Deduction of Startup Expenses

A number of expenses incurred as you prepare a rental property (in advance of actually renting) are deductible. Let’s take a look at a couple of them.

Note: Startup expenses discussed within this segment of the Landlord’s Tax Guide, are dissimilar to the expenses allowable as a deduction (in section 195 of the Internal Revenue Code.) According to this section, certain expenses incurred as startup expenditures in an active trade or business are deductible up to $5,000, with a balance amortizable over a fifteen-year period. However, section 195 doesn’t apply to rental property this is because renting is not regarded as an active business or trade, but rather a passive activity. Find a great deal more information on this in the Tax Deductible Rental Losses article.

Note: It isn’t when you have actually rented real estate that rental activity commences, but when you’ve made the property available for rent or you have it out on the market.

Expenses to Obtain Mortgage

Expenses such as mortgage commissions, abstract fees, and recording fees, are capitalized and develop into part of your basis in the property. And this means you must depreciate these particular expenses, instead of expensing them all at once. Read the Depreciation Expenses for Rental Property article, included in this Landlord Tax Guide, for more on depreciation.

Points

What are points? They are charges paid by a borrower to take out a mortgage or a loan. This points or charges may also be called origination fees, or premium charges, or maximum loan charges. Points are essentially prepaid interest. Thus, they are deductible as interest, but you cannot deduct the full amount at once. Rather, you must amortize the points over the life of the loan. Determining the amount of points to amortize per year, is task beyond the scope of this article. Make an appointment with a certified public accountant.

Repairs vs. Improvements

You need to capitalize and depreciate improvements you make to the property before putting the rental property on the market. Improvements are those that prolong the use of the property or materially increase the property’s market value. On the other hand, you may freely deduct all repair expenses. A repair maintains your property in good working condition without adding to its value or prolonging its use. See the series of articles about deductions and depreciation, included in this Guide, for more information.

Tax Accountant +John Huddleston has written numerous articles on accounting and other tax issues typical to small businesses. He is a graduate of the University of Washington’s School of Law, holding a Masters in Tax Law and a Juris Doctorate.

Ownership of Rental Properties

Let’s take a look at the possible entity types as they relate to rental property ownership. In later articles we will use a fine-toothed comb, but for now let’s paint with broad brush strokes. You’ll see below the different entity selection types have advantages and disadvantages. As a guideline, you will want to limit liability and protect your property from unsecured creditors.

Also consult with an attorney or a CPA prior to establishing an entity and transferring ownership of a rental property. Do note, this guide is not a comprehensive replacement for qualified council.

TIP: Always consult with a CPA or tax attorney before establishing an entity and transferring ownership of your rental property. This Guide is just not meant to be a comprehensive solution you should seek the care of a qualified professional.

Individual Ownership

This is the more common and the most straight forward form of ownership and occurs when you purchase a rental property in your name. This includes owning the property with your spouse, or as joint tenants or tenants in common with someone else. The main benefit is that this is straightforward and simple, and doesn’t require you to file any complicated paperwork or pay any lofty filing fees. The biggest disadvantage to this form of ownership is that your creditors could force a sale of the rental property if they attain a court order against you, or compel you into an involuntary bankruptcy.

Legal Entity Ownership

Corporations, general partnerships, and limited liability companies are all examples of legal companies. The differences between these entities are important. We’ll outline them below. The main advantage to entity ownership is that your personal creditors cannot force a sale of the rental, considering that you don’t own it. The only type of entity that does not require registration with the Secretary of State is the general partnership. As far as taxes are concerned, the type of entity chosen doesn’t matter very much because in most cases, rental income “passes through” from the entity and is taxed on your personal tax return (but do note the cautionary note under corporations). Read the article titled Necessary Tax Forms for Reporting Rental Activity, included in this tax guide for landlords, for more on just how rental income is taxed.

General partnership. This form of ownership takes place when two or more persons co-own a business for profit. Now with this general partnership the partners have equal management privileges, but also each partner is personally liable for the debts of this partnership. And thereby a general partnership is generally not recommended.

Limited partnership. This entity is more complex than the general partnership as it requires both a limited partner and one general partner. The general partner has sole management rights, together with personal liability for any resulting debts. While, the limited partner is not personally liable for debts of the partnership and also is without management rights. This entity selection is generally not recommended.

