December 2022

Dear Clients and Friends:

As the year-end approaches, it is a good time to start thinking about moves that may help lower your tax bill for this year and possibly next. Planning needs to consider recent changes made by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and potential year-end tax changes. Whether or not tax increases become effective next year, the standard year-end approach of deferring income and accelerating deductions to minimize taxes will continue to produce the best results for all but the highest income taxpayers, as will the bunching of deductible expenses into this year or next to avoid restrictions and maximize deductions. We have compiled a list of actions based on current tax rules that may help you save tax dollars if you act before year-end. Not all of them will apply to you, but you (or a family member) may benefit from many of them.

Year-End Tax-Planning Moves for Individuals

• Higher-income individuals must be wary of the 3.8% surtax on certain unearned income. The surtax is 3.8% of the lesser of: (1) net investment income (NII), or (2) the excess of MAGI (modified adjusted gross income) over a threshold amount ($250,000 for joint filers or surviving spouses, $125,000 for a married individual filing a separate return, and $200,000 in any other case). As year-end nears, the approach taken to minimize or eliminate the 3.8% surtax will depend on the taxpayer's estimated MAGI and NII for the year. Some taxpayers should consider ways to minimize (e.g., through deferral) additional NII for the balance of the year, others should try to reduce MAGI other than NII, and some individuals will need to consider ways to minimize both NII and other types of MAGI. An important exception is that NII does not include distributions from IRAs or most other retirement plans.

• The 0.9% additional Medicare tax also may require higher-income earners to take year-end action. It applies to individuals whose employment wages and self-employment income total more than an amount equal to the NIIT thresholds, above. Employers must withhold the additional Medicare tax from wages in excess of $200,000 regardless of filing status or other income. Self-employed persons must take it into account when figuring estimated tax. There could be situations where an employee may need to have more withheld toward the end of the year to cover the tax. This would be the case, for example, if an employee earns less than $200,000 from multiple employers but more than that amount in total. Such an employee would owe the additional Medicare tax, but nothing would have been withheld by any employer.

• Long-term capital gain from sales of assets held for over one year is taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20%, depending on the taxpayer's taxable income. If you hold long-term appreciated-in-value assets, consider selling enough of them to generate long-term capital gains that can be sheltered by the 0% rate. The 0% rate generally applies to the excess of long-term capital gain over any short-term capital loss to the extent that, when added to regular taxable income, it is not more than the maximum zero rate amount (e.g., $83,350 for a married couple for 2022). For example, if the 0% rate applies to long-term capital gains you took earlier this year, you are a joint filer who made a profit of $5,000 on the sale of stock held for more than one year, and your other taxable income for 2022 is $85,350 or less, then try not to sell assets yielding a capital loss before year-end, because the first $5,000 of those losses will not yield a benefit this year. (It will offset $5,000 of capital gain that is already tax-free.)

• Postpone income until 2023 and accelerate deductions into 2022 if doing so will enable you to claim larger deductions, credits, and other tax breaks for 2022 that are phased out over varying levels of adjusted gross income (AGI). These include deductible IRA contributions, child tax credits, higher education tax credits, and deductions for student loan interest. Postponing income is also desirable for taxpayers who anticipate being in a lower tax bracket next year due to changed financial circumstances. However, note that in some cases it may pay to actually accelerate income into 2022. For example, that may be the case for a person who will have a more favorable filing status this year than next (e.g., head of household versus individual filing status), or who expects to be in a higher tax bracket next year.
• If you plan on making charitable contributions, consider donating appreciated-in-value securities directly to the charity instead of making cash contributions. The unrealized gains from these securities are not taxed and the full fair market value of the securities can be claimed as a charitable deduction.

• If you believe a Roth IRA is better for you than a traditional IRA, consider converting traditional-IRA money invested in any beaten-down stocks (or mutual funds) into a Roth IRA in 2022 if eligible to do so. Keep in mind that the conversion will increase your income for 2022, possibly reducing tax breaks subject to phaseout at higher AGI levels.

• It may be advantageous to try to arrange with your employer to defer, until early 2023, a bonus that may be coming your way. This might cut as well as defer your tax. Again, considerations may be different for the highest income individuals.

