The remote worker during

COVID-

19: Tax nexus and the new normal

Read this if you are a New Hampshire resident, or a business owner or manager with telecommuting employees (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

In late January, the Supreme Court asked the Biden Administration for its views on a not-so-friendly neighborly dispute between the State of New Hampshire and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. New Hampshire is famous amongst its neighboring states for its lack of sales tax and personal income tax. Because of the tax rules and other alluring features, thousands of employees commute daily from New Hampshire to Massachusetts. Overnight, like so many of us, those commuters were working at home and not crossing state boundaries.

As a result of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, Massachusetts issued temporary and early guidance, directing employers to maintain the status quo. Keep withholding on your employees in the same manner that you were, even though they may not be physically coming into the state. New Hampshire was against this directive from day one and sought to sue Massachusetts over its COVID-19 telecommuting rules for employees who had previously been sitting in an office in the Bay State. The final nail in the coffin was an extension of the guidance in October. 

New Hampshire’s position
New Hampshire took particular issue because it does not impose an Individual Income Tax on wages and it believed that the temporary regulations issued by the Commonwealth overstepped or disregarded New Hampshire’s sovereignty—in violation of the both the Commerce and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Each clause has historically prohibited a state from taxing outside its borders and limits tax on non-residents. For Massachusetts employers to continue withholding on New Hampshire residents' wage earnings, New Hampshire argues, Massachusetts is imposing a tax within New Hampshire, contrary to the Constitution.

What makes the New Hampshire situation unique is that it does not impose an income tax on individuals, a “defining feature of its sovereignty”, the state argues. New Hampshire would say that its tax regime creates a competitive advantage in attracting new business and residents. Maine residents, subject to the same Massachusetts rules, would receive a corresponding tax credit on their Maine tax return, making them close to whole between the two states. Because there is no New Hampshire individual income tax, their residents are out of pocket for a tax that they wouldn’t be subject to, but for these regulations.

Massachusetts’ position
Massachusetts' intention behind the temporary regulations was to maintain pre-pandemic “status quo” to avoid uncertainty for employees and additional compliance burden on employers. This would ensure employers would not be responsible for determining when an employee was working, for example, at their Lake Winnipesaukee camp for a few weeks, or their relative’s home in Rhode Island. 

Additionally, states like New York and Connecticut have long had “convenience of the employer” laws on the books which imposed New York tax on telecommuting non-residents. Additionally, Massachusetts provided that a parallel treatment will be given to resident employees with income tax liabilities in other states who have adopted similar sourcing rules, i.e., a Massachusetts resident working for a Maine employer.

Other voices
The US Supreme Court requested a brief from the Biden administration. Additionally, many states wrote to the court on behalf of New Hampshire. To demonstrate the impact a decision against New Hampshire could have, New Jersey said that it expects to issue $1.2 Billion in tax credits to its residents because New York declined to loosen their strict telecommuting rules. In the final days before the Court recessed, it declined to hear the case brought by the State of New Hampshire against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Had the Court decided to move forward with the case, it stood to impact long-standing, pre-pandemic telecommuting rules by New York and others.

What now?
For Massachusetts employers specifically, you should review current withholdings and ensure compliance with the temporary regulations. The state of emergency has been lifted in Massachusetts, and the rules have an end date of September 19, 2021. Employers who haven’t been following the regulations will have a costly tax exposure to correct. 

Massachusetts’ temporary regulations were not unique as dozens of states issued temporary regulations asserting a “status quo” regime for those employees who would normally be commuting outside their home state. Unwinding from the pandemic is going to be a long road, and for all employers, it’s important that you review the rules in each state of operation and confirm that the proper withholding is made.

If you have questions about your specific situation, please contact the state and local tax consulting team. We’re here to help.

Read this if you are a construction company.

I am pleased to introduce 2020 Tax Planning Opportunities: CARES Act, published in conjunction with CICPAC (Construction Industry CPAs-Consultants Association) by a national group of tax professionals focused on the construction industry. BerryDunn is proud to be one of CICPAC’s 65 member firms across the US, and one of only two in New England.

Within the document you’ll find an abundance of useful insights on the following topics and more related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act:

• Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans
• Net operating losses and excess business loss limitations
• Qualified Improvement Property (QIP)
• Payroll cash flow opportunities and employer tax credits

Every business has been impacted by COVID-19 in some form. The CARES Act offers opportunities galore for virtually every business. Now, perhaps more than ever, it’s time to work closely with your BerryDunn tax professional to ensure recovery through this difficult time. 

