What the Proposed Tax Deal Means for Your Business – Inc.

The House Democrats released their tax proposal with big headlines about increasing taxes on the rich and big corporations. But if you have read my articles before, you know I care less about big corporations and more about small businesses. Where do they fit in to the tax code changes? Is tax reform good or bad for them? Some small businesses will benefit from the proposed changes. Here's who wins and loses with this new tax proposal:

The Winners: Small corporations earning less than $5 million

Currently corporations are federally taxed at a flat rate of 21% of adjusted net income. The proposal in the house would create three new tax brackets for corporations:

Small corporations earning less than $5 million per year in income will actually experience a tax decrease in this proposal, saving up to $12k in tax expense. Not huge, but not bad.

Small businesses competing against foreign companies

Substantial portions of the tax reform package seek to close loopholes or deductions taken by foreign entities or domestic entities paying foreign taxes. Small businesses who cannot afford the scale or reach of international operations will benefit from a leveling of the playing field as they compete with foreign entities facing larger tax burdens.

Anyone waiting for the IRS

The proposal includes $79 billion of additional IRS funding for enforcement of new provisions. That is more than a 6x increase over the 2021 budget!

While entrepreneurs and libertarians generally cringe at the idea of more IRS bureaucrats issuing audits and investigating tax filings, there is a downside to our currently low IRS staffing: slow responses, terrible customer service, and delayed tax refunds.

Accounting departments nationwide have been struggling to file basic and time-sensitive forms like change in entity tax elections, often going 10+ months without confirmation or response from the IRS. It is all but impossible to contact IRS customer service now, with their 800-number automatically hanging up on callers after 3-hours on hold. The worst part is most small businesses are still awaiting their 2020 income tax returns five months after filing.

The hope is extra IRS funding means more staff to process refunds, filings, and business negotiations faster.

The Losers of Tax Reform

In general, the more profit you earn the more you stand to lose from tax reform. Here's a list of the losers in the current tax proposal in the house:

Corporations earning more than $5 million per year

High income corporations are facing a new income bracket of 26.5%. In fact, if you earn more than $10 million per year, you will have ALL your income taxed at 26.5% rather than just incremental income.

Pass-through entities earning more than $400k per year

High income S-corps, partnerships, and sole proprietors are facing three headwinds in the tax reforms. The top-tax bracket for personal income taxes (which affects pass-through entities like partnerships, S-corps, and sole proprietors) will be increased from 37% to 39.6%.

Second, the threshold for this tax bracket will be lowered, meaning a new set of earners will suddenly qualify for the top tax bracket. The new bracket limit for individuals will be $400k (down from $523k) and $450k (down fro $628k) for married filing jointly.

Lastly, high income pass-through entities will be disqualified from the Qualified Business Income Deduction. The QBID (commonly known as the pass-through tax deduction) is a deduction worth up to 20% of your income. However, the rules for QBID are complex and include phase-outs for businesses with higher income, business activity, or even what year it is. It is difficult to know how much your business benefited from the QBID without reviewing your tax return.

The proposed tax reform eliminated the QBDI for anyone earning more than $500k/yr. jointly or $400k/yr. for a single individual. Consult with your fractional CFO or CPA to determine whether or not this would affect you.

Owners that sell businesses or business assets

The highest long-term capital gains tax rate (which applies to most businesses) would rise from 20% to 25%. This has a large impact on businesses that buy and sell appreciating assets like real estate, collectables, stocks, or even your business itself.

In fact, the most popular way to avoid paying capital gains taxes, known as section 1202, is also weakened in the proposed tax reforms. The gains exclusion would drop from 100% to 50%, creating up to $5 million per year in additional capital gains taxes per transaction.Individuals with lots of money in retirement accounts

The new tax legislation seeks to limit the use of qualified retirement accounts, like IRAs and Roth IRA's, based on the total amount of money someone has in such accounts.

Overall Impact of Tax Changes on Small Businesses

The Biden administration and House Democrats have successfully targeted high-income corporations and business owners in these reforms. Although there are some benefits in the legislation, in aggregate, The House's proposed tax changes would be a burden on high income small businesses.

These terms are being actively negotiated in congress, so do not get too excited. There is still a chance that none of it will happen. Here's my recommendation to small business owners facing the prospect of high tax liabilities:

In reality, most small businesses will not change anything in light of the new tax structure. There are dozens of business elements more impactful on cash flow than your tax strategy - sales and marketing strategy, operations strategy, pricing strategy, exit strategy... As much as we wish we had a fleet of corporate accountants to find every tax loophole, that is not economically realistic for small businesses. Do your diligence, collaborate with your financial team, but always stay focused on fundamentals to ensure success.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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What the Proposed Tax Deal Means for Your Business - Inc.