The Tax Cut and Jobs Act – How does it affect non-corporate taxpayers with business income?

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act decreased the tax rate for corporations from graduated rates of up to 35% to a flat rate of 21% beginning after December 31, 2017. The Act also added a 20% deduction for non-corporate taxpayer with domestic qualified business income from sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC) and S corporations, effective for tax years after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026.

The 20% deduction is allowed as a deduction reducing taxable income and not allowed in computing adjusted gross income. The deduction is limited to the greater of:

1. 50% of the W-2 wages paid by the business, or
2. The sum of 25% of the W-2 wages paid by the business plus 2.5%% of the cost basis of the tangible depreciable property of the business at the close of the tax year.

The 20% deduction is also limited to qualified non-personal service businesses income. Qualified non-personal service income is defined as the net amount of domestic qualified items of income, deduction and loss from trade or business other than health, law, consulting, athletics, financial services, brokerage services or any business where the main asset of the business is the reputation or skill of one or more of its employees or owners.

The above limitations do not apply for taxpayers with taxable income below the “threshold amount” ($315,000 for couples filing jointly, $157,000 for other individuals). The 20% deduction is phased in for individuals with taxable income exceeding the threshold amount, over the next $100,000 of taxable income for married individuals filing jointly, $50,000 for other individuals.

Basically, non-corporate taxpayers with taxable income below the $157,000 or $315,000 threshold may generally claim the full 20% deduction. Non-corporate taxpayers with taxable income above the threshold with non-personal service business income may claim the deduction, but may be limited by the wage and capital limit exception or may be completely phased out.