Author Archive: CCG

Getting sentimental over your tangible personal property

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As a formal estate planning term, “tangible personal property” likely won’t elicit much emotion from you or your loved ones. However, the items that make up tangible personal property, such as jewelry, antiques, photographs and collectibles, may be the most difficult to plan for because of their significant sentimental value.

Without special planning on your part, squabbling among your family members over these items may lead to emotionally charged disputes and even litigation.

Communicate clearly

There’s no reason to guess which personal items mean the most to your children and other family members. Create a dialogue to find out who wants what and to express your feelings about how you’d like to share your prized possessions.

Having these conversations can help you identify potential conflicts. After learning of any ongoing issues, work out acceptable compromises during your lifetime.

Bequeath assets to specific beneficiaries

Some people have their beneficiaries choose the items they want or authorize their executors to distribute personal property as they see fit. For some families, this approach may work. But more often than not, it invites conflict.

Generally, the most effective strategy for avoiding costly disputes and litigation over personal property is to make specific bequests — in your will or revocable trust — to specific beneficiaries. For example, your will might leave your art collection to your son and your jewelry to your daughter.

If you use a revocable trust (sometimes referred to as a “living” trust), you must transfer ownership of personal property to the trust to ensure that the property is distributed according to the trust’s terms. The trust controls only the property you put into it. It’s also a good idea to have a “pour-over” will, which provides that any property you own at your death is transferred to your trust. Keep in mind, however, that property that passes through your will and pours into your trust generally must go through probate.

Plan for all of your assets

Your major assets, such as real estate and business interests, are top of mind as you prepare your estate plan, but don’t forget to also plan for your tangible personal property. These lower monetary valued assets may be more difficult to deal with, and more likely to result in disputes, than big-ticket items.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

View your financial statements through the right lens

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Many business owners generate financial statements, at least in part, because lenders and other stakeholders demand it. You’re likely also aware of how insightful properly prepared financial statements can be — especially when they follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

But how can you best extract these useful insights? One way is to view your financial statements through a wide variety of “lenses” provided by key performance indicators (KPIs). These are calculations or formulas into which you can plug numbers from your financial statements and get results that enable you to make better business decisions.

Learn about liquidity

If you’ve been in business for any amount of time, you know how important it is to be “liquid.” Companies must have sufficient current assets to meet their current obligations. Cash is obviously the most liquid asset, followed by marketable securities, receivables and inventory.

Working capital — the difference between current assets and current liabilities — is a quick and relatively simple KPI for measuring liquidity. Other KPIs that assess liquidity include working capital as a percentage of total assets and the current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities). A more rigorous benchmark is the acid (or quick) test, which excludes inventory and prepaid assets from the equation.

Accentuate asset awareness

Businesses are more than just cash; your assets matter too. Turnover ratios, a form of KPI, show how efficiently companies manage their assets. Total asset turnover (sales divided by total assets) estimates how many dollars in revenue a company generates for every dollar invested in assets. In general, the more dollars earned, the more efficiently assets are used.

Turnover ratios also can be measured for each specific category of assets. For example, you can calculate receivables turnover ratios in terms of days. The collection period equals average receivables divided by annual sales multiplied by 365 days. A collection period of 45 days indicates that the company takes an average of one and one-half months to collect invoices.

Promote profitability

Liquidity and asset management are critical, but the bottom line is the bottom line. When it comes to measuring profitability, public companies tend to focus on earnings per share. But private businesses typically look at profit margin (net income divided by revenue) and gross margin (gross profits divided by revenue).

For meaningful comparisons, you’ll need to adjust for nonrecurring items, discretionary spending and related-party transactions. When comparing your business to other companies with different tax strategies, capital structures or depreciation methods, it may be useful to compare earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

Focus in

As your business grows, your financial statements may contain so much information that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Well-chosen and accurately calculated KPIs can reveal important trends and developments. Contact us with any questions you might have about generating sound financial statements and getting the most out of them.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

Don’t forget to take required minimum distributions this year

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If you have a traditional IRA or tax-deferred retirement plan account, you probably know that you must take required minimum distributions (RMDs) when you reach a certain age — or you’ll be penalized. The CARES Act, which passed last March, allowed people to skip taking these withdrawals in 2020 but now that we’re in 2021, RMDs must be taken again.

