Pass-through tax breaks

ALERT: The pass-through provisions of the TCJA – the devil is in the details

March 28, 2018

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act contains valuable opportunities for businesses that operate as pass-through entities.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has been touted for cutting the corporate tax rate, but the law also contains some valuable opportunities for businesses that operate as pass-through entities, including partnerships, limited liability companies, S corporations and sole proprietorships. These businesses stand to see their tax liabilities fall significantly, but determining just how much they will benefit can be complicated.The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has been touted for cutting the corporate tax rate, but the law also contains some valuable opportunities for businesses that operate as pass-through entities, including partnerships, limited liability companies, S corporations and sole proprietorships. These businesses stand to see their tax liabilities fall significantly, but determining just how much they will benefit can be complicated.

Pass-through tax cuts

The owners and shareholders of pass-through entities pay taxes on their net income at individual ordinary income tax rates, which had reached as high as 39.6% under prior law. The TCJA reduced individual tax rates, with the highest rate now at 37%. It also raised the thresholds for individual tax brackets, and the top rate doesn’t take effect until taxable income exceeds $500,000 for single filers and $600,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Moreover, the TCJA added a generous new business deduction for pass-through businesses that will slash taxable income. The qualified business income (QBI) deduction generally allows taxpayers to deduct 20% of QBI received. The calculation is performed for each qualified business and aggregated. (If the net amount is below zero, it is treated as a loss for the following year, thereby reducing that year’s QBI deduction.)

Once taxable income – not QBI – exceeds $157,500 for single filers or $315,000 for married couples filing jointly, a wage limit begins to phase in, under which taxpayers can deduct only the lesser of 20% of QBI or 50% of their allocable share of W-2 wages paid by the business. The wage limit is intended to deter high-income taxpayers from converting wages or other compensation for personal services to QBI that qualifies for the deduction.

Alternatively, taxpayers can deduct the lesser of 20% of QBI or 25% of wages plus 2.5% of their allocable share of the unadjusted basis of qualified business property (QBP). This option makes it easier for capital-intensive firms with relatively low wages (real estate, construction or manufacturing businesses, for example) to take advantage of the deduction.

The wage limit phases in completely when taxable income exceeds $207,500 for single filers and $415,000 for joint filers. When it applies but isn’t yet fully phased in, the gross (without any wage limit) deduction is reduced by the same ratio of the difference between the amount of the gross deduction and the fully wage-limited deduction as the ratio of:

  1. The amount by which the taxable income exceeds the threshold to
  2. $50,000 for single filers or $100,000 for married couples filing jointly.

The amount of the deduction may not exceed 20% of the taxable income less any net capital gains. For example, if the QBI for a married couple is $400,000 and their taxable income is $300,000, the deduction is limited to 20% of $300,000, or $60,000.

The QBI deduction is further limited for specified service trades or businesses (SSTBs). The QBI deduction for SSTBs begins to phase out at $157,500 in taxable income for single filers and $315,000 for joint filers, phasing out completely at $207,500 and $415,000, respectively (the same thresholds by which the wage limit phases in).

The QBI deduction applies to taxable income and doesn’t come into play when computing adjusted gross income (AGI). It is available to both itemizing and non-itemizing taxpayers.

Examples for non-SSTBs

The amount of the deduction for “qualified trades or businesses” depends largely on taxpayers’ taxable income – that is, their AGI less itemized deductions (excluding the QBI deduction). It is most easily calculated when taxable income is less than $157,500 for single filers and $315,000 for married joint filers so the wage limit doesn’t apply.

  • For example, joint filers Bob and Mary have taxable income of $150,000, including $75,000 in QBI. They can deduct 20% of $75,000, or $15,000, from their taxable income.

Computing the deduction also is fairly straightforward when taxable income exceeds $207,500 for single filers or $415,000 for married joint filers.

