In this Edition
August 23, 2022

Why an LLC Might Be the Best Choice of Entity for Your Business

PODCAST: Financial Statements

How to Treat Business Website Costs for Tax Purposes

Too Much Inventory at Your Business? Trim the Fat!

A Family Budget for Your Needs - Today and Tomorrow
Why an LLC Might Be the Best Choice of Entity for Your Business
The business entity you choose can affect your taxes, your personal liability and other issues. A limited liability company (LLC) is somewhat of a hybrid entity in that it can be structured to resemble a corporation for owner liability purposes and a partnership for federal tax purposes. This duality may provide you with the best of both worlds.

Like the shareholders of a corporation, the owners of an LLC (called “members” rather than shareholders or partners) generally aren’t liable for business debts except to the extent of their investment. Thus, they can operate the business with the security of knowing that their personal assets are protected from the entity’s creditors. This protection is far greater than that afforded by partnerships. In a partnership, the general partners are personally liable for the debts of the business. Even limited partners, if they actively participate in managing the business, can have personal liability.

Check-The-Box Rules

LLC owners can elect under the check-the-box rules to have the entity treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes. This can provide a number of important benefits to them. For example, partnership earnings aren’t subject to an entity-level tax. Instead, they “flow through” to the owners, in proportion to the owners’ respective interests in profits, and are reported on the owners’ individual returns and are taxed only once. To the extent the income passed through to you is qualified business income, you’ll be eligible to take the Section 199A pass-through deduction, subject to various limitations.

In addition, since you’re actively managing the business, you can deduct on your individual tax return your ratable shares of any losses the business generates. This, in effect, allows you to shelter other income that you (and your spouse, if you’re married) may have.

An LLC that’s taxable as a partnership can provide special allocations of tax benefits to specific partners. This can be an important reason for using an LLC over an S corporation (a form of business that provides tax treatment that’s similar to a partnership). Another reason for using an LLC over an S corporation is that LLCs aren’t subject to the restrictions the federal tax code imposes on S corporations regarding the number of owners and the types of ownership interests that may be issued.

Explore the Options

In summary, an LLC would give you corporate-like protection from creditors while providing you with the benefits of taxation as a partnership. Be aware that the LLC structure is allowed by state statute and states may use different regulations. Contact us to discuss in more detail how use of an LLC might benefit you and the other owners.

Jay Kramer, CPA, MST
D 920.337.4551
PODCAST
Financial Statements
In this podcast, we discuss the benefits of looking at your financial statements. Financial statements summarize a certain time period of your business and show you information about your business’s health. You can see how much your business earns, spends and where that money goes.
How to Treat Business Website Costs for Tax Purposes
These days, most businesses have websites. But surprisingly, the IRS hasn’t issued formal guidance on when website costs can be deducted.

Fortunately, established rules that generally apply to the deductibility of business costs provide business taxpayers launching a website with some guidance as to the proper treatment of the costs. Plus, businesses can turn to IRS guidance that applies to software costs.

Hardware Versus Software

Let’s start with the hardware you may need to operate a website. The costs fall under the standard rules for depreciable equipment. Specifically, once these assets are operating, you can deduct 100% of the cost in the first year they’re placed in service (before 2023). This favorable treatment is allowed under the 100% first-year bonus depreciation break. Note: The bonus depreciation rate will begin to be phased down for property placed in service after calendar year 2022.

In later years, you can probably deduct 100% of these costs in the year the assets are placed in service under the Section 179 first-year depreciation deduction privilege. However, Sec. 179 deductions are subject to several limitations.

For tax years beginning in 2022, the maximum Sec. 179 deduction is $1.08 million, subject to a phaseout rule. Under the rule, the deduction is phased out if more than a specified amount ($2.7 million for 2022) of qualified property is placed in service during the year.

There’s also a taxable income limit. Under it, your Sec. 179 deduction can’t exceed your business taxable income. In other words, Sec. 179 deductions can’t create or increase an overall tax loss. However, any Sec. 179 deduction amount that you can’t immediately deduct is carried forward and can be deducted in later years (to the extent permitted by the applicable limits).

Similar rules apply to purchased off-the-shelf software. However, software license fees are treated differently from purchased software costs for tax purposes. Payments for leased or licensed software used for your website are currently deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses.

Software Developed Internally

If, instead of being purchased, the website is designed in-house by the taxpayer launching the website (or designed by a contractor who isn’t at risk if the software doesn’t perform), for tax years beginning before calendar year 2022, bonus depreciation applies to the extent described above. If bonus depreciation doesn’t apply, the taxpayer can either:

  1. Deduct the development costs in the year paid or incurred, or
  2. Choose one of several alternative amortization periods over which to deduct the costs.

