IRS

Article Dean Dorton

If you have incomplete or missing records and get audited by the IRS, your business will likely lose out on valuable deductions. Here are two recent U.S. Tax Court cases that help illustrate the rules for documenting deductions.

Case 1: Insufficient records
In the first case, the court found that a taxpayer with a consulting business provided no proof to substantiate more than $52,000 in advertising expenses and $12,000 in travel expenses for the two years in question.

The business owner said the travel expenses were incurred ”caring for his business.“ That isn’t enough. ”The taxpayer bears the burden of proving that claimed business expenses were actually incurred and were ordinary and necessary,“ the court stated. In addition, businesses must keep and produce ”records sufficient to enable the IRS to determine the correct tax liability.“ (TC Memo 2016-158)

Case 2: Documents destroyed
In another case, a taxpayer was denied many of the deductions claimed for his company. He traveled frequently for the business, which developed machine parts. In addition to travel, meals and entertainment, he also claimed printing and consulting deductions.

The taxpayer recorded expenses in a spiral notebook and day planner and kept his records in a leased storage unit. While on a business trip to China, his documents were destroyed after the city where the storage unit was located acquired it by eminent domain.

There’s a way for taxpayers to claim expenses if substantiating documents are lost through circumstances beyond their control (for example, in a fire or flood). However, the court noted that a taxpayer still has to “undertake a ‘reasonable reconstruction,’ which includes substantiation through secondary evidence.”

The court allowed 40% of the taxpayer’s travel, meals and entertainment expenses, but denied the remainder as well as the consulting and printing expenses. The reason? The taxpayer didn’t reconstruct those expenses through third-party sources or testimony from individuals whom he’d paid. (TC Memo 2016-135)

Be prepared
Keep detailed, accurate records to protect your business deductions. Record details about expenses as soon as possible after they’re incurred (for example, the date, place, business purpose, etc.). Keep more than just proof of payment. Also keep other documents, such as receipts, credit card slips and invoices. If you’re unsure of what you need, check with us.

Article Dean Dorton

For anyone who takes a spin at roulette, cries out “Bingo!” or engages in other wagering activities, it’s important to be familiar with the applicable tax rules. Otherwise, you could be putting yourself at risk for interest or penalties — or missing out on tax-saving opportunities.

Wins

You must report 100% of your wagering winnings as taxable income. The value of complimentary goodies (“comps”) provided by gambling establishments must also be included in taxable income because comps are considered gambling winnings. Winnings are subject to your regular federal income tax rate, which may be as high as 39.6%.

Amounts you win may be reported to you on IRS Form W-2G (“Certain Gambling Winnings”). In some cases, federal income tax may be withheld, too. Anytime a Form W-2G is issued, the IRS gets a copy. So if you’ve received such a form, keep in mind that the IRS will expect to see the winnings on your tax return.

Losses

You can write off wagering losses as an itemized deduction. However, allowable wagering losses are limited to your winnings for the year, and any excess losses cannot be carried over to future years. Also, out-of-pocket expenses for transportation, meals, lodging and so forth don’t count as gambling losses and, therefore, can’t be deducted.

Documentation

To claim a deduction for wagering losses, you must adequately document them, including:

  1. The date and type of specific wager or wagering activity.
  2. The name and address or location of the gambling establishment.
  3. The names of other persons (if any) present with you at the gambling establishment. (Obviously, this is not possible when the gambling occurs at a public venue such as a casino, race track, or bingo parlor.)
  4. The amount won or lost.

The IRS allows you to document income and losses from wagering on table games by recording the number of the table that you played and keeping statements showing casino credit that was issued to you. For lotteries, your wins and losses can be documented by winning statements and unredeemed tickets.

Please contact us if you have questions or want more information. If you qualify as a “professional” gambler, some of the rules are a little different.

Article Dean Dorton

It’s not unusual for the IRS to conduct audits of qualified employee benefit plans, including 401(k)s. Plan sponsors are expected to stay in compliance with numerous, frequently changing federal laws and regulations.

