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Many Tax-Related Limits Affecting Businesses Increase for 2019

A variety of tax-related limits affecting businesses are annually indexed for inflation, and many have gone up for 2019. Here’s a look at some that may affect you and your business.

Deductions

Section 179 expensing:
- Limit: $1.02 million (up from $1 million)
- Phaseout: $2.55 million (up from $2.5 million)
Income-based phase-ins for certain limits on the Sec. 199A qualified business income deduction:
- Married filing jointly: $321,400-$421,400 (up from $315,000-$415,000)
- Married filing separately: $160,725-$210,725 (up from $157,500-$207,500)
- Other filers: $160,700-$210,700 (up from $157,500-$207,500)

Retirement plans

Employee contributions to 401(k) plans: $19,000 (up from $18,500)
Catch-up contributions to 401(k) plans: $6,000 (no change)
Employee contributions to SIMPLEs: $13,000 (up from $12,500)
Catch-up contributions to SIMPLEs: $3,000 (no change)
Combined employer/employee contributions to defined contribution plans (not including catch-ups): $56,000 (up from $55,000)
Maximum compensation used to determine contributions: $280,000 (up from $275,000)
Annual benefit for defined benefit plans: $225,000 (up from $220,000)
Compensation defining “highly compensated employee”: $125,000 (up from $120,000)
Compensation defining “key employee”: $180,000 (up from $175,000)

Other employee benefits

Qualified transportation fringe-benefits employee income exclusion: $265 per month (up from $260)
Health Savings Account contributions:
- Individual coverage: $3,500 (up from $3,450)
- Family coverage: $7,000 (up from $6,900)
- Catch-up contribution: $1,000 (no change)
Flexible Spending Account contributions:
- Health care: $2,700 (up from $2,650)
- Dependent care: $5,000 (no change)

Additional rules apply to these […]

Fringe Benefits – Transportation Updates

In years prior to the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Congress encouraged “green”efforts to protect the environment by giving employees tax breaks for carpooling and using mass transit. For employees, the TCJA doesn’t take away the tax-favored status of these commuting benefits (other than bicycle commuting) or the option to pay for them with pre-tax dollars. Instead, starting January 1, 2018 businesses can no longer take a deduction for transportation fringe benefits (including employee parking). This means for both profit and non-profit businesses, the cost of providing these benefits is generally increased by the corporate tax rate (21% as of January 1, 2018).

This poses a dilemma for employers. Either they continue to provide these transportation fringe benefits despite the loss of the business deduction or they discontinue making these benefits available. This will cause businesses to take a careful look at the tax impact/ cost of transportation benefits against the value to their employees (and in turn, the importance of attracting and retaining talent by offering these benefits). It is also possible that local ordinances may have an impact as well:

• San Francisco, California. Businesses with a location in San Francisco (including nonprofit […]