Limited liability partnership/company. A limited liability partnership and a limited liability company are rather similar entity types, both provide for limited liability to the partners/members. This would mean you will not be personally liable for the entity’s debts, unless the debt is a result of your own wrongdoing. This kind of ownership often is preferable because of limited liability and also there are not as many formalities which require observance than with corporations.

Corporations. Corporations permit limited liability and perpetual existence. But, they also require the observance of specific formalities so as to preserve the limited liability protection. Without these formalities, a court mandate may “pierce the corporate veil” and hold you personally liable. For this reason, LLCs and LLPs are frequently more desirable for a rental property owner. Also, for tax purposes, corporations are split into “S” corporations and “C” corporations. If a corporation is taxed as a “C” corporation, it pays tax on rental income, and then you will pay tax again when the corp pays you dividends. And you should avoid this “double taxation” loop.

Tax Accountant +John Huddleston has written several tax and finance articles over the years. His a graduate of Washington State University and holds two post-graduate degrees from the University of Washington.

Dental Practice Purchase: Before you buy

It is a very important that you give yourself due consideration in deciding where to buy, how to go about it, and what kind of practice to purchase.

Do Not Rush into This

Dentists must not rush into a purchase, and need to manage their expectations, understanding that the process will take some time. There is no need to hurry through important steps and be impatient. Buying the right dental practice for you matters more than closing a deal quickly when the first opportunity presents itself.

Location Location Location

Think on where you’d like to live. You’ll end up being a big part of this community, so you’ll want to make sure it’s a good fit. Establishing a connection with the locals will help your business succeed. And shortening your community wouldn’t hurt either. Avoid a long commute and you’ll have the opportunity to spend that time with friends and family. That’s not a bad trade off.

Establish yourself amongst people you can relate to and people you can enjoy. Your practice and your interpersonal life will reap the benefit. Suburbs? Intercity? Rural? Let the location of your competition inform your decision. Will your spouse be able to find work? Will your kids end up in a school district that will nurture them and grant you piece of mind?

Determine the Ideal Practice for You

Lay out a working business plan. What size of dental practice do you anticipate? And do be careful to leave room for growth. Do you want to practice general dentistry or do you prefer an expensive practice that focuses on cosmetic dentistry? Does working a full five-day schedule with a large list of clients appeal to you? Or do you want a smaller practice, with a slower pace, that will allow you to work fewer hours? These decisions affect your finances and stress levels–what can you reasonably make work?

Seek a Valuation

Seek the counsel of a certified public accountant prior to purchase. Then you’ll have an informed point of view going into things. This will help ensure you are within the means of your projected income.

Establish a Support Net

Just as your business cannot operate without the support of patrons, you’ll never realize your full-potential without the aid of experienced professionals. There are many areas where you’ll need and benefit greatly from the expertise of others. In the long-run, investing in advisors will save you a lot of trouble. Here are some people you might want to have on your side:

• A CPA who has experience guiding dentistry practices and other small businesses on reducing tax burdens and remaining tax compliant. You want an accountant who can help you establish tax-saving strategies. You will need an accountant that can advise you on the best entity structure for your small business (S corporation, C corporation, limited liability company (LLC), professional limited liability company (PLLC), sole proprietor).
• A Bookkeeper who has familiarity in an accounting software system such as Quickbooks. A certified Quickbooks ProAdvisor is a level of distinction in which a bookkeeper certified by by Intuit as knowledgeable with the bookkeeping software.
• An attorney to protect your interests and review documents.
• A consultant for your new dental practice will prove invaluable in helping you save money and avoid headaches.
• Right at the beginning, you should establish a relationship with a bank. Getting prequalified, and ready to finance, will help you gain a handle on how to put in a good offer and how much you can afford.
• An insurance agent will assess the value of your business and evaluate risk to see just how much coverage you will have to have.
• It is intelligent to seek the aid of a mentor that has experienced similar circumstance to those you’ll face.
• A marketing pro that knows online marketing.

Prepare. Be a researcher. Trial and error is not a reasonable strategy.

