Greencrest, Author at Whalen & Company, CPAs

The tax mechanics involved in the sale of trade or business property

Greencrest on April 26, 2022

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.

Leveraging internal audits

Greencrest on April 22, 2022

Many companies have an internal audit department that tests whether the organization is accurately reporting financial results and complying with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). But it’s important for internal auditors to think beyond compliance.

Internal auditors who understand the big picture can expand their department’s influence by helping their organizations mitigate risk, improve financial and operational processes, and evaluate business strategies. Here’s how to get more from your internal audit team.

Expand the scope

The skill sets of internal auditors make the department ideally suited to participate in managing a broad range of risks, including:

Operational,
Strategic,
Investment,
Information technology (IT),
Merger and acquisition (M&A),
Foreign corruption, and
Business continuity risks.

To maximize its value, the internal audit team should take a forward-looking approach. Individual auditors are well equipped to help identify and assess risks — and even help businesses anticipate and avoid obstacles before an adverse event occurs.

Use internal auditors like consultants

Your company should tap auditors’ expertise to evaluate and improve controls and ensure compliance before problems arise, instead of waiting for internal auditors to report possible control or compliance deficiencies. The department can also highlight ways for other functional areas — such as production, sales, HR, finance and procurement — to improve processes and eliminate waste and inefficiency.

Optimize technology

Advances in technology make it possible to greatly enhance the value of the internal audit function. For instance, continuous auditing is an automated approach that allows auditors to gather critical information and identify problems in real time. This is a dramatic improvement over the traditional approach, in which internal auditors test a limited number of samples and then report their findings after the fact. Likewise, data analytics and predictive modeling enable internal auditors to quickly spot anomalies and focus the team’s resources on high-risk areas.

Conduct quality assurance reviews

Businesses should conduct regular quality assessment reviews (QARs) of their internal audit departments. The Institute of Internal Auditors’ Code of Ethics requires Certified Internal Auditors to undergo a QAR at least once every five years. This oversight helps assess the department’s performance, competence and objectivity, allowing the company to quickly identify and remedy any issues.

Functional diversity is critical

Do your internal auditors have the skills and training necessary to meet the demands of today’s volatile, complex business world? Effective internal audit teams include people from a broad range of backgrounds, including those with IT, management consulting and engineering expertise.

If these skills are lacking in your internal audit team, your organization might need to hire some new auditors to infuse fresh ideas into the department — or you might consider “co-sourcing” with an external firm to help fill any internal skill gaps. Contact us for more information.

Thinking about converting your home into a rental property?

Greencrest on April 21, 2022

In some cases, homeowners decide to move to new residences, but keep their present homes and rent them out. If you’re thinking of doing this, you’re probably aware of the financial risks and rewards. However, you also should know that renting out your home carries potential tax benefits and pitfalls.

You’re generally treated as a regular real estate landlord once you begin renting your home. That means you must report rental income on your tax return, but also are entitled to offsetting landlord deductions for the money you spend on utilities, operating expenses, incidental repairs and maintenance (for example, fixing a leak in the roof). Additionally, you can claim depreciation deductions for the home. You can fully offset rental income with otherwise allowable landlord deductions.

Passive activity rules

However, under the passive activity loss (PAL) rules, you may not be able to currently claim the rent-related deductions that exceed your rental income unless an exception applies. Under the most widely applicable exception, the PAL rules won’t affect your converted property for a tax year in which your adjusted gross income doesn’t exceed $100,000, you actively participate in running the home-rental business, and your losses from all rental real estate activities in which you actively participate don’t exceed $25,000.

You should also be aware that potential tax pitfalls may arise from renting your residence. Unless your rentals are strictly temporary and are made necessary by adverse market conditions, you could forfeit an important tax break for home sellers if you finally sell the home at a profit. In general, you can escape tax on up to $250,000 ($500,000 for married couples filing jointly) of gain on the sale of your principal home. However, this tax-free treatment is conditioned on your having used the residence as your principal residence for at least two of the five years preceding the sale. So renting your home out for an extended time could jeopardize a big tax break.

Even if you don’t rent out your home so long as to jeopardize your principal residence exclusion, the tax break you would have gotten on the sale (the $250,000/$500,000 exclusion) won’t apply to the extent of any depreciation allowable with respect to the rental or business use of the home for periods after May 6, 1997, or to any gain allocable to a period of nonqualified use (any period during which the property isn’t used as the principal residence of the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse or former spouse) after December 31, 2008. A maximum tax rate of 25% will apply to this gain (attributable to depreciation deductions).