• Many taxpayers will not want to itemize because of the high standard deduction amounts that apply for 2022 ($25,900 for joint filers, $12,950 for singles and for marrieds filing separately, $19,400 for heads of household), and because many itemized deductions have been reduced or abolished. Like last year, no more than $10,000 of state and local taxes may be deducted; miscellaneous itemized deductions (e.g., tax preparation fees and unreimbursed employee expenses) are not deductible; and personal casualty and theft losses are deductible only if they are attributable to a federally declared disaster and only to the extent the $100-per-casualty and 10%-of-AGI limits are met. You can still itemize medical expenses but only to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, state and local taxes up to $10,000, your charitable contributions, plus interest deductions on a restricted amount of qualifying residence debt, but payments of those items will not save taxes if they do not cumulatively exceed the standard deduction for your filing status.

• Some taxpayers may be able to work around these deduction restrictions by applying a bunching strategy to pull or push discretionary medical expenses and charitable contributions into the year where they will do some tax good. For example, a taxpayer who will be able to itemize deductions this year but not next will benefit by making two years' worth of charitable contributions this year, instead of spreading out donations over 2022 and 2023. For 2022-2025, the deduction for charitable contributions of individuals is limited to 60% of the contribution base (generally, AGI).

• If you expect to owe state and local income taxes when you file your return next year and you will be itemizing in 2022, consider asking your employer to increase withholding of state and local taxes (or pay estimated tax payments of state and local taxes) before year-end to pull the deduction of those taxes into 2022. But remember that state and local tax deductions are limited to $10,000 per year, so this strategy is not good to the extent it causes your 2022 state and local tax payments to exceed $10,000.

• If you were 72 or older in 2022, you must take a required minimum distribution (RMD) from any IRA or 401(k) plan (or other employer-sponsored retirement plan) of which you are a beneficiary. Those who turn 72 this year have until April 1 of 2023 to take their first RMD but may want to take it by the end of 2022 to avoid having to double up on RMDs next year.

• If you are age 70½ or older by the end of 2022, have traditional IRAs, and especially if you are unable to itemize your deductions, consider making 2022 charitable donations via qualified charitable distributions from your IRAs. These distributions are made directly to charities from your IRAs, and the amount of the contribution is neither included in your gross income nor deductible on Schedule A, Form 1040. However, you are still entitled to claim the entire standard deduction. (Previously, those who reached reach age 70½ during a year were not permitted to make contributions to a traditional IRA for that year or any later year. While that restriction no longer applies, the qualified charitable distribution amount must be reduced by contributions to an IRA that were deducted for any year in which the contributor was age 70½ or older, unless a previous qualified charitable distribution exclusion was reduced by that post-age 70½ contribution.)

• If you are younger than age 70½ at the end of 2022, you anticipate that you will not itemize your deductions in later years when you are 70½ or older, and you do not currently have any traditional IRAs, establish and contribute as much as you can to one or more traditional IRAs in 2022. If these circumstances apply to you, except that you already have one or more traditional IRAs, make maximum contributions to one or more traditional IRAs in 2022. Then, in the year you reach age 70½, make your charitable donations by way of qualified charitable distributions from your IRA(s). Doing this will allow you, in effect, to convert nondeductible charitable contributions that you would make in the year you turn 70½ and later years, into deductible IRA contributions in 2022 and reductions of gross income from IRA distributions in later years.

• Take an eligible rollover distribution from a qualified retirement plan before the end of 2022 if you are facing a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax and having your employer increase your withholding is unavailable or will not sufficiently address the problem. Income tax will be withheld from the distribution and will be applied toward the taxes owed for 2022. You can then timely roll over the gross amount of the distribution (i.e. - the net amount you received plus the amount of withheld tax) to a traditional IRA. No part of the distribution will be includible in income for 2022, but the withheld tax will be applied pro rata over the full 2022 tax year to reduce previous underpayments of estimated tax.

• Consider increasing the amount you set aside for next year in your employer's FSA if you set aside too little for this year and anticipate similar medical costs next year.

• If you become eligible by December of 2022 to make health savings account (HSA) contributions, you can make a full year's worth of deductible HSA contributions for 2022.

• Make gifts sheltered by the annual gift tax exclusion before the end of the year if doing so may save gift and estate taxes. The exclusion applies to gifts of up to $16,000 made in 2022 to each of an unlimited number of individuals. You cannot carry over unused exclusions from one year to the next. Such transfers may save family income taxes where income-earning property is given to family members in lower income tax brackets who are not subject to the kiddie tax.
• Individuals covered by Medicare could be subject to a Medicare surcharge on their 2023 premiums if their 2021 MAGI exceeds $97,000 for a single filer or $194,000 for married couples filing jointly. The Medicare surcharge applies to both Medicare Part B and D, and the surcharge increases as a taxpayer’s MAGI increases. The surcharge is based upon MAGI from two years prior. In other words, any surcharge for 2023 would be based upon MAGI for 2021.

