(775) 786-6141
by Nhit Hernandez nhernandez@bvcocpas.com
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in March 2020, provides financial relief to individuals, businesses, state and local governments during the COVID-19 health crisis. Below are some of the provisions related to businesses and self-employed individuals. Consult with your local banker and check SBA.GOV for updates on funding options.
The $349 billion appropriated to the PPP was depleted within the first two weeks. Congress passed a bill on April 23, 2020 for an additional $320 billion infusion.
i. Forgiveness is based on employee retention or rehiring and maintaining salary levels similar to prior periods.
i. A business is disqualified if it has received the PPP loan. Self-employed persons are also not eligible.
i. Employers can claim up to $5,000 of credit per employee.
ii. Businesses with 100 or fewer employees can claim wages paid to working or non-working employees. Employers with more than 100 employees can claim the tax credit for wages paid to employees currently not working.
By Bill Saylor, CPA bsaylor@bvcocpas.com
Two major pieces of legislation were finalized and signed on December 20, 2019 and are effective now. Specifically, the tax extender provisions were covered in the previous article Late December Tax Changes are Effective Now – and Retroactively! 
The SECURE Act provides significant changes for retirement accounts for both individuals and businesses. Major changes are noted below.
If you have any questions, please talk to your tax preparer or business advisor.
By Keelie Bishop kbishop@bvcocpas.com
Many individuals, regardless of generation, face the overwhelming question as to if they will ever be able to afford to retire. Too often many people do not save enough to retire. According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office review, about 48% of households had no retirement savings in 2016 and even when people are saving, their retirements won’t last very long (10-20 years). In response, Congress has made it a point to focus on retirement legislation.
For the first time in over a decade, lawmakers are working on passing comprehensive retirement reform. For example, on May 23, 2019 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act by a margin of 417 to 3. This is legislation that aims to encourage retirement savings by increasing access to retirement plans.
The changes currently include: making it easier for small businesses to band together to offer 401(k) plans, requiring businesses to let long-term, part-time workers become eligible for retirement benefits and repealing the maximum age for making contributions to traditional individual retirement accounts (right now, the age is 70½), and changing the required minimum distribution age to 72 for certain retirement accounts.
The bill is intended to increase the amount of tax credit that the government will give to small businesses for having plans up to a maximum of $5,000 per year, from $500 per year. For businesses that automatically enroll employees, the maximum is $5,500.
This particular bill is now in the Senate, but is not the only bill aiming towards retirement reform. In addition there is also the RESA (Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act) bill and the Social Security 2100 Act currently being worked on. As a result it is expected that there will be significant changes to come.
By Brittany Capurro bcapurro@bvcocpas.com
Receiving an IRS notice can be stressful. The most important thing to do is not to panic, and to read the entire notice before taking any action. There are a number of different reasons one might receive a notice, so make sure you understand exactly why you received the notice. You also need to verify that the notice is legitimate and not a scam to get your personal information or money from you.
According to the IRS website, the IRS sends notices and letters for the following reasons:
Your notice will explain why you received it and instruct you on the steps you need to take to handle the issue. Keep a copy of all IRS correspondences with your tax records. If you are unsure about the information in the notice contact your accountant for help.
Do not ignore the notice or wait to take action. These are usually time sensitive with potentially severe consequences if nothing is done in response to a notice. If your notice or letter requires a response by a specific date be sure to comply with this to minimize any additional interest and penalty charges and to preserve your appeal rights if you don’t agree.
The IRS website is a good resource to help you determine if the IRS notice you received is real or if it is scam. The IRS will not initiate contact with a tax payer to request personal or financial information, so if this what the notice is requesting, it is probably a scam.
By David Schaper, CPA dschaper@bvcocpas.com
Do you have a large capital gain and don’t want to pay tax on this income immediately? Investing in an opportunity zone can be advantageous and the Reno CPAs at Barnard Vogler & Co. can help you with this process.
