Businesses should be aware that they may be responsible for issuing more information reporting forms for 2022 because more workers may fall into the required range of income to be reported. Beginning this year, the threshold has dropped significantly for the filing of Form 1099-K, “Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions.” Businesses and workers in certain industries may receive more of these forms and some people may even get them based on personal transactions.

Background of the change

Banks and online payment networks — payment settlement entities (PSEs) or third-party settlement organizations (TPSOs) — must report payments in a trade or business to the IRS and recipients. This is done on Form 1099-K. These entities include Venmo and CashApp, as well as gig economy facilitators such as Uber and TaskRabbit.

A 2021 law dropped the minimum threshold for PSEs to file Form 1099-K for a taxpayer from $20,000 of reportable payments made to the taxpayer and 200 transactions to $600 (the same threshold applicable to other Forms 1099) starting in 2022. The lower threshold for filing 1099-K forms means many participants in the gig economy will be getting the forms for the first time.

Members of Congress have introduced bills to raise the threshold back to $20,000 and 200 transactions, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll pass. In addition, taxpayers should generally be reporting income from their side employment engagements, whether it’s reported to the IRS or not. For example, freelancers who make money creating products for an Etsy business or driving for Uber should have been paying taxes all along. However, Congress and the IRS have said this responsibility is often ignored. In some cases, taxpayers may not even be aware that income from these sources is taxable.

Some taxpayers may first notice this change when they receive their Forms 1099-K in January 2023. However, businesses should be preparing during 2022 to minimize the tax consequences of the gross amount of Form 1099-K reportable payments.

What to do now

Taxpayers should be reviewing gig and other reportable activities. Make sure payments are being recorded accurately. Payments received in a trade or business should be reported in full so that workers can withhold and pay taxes accordingly.

If you receive income from certain activities, you may want to increase your tax withholding or, if necessary, make estimated tax payments or larger payments to avoid penalties.

Separate personal payments and track deductions

Taxpayers should separate taxable gross receipts received through a PSE that are income from personal expenses, such as splitting the check at a restaurant or giving a gift. PSEs can’t necessarily distinguish between personal expenses and business payments, so taxpayers should maintain separate accounts for each type of payment.

Keep in mind that taxpayers who haven’t been reporting all income from gig work may not have been documenting all deductions. They should start doing so now to minimize the taxable income recognized due to the gross receipts reported on Form 1099-K. The IRS is likely to take the position that all of a taxpayer’s gross receipts reported on Form 1099-K are income and won’t allow deductions unless the taxpayer substantiates them. Deductions will vary based on the nature of the taxpayer’s work.

Contact us if you have questions about your Form 1099-K responsibilities.

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The IRS recently released guidance providing the 2023 inflation-adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). High inflation rates will result in next year’s amounts being increased more than they have been in recent years.

HSA basics

An HSA is a trust created or organized exclusively for the purpose of paying the “qualified medical expenses” of an “account beneficiary.” An HSA can only be established for the benefit of an “eligible individual” who is covered under a “high deductible health plan.” In addition, a participant can’t be enrolled in Medicare or have other health coverage (exceptions include dental, vision, long-term care, accident and specific disease insurance).

A high deductible health plan (HDHP) is generally a plan with an annual deductible that isn’t less than $1,000 for self-only coverage and $2,000 for family coverage. In addition, the sum of the annual deductible and other annual out-of-pocket expenses required to be paid under the plan for covered benefits (but not for premiums) can’t exceed $5,000 for self-only coverage, and $10,000 for family coverage.

Within specified dollar limits, an above-the-line tax deduction is allowed for an individual’s contribution to an HSA. This annual contribution limitation and the annual deductible and out-of-pocket expenses under the tax code are adjusted annually for inflation.

Inflation adjustments for next year 

In Revenue Procedure 2022-24, the IRS released the 2023 inflation-adjusted figures for contributions to HSAs, which are as follows:

Annual contribution limitation. For calendar year 2023, the annual contribution limitation for an individual with self-only coverage under an HDHP will be $3,850. For an individual with family coverage, the amount will be $7,750. This is up from $3,650 and $7,300, respectively, for 2022.

In addition, for both 2022 and 2023, there’s a $1,000 catch-up contribution amount for those who are age 55 and older at the end of the tax year.

High deductible health plan defined. For calendar year 2023, an HDHP will be a health plan with an annual deductible that isn’t less than $1,500 for self-only coverage or $3,000 for family coverage (these amounts are $1,400 and $2,800 for 2022). In addition, annual out-of-pocket expenses (deductibles, co-payments, and other amounts, but not premiums) won’t be able to exceed $7,500 for self-only coverage or $15,000 for family coverage (up from $7,050 and $14,100, respectively, for 2022).

