Posted on

Don’t Let Collaborative Arrangements Cause Financial Reporting Headaches

Businesses often enter into so-called “collaborative arrangements” when they partner with another entity on a major project. Unfortunately, the current guidance for these types of arrangements under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is somewhat vague.

Here are some questions that may arise as participants report shared costs and revenue on their income statements, along with details about a recent proposal that would clarify how to report collaborative arrangements.

What is a collaborative arrangement?

Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 808, Collaborative Arrangements, provides guidance for income statement presentation, classification and disclosures related to collaborative arrangements. It lists three requirements for collaborative arrangements:

1. They must involve at least two parties (or participants).
2. The parties involved must all be active participants in the activity.
3. All participants must be exposed to significant risks and rewards dependent on the commercial success of the activity.

Collaborative arrangements are a particularly common type of joint venture for film production and life science companies. For example, two pharmaceutical companies might agree to share research and development expenses to produce a new drug. Then, if the drug succeeds, the companies also would share the revenue from sales of the drug.

What qualifies as revenue?

Today’s guidance on collaborative agreements has led to inconsistent accounting practices. Why? Topic 808 doesn’t include guidance for determining what the appropriate unit of accounting is or when recognition criteria are met. Rather, it says to look to other areas of GAAP to account for a transaction. If there’s no formal guidance available, businesses typically apply an accounting policy or another accounting method by analogy. As a result, companies may label items as “revenue” when they belong elsewhere on the income statement.

To further complicate matters, the landmark revenue recognition standard goes into effect in 2018 for public companies and in 2019 for private ones. Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), limits application of the revenue standard to arrangements that involve a customer as one of the parties to a contract.

In April, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposed an update to clarify the scope of its standards for revenue and collaborative arrangements. If finalized, the proposal will help partners in a collaborative arrangement determine when a transaction should be treated as revenue. Public comments on the proposed changes are due in June.

Got more questions?

We’re atop the latest developments on reporting collaborative arrangements. Contact us with questions about the interaction of the standards for collaborative arrangements and revenue recognition. We can help you concurrently implement the latest rules and minimize the risk of restatement.

© 2018

Posted on

Business Deductions for Meal, Vehicle and Travel Expenses: Document, Document, Document

Meal, vehicle and travel expenses are common deductions for businesses. But if you don’t properly document these expenses, you could find your deductions denied by the IRS.

A critical requirement

Subject to various rules and limits, business meal (generally 50%), vehicle and travel expenses may be deductible, whether you pay for the expenses directly or reimburse employees for them. Deductibility depends on a variety of factors, but generally the expenses must be “ordinary and necessary” and directly related to the business.

Proper documentation, however, is one of the most critical requirements. And all too often, when the IRS scrutinizes these deductions, taxpayers don’t have the necessary documentation.

What you need to do

Following some simple steps can help ensure you have documentation that will pass muster with the IRS:

Keep receipts or similar documentation. You generally must have receipts, canceled checks or bills that show amounts and dates of business expenses. If you’re deducting vehicle expenses using the standard mileage rate (54.5 cents for 2018), log business miles driven.

Track business purposes. Be sure to record the business purpose of each expense. This is especially important if on the surface an expense could appear to be a personal one. If the business purpose of an expense is clear from the surrounding circumstances, the IRS might not require a written explanation — but it’s probably better to err on the side of caution and document the business purpose anyway.

Require employees to comply. If you reimburse employees for expenses, make sure they provide you with proper documentation. Also be aware that the reimbursements will be treated as taxable compensation to the employee (and subject to income tax and FICA withholding) unless you make them via an “accountable plan.”

Don’t re-create expense logs at year end or when you receive an IRS deficiency notice. Take a moment to record the details in a log or diary at the time of the event or soon after. The IRS considers timely kept records more reliable, plus it’s easier to track expenses as you go than try to re-create a log later. For expense reimbursements, require employees to submit monthly expense reports (which is also generally a requirement for an accountable plan).

Addressing uncertainty

You’ve probably heard that, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, entertainment expenses are no longer deductible. There’s some debate as to whether this includes business meals with actual or prospective clients. Until there’s more certainty on that issue, it’s a good idea to document these expenses. That way you’ll have what you need to deduct them if Congress or the IRS provides clarification that these expenses are indeed still deductible.

For more information about what meal, vehicle and travel expenses are and aren’t deductible — and how to properly document deductible expenses — please contact us.

© 2018

Posted on

Hire Your Children to Save Taxes for Your Business and Your Family

It can be difficult in the current job market for students and recent graduates to find summer or full-time jobs. If you’re a business owner with children in this situation, you may be able to provide them with valuable experience and income while generating tax savings for both your business and your family overall.

Shifting income

By shifting some of your business earnings to a child as wages for services performed by him or her, you can turn some of your high-taxed income into tax-free or low-taxed income. For your business to deduct the wages as a business expense, the work done by the child must be legitimate and the child’s wages must be reasonable.

Here’s an example of how this works: A business owner operating as a sole proprietor is in the 39.6% tax bracket. He hires his 17-year-old son to help with office work full-time during the summer and part-time into the fall. The son earns $6,100 during the year and doesn’t have any other earnings.

The business owner saves $2,415.60 (39.6% of $6,100) in income taxes at no tax cost to his son, who can use his $6,350 standard deduction (for 2017) to completely shelter his earnings. The business owner can save an additional $2,178 in taxes if he keeps his son on the payroll longer and pays him an additional $5,500. The son can shelter the additional income from tax by making a tax-deductible contribution to his own IRA.

Family taxes will be cut even if the employee-child’s earnings exceed his or her standard deduction and IRA deduction. That’s because the unsheltered earnings will be taxed to the child beginning at a rate of 10% instead of being taxed at the parent’s higher rate.

Saving employment taxes

If your business isn’t incorporated or a partnership that includes nonparent partners, you might also save some employment tax dollars. Services performed by a child under age 18 while employed by a parent aren’t considered employment for FICA tax purposes. And a similar exemption applies for federal unemployment tax (FUTA) purposes. It exempts earnings paid to a child under age 21 while employed by his or her parent.

If you have questions about how these rules apply in your particular situation or would like to learn about other family-related tax-saving strategies, contact us.

© 2017