• If you were in a federally declared disaster area, and you suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses, keep in mind you can choose to claim them either on the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2022 return normally filed next year), or on the return for the prior year (2021), generating a quicker refund.

• If you were in a federally declared disaster area, you may want to settle an insurance or damage claim in 2022 in order to maximize your casualty loss deduction this year.

 

Year-End Tax-Planning Moves for Businesses & Business Owners

• Taxpayers other than C-corporations may be entitled to a deduction of up to 20% of their qualified business income. For 2022, if taxable income exceeds $340,100 for a married couple filing jointly (about half that for others), the deduction may be limited based on whether the taxpayer is engaged in a service-type trade or business (such as law, accounting, health, or consulting), the amount of W-2 wages paid by the business, and/or the unadjusted basis of qualified property (such as machinery and equipment) held by the business. The limitations are phased in; for example, the phase-in applies to joint filers with taxable income up to $100,000 above the threshold, and to other filers with taxable income up to $50,000 above their threshold.

• Taxpayers may be able to salvage some or all of this deduction, by deferring income or accelerating deductions to keep income under the dollar thresholds (or be subject to a smaller deduction phaseout) for 2022. Depending on their business model, taxpayers may also be able to increase the deduction by increasing W-2 wages before year-end.  The rules are quite complex, so please consult with us.

• Businesses should consider making expenditures that qualify for the liberalized business property expensing option. For tax years beginning in 2022, the expensing limit is $1,080,000, and the investment ceiling limit is $2,700,000. Expensing is generally available for most depreciable property (other than buildings) and off-the-shelf computer software. It is also available for interior improvements to a building (but not for its enlargement, elevators or escalators, or the internal structural framework), for roofs, and for HVAC, fire protection, alarm, and security systems.

• The generous dollar ceilings mean that many small and medium sized businesses that make timely purchases and put the asset in service by year-end will be able to currently deduct most if not all their outlays for machinery and equipment. The expensing deduction is not prorated for the time that the asset is in service during the year, so expensing eligible items acquired and placed in service in the last days of 2022, rather than at the beginning of 2023, can result in a full expensing deduction for 2022.

• Businesses also can claim a 100% bonus first year depreciation deduction for machinery and equipment bought used (with some exceptions) or new if purchased and placed in service this year, and for qualified improvement property, described above as related to the expensing deduction. The 100% write-off is permitted without any proration based on the length of time that an asset is in service during the tax year. As a result, the 100% bonus first-year write-off is available even if qualifying assets are in service for only a few days in 2022. (In 2023, the available write-off will decline to 80%.)

• Year-end bonuses can be timed for maximum tax effect by both cash- and accrual-basis employers. Cash basis employers deduct bonuses in the year paid, so they can time the payment for maximum tax effect. Accrual-basis employers deduct bonuses in the accrual year, when all events related to them are established with reasonable certainty. However, the bonus must be paid within two months after the end of the employer's tax year for the deduction to be allowed in the earlier accrual year. Accrual employers looking to defer deductions to a higher-taxed future year should consider changing their bonus plans before year-end to set the payment date later than the 2.5-month window or change the bonus plans terms to make the bonus amount not determinable at year-end.

• To reduce 2022 taxable income, consider deferring a debt-cancellation event until 2023.

• Sometimes the disposition of a passive activity can be timed to make best use of its freed-up suspended losses. Where reduction of 2022 income is desired, consider disposing of a passive activity before year-end to take the suspended losses against 2022 income.
• Businesses that make interstate sales should be aware of the changing sales tax laws across the country. Due to the Wayfair Supreme Court ruling, states now can require collection of sales tax by businesses making sales within their state by applying much more liberal nexus rules than in the past. Many states are adopting new laws requiring businesses exceeding a certain amount of transactions or a certain amount dollar amount of sales to customers within their state to collect and remit sales tax on those transactions. Businesses making taxable interstate sales that are not already collecting and remitting sales tax should be aware of this changing landscape.
• Kansas based pass-through entities (S corporations and partnerships) that are cash basis taxpayers should consider having the entity pay Kansas income tax on behalf of the shareholders by year-end. The new Kansas SALT (state and local tax) Parity Act that was passed earlier this year created this option. We previously emailed out a letter on this new law. Missouri also passed a SALT Parity Act, but it is not effective until 2023. Many other states have passed or are in the process of passing similar legislation. We will work with you to take advantage of this new state legislation.

 

These are just some of the year-end steps that can be taken to reduce taxes. Please contact our office with questions.

Very truly yours,

 

YOUNG & ASSOCIATES. LLC