BRIAN T. STONER, CPA  

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IN 2018 CONGRESS GOT RID OF SOME BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT & MEALS WHILE LEAVING OTHERS
 
  Article one discusse s repeal of deductability of business meals and entertainment in the new tax bill   and Article two talks about what was left to deduct.
     

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Tax Reform Wipes Out 50 Percent Business Entertainment Deductions

(Thanks to  the Bradford Tax Institute for this Great Breakdown of Meals and Entertainment):

Lawmakers destroyed a big chunk of usual and normal business entertainment on January 1, 2018. The good news is that some not-so-usual and not-so-normal entertainment survived the bloodletting. See Tax Reform: Entertainment Deductions That Survived for some of the survivors. 

The bad news is that lawmakers massacred entertainment that was already handicapped by the 50 percent cut. 

For example, during 2017, you could take a prospect or client to a business dinner followed by the theater or a ballgame and deduct 50 percent of all the monies spent, providing you passed some tax law tests on business discussion and associated entertainment. 

Now, in what you thought was a business-friendly tax reform package, you find that lawmakers exterminated a big chunk of business entertainment as a business expense.

Good-bye Traditional Entertainment 
The new law repeals-effective January 1, 2018-the tax code section that allowed a deduction for entertainment, amusement, or recreation that was directly related to, or associated with, the active conduct of your trade or business. 

Because of tax reform, you can no longer deduct entertainment that has as its mission the generation of business income or other specific business benefit. The 2018 tax reform prohibition against deductible entertainment is true regardless of your business discussion, negotiation, business meeting, or other bona fide transaction. 

Example: Sue is a real estate sales professional. She sold a home to Janet and Ken, who moved into their new home about a month ago. Sue takes Janet and Ken to dinner with the purpose of asking for referrals and also examining what she could have done better during the sales process. 

Result: Because the business dinner occurs in 2018, Sue gets no deduction for her business dinner. 

Examples of What Died on January 1, 2018 
Here's a short list of what died on January 1, 2018, so you can get a good handle on what's no longer deductible: 

*Business meals with clients or prospects 

*Golf 

*Skiing 

*Tickets to football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc., games

Good News! 
Tax reform eliminated the need to timely document directly related and associated entertainment. Of course, it's not deductible, so you have no need to document anyway. But getting rid of any documentation requirement has to make you feel good. (right?)

Takeaways 
If you used business entertainment as a business-building tool, your cost of doing business increased on January 1, 2018, because of the new tax reform package. 

As with most tax legislation, you have winners and losers. Someone has to pay to create the winners.

The elimination of business entertainment by what lawmakers acclaim as a business-friendly reform seems odd.

  
  
   
 
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Tax Reform: Entertainment Deductions That Survived

(Thanks to  the Bradford Tax Institute for this Great Breakdown of Meals and Entertainment):

As you know from Tax Reform Wipes Out 50 Percent Business Entertainment Deductions   above, you may no longer deduct directly related or associated business entertainment. 

Common forms of directly related and associated entertainment that are no longer deductible include business meals with clients or prospects, golf, football games, and similar business-building activities. 

That's the bad news. 

The good news is that tax code Section 274(e) pretty much survived the entertainment bloodletting. Under this section, you continue to deduct 

*entertainment, amusement, and recreation expenses you treat as compensation to employees and that are included as wages for income tax withholding purposes; 

*expenses for recreational, social, or similar activities (including facilities therefor) primarily for the benefit of employees (other than employees who are highly compensated employees);

*expenses that are directly related to business meetings of employees, stockholders, agents, or directors (here, the law limits expenses for food and beverages to 50 percent); 

*expenses directly related and necessary to attendance at a business meeting or convention such as those held by business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, and boards of trade (here, the law also limits expenses for food and beverages to 50 percent); 

*expenses for goods, services, and facilities you or your business makes available to the general public; 

*expenses for entertainment goods, services, and facilities that you sell to customers; and

*expenses paid on behalf of non-employees that are includible in the gross income of a recipient of the entertainment, amusement, or recreation as compensation for services rendered or as a prize or award. 

Resources 
When you are considering using the survivors of tax reform's entertainment cuts, you will find good strategies in the following: 

Rent Home to Corporation Do you operate your business as an S or C corporation? If so, have you considered renting your home to your corporation for corporate meetings and perhaps the annual holiday party for employees? You should.

Why? If you do the rental right, the corporation pays you as an individual, it deducts the rent as a business expense, and you receive the rental income tax-free. See Tax-Free Income from Rental of Home to C or S Corporation. 

Employee Party Trip The government wants you to have happy employees. That's why the tax code grants you extra deductions when you provide entertainment and entertainment facilities that primarily benefit rank-and-file employees.  

Employee Parties Lawmakers may not always make your life easy, but at least you know they want you to have fun every now and then. The tax code gives you a 100 percent deduction for the parties that you throw for your employees- as long as you invite the right kind of employees. 

Vacation Home as Entertainment Facility The entertainment facility rules are designed to destroy your entertainment facility deductions. But the law contains a number of exceptions. you learn how to use the business meeting and overnight lodging rules to make your vacation home a tax deductible business asset. 

Employee Entertainment Facility Learn how employee use of your ski cabin or beach home produces a 100 percent business asset with deductions for depreciation, operating expenses, and mortgage interest. 

This can make for a great fringe benefit for both the employees and you. It also can make for a profitable investment.  

Entertainment Facility as Compensation to Users You have many ways to make your entertainment facility tax-deductible. For example, you can treat use of the facility as compensation to the users. 

Under this rule, you give individuals either a W-2 or 1099 that includes the value of the compensation for their free use of your facility. If you give a W-2 or 1099 to a tax law-defined "specified individual" who uses your business beach home, ski lodge, or other entertainment facility, tax law limits your business's deduction for its entertainment facilities. For compensated taxable use by non-specified individuals, the business faces no special limits on deductions for entertainment facilities.

Takeaways 
Tax reform certainly changes some big chunks of the business landscape, including its extermination of the common and traditional directly related and associated entertainment deductions. 

But you have to say thank goodness for the survival of IRC Section 274(e) entertainment. You have many parts of this tax code section to like, especially if you have employees. 

In this article, you hopefully found some nuggets that show you tax deduction strategies that you can use after tax reform.

 
    
  
    
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Brian T. Stoner, CPA 
2600 W. Olive Ave., 5th Floor
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 333-5095  CELL (818) 317-6035
FAX (818) 333-5304
bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net