Source: https://ankerhymesschreiberllp.com/category/business-organization-and-formation/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 17:59:05+00:00

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From entrepreneurs to trusted advisors, financing a new business venture can be extraordinarily challenging. When you are considering your options, however, be very cautious about giving up ownership. Such a strategy can help get your business started in the short run, but it also can be a complete headache in the long run.
Imagine that you are an entrepreneur with a great idea and superb business model, but no start-up capital, or at least not enough to take flight with your business. You go to your parents, spouse, brothers, sisters, friends, and your spouse’s brothers, sisters, and friends (you get the picture).
A few years later, guess what? Congratulations! A large publicly traded company wants to acquire your business. Your hard work has paid off. Your potential acquirer wants to write you a check for several million dollars. All you have to do is cross your “t”s and dot your “i”s and the deal is done. In order to do so, however, your attorney tells you to have a meeting, take a vote, and make sure all of the other owners are on board.
With all of these variables, do you think getting a consensus vote from all the co-owners will be easy? Not a chance! Some people are not so keen on the idea of moving to Ohio. Others (your ex-in-laws) see the dollar signs and know that they can make life very difficult for you if they refuse to go along with the acquisition.
This is part of fourth section of Anker Reed HSC’s blog series entitled “To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate? That is the Question” regarding the corporate retirement plan.
A profit-sharing plan is established and maintained by an employer to provide for the participation in the profits of the company by the employees or their beneficiaries. A corporate retirement plan may be qualified or non-qualified in order to take advantage of the tax benefits available. If the corporate retirement plan is qualified according to § 401, special tax status attaches. First, the amount of the contribution will be deductible to the corporation under §404(a)(1) for pension plans and	§	404(a)(3) for profit-sharing plans.	Second, “Any amount actually distributed to any distributed by any employees’ trust described in section 401(a) which is exempt from tax under section 501(a) shall be taxable to the distributee, in the taxable year of the distributee in which distributed”. (§ 402 Supp., 2000) Therefore, § 402 provides for tax deferral until the corporate retirement plan distributes to the beneficiary. For example, if a corporation makes a $10,000 contribution to a corporate retirement plan in the name of the individual employee, the corporation will be allowed to deduct this amount from taxable income and the individual will not be taxed on this amount in the year of the contribution! The contribution is placed into the corporate retirement account where it appreciates tax-deferred; the individual will be taxed on the amount when the retirement account distributes its corpus to the individual participant.
For the noncorporate taxpayer, usually a member of a union pension plan, the only deductible retirement contribution available would be an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). The deductibility of IRA contributions is limited when the individual is an active participant in a retirement plan maintained by an employer. For such individuals the IRA contribution is phased-out at certain AGI levels ($31,000-$41,000 for 1999).
Therefore, the noncorporate taxpayer may not receive the current tax benefit of the contribution because the contribution will be made with after-tax earnings. The corporate retirement plan has no comparable limitation.
* For specific inquiries regarding a business legal matter that you may have, you are contact our Business Lawyer in Los Angeles.
This is also part of third section of Anker Reed HSC’s blog series entitled “To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate? That is the Question” regarding the alternative minimum tax and its effect on medical and miscellaneous itemized deductions.
An additional issue with regard to the deductibility of both medical and miscellaneous itemized deductions is the imposition of the Alternative Minimum Tax. “Congress enacted the alternative minimum tax (AMT) in 1969 to make wealthy taxpayers pay their fair share instead of using tax shelters and other means to reduce, or even eliminate, their federal tax liability.” (Kern, 1999). “The alternative minimum tax generally can be described as a flat tax rate which is imposed on a broader income base than the taxable income yardstick used for the regular corporate tax.” (Lind, supra note 11 at 15). “The tax is designed to ensure that all taxpayers pay at least a minimum amount of taxes.” (Blacks Law Dictionary, 1990). “Without the alternative minimum tax, some of these taxpayers might be able to escape income taxation entirely. In essence, the AMT functions as a recapture mechanism, reclaiming some of the tax breaks primarily available to high-income taxpayers, and represents an attempt to maintain tax equity.” (Commerce Clearing House, 1999).