Reap the rewards

There are a variety of benefits to HSAs. Contributions to the accounts are made on a pre-tax basis. The money can accumulate tax free year after year and can be withdrawn tax free to pay for a variety of medical expenses such as doctor visits, prescriptions, chiropractic care and premiums for long-term care insurance. In addition, an HSA is “portable.” It stays with an account holder if he or she changes employers or leaves the workforce. If you have questions about HSAs at your business, contact your employee benefits and tax advisors.

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The IRS has begun mailing notices to businesses, financial institutions and other payers that filed certain returns with information that doesn’t match the agency’s records.

These CP2100 and CP2100A notices are sent by the IRS twice a year to payers who filed information returns that are missing a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), have an incorrect name or have a combination of both.

Each notice has a list of persons who received payments from the business with identified TIN issues.

If you receive one of these notices, you need to compare the accounts listed on the notice with your records and correct or update your records, if necessary. This can also include correcting backup withholding on payments made to payees.

Which returns are involved? 

Businesses, financial institutions and other payers are required to file with the IRS various information returns reporting certain payments they make to independent contractors, customers and others. These information returns include:

• Form 1099-B, Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions,
• Form 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions,
• Form 1099-INT, Interest Income,
• Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions,
• Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income,
• Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation, and
• Form W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings.

Do you have backup withholding responsibilities?

The CP2100 and CP2100A notices also inform recipients that they’re responsible for backup withholding. Payments reported on the information returns listed above are subject to backup withholding if:

• The payer doesn’t have the payee’s TIN when making payments that are required to be reported.
• The individual receiving payments doesn’t certify his or her TIN as required.
• The IRS notifies the payer that the individual receiving payments furnished an incorrect TIN.
• The IRS notifies the payer that the individual receiving payments didn’t report all interest and dividends on his or her tax return.

Do you have to report payments to independent contractors?

By January first of the following year, payers must complete Form 1099-NEC, “Nonemployee Compensation,” to report certain payments made to recipients. If the following four conditions are met, you must generally report payments as nonemployee compensation:

• You made a payment to someone who isn’t your employee,
• You made a payment for services in the course of your trade or business,
• You made a payment to an individual, partnership, estate, or, in some cases, a corporation, and
• You made payments to a recipient of at least $600 during the year.

Contact us if you receive a CP2100 or CP2100A notice from the IRS or if you have questions about filing Form 1099-NEC. We can help you stay in compliance with all rules.

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What are the tax consequences of selling property used in your trade or business?

There are many rules that can potentially apply to the sale of business property. Thus, to simplify discussion, let’s assume that the property you want to sell is land or depreciable property used in your business, and has been held by you for more than a year. (There are different rules for property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business; intellectual property; low-income housing; property that involves farming or livestock; and other types of property.)

General rules

Under the Internal Revenue Code, your gains and losses from sales of business property are netted against each other. The net gain or loss qualifies for tax treatment as follows:

1) If the netting of gains and losses results in a net gain, then long-term capital gain treatment results, subject to “recapture” rules discussed below. Long-term capital gain treatment is generally more favorable than ordinary income treatment.

2) If the netting of gains and losses results in a net loss, that loss is fully deductible against ordinary income (in other words, none of the rules that limit the deductibility of capital losses apply).

Recapture rules 

The availability of long-term capital gain treatment for business property net gain is limited by “recapture” rules — that is, rules under which amounts are treated as ordinary income rather than capital gain because of previous ordinary loss or deduction treatment for these amounts.

There’s a special recapture rule that applies only to business property. Under this rule, to the extent you’ve had a business property net loss within the previous five years, any business property net gain is treated as ordinary income instead of as long-term capital gain.

Section 1245 Property 

“Section 1245 Property” consists of all depreciable personal property, whether tangible or intangible, and certain depreciable real property (usually, real property that performs specific functions). If you sell Section 1245 Property, you must recapture your gain as ordinary income to the extent of your earlier depreciation deductions on the asset.

Section 1250 Property

“Section 1250 Property” consists, generally, of buildings and their structural components. If you sell Section 1250 Property that was placed in service after 1986, none of the long-term capital gain attributable to depreciation deductions will be subject to depreciation recapture. However, for most noncorporate taxpayers, the gain attributable to depreciation deductions, to the extent it doesn’t exceed business property net gain, will (as reduced by the business property recapture rule above) be taxed at a rate of no more than 28.8% (25% as adjusted for the 3.8% net investment income tax) rather than the maximum 23.8% rate (20% as adjusted for the 3.8% net investment income tax) that generally applies to long-term capital gains of noncorporate taxpayers.

