Returning Value Blog

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the holiday season will soon be here. At this time of year, your business may want to show its gratitude to employees and customers by giving them gifts or hosting holiday parties again after a year of forgoing them due to the pandemic. It’s a good time to brush up on the tax rules associated with these expenses. Are they tax deductible by your business, and is the value taxable to the recipients?

As 2021 draws to a close, employers should review whether they have properly included the value of common fringe benefits in their employees' and (if applicable) 2% S corporation shareholders' taxable wages. This is especially true for 2021 since COVID relief brought about a number of changes to the rules relating to traditional fringe benefits.

The U.S. House of Representatives, in the late hours of Friday, November 5, 2021, passed H.R. 3684, the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” in a 228 to 206 bipartisan vote. The Senate had approved the same version of the bill, which is now ready for the president’s signature, on August 10, 2021.

On October 25, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a simpler accounting option that will enable private companies to more easily measure certain types of shares they provide to both employees and nonemployees as part of compensation awards. Here are the details.

Senate Democrats have released details of two tax proposals – a minimum tax on large corporations and a tax on billionaires – that, if enacted, would be used to help pay for spending for social infrastructure under the Build Back Better Plan.

With the increasing cost of employee health care benefits, your business may be interested in providing some of these benefits through an employer-sponsored Health Savings Account (HSA). For eligible individuals, an HSA offers a tax-advantaged way to set aside funds (or have their employers do so) to meet future medical needs. Here are the important tax benefits:

A version of H.R. 5376 (the Build Back Better Act), released on October 28, 2021, by the House Budget Committee, eliminates many of the previously proposed tax increases that would have impacted individuals.

The Social Security Administration recently announced that the wage base for computing Social Security tax will increase to $147,000 for 2022 (up from $142,800 for 2021). Wages and self-employment income above this threshold aren’t subject to Social Security tax.

Organizations are faced with the challenge to increase operational efficiency while reducing costs and retaining the personnel they need to be strategic. Talent shortages and the resource drain associated with recruiting, onboarding, on-the-job training, and continuing education have many organizations looking for a more efficient and practical approach. Having the flexibility to allocate resources to align with organizational objectives is imperative. 

If your business is depreciating over a 30-year period the entire cost of constructing the building that houses your operation, you should consider a cost segregation study. It might allow you to accelerate depreciation deductions on certain items, thereby reducing taxes and boosting cash flow. And under current law, the potential benefits of a cost segregation study are now even greater than they were a few years ago due to enhancements to certain depreciation-related tax breaks.