thru the tax and accounting process.