The basics

Once you attain age 72 (or age 70½ before 2020), you must begin taking RMDs from your traditional IRAs and certain retirement accounts, including 401(k) plans. In general, RMDs are calculated using life expectancy tables published by the IRS. If you don’t withdraw the minimum amount each year, you may have to pay a 50% penalty tax on what you should have taken out — but didn’t. (Roth IRAs don’t require withdrawals until after the death of the owner.)

You can always take out more than the required amount. In planning for distributions, your income needs must be weighed against the desirable goal of keeping the tax shelter of the IRA going for as long as possible for both yourself and your beneficiaries.

In order to provide tax relief due to COVID-19, the CARES Act suspended RMDs for calendar year 2020 — but only for that one year. That meant that taxpayers could put off RMDs, not have to pay tax on them and allow their retirement accounts to keep growing tax deferred.

Begin taking RMDs again

Many people hoped that the RMD suspension would be extended into 2021. However, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was enacted on December 27, 2020, to provide more COVID-19 relief, didn’t extend the RMD relief. That means if you’re required to take RMDs, you need to take them this year or face a penalty.

Note: The IRS may waive part or all of the penalty if you can prove that you didn’t take RMDs due to reasonable error and you’re taking steps to remedy the shortfall. In these cases, the IRS reviews the information a taxpayer provides and decides whether to grant a request for a waiver.

Keep more of your money

Feel free to contact us if have questions about calculating RMDs or avoiding the penalty for not taking them. We can help make sure you keep more of your money.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

Put employees to work fighting fraud

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You may have the best internal controls in the business world, but if your employees don’t follow them, your company is at serious risk for fraud. The same is true if workers aren’t aware of your company’s risks and can’t recognize red flags. The solution? Educate them.

Training is critical

A forensic accountant can conduct on-site, broad-based training for employees in the form of live or virtual presentations. This expert might use role-playing to help staff understand the various forms fraud can take, as well as how perpetrators think and identify their victims’ vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

Enlisting the help of external experts is particularly important for smaller businesses. Not only are they more vulnerable to fraud, but they’re less likely to have in-house fraud expertise. Small-business training can focus on the most common schemes for companies with fewer than 100 employees, such as billing fraud and check-tampering schemes.

Threats that require employee attention

In general, your company’s specific needs should dictate the content of your training program. But most businesses need to spread the word about certain threats. For instance, employees should be trained to observe coworkers who appear to be living beyond their means or who might have addiction issues. Both increase the likelihood that an employee will attempt to commit fraud. If these workers have easy access to payroll or other accounting functions, the risk increases. Provide stakeholders with a confidential fraud reporting hotline or web portal to report their suspicious.

Cybercrime is another risk every employee needs to know about. Phishing, social engineering and other techniques are designed to trick them into revealing company, customer and other confidential data or providing access to your business’s network. Workers need to learn how to keep information safe by handling email carefully, changing passwords often and updating security software as soon as required.

Optional training

Depending on your industry, you might want to train employees to spot other risks. Construction and manufacturing businesses, where on-the-job injury rates are high, should prioritize workers compensation fraud training. Retailers and other cash-dependent businesses need to educate workers about potential skimming schemes.

Also train employees to mitigate risks related to specific responsibilities. For example, those who authorize charitable donations should be taught to verify charities with the IRS to ensure they’re legitimate and tax-exempt. Hiring managers and HR employees — as well as those who vet potential vendors — must follow background check procedures.

Empower fraud watchdogs 

Rank-and-file employees usually are the first ones to spot fraud perpetrated by coworkers or managers. So give them the tools they need to succeed in their role as fraud watchdogs. Contact us for help with fraud training.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

The new Form 1099-NEC and the revised 1099-MISC are due to recipients soon

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There’s a new IRS form for business taxpayers that pay or receive certain types of nonemployee compensation and it must be furnished to most recipients by February 1, 2021. After sending the forms to recipients, taxpayers must file the forms with the IRS by March 1 (March 31 if filing electronically).

The requirement begins with forms for tax year 2020. Payers must complete Form 1099-NEC, “Nonemployee Compensation,” to report any payment of $600 or more to a recipient. February 1 is also the deadline for furnishing Form 1099-MISC, “Miscellaneous Income,” to report certain other payments to recipients.

If your business is using Form 1099-MISC to report amounts in box 8, “substitute payments in lieu of dividends or interest,” or box 10, “gross proceeds paid to an attorney,” there’s an exception to the regular due date. Those forms are due to recipients by February 16, 2021.