An opportunity zone is a designated area that has been certified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a low-income community that could benefit from private investment. A map to these areas in Nevada can be found at http://www.diversifynevada.com/programs/opportunity-zones/. An investor can go through a certification process by filing Form 8996 if they own property within this zone that they are planning to develop. An investor can also roll the proceeds of their capital gain, whether stock, business property, or property in California into a corporation or partnership that has already been certified, has property in an opportunity zone anywhere in the country, and is seeking private capital.
The mechanics of the gain and tax deferral are quite simple. If you have a capital gain then these are ordinarily taxed at 15% to 23.8%. If you put any portion of these gains into an eligible opportunity zone investment within 180 days, then the tax is deferred until December 31, 2026 at which time 85% of the deferred gain’s tax is due. If the investment is continued to be held after this date then the remaining gain is not taxable. This is a huge benefit as long as you have cash to pay the 85% of the tax on the original gain in 2026. Do you have any other questions on potential pitfalls or fine print of opportunity zone investments? 
Then a Nevada CPA at Barnard Vogler & Co is here to help. Call us at (775) 786-6141 or contact us at information@bvcocpas.com.
By David Schaper, CPA dschaper@bvcocpas.com
There have long been campaign promises of simplifying the federal tax code, with pledges of ultimately filing personal taxes on a postcard. To be amenable to this, the IRS recently released the draft 1040 tax return for individuals to take into consideration all of the tax changes that are effective for 2018. The size of this 1040 has been dwindled to 2 half-pages and eliminated more than 50 lines compared to the 2017 version.
Does this mean that your taxes have been simplified and will require fewer pages, time, and effort to file? Most likely the answer is no, especially if you are a business owner. Various income and deductions items have been moved to an additional schedule, Schedule 1, which must be attached to the 1040. This schedule includes lines for alimony, business income, capital gains, farm income, real estate, pass-through activity from partnerships and S corporations, health savings account deductions, and IRA deductions, among others. So instead of these tax items being on the front of the 1040, they have simply been shifted to a separate schedule that must be attached to the 1040.
The new 1040 also summarizes other information that must be detailed on a separate schedule, which was previously on the 1040. This information includes a form to detail the various types of tax liabilities, a form to detail various nonrefundable credits and a form to detail other federal tax payments and refundable credits.
The 1040 has become simpler to file for 2018 if you only have wage income, interest income, and do not own a home. Otherwise, it has not become simpler to file as many politicians have promised, they have merely put this information onto other forms that must be included in your tax filing. 
Combine these separate schedules with new complex tax laws for qualified business income deductions and many other changes and a Reno CPA may still be needed to assist you in your filings.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act brought to mainstream attention the use of temporary tax provisions by Congress. 
As temporary provisions near their expiration dates several options exist for Congress to choose from. Congress may decide to keep the provision temporary by extending the expiration date, make a temporary provision permanent, or simply allow the provision to expire. When a temporary provision has expired, Congress can also extend the provision retroactively; as was the case in 2018 when Congress retroactively extended the majority of 2016 expired provisions with the passing of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
As in years past, 2017 saw the expiration of many of these temporary provisions. Twenty eight provisions expired at the end of 2017. Of these, twelve were related to business entities, thirteen to energy credits, and three to individuals.
The three individual provisions that expired will impact a large number of taxpayers.
The first of three expired individual provisions was the tuition and fees deduction. We first saw this provision in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. This provision allowed a qualified individual to take an above the line deduction on up to $4,000 of qualified education expenses. This temporary provision has been extended in the past several times and if you were a qualified individual in 2017 and still a student in 2018 this change will impact your tax return.
The second expired individual provision was the mortgage insurance premium deduction. This provision allowed individuals to deduct the entire premium for mortgage insurance on a qualified residence as an itemized deduction on Schedule A. We first saw this provision in 2006 with the Tax Relief and Health Care Act. Like the tuition and fees deduction, this provision has been extended several times in the past. If you had a qualified mortgage in 2017 and 2018 and paid mortgage insurance, this expiration will impact your tax return in 2018.
