Category: Professional Services

Comprehensive financial statements prepared under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) include three reports: the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows. Together these reports can be powerful diagnostic tools to help evaluate the financial well-being of a business. Moreover, by carefully analyzing them, you may be able to uncover potential money-management problems or even fraudulent activity. Balance Sheets Show Assets vs. Liabilities The balance sheet provides a snapshot of a company’s financial health at a moment in… Read more ›

It’s not uncommon for an incoming partner in a professional firm to take out a personal loan to finance all or part of the cost of acquiring an ownership interest. If some of your firm’s partners have done this, they need to know the proper federal income tax treatment of the resulting interest expense. Such partner-level interest expense is sometimes called “outside interest” because it comes from a personal loan that is outside of the partnership. IRS guidelines say outside… Read more ›

What is a Pass-through Entity Tax? The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) imposed a $10,000 limitation on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction for individuals who itemize deductions on their federal income tax return for tax years beginning after 2017 and before 2026. In response, many states have enacted a mandatory or elective pass-through entity (PTE) tax as a workaround to the SALT cap. The PTE tax allows eligible pass-through entities to deduct state taxes at… Read more ›

  Over the last year, consumer prices rose 7.9%, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index covers the prices of food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation, doctors’ and dentists’ services, drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. This is the highest 12-month increase since 1982. Increases in the price of consumer goods will affect most businesses, sooner or later. For example, if you operate a restaurant, spikes… Read more ›

Partners in professional service firms must sometimes pay for certain firm-related business expenses out of their own pockets. For instance, a law firm partner may have to personally absorb the costs of entertaining prospective clients who are not on a designated firm-wide list of potential clients for which the firm will reimburse the costs of wining and dining. Also, a partner may incur personal auto expenses to drive to and from client meetings and to and from other locations where… Read more ›

Do you own real estate that will produce a big capital gain when you sell it? Fortunately, you may be able to realize significant tax benefits by negotiating an installment sale of the property. However, there are several potential tax traps to avoid. How do you qualify for installment sale reporting? It’s relatively easy. All you have to do is arrange to receive payments over at least two tax years. For example, say you contract to sell real estate in December… Read more ›

Disputes concerning employee versus independent contractor have been going on for years. The last attempt by Congress at a fix was in 1978 (yes, that long ago!), and it only produced some penalty relief. Whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor can depend on IRS pronouncements, case law, etc., but it’s highly dependent on the facts and circumstances, as one U.S. Tax Court case illustrates. Facts of the Case Darryl Jones was an attorney and married to Tarri… Read more ›

Partners in professional service firms must sometimes pay for certain firm-related business expenses out of their own pockets. For instance, a law firm partner may have to personally absorb the costs of entertaining prospective clients who are not on a designated firm-wide list of potential clients for which the firm will reimburse the costs of wining and dining. Also, a partner may incur personal auto expenses to drive to and from client meetings and to and from other locations where… Read more ›

Economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis may cause some cash-strapped individuals to default on loans they’ve taken out from company qualified retirement plans, including 401(k) and profit-sharing plans. Defaulting on a plan loan will cause adverse tax and retirement-saving consequences. Further details on how the COVID-19 pandemic has effected it are below. Retirement Plan Basics A participant in an employer-sponsored qualified retirement plan can borrow money from the plan if it allows loans. Under the normal rules, the loan amount… Read more ›

In response to increasing public pressure, the Small Business Administration announced on June 19 that it would release the names of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan recipients awarded at least $150,000 in funds. No timeline for the disclosure has been announced, but the SBA said it would “disclose the business names, addresses, NAICS codes, zip codes, business type, demographic data, not-for-profit information, jobs supported, and loan amount ranges as follows:” $150,000-$350,000 $350,000-$1 million $1-2 million $2-5 million $5-10 million Participants… Read more ›