1099-MISC changes 

Before the 2020 tax year, Form 1099-MISC was filed to report payments totaling at least $600 in a calendar year for services performed in a trade or business by someone who isn’t treated as an employee (in other words, an independent contractor). These payments are referred to as nonemployee compensation (NEC) and the payment amount was reported in box 7.

Form 1099-NEC was introduced to alleviate the confusion caused by separate deadlines for Form 1099-MISC that reported NEC in box 7 and all other Form 1099-MISC for paper filers and electronic filers.

Payers of nonemployee compensation now use Form 1099-NEC to report those payments.

Generally, payers must file Form 1099-NEC by January 31. But for 2020 tax returns, the due date is February 1, 2021, because January 31, 2021, is on a Sunday. There’s no automatic 30-day extension to file Form 1099-NEC. However, an extension to file may be available under certain hardship conditions. 

When to file 1099-NEC

If the following four conditions are met, you must generally report payments as nonemployee compensation:

  • You made a payment to someone who isn’t your employee,
  • You made a payment for services in the course of your trade or business,
  • You made a payment to an individual, partnership, estate, or, in some cases, a corporation, and
  • You made payments to a recipient of at least $600 during the year.

We can help

If you have questions about filing Form 1099-NEC, Form 1099-MISC or any tax forms, contact us. We can assist you in staying in compliance with all rules.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

What does a trustee do?

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Your estate plan may include several different trusts. The reason is that various types of trusts can accomplish a myriad of estate planning goals. Thus, it’s critical to understand the role of a trustee.

The trustee’s duties 

The trustee is the person who has legal responsibility for administering the trust on behalf of the interested parties. Depending on the trust terms, this authority may be broad or limited.

Generally, a trustee must meet fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries of the trust. He or she must manage the trust prudently and treat all beneficiaries fairly and impartially.

This can be more difficult than it sounds because beneficiaries may have competing interests. For example, under a trust’s terms, a spouse in a second marriage may be entitled to annual income while the children of the deceased’s first marriage are entitled to the remainder. The trustee must balance out their needs when making investment decisions.

In some instances, the trustee is granted the discretion to distribute or withhold the distribution of trust funds. For example, this discretionary power may be intended to protect assets from the beneficiary’s creditors or safeguard funds until the beneficiary reaches a certain age. The trustee in such a discretionary trust should be sympathetic to the intent of the trust and legitimate needs of the beneficiary.

The decision about naming a trustee is similar to the dilemma of choosing an executor. The responsibilities require great attention to detail, financial acumen and dedication. Because of the heavy reliance on investment expertise, choosing a professional over a family member or friend is generally recommended. At the very least, make it clear to the trustee that he or she may — and should — rely on professionals as appropriate.

Reasons for choosing an alternate

It’s not enough to designate someone as trustee. It’s absolutely essential to also designate a “successor” (or an “alternate”) in the event that your top choice is unable or unwilling to fulfill the responsibilities. For instance, what happens if your trustee predeceases you? Or what if your designated trustee declines to accept the position or subsequently resigns if permission is allowed by the trust or permitted by a court? This further accentuates the need to name backups for this important position.

Without a named successor, the probate court will appoint one for the estate. For a trustee, the trust will often outline procedures to follow. As a last resort, a court will appoint someone else to do the job.

Practical suggestion: Choose the “next best” person to step in. Make sure that he or she is on board with your decision. Similar to the discussion about naming a power of attorney, consider whether you should name a professional as a backup. Contact us with questions.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

Getting more for your marketing dollars in 2021

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A new year has arrived and, with it, a fresh 12 months of opportunities to communicate with customers and prospects. Like every year, 2021 brings distinctive marketing trends to the table. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic challenges continue to drive the conversation in most industries. To get more for your marketing dollars, you’ll need to tailor your message to this environment.

Continue to invest in digital

There’s good reason to remind yourself of digital marketing’s continuing value in our brave new world of daily videoconferencing and booming online shopping. It’s affordable and allows you to communicate with customers directly. In addition, it provides faster results and better tracking capabilities.

Consider or re-evaluate strategies such as regularly updating your search engine optimization so your website ranks highly in online searches and more people can find you. Adjust your use of email, text messages and social media to communicate with customers and prospects.

For instance, craft more dynamic messages to introduce new products or special events. Offer “flash sales” and Internet-only deals to test and tweak offers before making them via more expansive (and expensive) media.