The final individual temporary tax provision that expired in 2017 was the exclusion in income of the cancellation of mortgage debt on your primary residence. 
Typically, when a debtor receives debt forgiveness the IRS requires this to be included as income. This temporary provision allowed for qualified mortgage debt forgiveness to be excluded. We first saw this deduction with the passing of The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. If you received mortgage forgiveness on a qualified residence in 2018, you will now likely be required to include this in your taxable income in 2018.
The three expired individual tax provisions described in this post have been used in tax planning and filing for at least a decade. Many of us have used them in the past, and may have been planning on using them in 2018. It is impossible to determine the impact this may have when combined with the increase of the standard deduction in 2018 without being familiar with your individual tax situation. If you are concerned with the impact these changes may have on your 2018 tax return, consult with your trusted tax professional. For more detailed reading on the subject of this post see Congressional Research Service Report R45347.
By Jarad Clark, CPA jclark@bvcocpas.com
It is no secret that the majority of our friends and family are on social media. But small business is taking on an expanded roll into the usually social environment. “Friend me”, “Follow me” or “Find me on LinkedIn” are the new aged business card exchange. Gone are the days of stacks of business cards on young professional’s desk, now we share LinkedIn profiles for contact information. Here are a few statistics about the power of social media in 2018:
In 2018, there are 3.196 billion global social media users. A 42% penetration of the worlds population.
There are few other platforms that you can reach such a wide array of potential clients with relatively cheap advertising.
These stats show the power that social media has become in the marketing and business development world. Social media is the most likely place that your potential clients, employees, and business partners are going to hear about you. Now is the time to utilize the platforms at hand to gain an edge on your competition.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was approved by Congress and signed into law on December 22, 2017. 
It provides drastic changes to the Internal Revenue Code and affects taxpayers of all different types, including individuals, corporations, partnerships, estates, and trusts. Following are some of the key changes with regard to trusts and estates.
Prior to the TCJA, there were five tax brackets for trusts. The TCJA eliminated one tax bracket and decreased the overall tax rates for each bracket, reducing the top tax rate for trusts from 39.6% to 37%. Under the new law, if taxable income is:
Not over $2,550, the tax is 10% of taxable income;
Over $2,550 but not over $9,150, the tax is $255 plus 24% of the excess over $2,550;
Over $9,150 but not over $12,500, the tax is $1,839 plus 35% of the excess over $9,150;
Over $12,500, the tax is $3,011.50 plus 37% of the excess over $12,500.
While the overall tax rates are now reduced, the tax brackets are still very compressed with the top tax rate taking effect at $12,500.
The TCJA did not change the exemption amounts for trusts and estates. Estates, simple trusts, and complex trusts are still allowed a $600, $300, $100 exemption, respectively.
There are additional changes to trusts and estates under the TCJA, such as the deductibility of some expenses. For instance, trusts and estates are no longer able to deduct miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% of AGI limitation, such as investment management fees. For additional changes under the TCJA, check the IRS website.
One of the changes to itemized deductions because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was the suspension of the deduction on interest on up to $100,000 of home equity indebtedness. The Internal Revenue Service announced that in many cases taxpayers will be able to continue deducting interest paid on home equity loans.
Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taxpayers were able to deduct interest on up to $1 million in mortgage debt and also up to $100,000 of home equity debt. Under the new law, taxpayers are now limited to $750,000 of home acquisition debt with no separate carve out for home equity debt. 
However, tax filers with mortgage debt taken out prior to December 14, 2017, are still allowed to deduct interest on up to $1 million in mortgage debt (not inclusive of home equity debt).
So, how do you determine if interest on home equity debt is deductible for tax years beginning after 2017? Here are a couple of guidelines:
It is good to see that interest on home equity debt is still available for deduction. Check the IRS’ announcement for some examples to illustrate the new limits.
