Getting Cash Out of Your Business

After reading Chapter 1, participants will be able to:

Chapter 1

• Identify financial and tax income types and how cash management is used to convert income into assets and specify the impact of the passive loss rules and how they categorize income.
• Recognize techniques to defer income and shelter income.
• Determine financial acquisition guidelines for tax-advantaged investments and specify multiple asset management rules.

Chapter 2

• Recognize employer vs. employee compensation goals and objectives and determine team techniques to accomplish such goals.
• Differentiate business and individual income and capital rates identifying their varying taxation and recognize the §469 “buckets” of income and loss that influence what a taxpayer can deduct against other income.
• Specify several ways to defer income and accelerate deductions, thereby expanding business cash flow and planning opportunities.
• Recognize the dangers of unreasonable compensation and its impact on deductions and distributions.

Chapter 3

• Determine the meaning of “deferred compensation plan” and recognize multiple deferred compensation types so clients may properly structure compensation.
• Identify qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation plans recognizing the IRS’s position on nonqualified compensation, the dangers of “constructive receipt”, and the different types of nonqualified plans.
• Specify the operational mechanics and set up of qualified deferred compensation plans and identify the application and importance of PBGC insurance.
• Cite the requirements of the basic forms of qualified pension plans, differentiate, differentiate among the types of defined contribution and benefit plans, and recognize the 10-year termination rule.
• Determine the availability of qualified self-employed plans citing complexities created by control businesses, identify IRAs, SEPs, and SIMPLEs, and recognize tax-free Roth IRA distributions.

Chapter 4

• Recognize the definition of “income” under §61, identify the statutory fringe exceptions to includable income, specify the fringe benefit valuation methods, and identify the general accounting rule and the special two-month pour-over rule.
• Identify the rules for group term life insurance under §79 and how to implement proper coverage, determine the mechanics of §105 self-insured medical reimbursement plans, identify the rules for excluding the value of meals and lodging under §119, and “cafeteria plans” and how they operate, and recognize the requirements and limits of employee educational assistance programs and dependent care assistance and how to obtain each type of assistance.
• Identify “no-additional-cost services” and determine what property or services are excludable from income as qualified employee discounts under §132(c), and determine working condition fringes and de minimis fringes,
• Determine the requirements for qualified transportation fringe benefits under §132(f), specify valuation methods for employer-provided automobiles, and identify the requirements and benefits of adoption assistance programs.
• Recognize available interest-free and below-market loans, determine the tax treatment of moving expense reimbursements, and identify ERISA compliance requirements.

Chapter 5

• Identify still allowed entertainment exceptions, determine the percentage reduction of meals, specify what constitutes an entertainment facility, and identify substantiation, recordkeeping, reimbursement, and reporting requirements for self-employed persons and employers.

Chapter 6

• Identify business travel and transportation concepts by specifying §162 basis and “tax home” sensitive travel to maximize deductible expenses, cite the “away from home” requirement, and determine the factors associated with the business purpose requirement.
• Recognize deductible conventions, meetings, and related necessary compliance issues, specify the special requirements for cruises, and recognize auto usage and actual and standard mileage methods.

Chapter 7

• Recognize the business and tax importance of available business insurance including the broad spectrum of company paid insurance, §79 group term life, retired lives reserve, split-dollar, former death benefit plans, business travel, disability, medical, and dental specifying permitted coverage and tax treatment.
• Determine the requirements and restrictions pertaining to the interest limitation on policy loans under §264, the interest limitation for tax-exempt interest income under §265, the conditions under which business owners may fully deduct amounts paid for medical and dental insurance and qualified long-term care insurance, recognize the application of the uniform capitalization rules, and identify the basic mechanics of health savings accounts.

Chapter 8

• Recognize equity participation by specifying factors that determine the benefits of stock options, determine how to transfer an equity position, identify controlled sales, and cite programs to provide executives with an equity ownership interest in a business.
• Identify the taxation and use of nonqualified stock options under §83 and the mechanism for stock appreciation rights (SARs) plans, recognize the requirements of §422A for a qualified incentive stock option is available, and recall the golden parachute rules.
• Determine tax-advantaged entity purchase and cross-purchase agreements and determine the value of closely held stock.

Chapter 9

• Recognize the unlimited marital deduction including its effect on the gross estate of the value of property, specify the applicable exclusion amounts for various years of death, determine a “stepped-up basis” for inherited assets, and identify the function of probate.
• Specify several basic estate plans including family documents, wills, and trusts, and identify the advantages and disadvantages of private annuities.