The gig economy involves more than one-off and part-time jobs. It also includes when you share your property in exchange for money. This can be a residential property, a vacation home, or even a vehicle. The gig economy has connected those who need rides and places to stay with owners via online platforms. We refer to this part of the gig economy as the share economy.
Accessing these accommodations is easy with the online platforms. But how the people participating should report their income isn't quite as straightforward. Last time we looked at how your clients should report gig income, just like any other income made as a sole proprietor.
But making money from renting your property out is different, right? If you have clients with rental properties, you report their income on Schedule E (1040), Supplemental Income and Loss. We know from last time that we report gig economy income on Schedule C (1040), Profit or Loss from Business. So, how does rental income derived from the share economy get reported on a tax return? Every taxpayer's favorite answer, it depends.
READ MOREThe IRS has spent the past several months crowing about the relative ease of filing season 2023 and improvements the service has made on behalf of American taxpayers. Filing season 2024 opened on Monday, January 29 with Commissioner Danny Werfel thanking the tax professional and assuring us that “your efforts make a difference, not just for your clients, but for the IRS and the entire nation.” Despite Werfel’s rose-colored press releases, there’s still plenty of room for improvement, especially on the tax-professional-facing side of the service.
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As our accounting landscape changes, we remain competitive by more than just number crunching. As accountants, we must cultivate strong client relationships to foster trust, loyalty, and long-term partnerships. We need to track data points that are traceable, comparable, and sharable with the rest of the team members assisting our clients. Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems offer accountants a powerful tool to streamline processes and enhance overall client satisfaction.
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Client acquisition is crucial for business growth in the fast-paced accounting world. However, retaining existing clients is equally important, if not more so. Servicing long-term client relationships is a testament to your firm’s reliability and is critical to sustained success. My first client is still with me, now more than seven years. Our relationship has grown and changed over time but has also strengthened. Loyalty and commitment are two of my core values. I’m always looking to provide value to my prospects and clients to attract and retain them long-term. However, some clients do not fit those values, and I have decided to forgo working with them. I believe that attracting and retaining the right clients starts with your mission, vision, and core values. However, it is also essential to have effective client retention strategies to ensure clients remain loyal and satisfied for the long haul.
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For many, owning a small business is the American dream. However, the tax situation incurred by turning your hobby into that business can be a real American headache. Still, who can resist the allure of a job that’s loved and makes the hours fly? You don’t have to resist it. Just be sure of what you’re getting into with Uncle Sam.
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In a highly competitive business landscape, even we accountants face the challenge of setting ourselves apart from our peers. The accounting profession has changed significantly in recent years, with technological advancements, changing regulations, and shifting client expectations. To thrive in this environment, as accountants, we must possess strong technical skills and differentiate ourselves by offering unique value to our clients. The hardest part of establishing our unique value is objectively looking at our accounting journey and pinpointing our most significant achievements.
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The Estate of Thomas H. Fry v. Commissioner is an opinion that anybody who deals with S corporations needs to know about. You may have read about it as a taxpayer win and it is. Another reading is that it is a cautionary tale to not do what Thomas H. Fry and his team did with his S corporations, Crown Disposal Inc (CD) and CR Maintenance Services Inc (CRM). Think of the win part of this opinion as a life jacket that might come in handy if you run your ship into the rocks. Better you should pay attention to the rocks and avoid them.
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Life is the best teacher, especially in the tax industry. You can take all the continuing education that your heart desires, but sometimes the information doesn’t seem to really click until you have hands-on experience. That’s how it was for me when it came to Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs). I learned about them in school. I even remember learning about them at the first accounting firm I worked at. But it wasn’t until I was working with a small business owner with his own “insurance” that I got it.
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Are you seeking innovative strategies to elevate your client reporting processes? Wondering how to transition from traditional methods to more engaging and personalized interactions? The emergence of generative AI has instigated a profound transformation in the domain of client communication for tax planners, shifting from the conventional Email, PDF, Telephone, In-person (EPTI) reporting techniques to a more advanced PAVER framework. Read on to find out more!
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Creativity on a tax return is a natural tendency. Many strategies and behaviors we know are wrong, e.g. not reporting all income. However, is it ever okay to disregard some deductions and pay more tax? At first glance, it would seem that the IRS should like the idea of more reported income and a higher tax liability attached to the additional income. The IRS does not.
The gig economy involves more than one-off and part-time jobs. It also includes when you share your property in exchange for money. This can be a residential property, a vacation home, or even a vehicle. The gig economy has connected those who need rides and places to stay with owners via online platforms. We refer to this part of the gig economy as the share economy.
Accessing these accommodations is easy with the online platforms. But how the people participating should report their income isn’t quite as straightforward. Last time we looked at how your clients should report gig income, just like any other income made as a sole proprietor.
But making money from renting your property out is different, right? If you have clients with rental properties, you report their income on Schedule E (1040), Supplemental Income and Loss. We know from last time that we report gig economy income on Schedule C (1040), Profit or Loss from Business. So, how does rental income derived from the share economy get reported on a tax return? Every taxpayer’s favorite answer, it depends.
A 2023 Tax Court decision upheld what many small business owners and tax practitioners have wondered about for some time. The court found that shareholders of an S corporation could exclude rental income paid to them by their S corporation for holding planning meetings in their homes. While the IRS and court found that the amounts charged by the shareholders were excessive, the court found the arrangement itself within the bounds of the law.
This article examines this case and underlying law and when and how this is a planning idea worth pursuing, the limitations and unknowns involved, and the policy implications of this long standing exclusion. The case is Sinopoli, TC Memo 2023-105 involving the exclusion at IRC Section 280A(g).
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