Read the entire document. 

Editor’s note: read this if you are a Maine business owner or officer.

New state law aligns with federal rules for partnership audits

On June 18, 2019, the State of Maine enacted Legislative Document 1819, House Paper 1296, An Act to Harmonize State Income Tax Law and the Centralized Partnership Audit Rules of the Federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

Just like it says, LD 1819 harmonizes Maine with updated federal rules for partnership audits by shifting state tax liability from individual partners to the partnership itself. It also establishes new rules for who can—and can’t—represent a partnership in audit proceedings, and what that representative’s powers are.

Classic tunes—The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982

Until recently, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) set federal standards for IRS audits of partnerships and those entities treated as partnerships for income tax purposes (LLCs, etc.). Those rules changed, however, following passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA) and the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act). Changes made by the BBA and PATH Act included:

• Replacing the Tax Matters Partner (TMP) with a Partnership Representative (PR);
• Generally establishing the partnership, and not individual partners, as liable for any imputed underpayment resulting from an audit, meaning current partners can be held responsible for the tax liabilities of past partners; and
• Imputing tax on the net audit adjustments at the highest individual or corporate tax rates.

Unlike TEFRA, the BBA and PATH Act granted Partnership Representatives sole authority to act on behalf of a partnership for a given tax year. Individual partners, who previously held limited notification and participation rights, were now bound by their PR’s actions.

Fresh beats—new tax liability laws under LD 1819

LD 1819 echoes key provisions of the BBA and PATH Act by shifting state tax liability from individual partners to the partnership itself and replacing the Tax Matters Partner with a Partnership Representative.

Eligibility requirements for PRs are also less than those for TMPs. PRs need only demonstrate “substantial presence in the US” and don’t need to be a partner in the partnership, e.g., a CFO or other person involved in the business. Additionally, partnerships may have different PRs at the federal and state level, provided they establish reasonable qualifications and procedures for designating someone other than the partnership’s federal-level PR to be its state-level PR.

LD 1819 applies to Maine partnerships for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018. Any additional tax, penalties, and/or interest arising from audit are due no later than 180 days after the IRS’ final determination date, though some partnerships may be eligible for a 60-day extension. In addition, LD 1819 requires Maine partnerships to file a completed federal adjustments report.

Partnerships should review their partnership agreements in light of these changes to ensure the goals of the partnership and the individual partners are reflected in the case of an audit. 

Remix―Significant changes coming to the Maine Capital Investment Credit 

Passage of LD 1671 on July 2, 2019 will usher in a significant change to the Maine Capital Investment Credit, a popular credit which allows businesses to claim a tax credit for qualifying depreciable assets placed in service in Maine on which federal bonus depreciation is claimed on the taxpayer's federal income tax return. 

Effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, the credit is reduced to a rate of 1.2%. This is a significant reduction in the current credit percentages, which are 9% and 7% for corporate and all other taxpayers, respectively. The change intends to provide fairness to companies conducting business in-state over out-of-state counterparts. Taxpayers continue to have the option to waive the credit and claim depreciation recapture in a future year for the portion of accelerated federal bonus depreciation disallowed by Maine in the year the asset is placed in service. 

As a result of this meaningful reduction in the credit, taxpayers who have historically claimed the credit will want to discuss with their tax advisors whether it makes sense to continue claiming the credit for 2020 and beyond.
 

Proposed House bill brings state income tax standards to the digital age

On June 3, 2019, the US House of Representatives introduced H.R. 3063, also known as the Business Activity Tax Simplification Act of 2019, which seeks to modernize tax laws for the sale of personal property, and clarify physical presence standards for state income tax nexus as it applies to services and intangible goods. But before we can catch up on today, we need to go back in time—great Scott!

Fly your DeLorean back 60 years (you’ve got one, right?) and you’ll arrive at the signing of Public Law 86-272: the Interstate Income Act of 1959. Established in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota, P.L. 86-272 allows a business to enter a state, or send representatives, for the purposes of soliciting orders for the sale of tangible personal property without being subject to a net income tax.

But now, in 2019, personal property is increasingly intangible—eBooks, computer software, electronic data and research, digital music, movies, and games, and the list goes on. To catch up, H.R. 3063 seeks to expand on 86-272’s protection and adds “all other forms of property, services, and other transactions” to that exemption. It also redefines business activities of independent contractors to include transactions for all forms of property, as well as events and gathering of information.