For tax years beginning after calendar year 2021, generally the only allowable treatment will be to amortize the costs over the five-year period beginning with the midpoint of the tax year in which the expenditures are paid or incurred.

If your website is primarily for advertising, you can currently deduct internal website software development costs as ordinary and necessary business expenses.

Paying a Third Party

Some companies hire third parties to set up and run their websites. In general, payments to third parties are currently deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses.

Before business begins Start-up expenses can include website development costs. Up to $5,000 of otherwise deductible expenses that are incurred before your business commences can generally be deducted in the year business commences. However, if your start-up expenses exceed $50,000, the $5,000 current deduction limit starts to be chipped away. Above this amount, you must capitalize some, or all, of your start-up expenses and amortize them over 60 months, starting with the month that business commences.

We Can Help

We can determine the appropriate treatment of website costs. Contact us if you want more information.

Jared Ystad
D 715.384.1975
Too Much Inventory at Your Business? Trim the Fat!
Businesses need to have inventory on hand. But having excess inventory is expensive, so it’s important to keep it as lean as possible. Here are some ways to trim the fat from your inventory without compromising revenue and customer service.

Accuracy First

Effective inventory management requires starting with an accurate physical inventory count. That allows you to determine your true cost of goods sold — and to identify and remedy discrepancies between your physical count and perpetual inventory records. A CPA can introduce an element of objectivity to the counting process and help minimize errors.

Next, compare your inventory costs to those of other companies in your industry. Trade associations often publish benchmarks for:

  • Gross margin ([revenue – cost of sales] / revenue),
  • Net profit margin (net income / revenue), and
  • Days in inventory (annual revenue / average inventory × 365 days).

Your company should strive to meet — or beat — industry standards. For a retailer or wholesaler, inventory is simply purchased from the manufacturer. But the inventory account is more complicated for manufacturers and construction firms. It’s a function of raw materials, labor and overhead costs.

The composition of your company’s cost of goods will guide you on where to cut. In a tight labor market, it’s hard to reduce labor costs. But it may be possible to renegotiate prices with suppliers.

Don’t forget the carrying costs of inventory, such as storage, insurance, obsolescence and pilferage. You can also improve margins by negotiating a net lease for your warehouse, installing antitheft devices or opting for less expensive insurance coverage.

Product Mix

Cutting your days-in-inventory ratio should be done based on individual product margins. Stock more products with high margins and high demand — and less of everything else. Whenever possible, return excessive supplies of slow-moving materials or products to your suppliers.

Product mix should be sufficiently broad and in tune with consumer needs. Before cutting back on inventory, you might need to negotiate speedier delivery from suppliers or give suppliers access to your perpetual inventory system. These precautionary measures can help prevent lost sales due to lean inventory.

Reality Check

Often, managers are so focused on sales, HR issues and product innovation that they lose control over inventory. Contact us for a reality check.

Nicole Malueg, CPA
D 920.684.2523
Tax Tip Tuesday - Video Short
Tax Withholding Estimator

This week, Steve demonstrates how to use the IRS Tax Withholding estimator. This tool is helpful if your pay has recently changed or you owed a bunch of taxes when you filed your return this past year and you're concerned that you’ll owe more coming up in April.
A Family Budget for Your Needs - Today and Tomorrow
A wise person — who may or may not have been an accountant — once said, “Simplicity is the key to a family budget.” However, the budget should also be comprehensive enough to cover all necessities. To find the right balance, a budget should cover two distinct facets of family members’ lives: the near term and the long term.

Your near-term budget should encompass the day-to-day items that affect your family. First, the home: This is often the most expensive item in a personal budget, and includes mortgage payments or rent, utilities, maintenance, and supplies.  

Other items related to daily life that need to be accounted for include groceries, fuel, clothing, child care, insurance and out-of-pocket medical expenses. Also, families need to draw clear distinctions between fixed and discretionary spending.

Along with being a practical guide to near-term family spending, a budget should address long-term goals, some of which are further out than others. For example, virtually everyone’s longest-term objective should be to have a comfortable retirement. So, a budget needs to incorporate retirement plan contributions and other ways to meet this goal.

A relatively less long-term goal might be funding college for each child. And, as a long-term but “as soon as possible” objective, a budget needs to be structured to pay off debts and maintain a strong credit rating. Our firm can help you craft a sensible budget that reflects your family’s distinctive needs.

Judy Haven, CPA
D 262.404.2109
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