Business Tax Loophole: Leasing Assets To Your Corporation

While there are many equally valid reasons to incorporate, saving money on taxes is a consideration that can yield relatively immediate results. Leasing assets to your corporation is a tax strategy you should absolutely consider if you already have a corporation or are thinking about forming one. Here's how it works.

Just because you incorporate doesn't mean that the corporation must own all of the assets it uses. In fact there are many legal, tax and financial considerations for NOT having your corporation own its own assets.

Leasing assets to your corporation is a perfectly legal and advantageous way to reduce your overall tax liability. When you lease assets to your corporation, the business pays a lease or rental payment and you in turn claim the lease or rental income. By doing this, you as the lessor get to deduct items such as acquisition interest, depreciation, repairs and maintenance, insurance and administrative costs.

When interest and depreciation deductions are exhausted you can then transfer the assets to a family member in a lower tax bracket or you can sell the assets to the corporation. A sale to the corporation would give it a higher tax basis (cost) than it had in the hands of the lessor (you). This would increase the corporation's depreciation deductions, thereby reducing its tax liability.

If you haven't noticed already, leasing assets to your corporation is a fabulous way to pull money out of the business instead of through payroll. When you take a paycheck, you've got payroll deductions to consider. Not so when you take a rent check.

Another reason to lease assets to your corporation has to do with double taxation. If your corporation sells appreciable assets for a big gain, and you try and take the money out of the company, you will get clobbered with taxes?twice. This will not be the case if you lease the asset to the corporation. Under this scenario, you will only be taxed once.

From a legal standpoint, it's also better to have your corporation own as little assets as possible if you are in a "high risk" industry subject to lawsuits. If you lease assets to your corporation and your corporation gets sued, it's tough for a hostile party to seize the assets if they are in your name and NOT the corporation's.

You may rent almost any asset to your corporation. Examples include, office space, machinery and equipment, vehicles, computers and peripherals and real estate.

Besides renting the assets personally, you may use a multiple entity arrangement such as partnerships, S corporations or limited-liability-companies to rent the assets to a corporation. However, you shouldn't use another regular corporation because it may be deemed a personal holding company (where most of its income is from passive income such as rents and royalties, etc.). Personal holding companies are subject to a penalty that would defeat any tax savings rental strategy.

The requirements for leasing assets to your corporation are as follows:

-You must draw up a formal and bona fide lease agreement. You should treat the leasing agreement just like you would if you were dealing with an unrelated party.

-The rental amount you establish must be fair. In other words, you can't charge anything you want. It has to be reasonable and in line with what's being charged for rental of similar assets in your area.

So there you have it, more good reasons to operate your business as a corporation. My final piece of advice is this: Make sure you consult with your attorney and tax advisor before making any important legal or financial decision. As with most things legal or tax-related, there are many exceptions and special rules that apply. Your attorney or tax advisor will be able to advise you correctly based on your own unique circumstances and objectives.

Tax Tips for Home-Based Business Owners

As tax time approaches, many home-based business owners begin completing their forms or paying their accountants with trepidation. This nervousness comes from two sources: a fear of being audited and a fear of having to pay a lot. For the most part, both of these fears are unfounded.

For one, audits are rare. In fact, only 0.5% of taxpayers are subjected to audits every year. And if you do beat the odds, keeping good records and maintaining receipts will help you weather the IRS storm.

Obviously you have not control over whether or not your return is chosen for an audit, but you can control how much you are going to owe the government this year. Most people who own small or home-based businesses end up paying more than they should in taxes simply because they are not taking advantage of all their deduction possibilities, even those that are right around them every day.

Your Automobile

You may not realize it, but one of your biggest potential tax savers is sitting in your garage right now. Most people realize that their car can be a tax write-off if it is used for advertising purposes, but the majority of home-based business owners don't realize that it they may also be eligible for deductions as well.

For example, if you drive your car to the post office to buy stamps for your business or if you drive to the office supply store to stock up on paper clips, you can claim that mileage on your taxes. You can even claim the mileage if your business-related stop was made on the way to picking your daughter up from ballet class or dropping your dog off at the vet.

In addition, you can write-off other automobile related expenses such as gas, insurance, and parking costs if they pertain to any business related activity.

Be sure to keep records, however. You will want to have a small notebook in your car at all times so you can jot down your start and stop mileage as well as a note about the business activity in which you are engaged. Keep all gas, parking, and insurance receipts as well if you plan to claim those as business expenses.

Your Family

If you pay your children an allowance, you can also count these as deductions if you hire them as part of your staff. Any business owner knows that the money he or she pays to employees does not count as part of their profit. The same is true for home-based businesses.

Most business owners also know they can find employees among their own family without raising any eyebrows. The same is true for home-based businesses. You can hire your fourteen year old to help you answer phones, file, or type up correspondence. You can offer your eight year old a job emptying wastebaskets, straightening your office, etc. Then you pay them a certain amount of money every week for their labor.Again keeping records is essential. Keep track of the hours your children work for you as well as the activities they do. Pay them, if possible, by check from your business account. You can set up a checking or savings account for the children in which the money can be deposited.

Your Home

Obviously if you worked in a small office building you could deduct the amount of rent you paid for that property from your taxes, as well as the costs of all the equipment and expenses. Well, just because you work out of your home that does not mean you lose out on those deductions.

Chances are you have a small area of your home that is set aside for your business purposes. Now while you cannot write-off the cost of your entire house, you can write-off the cost of that area.What you do is determine what percentage of your home's total square feet is dedicated to your business. For example, if your office takes up 10% of your home's total area and you pay $600 per month for the property, you can claim $60 per month as a business expense which would be $720 per year.