Under the proposed bill, taxpayers meet the standards for physical presence in a taxing jurisdiction, if they:

1.  Are an individual physically located in or have employees located in a given state; 
2. Use the services of an agent to establish or maintain a market in a given state, provided such agent does not perform the same services in the same state for any other person or taxpayer during the taxable year; or
3. Lease or own tangible personal property or real property in a given state.

The proposed bill excludes a taxpayer from the above criteria who have presence in a state for less than 15 days, or whose presence is established in order to conduct “limited or transient business activity.”

In addition, H.R. 3063 also expands the definition of “net income tax” to include “other business activity taxes”. This would provide protection from tax in states such as Texas, Ohio and others that impose an alternate method of taxing the profits of businesses.

H.R. 3063, a measure that would only apply to state income and business activity tax, is in direct contrast to the recent overturn of Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, a sales and use tax standard. Quill required a physical presence but was overturned by the decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. Since the Wayfair decision, dozens of states have passed legislation to impose their sales tax regime on out of state taxpayers without a physical presence in the state.

If enacted, the changes made via H.R. 3063 would apply to taxable periods beginning on or after January 1, 2020. For more information: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3063/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr3063%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=2
 

The US Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service on November 29 announced the release of guidance providing taxpayers information on how to satisfy the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements to qualify for enhanced tax benefits under the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy provisions. 

The publication of Notice 2022-61 and further guidance in the Federal Register—published on November 30, 2022—begins the 60-day period for these key labor provisions to take effect. In other words, these requirements will apply to qualifying facilities, projects, property, or equipment for which construction begins on or after January 30, 2023. So, in order to receive increased incentives, taxpayers must meet the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for facilities where construction begins on or after January 30, 2023.

Prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements

The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law on August 16, 2022, introduced a new credit structure whereby many clean energy tax incentives are subject to a base rate and a “bonus multiplier” of 5X. To qualify for the bonus rate, projects must satisfy certain wage and apprenticeship requirements implemented to ensure both the payment of prevailing wages and that a certain percentage of total labor hours are performed by qualified apprentices. 

Projects under 1MW or that begin construction within sixty days of the date when the Treasury publishes guidance regarding the wage and apprenticeship requirements are automatically eligible for the bonus credit.

The newly released guidance addresses the Inflation Reduction Act's two labor requirements—providing prevailing wages and employing a certain amount of registered apprentices—that taxpayers must meet for clean energy developments to qualify for the bonus rate. Both the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements apply to the following tax incentives:

• Advanced energy project credit
• Alternative fuel refueling property credit
• Credit for carbon oxide sequestration
• Clean fuel production credit
• Credit for production of clean hydrogen
• Energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction
• Renewable energy production tax credit
• Renewable energy property investment tax credit

The prevailing wages requirements also apply to the following tax incentives:

• New zero-efficient home credit
• Zero-emissions nuclear power production credit

New guidance

The new guidance describes the process for identifying the applicable wage determination for a specific geographic area and job classification on the Department of Labor’s sam.gov website. If no prevailing wage determination is posted for a specific geographic area and/or job classification, the notice provides that taxpayers should contact the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, which would then provide the taxpayer with the labor classifications and wage rates to use.

For purposes of the apprenticeship requirements, the guidance provides specific information regarding the apprenticeship labor hour, ratio, and participation requirements. The guidance also describes the good faith effort exception, whereby a taxpayer will be deemed to have satisfied the apprenticeship requirements with respect to a facility if the taxpayer has requested qualified apprentices from a registered apprenticeship program and the request has been denied or the program fails to respond the request within five business days.

The guidance also specifies the recordkeeping requirements taxpayers must comply with to substantiate that they paid workers a prevailing wage and satisfied the apprenticeship requirements.

Beginning of construction guidance

As mentioned above, taxpayers must meet the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements with respect to a facility to receive the increased credit or deduction amounts if construction of the facility begins on or after the date sixty days after the Treasury publishes guidance. Notice 2022-61 confirms the use of long-standing methods for establishing the date of beginning of construction:

• The physical work test (starting physical work of a significant nature)
• The 5% safe harbor (incurring 5% or more of the total cost of the facility)

For purposes of both tests, taxpayers must demonstrate either continuous construction or continuous efforts—the continuity requirement—for beginning of construction to be satisfied.

So far in our value acceleration article series, we have talked about increasing the value of your business and building liquidity into your life starting with taking inventory of where you are at and aligning values, reducing risk, and increasing intangible value.