  • Let’s assume Bob and Mary have taxable income of $575,000, including $75,000 of Mary’s QBI. She pays $20,000 in wages and has $90,000 of QBP. The first option for the wage limit calculation in this situation is $10,000 (50% of $20,000), and the second option is $7,250 (25% of $20,000 + 2.5% of $90,000) – making the wage limit, and the deduction, $10,000.
  • What if Bob and Mary’s taxable income falls into the range between $315,000 and $415,000, where the wage limit is phasing in, with everything else remaining the same? If their taxable income is, say $400,000, their deduction is partially capped by the wage limit. As in the immediately preceding example, the full wage limit is $10,000, but, with taxable income of $400,000, only 85% of the full limit applies:
    • ($400,000 taxable income - $315,000 threshold) / $100,000 = 85%
  • To calculate the amount of their deduction, the couple must deduct 85% of the difference between the gross deduction of $15,000 and the $10,000 deduction if the full wage limit applied:
    • ($15,000 - $10,000) × 85%= $4,250
  • That amount is deducted from the gross deduction for a final deduction of $10,750 ($15,000 - $4,250).

Example for SSTBs

When taxable income doesn’t exceed $157,500 for single filers or $315,000 for married couples filing jointly, SSTBs are treated in the same manner as qualified businesses (see first example above) when it comes to the QBI deduction. And, if the taxable income equals or exceeds $207,500 for single filers or $415,000 for married joint filers, SSTB owners receive no QBI deduction.

It is when taxable income falls between those thresholds that things get trickier because the QBI, W-2 wages and QBP all gradually phase out on a prorated basis over this income range. The percentage that a taxpayer can take into account is 100% less the percentage equal to the ratio of: 1) the amount by which taxable income exceeds the threshold amount to 2) $50,000 for single filers or $100,000 for joint filers:

100% - (taxable income – applicable threshold)/$50,000 or $100,000 = applicable percentage

  • For example, let’s say Bob and Mary have joint taxable income of $400,000, and Mary has an SSTB with $75,000 in QBI. She pays $20,000 in wages and owns $90,000 in QBP. Only 15% of the QBI, or $11,250, qualifies for the deduction:
    • 100% - ($400,000 - $315,000)/$100,000 = 15% × $75,000 = $11,250
  • The gross deduction is 20% of $11,250, or $2,250. But, because only 15% of the QBI qualifies for the deduction, the couple can take account of only 15% of wages ($3,000) and QBP ($13,500) when calculating the wage limit. Fifty percent of wages for purposes of the limit, therefore, is $1,500, and 25% of wages plus 2.5% of QBP is $1,087.50 – setting the full wage limit at the greater amount of $1,500.
  • As for a non-SSTB, though, the wage limit phases in gradually over this income range. In this case, 85% of the limit applies:
    • ($400,000 - $315,000) / $100,000 = 85%
  • The couple must reduce their QBI deduction by 85% of the difference between the gross deduction amount and the deduction amount if the full wage limit applied:
    • ($2,250 - $1,500) × 85% = $637.50
  • As a result, their allowable deduction is $1,612.50 ($2,250 - $637.50).

What's next?

It’s still early in the life cycle of the TCJA, and extensive regulations are expected in the near future. Among other things, the Treasury Department must draft regulations addressing the allocation of items and wages, along with reporting requirements, and the application of the QBI deduction to tiered entities. We will keep you informed of important developments.

For more information on these opportunities, contact your AGH tax professional or Shawn Sullivan using the information below.

Shawn Sullivan

Executive Vice President
Tax Services

Shawn leads the firm’s tax group and serves on AGH’s board of directors. In addition to enhancing business performance to minimize tax consequences, he has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, international tax and business structuring. Shawn has public and private experience in the fields of tax and accounting and works frequently with clients in the manufacturing, automotive, wholesale distribution, real estate development and construction industries.

A certified public accountant, Shawn is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Kansas Society of Certified Public Accountants (KSCPA) and chairs the KSCPA Committee on Taxation.

NOTE: Any advice contained in this material is not intended or written to be tax advice, and cannot be relied upon as such, nor can it be used for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed by the IRS or states, or promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

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