Tax advisors are seeing more clients looking to claim an exclusion for Qualified Small Business Stock and expecting the gain to be 100 percent tax free. Can this be? Believe it or not, it very well could be, but nuanced criteria, not to mention the recently proposed amendment to IRC Section 1202 through the Build Back Better Act, make it a complex incentive to evaluate and monitor over time. In fact, QSBS gains haven’t always been 100 percent tax free. When introduced in 1993, QSBS started out as a 50 percent capital gain exclusion. The exclusion was increased to 75 percent in 2009, and increased to 100 percent in September 2010. Currently, the exclusion percentage is solely based on the date the owners acquired QSBS stock, but the proposed BBB amendment would additionally subject the exclusion percentage to the taxpayer’s Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), depending on a $400,000 threshold. The proposed language has accountants scratching their heads over the seemingly circular reference in determining what level of exclusion their clients would receive. As written, you need to know the QSBS exclusion percentage to calculate AGI, and you need AGI to know the exclusion percentage! Keep reading to learn how.

As many of us become more accustomed to working from home, it is easy to forget that some industries were regularly working remotely prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It might be easy to forget altogether that real estate businesses also qualify for the same deductions as other businesses. Yet, it is often easy to overlook something like a home office for a real estate rental operation, but the home office typically functions as the glue holding these businesses together. To learn more about the how and the where to grab this deduction, keep reading.

Often, clients and potential clients grumble when their tax professionals recommend hiring a bookkeeping and/or accounting professional. Why? Because many people (including some tax practitioners) simply do not understand the miraculous complexity that is double-entry accounting. As some are probably aware, proper bookkeeping and accounting are much more than simply entering income and expenses into a software program. Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to explain the nuances of and the necessity for double-entry accounting to clients. Following are the specific circumstances under which clients should hire a professional bookkeeper and/or accountant. And remember, what works for clients also works for busy tax and accounting professionals. You may, after reading this article, decide that it’s in your own best interests to outsource your business’s tax and accounting work both for peace of mind and for time and money saved. So, when is it just good business to gently insist that your client hire an accounting professional? Keep reading to find out.

Question: Bitcoin being treated as property by the IRS was partially related to not being “legal tender in any nation.” Does the fact that El Salvador is now using cryptocurrency have any cascading ramifications for tax/currency treatment of bitcoin in the U.S.? Answer: The Department of Justice recently issued a news release to strike terror in the hearts of anyone attempting to execute cryptocurrency tax shenanigans. Similarly, the federal court for the Northern District of California entered an order authorizing a John Doe’s summons on Payward Venture Inc. and subsidiaries d/b/a Kraken. The IRS wants to look at the records of U.S. taxpayers who conducted at least the equivalent of $20,000 in transactions in cryptocurrency during the years 2016 to 2020. What’s with all the sudden interest in crypto, and why are the feds looking to snoop around retroactively? If you’re curious to find out why and how to stay off its radar, keep reading.

If someone approaches your client offering four to one deductions on conservation easements (probably somewhere in the Southeast), you need to do your best to talk them out of it. And if you cannot, it may be best to let some other practitioner have the honor of preparing their return. On the other hand, if your client has land or a building they would like to preserve forever, a conservation easement may be just the thing. Assuming the desire to have the property preserved anyway, it is about as close to a free lunch as you can get. Good execution is the key to making it work. Read on to learn how!

Question: Can I increase my business tax deductions with interest the Small Business Administration (SBA) paid during the COVID-19 pandemic? Answer: In short, yes. But it depends on the type of loan, forgiveness options, and loan status. We here at Think Outside the Tax Box sure like the way you’re thinking! One of the benefits created through the CARES Act included payments on existing SBA loans. In addition, new SBA loans created through the PPP and EIDL programs included deferred payments for the first six months of the loan. Depending on your current situation, you may actually qualify for the interest deduction, even if the SBA paid it on your behalf! To learn how to qualify, continue reading.

It’s every tax professional’s favorite answer to the question “How is your business organized?” “I have an LLC.” It’s the non-answer answer. Unfortunately for many clients and practitioners, clients often decide to form an LLC for no reason other than “they said I should” and more often cannot provide a good answer when the practitioner asks, “Who is ‘they?” Ideally, small business clients should consult both an attorney and a tax professional when deciding to form a business entity under state law. Because while state law governs entity formation and many aspects of entity administrative compliance, federal and state tax law determines which tax returns you need to file and which tax laws apply to the entity. It is just good business to make a mindful, proactive choice when choosing a type of business entity. Making a conscientious choice means asking the right questions. And when choosing a business entity, asking the right questions means asking questions about matters other than simply tax considerations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered many aspects of our society, perhaps permanently. One of these is the need to physically go to the office to get work done. Like all businesses, partnerships are no exception. While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) suspended this deduction for employees of the partnership until 2025 . However, partners may still take advantage of this often-overlooked tax benefit. The key is in how to report it. Read on to learn how!