In this article, we are going to focus on planning and execution. How these action items are introduced and executed may be just as important as the action items themselves. We still need to protect value before we can help it grow. Let’s say you had a plan, a good plan, to sell your business and start a new one. Maybe a bed-and-breakfast on the coast? You’ve earmarked the 70% in cash proceeds to bolster your retirement accounts. The remaining 30% was designed to generate cash for the down payment on the bed-and-breakfast. And it is stuck in escrow or, worse yet, tied to an earn-out. Now, the waiting begins. When do you get to move on to the next phase? After all that hard work in the value acceleration process, you still didn’t get where you wanted to go. What went wrong?

Many business owners stumble at the end because they lack a master plan that incorporates their business action items and personal action items. Planning and execution in the value acceleration process was the focus of our conversation with a group of business owners and advisors on Thursday, April 11th.

Business valuation master plan steps to take

A master plan should include both business actions and personal actions. We uncovered a number of points that resonated with business owners in the room. Almost every business owner has some sort of action item related to employees, whether it’s hiring new employees, advancing employees into new roles, or helping employees succeed in their current roles. A review of financial practices may also benefit many businesses. For example, by revisiting variable vs. fixed costs, companies may improve their bidding process and enhance profitability. 

Master plan business improvement action items:

• Customer diversification and contract implementation
• Inventory management
• Use of relevant metrics and dashboards
• Financial history and projections
• Systems and process refinement

A comprehensive master plan should also include personal action items. Personal goals and objectives play a huge role in the actions taken by a business. As with the hypothetical bed-and-breakfast example, personal goals may influence your exit options and the selected deal structure. 

Master plan personal action items:

•  Family involvement in the business
•  Needs vs. wants
•  Development of an advisory team
•  Life after planning

A master plan incorporates all of the previously identified action items into an implementation timeline. Each master plan is different and reflects the underlying realities of the specific business. However, a practical framework to use as guidance is presented below.

The value acceleration process requires critical thinking and hard work. Just as important as identifying action items is creating a process to execute them effectively. Through proper planning and execution, we help our clients not only become wealthier but to use their wealth to better their lives. 

If you are interested in learning more about value acceleration, please contact the business valuation services team. We would be happy to meet with you, answer any questions you may have, and provide you with information on upcoming value acceleration presentations. 

Read this if your company is a benefit plan sponsor.

While plan sponsors have been able to amend their 401(k) plans to include a post-tax deferral contribution called Roth for more than a decade, only 86% of plan sponsors have made it available to participants, according to the Plan Sponsor Council of America. Meanwhile, despite the potential benefits of such plans, just a quarter of participants who have access to the Roth 401(k) option use it. Plan sponsors may want to consider adding a Roth 401(k) option to their lineup because of the potential tax benefits and other advantages for plan participants.

A well-designed Roth 401(k) may be an attractive option for many plan participants, and it is important for plan sponsors considering such a feature to design the plan with the needs of their workforce in mind. It is also critical to clearly communicate the differences from the pre-tax option, specific timing rules required, and the tax-free growth it offers. Additionally, plan sponsors should be mindful of potential administrative costs and other compliance requirements in connection with allowing the Roth option.

Roth 401(k)s: The basics

A Roth is a separate contribution source within a 401(k) or 403(b) plan that differs from traditional retirement accounts because it allows participants to contribute post-tax dollars. Since participants pay taxes on these contributions before they are invested in the account, plan participants may make qualified withdrawals of Roth monies on a tax-free basis, and their accounts grow tax-free as well.

Participants of any income level may participate in a Roth 401(k) and may contribute a maximum of $20,500 in 2022—the same limit as a pre-tax 401(k). Contributions and earnings in a Roth 401(k) may be withdrawn without paying taxes and penalties if participants are at least 59½ and it’s been at least five years since the first Roth contribution was made to the plan. Participants may make catch-up contributions after age 50, and they may split their contributions between Roth and pre-tax. Similar to pre-tax 401(k) accounts, Roth 401(k) assets are considered when determining minimum distributions required at age 72, or 70 ½ if they reached that age by Jan. 1, 2020.

Only employee elective deferrals may be contributed post-tax into Roth 401(k) accounts. Employer contributions made by the plan sponsor, such as matching and profit sharing, are always pre-tax contributions. If the plan allows, participants may convert pre-tax 401(k) assets into a Roth account, but it is critical to remember that doing so triggers taxable income and participants must be prepared to pay any required tax. In addition, plan sponsors must be careful to offer Roth 401(k)s equally to all participants rather than just a select group of employees.