Tax CPA John Huddleston has a law degree and masters in tax law from the University of Washington School of Law. He has been a guest tax expert on the radio. He advises small businesses in the Seattle Bellevue Tacoma & Everett area on various tax and accounting issues. His firm, Huddleston Tax CPAs, also provides tax preparation service, quickbooks consulting, business valuation, general accounting and bookkeeping service.

Offer In Compromise Booklet 656

Filing an Offer for Compromise: Preparing Form 656 and Supporting Documentation

An Offer in Compromise (OIC) is a tax settlement offer provided by the Internal revenue service to taxpayers, both individuals and businesses, who are unable to manage tax debt. There are certain strict criteria that determine who may be eligible to file for the OIC and if you do satisfy these requirements, you will need to complete Form 656 and submit a number of documents to be evaluated for an offer.

Preparing Form 656 OIC

There are two circumstances in which you’ll meet the requirements to file Form 656. In the first, you’re making a case that paying the full amount of owed taxes will create economic hardship. In the second, you are make the case that there is doubt as to collectiblity.

If you meet the above criteria, here are some considerations for when you begin to complete the Form 656:

• You’ll have to include the relevant information in every field of the form.

• You’ll need to supply the names of both the parties if you are seeking a joint offer for joint liabilities. When you owe a liability jointly and both you and the other party are submitting an offer, then do so on Form 656, just one single form. Now you might owe a liability, such as employment taxes for yourself and hold other liabilities, such as income taxes, with another person. If you are the sole submitter of this form, then you will need to list all liabilities on one of Form 656. In case both of you want to submit this application, then you have to include all tax liabilities on your Form 656 and the other person must show only the joint tax liability on their Form 656.

• all persons submitting the offer should enter their social security numbers.
• You will need to provide the employer identification number (EIN) of all businesses, except corporate concerns, that you own, either wholly or partly.
• If your claim to an Offer for Compromise is based on a Doubt as to Collectability, you need to also furnish a completed Form 433A if you are an individual taxpayer and Form 433B if you are a business taxpayer.
• If your claim to an OIC is based on Effective Tax Administration, then in addition to submitting a Form 433A or 433B, you will also fill out the info in the “Explanation of Circumstances” field. You may include additional relevant information on separate sheets along with your EIN and social security numbers.
• While providing the total amount of your offer, you don’t include a sum that the IRS owes back to you or any amount that you’ve already paid in taxes.
• All persons submitting the offer should apply their signature on the 656 Form and give a date. They will also include the titles and names of authorized corporate officers, trustees, Powers of Attorney, and executors when requested.
• Ensure that you give the name and if possible, the address of the Offer in Compromise preparer.
• You may want the IRS to get in touch with a family member, a friend, or some other acquaintance to talk about your case in order to understand your circumstance better. In that case, you need to tick the “Yes” box in the “Third Party Designee” field. And, if you’d like an enrolled agent, your cpa, or attorney to represent your case, you have to provide the 2848 Form and submit it together with your offer. to better the chances of your offer being accepted by the IRS. Once you’ve gathered all the documents for submission, be sure that you make photocopies or electronic copies for your personal records. In addition to these documents, you might also submit documents that corroborate your claim for this genuine offer.

Applying for an Offer for Compromise is complicated. Ensure that you spend ample time with Form 656 and submit the entire set of supporting documents to increase your chances of acceptance.

You can view more of our OIC guide in the tax libraries at:

Accountants and Tax Preparers in Bellevue
Accountants and Tax Preparers in Bellevue

Bookkeeping for Startups

Startup Business Best Accounting Practices

Figure out the accounting practices and procedures that you will use at the very beginning. Establish a bookkeeping method that is forward-thinking, so that you’re business growth does not have to lay in wait while you refigure your bookkeeping methods

Which Accounting software Package to Choose for your Startup

In beginning your company you might use a simple spreadsheet to monitor your business income and expenses. At some point, however, you may wish to give some thought to using a small-business accounting software package like QuickBooks to monitor your company’s financial transactions. As a new business grows, the paperwork involved between paying expenses and collecting income can prove too tedious without the help of a reliable and accurate financial database. A good small business accounting software will also streamline tax preparation, keeping payroll, and inventory record keeping.