For example, have you identified all employees eligible for your 401(k) plan and given them the opportunity to make deferral elections? Are employee contributions limited to the amounts allowed under tax law for the calendar year? Does your 401(k) plan pass nondiscrimination tests? Traditional 401(k) plans must be regularly tested to ensure that the contributions don’t discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees.

If the IRS uncovers compliance errors and the plan sponsor doesn’t fix them, the plan could be disqualified.

What happens if qualified status is lost?

Tax law and administrative details that may seem trivial or irrelevant may actually be critical to maintaining a plan’s qualified status. If a plan loses its tax-exempt status, each participant is taxed on the value of his or her vested benefits as of the disqualification date. That can result in large (and completely unexpected) tax liabilities for participants.

In addition, contributions and earnings that occur after the disqualification date aren’t tax-free. They must be included in participants’ taxable incomes. The employer’s tax deductions for plan contributions are also at risk. There are also penalties and fees that can be devastating to a business.

Finally, withdrawals made after the disqualification date cannot be rolled over into other tax-favored retirement plans or accounts (such as IRAs).

Voluntary corrections

The good news is that 401(k) plan errors can often be voluntarily corrected. We can help determine if changes should be made to your company’s qualified plan to achieve and maintain compliance. Contact us for more information.

Article Dean Dorton

The short answer is: none. You need to hold on to all of your 2015 tax records for now. But this is a great time to take a look at your records for previous tax years and determine what you can purge.

The 3-year rule

At minimum, keep tax records for as long as the IRS has the ability to audit your return or assess additional taxes, which generally is three years after you file your return. This means you likely can shred and toss most records related to tax returns for 2012 and earlier years.

What to keep longer

You’ll need to hang on to certain records beyond the statute of limitations:

  • Keep tax returns themselves forever, so you can prove to the IRS that you actually filed. (There’s no statute of limitations for an audit if you didn’t file a return.)
  • For W-2 forms, consider holding them until you begin receiving Social Security benefits. Why? In case a question arises regarding your work record or earnings for a particular year.
  • For records related to real estate or investments, keep documents as long as you own the asset, plus three years after you sell it and report the sale on your tax return.

Just a starting point

This is only a sampling of retention guidelines for tax-related documents. If you have questions about other documents, please contact us.

Article Dean Dorton

If you’re like many Americans, you may not start thinking about filing your tax return until the April 15 deadline (this year, April 18) is just a few weeks — or perhaps even just a few days — away. But there’s another date you should keep in mind: January 19. That’s the date the IRS began accepting 2015 returns, and filing as close to that date as possible could protect you from tax identity theft.

How filing early helps

In this increasingly common scam, thieves use victims’ personal information to file fraudulent tax returns electronically and claim bogus refunds. When the real taxpayers file, they’re notified that they’re attempting to file duplicate returns.

Tax identity theft can cause major headaches to straighten out and significantly delay legitimate refunds. But if you file first, it will be the thief who is filing the duplicate return, not you.

Another key date

Of course you need to have your W-2s and 1099s to file. So another key date to be aware of is February 1 — the deadline for employers to issue 2015 W-2s to employees and, generally, for businesses to issue 1099s to recipients of any 2015 interest, dividend or reportable miscellaneous income payments.

An added bonus

Let us know if you have questions about tax identity theft or would like help filing your 2015 return early. An added bonus of filing early, if you’ll be getting a refund, is enjoying that refund sooner.

Article Dean Dorton

If you own real estate and pay federal income taxes, you can benefit from the results of a building cost segregation study. A cost segregation study is an analysis performed by trained professionals to identify property that should be classified as tangible personal property or land improvements, rather than real property that is depreciated over 27.5 or 39 years. This allows the taxpayer to identify property that can be depreciated over 5, 7, or 15 years instead of the 27.5 or 39 years that typically apply to real estate. This acceleration of deductions results in substantial tax savings benefits.

