New Tax Laws - Linkenheimer LLP CPAs & Advisors

The Inflation Reduction Act: What’s In It For You?

You may have heard that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law recently. While experts have varying opinions about whether it will reduce inflation in the near future, it contains, extends and modifies many climate and energy-related tax credits that may be of interest to individuals.

Nonbusiness energy property

Before the IRA was enacted, you were allowed a personal tax credit for certain nonbusiness energy property expenses. The credit applied only to property placed in service before January 1, 2022. The credit is now extended for energy-efficient property placed in service before January 1, 2033.

The new law also increases the credit for a tax year to an amount equal to 30% of:

The amount paid or incurred by you for qualified energy efficiency improvements installed during the year, and
The amount of the residential energy property expenditures paid or incurred during that year.

The credit is further increased for amounts spent for a home energy audit (up to $150).

In addition, the IRA repeals the lifetime credit limitation, and instead limits the credit to $1,200 per taxpayer, per year. There are also annual limits of $600 for credits with respect to residential energy property […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2022-08-30T16:44:13+00:00August 30th, 2022|inflation, New Tax Laws, vehicles|0 Comments

Inflation Reduction Act Provisions Of Interest To Small Businesses

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden on August 16, contains many provisions related to climate, energy and taxes. There has been a lot of media coverage about the law’s impact on large corporations. For example, the IRA contains a new 15% alternative minimum tax on large, profitable corporations. And the law adds a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks of more than $1 million by publicly traded U.S. corporations.

But there are also provisions that provide tax relief for small businesses. Here are two:

A payroll tax credit for research

Under current law, qualified small businesses can elect to claim a portion of their research credit as a payroll tax credit against their employer Social Security tax liability, rather than against their income tax liability. This became effective for tax years that begin after December 31, 2015.

Qualified small businesses that elect to claim the research credit as a payroll tax credit […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2022-08-29T21:45:48+00:00August 29th, 2022|ira, New Tax Laws|0 Comments

Vehicle Expenses: Can Individual Taxpayers Deduct Them?

It’s not just businesses that can deduct vehicle-related expenses on their tax returns. Individuals also can deduct them in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, under current law, you may not be able to deduct as much as you could years ago.

For years prior to 2018, miles driven for business, moving, medical and charitable purposes were potentially deductible. For 2018 through 2025, business and moving miles are deductible only in much more limited circumstances. The changes were a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which could also affect your tax benefit from medical and charitable miles.

Fortunately, if you’re eligible to deduct driving costs, the IRS just increased the standard amounts for the second half of 2022 due to the high price of gas.

Current vs. past limits

Before 2018, if you were an employee, you potentially could deduct business mileage not reimbursed by your employer as a miscellaneous itemized deduction. But the deduction was subject to a 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) floor, which meant that mileage was deductible only to the extent that your total miscellaneous itemized deductions for the year exceeded 2% of your AGI. However, for 2018 through 2025, you […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2022-06-28T23:34:10+00:00June 28th, 2022|deduction, expensing, New Tax Laws, tcja|0 Comments

Thompson, LaMalfa Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Ensure Fire Victims Don’t Pay Taxes on PG&E Court-Ordered Trust Payments

Washington –

Today, Reps. Mike Thompson (CA-05) and Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure that no fire survivors are taxed on the payments they received from the PG&E Fire Victims Trust. Following fires in 2015, 2017, and 2018, PG&E established a court-ordered trust of over $13 billion for survivors of these devastating events.

“I have heard from constituents across our community who are deeply, deeply concerned that they will face a tax burden upon receiving a payout from PG&E,” said Thompson. “This trust was set up to help people get back on their feet and recover after a destructive fire. They should not have to pay taxes on these payouts. I am proud to introduce this bill alongside Rep. LaMalfa to help our constituents receive the money they are owed, and will continue working to ensure survivors have the resources they need to recover from these tragedies.”

“Fire victims have lost homes, belongings, and for some, even their loved ones. We should not ask survivors to pay federal taxes on compensation that they will use to rebuild their lives. And we certainly should not be asking them to pay taxes on […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2022-04-01T22:47:30+00:00April 1st, 2022|fire, Fire Relief Info, New Tax Laws|0 Comments

California Governor Signs Two Major Bills: SB 113 and SB 114

Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 113, which expands the passthrough entity elective tax benefits by:

Repealing the tentative minimum tax limitation on the Passthrough Entity Elective Tax Credit;
Allowing partnerships/S corporations/LLCs with owners that are partnerships to make the election (although the tax can’t be paid on behalf of the partnership owner);
Allowing SMLLCs that are passthrough entity owners to claim the Passthrough Entity Elective Tax Credit (although SMLLCs are still prohibited from making the election themselves); and
Changing the credit ordering rules related to the Passthrough Entity Elective Tax Credit to increase the benefit for taxpayers that claim the Other State Tax Credit (beginning with the 2022 tax year).

Except as noted, these changes will apply to the 2021 tax year. Yesterday, we posted more info on SB 113, which you can read here.

SB 113 also:

Fully conforms to the federal exclusion of Restaurant Revitalization Grants, retroactive to the 2020 tax year;
Partially conforms to the federal exclusion of Shuttered Venue Operator Grants, retroactive to the beginning of the 2019 tax year; and
Repeals the $5 million business credit limitation and NOL suspension for higher […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2022-02-09T20:03:46+00:00February 9th, 2022|ca, CA tax, california, New Tax Laws|0 Comments