Other rules may apply to Section 1250 Property, depending on when it was placed in service.

As you can see, even with the simplifying assumptions in this article, the tax treatment of the sale of business assets can be complex. Contact us if you’d like to determine the tax consequences of specific transactions or if you have any additional questions.

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Adding a new partner in a partnership has several financial and legal implications. Let’s say you and your partners are planning to admit a new partner. The new partner will acquire a one-third interest in the partnership by making a cash contribution to it. Let’s further assume that your bases in your partnership interests are sufficient so that the decrease in your portions of the partnership’s liabilities because of the new partner’s entry won’t reduce your bases to zero.

Not as simple as it seems

Although the entry of a new partner appears to be a simple matter, it’s necessary to plan the new person’s entry properly in order to avoid various tax problems. Here are two issues to consider:

First, if there’s a change in the partners’ interests in unrealized receivables and substantially appreciated inventory items, the change is treated as a sale of those items, with the result that the current partners will recognize gain. For this purpose, unrealized receivables include not only accounts receivable, but also depreciation recapture and certain other ordinary income items. In order to avoid gain recognition on those items, it’s necessary that they be allocated to the current partners even after the entry of the new partner.

Second, the tax code requires that the “built-in gain or loss” on assets that were held by the partnership before the new partner was admitted be allocated to the current partners and not to the entering partner. Generally speaking, “built-in gain or loss” is the difference between the fair market value and basis of the partnership property at the time the new partner is admitted.

The most important effect of these rules is that the new partner must be allocated a portion of the depreciation equal to his share of the depreciable property based on current fair market value. This will reduce the amount of depreciation that can be taken by the current partners. The other effect is that the built-in gain or loss on the partnership assets must be allocated to the current partners when partnership assets are sold. The rules that apply here are complex and the partnership may have to adopt special accounting procedures to cope with the relevant requirements.

Keep track of your basis 

When adding a partner or making other changes, a partner’s basis in his or her interest can undergo frequent adjustment. It’s imperative to keep proper track of your basis because it can have an impact in several areas: gain or loss on the sale of your interest, how partnership distributions to you are taxed and the maximum amount of partnership loss you can deduct.

Contact us if you’d like help in dealing with these issues or any other issues that may arise in connection with your partnership.

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Operating as an S corporation may help reduce federal employment taxes for small businesses in the right circumstances. Although S corporations may provide tax advantages over C corporations, there are some potentially costly tax issues that you should assess before making a decision to switch.

Here’s a quick rundown of the most important issues to consider when converting from a C corporation to an S corporation:

Built-in gains tax

Although S corporations generally aren’t subject to tax, those that were formerly C corporations are taxed on built-in gains (such as appreciated property) that the C corporation has when the S election becomes effective, if those gains are recognized within 5 years after the corporation becomes an S corporation. This is generally unfavorable, although there are situations where the S election still can produce a better tax result despite the built-in gains tax.

Passive income 

S corporations that were formerly C corporations are subject to a special tax if their passive investment income (such as dividends, interest, rents, royalties and stock sale gains) exceeds 25% of their gross receipts, and the S corporation has accumulated earnings and profits carried over from its C corporation years. If that tax is owed for three consecutive years, the corporation’s election to be an S corporation terminates. You can avoid the tax by distributing the accumulated earnings and profits, which would be taxable to shareholders. Or you might want to avoid the tax by limiting the amount of passive income.

LIFO inventories 

C corporations that use LIFO inventories have to pay tax on the benefits they derived by using LIFO if they convert to S corporations. The tax can be spread over four years. This cost must be weighed against the potential tax gains from converting to S status.

Unused losses

If your C corporation has unused net operating losses, the losses can’t be used to offset its income as an S corporation and can’t be passed through to shareholders. If the losses can’t be carried back to an earlier C corporation year, it will be necessary to weigh the cost of giving up the losses against the tax savings expected to be generated by the switch to S status.

There are other factors to consider in switching from C to S status. Shareholder-employees of S corporations can’t get the full range of tax-free fringe benefits that are available with a C corporation. And there may be complications for shareholders who have outstanding loans from their qualified plans. All of these factors have to be considered to understand the full effect of converting from C to S status.

There are strategies for eliminating or minimizing some of these tax problems and for avoiding unnecessary pitfalls related to them. But a lot depends upon your company’s particular circumstances. Contact us to discuss the effect of these and other potential problems, along with possible strategies for dealing with them.

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