The AMT is paid in addition to any other income tax imposed and calculated as the excess of the tentative minimum tax for the taxable year over the regular tax for the taxable year. The definition for tentative minimum tax, though, depends on the status of the taxpayer, whether noncorporate or corporate. The tentative minimum tax for the noncorporate taxpayer is the sum of 26% of so much of the taxable excess as does not exceed $175,000 plus 28% of so much of the taxable excess as exceeds	$175,000. The Internal Revenue Code also provides for tax exemption status, evidencing the congressional intent of taxing the high-income taxpayers. If the taxpayer’s taxable income does not exceed	$45,000	for taxpayers filing a joint return,	$33,750	for the individual taxpayer, or $22,500 for the married taxpayer filing separately, the taxpayer is exempt from alternative minimum tax treatment. This means that, depending on the individual taxpayer, there could be an exemption from AMT for the lower income brackets. After the	$33,750	exemption, the next $175,000	will be taxed at a rate of 26%. Taxable income exceeding this will be taxed at 28%. At the corporate level, the first $40,000 of taxable income is exempt from AMT treatment.
As previously discussed, the PSC will have little or no taxable income as a result of “zeroing-out.” Therefore, no discussion of corporate AMT is necessary.
When analyzing the application of AMT to the noncorporate taxpayer, the focus of the discussion turns to the medical and miscellaneous itemized deductions. For Regular Income Tax (“RIT”) purposes, medical expenses are deductible when they exceed	7.5% of adjusted gross income	(“AGI“). For AMT purposes, medical expenses are deductible only when they exceed 10% of AGI. With regard to miscellaneous deductions, the difference between RIT and AMT is even more conspicuous. For RIT purposes, miscellaneous itemized deductions	(specifically unreimbursed employee business expenses) are deductible to the extent they exceed	2% of AGI. Under AMT, however, miscellaneous itemized deductions are not allowed. This is significant since an employee working in a noncorporate structure will be considered an employee for whom she provides services.
Therefore, any business expenses she incurs will be considered unreimbursed employee business expenses, shown as miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% of AGI limitation and rendered non-deductible for AMT purposes. Under the PSC, these business expenses escape both the RIT limitation and the AMT exclusion.
* For specific inquiries regarding a business legal matter that you may have, you are welcome to visit our Tax Attorney in Los Angeles.
This is the third section of Anker Reed HSC’s blog series entitled “To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate? That is the Question” regarding deduction limitations of the corporation and individual.
The corporation, on the other hand, is not affected by the § 67 limitation. A corporation will be allowed a one hundred percent deduction on itemized deductions. Therefore, in the foregoing example, the corporate taxpayer will be able to deduct the full amount of $50,000 without limitation. The corporation has effectively just saved the individual taxpayer approximately $4,000 in federal taxes and $1,000 in state taxes.
The subject of deduction limitations becomes more significant when addressing the issue of deductions allowed for medical expenses. An individual taxpayer can deduct the expenses for medical care of the taxpayer, his spouse, or a dependent to the extent that the expenses exceed 7.5% of the adjusted gross income. Using the previous example, if the individual had medical expenses of $25,000, they are not deductible because only those expenses that exceed 7.5% of the adjusted gross income are deductible. With an adjusted gross income of $500,000, the individual would need to have medical expenses of at least $37,500 before any deductions may be taken. In applying the applicable federal and state tax rates, the individual with $25,000 of medical expenses would pay a tax of approximately $12,500 ($10,000 to the federal government and $2,500 to the state government).
* For specific inquiries regarding a tax planning legal matter that you may have, you are welcome to visit our Los Angeles Business Attorney services page.
This is part 6 of Anker Reed HSC’s blog series entitled “To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate? That is the Question”.
The tax treatment of an LLC by the state of California may also be problematic to the entertainer. Whereas the LLC and partnership will pay the same annual franchise tax that a corporation pays ($800), an LLC will be charged, pursuant to California Revenue & Taxation Code § 17942(a)-(b), an additional fee if there is net income exceeding $250,000. The additional fee is specified in the California Revenue and Tax Code and provides for the fee to be graduated at specified levels of income. Taking our earlier example of the partnership that has $1,000,000o taxable income, should this partnership be an LLC, there would be an additional fee of $5,190 assessed.
Other popular business entities include sole proprietorships, general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships. It is not important that we analyze each of these entities with regard to the tax effects. What is important, though, is that we note that over time these entities have been regarded as being inappropriate for application to the entertainer. For example, the sole proprietorship provides no tax benefit insofar as taxes are assessed on the sole proprietor at the individual rate.
Furthermore, the purpose of this blog series is to assess the benefits and detriments of incorporation to the entertainer. An examination of all of the business entities and their utility to the entertainer would be of no use, for attorneys and accountants have long-held that an entertainer’s decision is solely whether to incorporate or remain a non-taxpayer. Therefore, the main consideration will be whether incorporation is beneficial to the entertainer as taxpayer.
* For specific inquiries regarding a business legal matter that you may have, you are welcome to visit our Los Angeles Business Attorney services page.

References: § 401
 §404
	§	404
 § 402
 § 67
 § 17942