If federal income tax and employment taxes (including Social Security) are withheld from employees’ paychecks and not handed over to the IRS, a harsh penalty can be imposed. To make matters worse, the penalty can be assessed personally against a “responsible individual.”

If a business makes payroll tax payments late, there are escalating penalties. And if an employer fails to make them, the IRS will crack down hard. With the “Trust Fund Recovery Penalty,” also known as the “100% Penalty,” the IRS can assess the entire unpaid amount against a responsible person who willfully fails to comply with the law.

Some business owners and executives facing a cash flow crunch may be tempted to dip into the payroll taxes withheld from employees. They may think, “I’ll send the money in later when it comes in from another source.” Bad idea!

No corporate protection

The corporate veil won’t shield corporate officers in these cases. Unlike some other liability protections that a corporation or limited liability company may have, business owners and executives can’t escape personal liability for payroll tax debts.

Once the IRS asserts the penalty, it can file a lien or take levy or seizure action against a responsible individual’s personal assets.

Who’s responsible?

The penalty can be assessed against a shareholder, owner, director, officer, or employee. In some cases, it can be assessed against a third party. The IRS can also go after more than one person. To be liable, an individual or party must:

• Be responsible for collecting, accounting for, and paying over withheld federal taxes, and
• Willfully fail to pay over those taxes. That means intentionally, deliberately, voluntarily and knowingly disregarding the requirements of the law.

The easiest way out of a delinquent payroll tax mess is to avoid getting into one in the first place. If you’re involved in a small or medium-size business, make sure the federal taxes that have been withheld from employees’ paychecks are paid over to the government on time. Don’t ever allow “borrowing” from withheld amounts.

Consider hiring an outside service to handle payroll duties. A good payroll service provider relieves you of the burden of paying employees, making the deductions, taking care of the tax payments and handling recordkeeping. Contact us for more information.

Here are some of the key tax-related deadlines affecting businesses and other employers during the fourth quarter of 2019. Keep in mind that this list isn’t all-inclusive, so there may be additional deadlines that apply to you. Contact us to ensure you’re meeting all applicable deadlines and to learn more about the filing requirements.

October 15

• If a calendar-year C corporation that filed an automatic six-month extension:
  • File a 2018 income tax return (Form 1120) and pay any tax, interest and penalties due.
  • Make contributions for 2018 to certain employer-sponsored retirement plans.

October 31

• Report income tax withholding and FICA taxes for third quarter 2019 (Form 941) and pay any tax due. (See exception below under “November 12.”)

November 12

• Report income tax withholding and FICA taxes for third quarter 2019 (Form 941), if you deposited on time (and in full) all of the associated taxes due.

December 16

• If a calendar-year C corporation, pay the fourth installment of 2019 estimated income taxes.

Here are some of the key tax-related deadlines that apply to businesses and other employers during the second quarter of 2019. Keep in mind that this list isn’t all-inclusive, so there may be additional deadlines that apply to you. Contact us to ensure you’re meeting all applicable deadlines and to learn more about the filing requirements.

April 1

• File with the IRS if you’re an employer that will electronically file 2018 Form 1097, Form 1098, Form 1099 (other than those with an earlier deadline) and/or Form W-2G.
• If your employees receive tips and you file electronically, file Form 8027.
• If you’re an Applicable Large Employer and filing electronically, file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the IRS. For all other providers of minimum essential coverage filing electronically, file Forms 1094-B and 1095-B with the IRS.

April 15

• If you’re a calendar-year corporation, file a 2018 income tax return (Form 1120) or file for an automatic six-month extension (Form 7004) and pay any tax due.
• Corporations pay the first installment of 2019 estimated income taxes.

April 30

• Employers report income tax withholding and FICA taxes for the first quarter of 2019 (Form 941) and pay any tax due.

May 10

• Employers report income tax withholding and FICA taxes for the first quarter of 2019 (Form 941), if you deposited on time and fully paid all of the associated taxes due.

June 17

• Corporations pay the second installment of 2019 estimated income taxes.
  © 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 limits, and they are only some of the limits that may affect your business. Please contact us for more information.

As the year winds down, business owners can be thankful for the gift of perspective (among other things, we hope). Assuming you created a budget for the calendar year, you should now be able to accurately assess that budget by comparing its estimates to actual results. Your objective is to determine whether your budget was reasonable, and, if not, how to adjust it to be more accurate for 2019.

Identify notable changes

Your estimates, like those of many companies, probably start with historical financial statements. From there, you may simply apply an expected growth rate to annual revenues and let it flow through the remaining income statement and balance sheet items. For some businesses, this simplified approach works well. But future performance can’t always be expected to mirror historical results.

For example, suppose you renegotiated a contract with a major supplier during the year. The new contract may have affected direct costs and profit margins. So, what was reasonable at the beginning of the year may be less so now and require adjustments when you draft your 2019 budget.

Often, a business can’t maintain its current growth rate indefinitely without investing in additional assets or incurring further fixed costs. As you compare your 2018 estimates to actuals, and look at 2019, consider whether your company is planning to:

• Build a new plant,• Buy a major piece of equipment,• Hire more workers, or• Rent additional space.
External and internal factors — such as regulatory changes, product obsolescence, and in-process research and development — also may require specialized adjustments to your 2019 budget to keep it reasonable.

Find the best way to track

The most analytical way to gauge reasonableness is to generate year-end financials and then compare the results to what was previously budgeted. Are you on track to meet those estimates? If not, identify the causes and factor them into a revised budget for next year.

If you discover that your actuals are significantly different from your estimates — and if this takes you by surprise — you should consider producing interim financials next year. Some businesses feel overwhelmed trying to prepare a complete set of financials every month. So, you might opt for short-term cash reports, which highlight the sources and uses of cash during the period. These cash forecasts can serve as an early warning system for “budget killers,” such as unexpected increases in direct costs or delinquent accounts.

Alternatively, many companies create 12-month rolling budgets — which typically mirror historical financial statements — and update them monthly to reflect the latest market conditions.

Do it all

The budgeting process is rarely easy, but it’s incredibly important. And that process doesn’t end when you create the budget; checking it regularly and performing a year-end assessment are key. We can help you not only generate a workable budget, but also identify the best ways to monitor your financials throughout the year.