Seek out better deals

During boom times, you may feel at the mercy of high advertising rates. In the current uncertain and gradually recovering economy, look for better deals. The good news is that there are many more marketing/advertising channels than there used to be and, therefore, much more competition among them. Paying less is often a matter of knowing where to look.

Track your marketing efforts carefully and dedicate time to exploring new options. For example, podcasts remain enormously popular. Could a marketing initiative that exploits their reach pay dividends? Another possibility is shifting to smaller, less expensive ads posted in a wider variety of outlets rather than engaging in one massive campaign.

Excel at public relations

When the pandemic hit last year, every business had to address current events in their marketing messaging. This stood in stark contrast to decades previous, when companies generally tended to steer clear of the news. Nowadays, public relations is a key component of marketing success. Your customers and prospects need to know that your business is aware of the current environment and adjusting to it.

Ask your marketing department to craft clear, concise but exciting press releases regarding your newest products or services. Then distribute these press releases via both traditional and online channels to complement your marketing efforts. In this manner, you can disseminate trustworthy information and maintain a strong reputation — all at a relatively low cost.

Strengthen ROI

Your company’s marketing dollars need to provide a return on investment just as robust as its budget for production, employment and other key areas. Our firm can help you evaluate your marketing efforts from a financial perspective and identify ways to make those dollars go further.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

One reason to file your 2020 tax return early

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The IRS announced it is opening the 2020 individual income tax return filing season on February 12. (This is later than in past years because of a new law that was enacted late in December.) Even if you typically don’t file until much closer to the April 15 deadline (or you file for an extension), consider filing earlier this year. Why? You can potentially protect yourself from tax identity theft — and there may be other benefits, too.

How is a person’s tax identity stolen?

In a tax identity theft scheme, a thief uses another individual’s personal information to file a fraudulent tax return early in the filing season and claim a bogus refund.

The real taxpayer discovers the fraud when he or she files a return and is told by the IRS that the return is being rejected because one with the same Social Security number has already been filed for the tax year. While the taxpayer should ultimately be able to prove that his or her return is the legitimate one, tax identity theft can be a hassle to straighten out and significantly delay a refund.

Filing early may be your best defense: If you file first, it will be the tax return filed by a potential thief that will be rejected — not yours.

Note: You can get your individual tax return prepared by us before February 12 if you have all the required documents. It’s just that processing of the return will begin after IRS systems open on that date.

When will you receive your W-2s and 1099s?

To file your tax return, you need all of your W-2s and 1099s. January 31 is the deadline for employers to issue 2020 Form W-2 to employees and, generally, for businesses to issue Form 1099s to recipients of any 2020 interest, dividend or reportable miscellaneous income payments (including those made to independent contractors).

If you haven’t received a W-2 or 1099 by February 1, first contact the entity that should have issued it. If that doesn’t work, you can contact the IRS for help.

How else can you benefit by filing early? 

In addition to protecting yourself from tax identity theft, another benefit of early filing is that, if you’re getting a refund, you’ll get it faster. The IRS expects most refunds to be issued within 21 days. The time is typically shorter if you file electronically and receive a refund by direct deposit into a bank account.

Direct deposit also avoids the possibility that a refund check could be lost, stolen, returned to the IRS as undeliverable or caught in mail delays.

If you haven’t received an Economic Impact Payment (EIP), or you didn’t receive the full amount due, filing early will help you to receive the amount sooner. EIPs have been paid by the federal government to eligible individuals to help mitigate the financial effects of COVID-19. Amounts due that weren’t sent to eligible taxpayers can be claimed on your 2020 return.

Do you need help?

If you have questions or would like an appointment to prepare your return, please contact us. We can help you ensure you file an accurate return that takes advantage of all of the breaks available to you.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

PPP loans have reopened: Let’s review the tax consequences

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The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) reopened the week of January 11. If you’re fortunate to get a PPP loan to help during the COVID-19 crisis (or you received one last year), you may wonder about the tax consequences.

Background on the loans 

In March of 2020, the CARES Act became law. It authorized the SBA to make loans to qualified businesses under certain circumstances. The law established the PPP, which provided up to 24 weeks of cash-flow assistance through 100% federally guaranteed loans to eligible recipients. Taxpayers could apply to have the loans forgiven to the extent their proceeds were used to maintain payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic and to cover certain other expenses.