Benefits of Cost Segregation

Cost segregation is a tax strategy that enables commercial real estate owners to accelerate the depreciation of their assets, primarily office buildings and factories. Through a cost segregation study, assets can be reclassified based on their depreciation rates. This approach helps to reduce current income tax obligations, thereby increasing cash flow and boosting overall returns on commercial property investments.

In addition to the benefit on your tax returns, cost segregation studies also provide valuable information about the components and condition of a building, which can be useful for insurance purposes or in making decisions about future renovations or upgrades. Therefore, considering the benefits of cost segregation, it’s highly recommended for commercial property owners or investors.

What applications do cost segregation studies have?

Cost segregation studies apply to both newly acquired or constructed property, leasehold improvements/fit-ups, and property that was placed in service in prior years (post 1986). For property placed in service in prior years, the IRS allows a “catch up” deduction in year 1 for the additional depreciation deductions that are identified in a cost segregation study that you were entitled to but did not claim in previous years. This can generate substantial tax savings in the first year of the study.

There is no limitation on the cost of property that is eligible for a cost segregation study. The benefit of a study for a smaller building will be less than that of a larger property, but may still be very beneficial. We have worked with several industries to provide cost segregation studies including auto dealerships, banks, commercial and residential property owners, medical facilities, and manufacturing facilities.

For property placed in service in years 2015, additional tax incentives available include 50% bonus depreciation and increased limit in section 179 expense to $500,000.

Bonus depreciation allows taxpayers to write off 50% of qualified tangible property with a recovery period of 20 years or less and certain qualified leasehold improvement property that is placed in service in 2015. Thus, the 5, 7, and 15 year property that is identified in a study may qualify for this additional depreciation deduction that wouldn’t normally be identified if the property was being depreciated over 27.5 or 39 years. These tax incentives for 2015 make cost segregation studies even more beneficial for the current tax year. Similar tax incentives are also available for property placed in service in tax years 2008-2014.

One of Dean Dorton’s most recent cost segregation studies on a $9.4 million apartment complex that was constructed in 2013 generated tax savings in the first year of $827,000. The present value of accelerated deductions (discounted at 8%) exceeded $690,000. The return on investment for this study was 127.8 to 1.

Tangible Assets Regulations and Cost Segregation Studies

The new tangible assets regulations expand the definition of a disposition of property to include the retirement of structural components of a building, resulting in tax benefit opportunities to the taxpayer. Prior to these regulations, taxpayers were required to capitalize and depreciate the costs to replace a structural component of the building while continuing to recover the cost of the original structural component. The regulations now expand the definition of a disposition to include the structural component that is being replaced using a reasonable method of identification of the replaced component.

If the taxpayer had a cost segregation study completed on the property upon acquisition, the cost of each building component would be segregated within the report. Upon disposition of each component, the value of the replaced property is easily identified using this study.

For example:

A taxpayer replaces the roof of a building. Under the old regulations, the taxpayer could not take a loss on the retirement of the old roof that was replaced. Rather, the taxpayer would continue depreciating the replaced roof and would be required to capitalize and depreciate the cost of the replacement roof. Under the new regulations, the cost of the original roof would be identified and a disposition loss claimed in the year that the replacement roof is placed in service. Performing a cost segregation study breaks down each building component, making it easy to identify the cost of the replaced unit of property.

Dean Dorton most recently identified a $260,000 disposition deduction on a replacement of an HVAC chiller by utilizing the cost segregation study that was performed on the original acquisition of the building.

Dean Dorton uses an Atlanta-based engineering firm to provide cost segregation studies to our clients. This engineering firm conducts studies that conform to the Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide issued by the IRS. They have performed over 15,000 studies and have successfully defended all challenges brought forth by the IRS.

If you believe that you may be a candidate for a bulding cost segregation study, contact Brandi Marcum at bmarcum@deandortonstg.wpenginepowered.com or 859-425-7678. We can provide you with a free estimate of the cost and benefits of a study of your property.