The same formula works for your utilities, such as electricity, water, and telephone (unless you have a separate line just for business). All of your equipment - your computer, printer, scanner, cell phone, printer ink, etc - is also tax deductible.

Remember to keep track of those expenses and hold on to your receipts in order to claim them on your taxes.

When it comes to tax time, no home-based business owner needs to feel afraid. By taking advantage of all your potential deductions and keeping thorough records, you can not only significantly reduce your yearly tax bill, but you can also prepare yourself in the rare event you may be chosen for an audit.

Know A Tax Cheat? Get Paid To Tell The IRS

According to the IRS, taxpayers underpay their taxes by some $300 billion. If you know someone that is contributing to that deficit, the IRS may be willing to pay you up to $10 million for the information you provide. The bigger the cheating you report, the more you're likely to receive.

The most important thing to claim your reward is quality documentation. Without documentation of the cheating going on, it's unlikely that the IRS will investigate the charges and thus no money bonus for you. As might be expected, the IRS receives a lot of information that is merely a hunch or because someone is trying to get back at somebody.

If you feel you have information and documentation to back up your report, the IRS would be extremely interested in hearing from you. You can contact the IRS toll free at 1-800-829-0433 if you suspect tax fraud. When contacting them, you'll be expected to provided the following information:

1. Your name or an alias
2. The name and address of the person you're reporting
3. The length the tax fraud has taken place including the years
4. The social security number or Employer Identification Number of the person you're reporting.
5. Any relevant financial records which pertain to the fraud.
6. Any documents or records which substantiate the fraud.
7. The date of birth of the person you're reporting.

The rewards for reporting the tax cheat can be hefty. If the IRS does investigate and recover money from your information, you may be entitled to anywhere from 1% and 15% of the money they recover - up to $10 million. The IRS has a minimum payout of $100 which means any tax cheating reported has to be in the thousands of dollars for any chance of you receiving a reward. For more information on the rewards, you can visit http://www.irs.gov/ and look at publication 733 - Rewards for Information Provided by Individuals to the Internal Revenue Service.

How To Get An Instant Pay Raise

As a gentleman was leaving my class recently, he wanted me to clarify something I had said. He was making sure that he should take his four or five thousand dollar tax refund and pay off debt.

I was stunned. This money represented $400-$500 that could have been in his pocket every month. A survey of my friends this week revealed one who was getting back $2800 and one getting $3300 back this year.

Getting a large tax refund (over $500) means you are having too much money withheld from your check every pay period.

Many people use this as a forced saving plan and it does not make any sense. You are loaning the government YOUR money, interest free. Every $1200 in refund is an extra $100 per month you could have used to eliminate debt or invest for your future.

I 'd venture to say that most people who do get large refunds could use this money every month to ease their debt burden. This burden frequently leads to late charges and higher interest rates. Instead, they like the feeling of getting that big check in the mail and figuring out how to spend that chunk of money.

The ideal situation is to either owe or get back $100.

If you get a big tax refund then you should adjust your allowances. The more allowances you claim, the less money is withheld from your check for taxes. It generally does not matter how many allowances you claim. If the government gets it's money they really don't care how many allowances you claim.

Here is how to get it right. Take the time to complete the appropriate worksheets included on Form W-4. The worksheets will help you determine your withholding allowances based on your income, adjustments, deductions, exemptions and tax credits. The worksheets can help you figure the right amount so you don't have too little withheld.

The IRS now has a calculator on their website which you can now access anytime at: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html

If you need help ask your payroll administrator at work or an accountant.

Keep your money working for YOU!

What the Tax Software Companies Dont Want You to Know

Haven't done your taxes yet? No problem. Now there is a new way you can use top tax software programs, like TurboTax and H&R Block, to get your taxes done quickly and easily. And the best part is it won't cost you a thing.

The secret is an IRS program called Free File, that allows you to prepare and file your federal tax return electronically, using these and dozens of other popular tax software programs, for free!

Free File has been around for a few years, but it used to have very stringent income requirements (i.e., only taxpayers whose incomes were below a certain level could use it). This year is the first time the service is being opened up to 99% of taxpayers.

Important: You must go through the IRS official web site in order to get this deal. Go to http://www.irs.gov/ and click on the link at the top of the home page that says Free File. (Note: It's not on the navigation bar. It's on the home page itself.)

Next, you'll want to click the gray button at the bottom of the page that says, "Start Now." At this point, you'll have the option of browsing all of the services offered or choosing to use the "Guide Me to a Service" wizard to help you select one. The wizard will ask you a few basic questions about your age and income and then come back with a list of companies whose free products meet your needs.

Why is the IRS doing this? In a nutshell, to save money. It's cheaper, faster and easier for them to process returns electronically.

Why should you do it? Because it's cheaper and easier to file, and you can get your refund faster.

Why are the big tax companies offering this deal? They're trying to get you to upgrade to one of their deluxe products, which offer things like tax planning advice, the ability to import data from software you used last year, etc.

Also, state tax programs are not included in this deal. So the companies probably figure that if you use their free federal program you'll end up buying their state one.

Remember: You must go through the IRS official web site in order to get this deal. If you go to the tax companies' sites, you will not get this offer. In fact, some of these companies not only charge you to do your return online, but then they'll also hit you with a fee once you try to file electronically. So you'll pay twice if you don't go through the IRS web site.

Happy tax preparing!