Anticipate your accounting needs. There are software packages that are specialized for project accounting, and there is software that caters to real estate (fixed income accounting). Specialized bookkeeping software is generally more costly than the more generalized software packages which are perfect for sales of goods, but if you have an idea of where your business is headed, choosing the right accounting software at the very beginning can save time and money as time goes on.

Selecting a Bookkeeping Method

As a self employed small business owner, you’ve got a bit of leeway in just how you keep your financial transactions. If you are not a massive corporation, you do not have to produce financial statements in line with the GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. For instance, you may prefer recording your income when you deposit a payment into your banking account and document an expense whenever you make out a check. Accountants refer to this accounting method cash method of accounting. While this method of bookkeeping doesn’t follow GAAP, it is more than adequate for a small start-up.

Some more advanced methods of accounting, such as the accrual method of accounting, may better serve you as your business grows. The accrual method of accounting records expenses and income upon invoice, rather than waiting for cash to change hands. This bookkeeping method provides you a more expansive insight into you finances.

As far as taxes are concerned, if you purchase, sell, or produce merchandise, rules apply as to when you need to use the accrual method of accounting.

A Budget that Works for You

Smart freelancers, while deeply focused on meeting customer needs, but are also fastidious with bookkeeping. However, your financial situation can quickly spiral out of control regardless of your attentiveness if you’re not carefully monitoring your funds.

You’ll also want to be certain that the accounting software package you select allows you to design a budgeting plan.

Judging Your Performance

And choose an accounting software that allows you to compare the current year financial statement with those of the previous year. This could help you gain insight, see trends, and set goals.

For example, if your revenue increased by 10-percent in in the present year over the previous, but, to do so, your expenses increased by 30-percent, this could mean there is some inefficiency in your business model. Are you investing in assets with the greatest return on investment? Or, did you forget to provide some invoices? On the other hand, if your revenue increased by 30-percent for 2011 over that from 2010, but your expenses only increased by 10 percent, this suggests that your business model could be super efficient. Were all expenses recorded? Were some revenue items duplicated? Or did you actually manage to increase your return on investment? It is important to get to the bottom of these trends in order to build an accurate picture of your small business’s performance and also to make reasoned financial decisions.

For a resource on Taxes for the Self Employed visit the Tax Library at:

Huddleston Tax
or
Accountants and Tax Preparers in Auburn
or
Accountants and Tax Preparers in Bellevue

OIC Form 433b

When pursuing an offer in compromise of IRS back tax debt, you’ll have to submit the 656 form 433-b, unless you are a sole proprietorship and thus you’ll use form 1040 to account for profits and losses. The form 433-A provides the IRS with justification in determining the lowest possible offer amount you can make when seeking an offer of compromise.

Section 1: This section requests basic information, for instance your EIN, the identity of partners, officers, and LLC members.

Section 2: Next, the form asks for business asset details. This includes the business’s bank accounts, investment accounts, and notes receivable. Then the form requests information on the company’s real estate, vehicles, and equipment. However, in revealing their worth, the internal revenue service will let you exclude your equity in any income producing assets.

Section 3: In section 3 you are to provide information regarding your business income, such as average gross monthly income (supported by corroborating documentation).

Section Four is where you will impart the specifics of business expenses. That is, your average gross monthly expenses of the most recent period 6 — 12 months (all supported and verified). And, if you do include a profit and loss report for this period, you can present an average amount here.

Calculating the offer

There are two ways of arriving at the offer amount, this is dependent on whether you plan to satisfy payment of the offer within a period of 5 months or beyond a 5-month period. If you arrange to pay the offer of within 5 months, the formula for repayment is as drawn below.

[Business income in excess of expenses x 48] Total available assets

The formula below is for figuring the offer when you don’t prefer to complete payment within a period of 5 months.

[60 x Business income in excess of expenses] Total assets available

the option you

The sixth section

In portion 6, you will supply information like whether your business has filed bankruptcy before, and whether or not your business has any other affiliations that may owe money to your company. In this section, you will be requested to disclose details on whether you’ve unloaded assets at a discount in the past ten years.

You can find more of our offer in compromise guide at
Tax Preparers and Accountants in Federal Way