Qualified distributions from a designated Roth account are excluded from gross income. A qualified distribution is one that occurs at least five years after the year of the employee’s first designated Roth contribution (counting the first year as part of the five) and is made on or after age 59½, on account of the employee’s disability, or on or after the employee’s death. Non-qualified distributions will be subject to tax on the earnings portion only, and the 10% penalty on early withdrawals may apply to the part of the distribution that is included in gross income. Participants may take out loans if permitted in the plan document. 

First steps for plan sponsors

A common misconception among plan sponsors is that a Roth offering requires a completely different investment vehicle. The feature is simply an added contribution option; therefore, no separate product is needed.

When considering the addition of a Roth 401(k) option, it is important for plan sponsors to check with service providers to determine whether payroll may be set up properly to add a separate deduction for the participant. Plan sponsors may also need to consider guidelines for conversions, withdrawals, loans, and other features associated with the Roth contribution source to ensure the plan document is prepared and followed accurately.

Education is an important component of any new plan feature or offering. Plan sponsors should check with service providers to see how they may help to explain the feature and optimize its rollout for the plan. One-on-one meetings with participants may be very helpful in educating them about a Roth account.

A word about conversions

If permitted by the plan document, participants may convert pre-tax 401(k) plan assets (deferrals and employer contributions) to the Roth source within their plan account. The plan document may allow for entire account conversions or just a stated portion. When assets are converted, participants must pay income taxes on the converted amount, and the additional 10% early withdrawal tax won’t apply to the rollover. Plan sponsors should educate participants on the benefits of converting to the Roth inside the company 401(k).

Collaborate with the right service providers to educate your participants

The right service providers may review your current plan design, set up accounts properly, actively engage and educate your participants, and offer financial planning based on individual circumstances to show how design features like a Roth account may benefit their situation. If you would like to start the conversation about adding a Roth option or enhancing your participant education program, contact our employee benefits team. We are here to help. 

What are the top three areas of improvement right now for your business? In this third article of our series, we will focus on how to increase business value by aligning values, decreasing risk, and improving what we call the “four C’s”: human capital, structural capital, social capital, and consumer capital.

To back up for a minute, value acceleration is the process of helping clients increase the value of their business and build liquidity into their lives. Previously, we looked at the Discover stage, in which business owners take inventory of their personal, financial, and business goals and assemble information into a prioritized action plan. Here, we are going to focus on the Prepare stage of the value acceleration process.

Aligning values may sound like an abstract concept, but it has a real world impact on business performance and profitability. For example, if a business has multiple owners with different future plans, the company can be pulled in two competing directions. Another example of poor alignment would be if a shareholder’s business plans (such as expanding the asset base to drive revenue) compete with personal plans (such as pulling money out of the business to fund retirement). Friction creates problems. The first step in the Prepare stage is therefore to reduce friction by aligning values.

Reducing risk

Personal risk creates business risk, and business risk creates personal risk. For example, if a business owner suddenly needs cash to fund unexpected medical bills, planned business expansion may be delayed to provide liquidity to the owner. If a key employee unexpectedly quits, the business owner may have to carve time away from their personal life to juggle new responsibilities. 

Business owners should therefore seek to reduce risk in their personal lives, (e.g., life insurance, use of wills, time management planning) and in their business, (e.g., employee contracts, customer contracts, supplier and customer diversification).

Intangible value and the four C's

Now more than ever, the value of a business is driven by intangible value rather than tangible asset value. One study found that intangible asset value made up 87% of S&P 500 market value in 2015 (up from 17% in 1975). Therefore, we look at how to increase business value by increasing intangible asset value and, specifically, the four C’s of intangible asset value: human capital, structural capital, social capital, and consumer capital. 

Here are two ways you can increase intangible asset value. First of all, do a cost-benefit analysis before implementing any strategies to boost intangible asset value. Second, to avoid employee burnout, break planned improvements into 90-day increments with specific targets.

At BerryDunn, we often diagram company performance on the underlying drivers of the 4 C’s (below). We use this tool to identify and assess the areas for greatest potential improvements:

By aligning values, decreasing risk, and improving the four C’s, business owners can achieve a spike in cash flow and business value, and obtain liquidity to fund their plans outside of their business.

If you are interested in learning more about value acceleration, please contact the business valuation services team. We would be happy to meet with you, answer any questions you may have, and provide you with information on upcoming value acceleration presentations.