Selling at a loss

Some homeowners who bought at the height of a market may ultimately sell at a loss someday. In such situations, the loss is available for tax purposes only if the owner can establish that the home was in fact converted permanently into income-producing property. Here, a longer lease period helps an owner. However, if you’re in this situation, be aware that you may not wind up with much of a loss for tax purposes. That’s because basis (the cost for tax purposes) is equal to the lesser of actual cost or the property’s fair market value when it’s converted to rental property. So if a home was bought for $300,000, converted to a rental when it’s worth $250,000, and ultimately sold for $225,000, the loss would be only $25,000.

The question of whether to turn a principal residence into rental property isn’t easy. Contact us to review your situation and help you make a decision.

Goodwill in a bad economy

Greencrest on April 15, 2022

In today’s volatile economy, many businesses and nonprofits have been required to write down the value of acquired goodwill on their balance sheets. Others are expected to follow suit — or report additional write-offs — in 2022. To the extent that goodwill is written off, it can’t be recovered in the future, even if the organization recovers. So, impairment testing is a serious endeavor that usually requires input from your CPA to ensure accuracy, transparency and timeliness.

Reporting goodwill

Under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), when an organization merges with or acquires another entity, the acquirer must allocate the purchase price among the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, based on their fair values. If the purchase price is higher than the combined fair value of the acquired entity’s identifiable net assets, the excess value is labeled as goodwill.

Before lumping excess value into goodwill, acquirers must identify and value other identifiable intangible assets, such as trademarks, customer lists, copyrights, leases, patents or franchise agreements. An intangible asset is recognized apart from goodwill if it arises from contractual or legal rights — or if it can be sold, transferred, licensed, rented or exchanged.

Goodwill is allocated among the reporting units (or operating segments) that it benefits. Many small private entities consist of a single reporting unit. But large conglomerates may be composed of numerous reporting units.

Testing for impairment

Organizations must generally test goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangibles for impairment each year. More frequent impairment tests might be necessary if other triggering events happen during the year — such as the loss of a key person, unanticipated competition, reorganization or adverse regulatory actions.

In lieu of annual impairment testing, private entities have the option to amortize acquired goodwill over a useful life of up to 10 years. In addition, the Financial Accounting Standards Board recently issued updated guidance that allows private companies and not-for-profits to delay the assessment of the goodwill impairment triggering event until the first reporting date after that triggering event. The change aims to reduce costs and simplify impairment testing related to triggering events.

Writing down goodwill

When impairment occurs, the organization must decrease the carrying value of goodwill on the balance sheet and reduce its earnings by the same amount. Impairment charges are a separate line item on the income statement that may have real-world consequences.

For example, some organizations reporting impairment losses may be in technical default on their loans. This situation might require management to renegotiate loan terms or find a new lender. Impairment charges also raise a red flag to investors and other stakeholders.

Who can help?

Few organizations employ internal accounting staff with the requisite training to measure impairment. Contact us for help navigating this issue and its effects on your financial statements.

Once you file your tax return, consider these 3 issues

Greencrest on April 12, 2022

The tax filing deadline for 2021 tax returns is April 18 this year. After your 2021 tax return has been successfully filed with the IRS, there may still be some issues to bear in mind. Here are three considerations:

1. You can throw some tax records away now

You should hang onto tax records related to your return for as long as the IRS can audit your return or assess additional taxes. The statute of limitations is generally three years after you file your return. So you can generally get rid of most records related to tax returns for 2018 and earlier years. (If you filed an extension for your 2018 return, hold on to your records until at least three years from when you filed the extended return.)

However, the statute of limitations extends to six years for taxpayers who understate their gross income by more than 25%.

You should keep certain tax-related records longer. For example, keep the actual tax returns indefinitely, so you can prove to the IRS that you filed a legitimate return. (There’s no statute of limitations for an audit if you didn’t file a return or you filed a fraudulent one.)

What about your retirement account paperwork? Keep records associated with a retirement account until you’ve depleted the account and reported the last withdrawal on your tax return, plus three (or six) years. And retain records related to real estate or investments for as long as you own the asset, plus at least three years after you sell it and report the sale on your tax return. (You can keep these records for six years if you want to be extra safe.)

2. Waiting for your refund? You can check on it

The IRS has an online tool that can tell you the status of your refund. Go to irs.gov and click on “Get Your Refund Status” to find out about yours. You’ll need your Social Security number, filing status and the exact refund amount.

3. If you forgot to report something, you can file an amended return

In general, you can file an amended tax return and claim a refund within three years after the date you filed your original return or within two years of the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. So for a 2021 tax return that you file on April 15, 2022, you can generally file an amended return until April 15, 2025.

However, there are a few opportunities when you have longer to file an amended return. For example, the statute of limitations for bad debts is longer than the usual three-year time limit for most items on your tax return. In general, you can amend your tax return to claim a bad debt for seven years from the due date of the tax return for the year that the debt became worthless.

We’re here year round

If you have questions about tax record retention, your refund or filing an amended return, contact us. We’re not just available at tax filing time — we’re here all year!

Author: Greencrest

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