At the end of 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) was enacted to provide additional relief related to COVID-19. This law includes funding for more PPP loans, including a “second draw” for businesses that received a loan last year. It also allows businesses to claim a tax deduction for the ordinary and necessary expenses paid from the proceeds of PPP loans.

Second draw loans

The CAA permits certain smaller businesses who received a PPP loan and experienced a 25% reduction in gross receipts to take a PPP second draw loan of up to $2 million.

To qualify for a second draw loan, a taxpayer must have taken out an original PPP Loan. In addition, prior PPP borrowers must now meet the following conditions to be eligible:

  • Employ no more than 300 employees per location,
  • Have used or will use the full amount of their first PPP loan, and
  • Demonstrate at least a 25% reduction in gross receipts in the first, second or third quarter of 2020 relative to the same 2019 quarter. Applications submitted on or after Jan. 1, 2021, are eligible to utilize the gross receipts from the fourth quarter of 2020.

To be eligible for full PPP loan forgiveness, a business must generally spend at least 60% of the loan proceeds on qualifying payroll costs (including certain health care plan costs) and the remaining 40% on other qualifying expenses. These include mortgage interest, rent, utilities, eligible operations expenditures, supplier costs, worker personal protective equipment and other eligible expenses to help comply with COVID-19 health and safety guidelines or equivalent state and local guidelines.

Eligible entities include for-profit businesses, certain non-profit organizations, housing cooperatives, veterans’ organizations, tribal businesses, self-employed individuals, sole proprietors, independent contractors and small agricultural co-operatives.

Deductibility of expenses paid by PPP loans

The CARES Act didn’t address whether expenses paid with the proceeds of PPP loans could be deducted on tax returns. Last year, the IRS took the position that these expenses weren’t deductible. However, the CAA provides that expenses paid from the proceeds of PPP loans are deductible.

Cancellation of debt income

Generally, when a lender reduces or cancels debt, it results in cancellation of debt (COD) income to the debtor. However, the forgiveness of PPP debt is excluded from gross income. Your tax attributes (net operating losses, credits, capital and passive activity loss carryovers, and basis) wouldn’t generally be reduced on account of this exclusion.

Assistance provided

This only covers the basics of applying for PPP loans, as well as the tax implications. Contact us if you have questions or if you need assistance in the PPP loan application or forgiveness process.

© 2021 Covenant CPA

Startup investments that may be too good to be true

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Many startup companies require access to large sums of investment capital to take on well-established competitors. The need to raise such funding may encourage a startup’s founder to paint an overly optimistic picture of the business and exaggerate its ability to succeed. In some extreme circumstances, founders may resort to deception to convince investors to back their ventures. That’s fraud.

Silicon Valley warning

A medical testing startup provides a cautionary tale of what can happen when an aggressive entrepreneur plays fast and loose with the truth. Based on the extravagant claims of the Silicon Valley company’s founder, the startup raised more than $700 million and secured a $10 billion valuation. When evidence emerged that it couldn’t conduct extensive medical tests on tiny amounts of blood as it had claimed, the company collapsed.

Its founder has denied allegations that she made false claims. She and the startup’s former president currently are defending themselves against criminal charges leveled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (a trial is scheduled for this spring). The founder has already settled a lawsuit alleging fraud filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Getting adequate information

So how can you avoid fraudulent investments? The simple answer is that you must investigate any claims that sound too good to be true and closely scrutinize new investment opportunities — and the entrepreneurs behind them.

The founder of the medical testing company deflected requests for information about its inner workings. She often cited the need to protect intellectual property. Protecting proprietary information is a valid concern. But before investors inject capital into a project, they need to have an intimate understanding of the company and its products and services. If a startup refuses to provide adequate information, you’re better off walking away.

The startup also lacked an audited set of financial statements. This is another glaring red flag that investors should have heeded. According to MarketWatch, none of its investors requested access to the company’s financial statements.

In addition to developing a detailed understanding of a company’s operations, set aside time to conduct background checks on its founders and key executives. A founder’s so-called stellar business track record may not jive with public records that show a history of failed ventures. Or you may find that a programming “prodigy” enjoys little respect or confidence in the tech community. Ask direct questions of the business’s owner to resolve issues.

Reduce your risk 

Startups have a strong incentive to provide potential investors with overly optimistic financials and hyperbolic growth claims. Most startup founders aren’t involved in promulgating fraud. Nevertheless, you should work with experienced financial advisors when investing in a new company.

© 2021 Covenant CPA