Taxable Talk

The goal of must businesses is to make money. There aren’t many businesses that can lose on each sale and make it up in volume. In fact, I don’t know of any. But I digress….

So let’s take Sam and Edna, two successful individuals who love horses. They decide to start raising horses. They remember their accountant telling them that if they had a business that loses money they can take the loss and offset some of their income. That’s true. They don’t remember their accountant telling them that the business does need to be structured to make money eventually.

Hobby losses are not allowed. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the income from a hobby is taxable, but the expenses (up to the amount of income) are also not deductible!  The IRS has a webpage noting the major factors used in determining whether or not your business is really a business or is a hobby:

To help simplify things, the IRS has established factors taxpayers must consider when determining whether their activity is a business or hobby.

• The taxpayer carries out activity in a businesslike manner and maintains complete and accurate books and records.
•  The taxpayer puts time and effort into the activity to show they intend to make it profitable.
• The taxpayer depends on income from the activity for their livelihood.
• The taxpayer has personal motives for carrying out the activity such as general enjoyment or relaxation.
• The taxpayer has enough income from other sources to fund the activity
• Losses are due to circumstances beyond the taxpayer’s control or are normal for the startup phase of their type of business.
• There is a change to methods of operation to improve profitability.
• Taxpayer and their advisor have the knowledge needed to carry out the activity as a successful business.
• The taxpayer was successful in making a profit in similar activities in the past.
• Activity makes a profit in some years and how much profit it makes.
• The taxpayer can expect to make a future profit from the appreciation of the assets used in the activity.

All factors, facts, and circumstances with respect to the activity must be considered. No one factor is more important than another.

If your business loses money year-after-year, and you’re not making any efforts to change it, and you get a lot of personal enjoyment out of the business, beware! Your “business” might be a hobby. Yes, circumstances can cause any business to fail (and the IRS knows this). But when your business is losing money every year and you make no effort to change your business, at least on the surface you’re looking like a hobby. The eternal hobby loss is a good way to head to an IRS audit.

Why in the world would anyone of sound mind and body declare more income than they actually earned? He or she would owe more tax, so there’s no reason to do this, right?

No, there are actually two reasons people do this. They’re both part of the Bozo contingent, and I strongly advise you not to follow their lead, but here goes:

The first (less common) reason is to qualify for a loan (typically a mortgage). Let’s say you found your dream home, but you need to show income of $100,000 a year…but you only earned $90,000. Simple solution: Declare an additional $10,000 of income! Now you qualify, and next year you plan on cheating on your taxes by that $10,000. Of course, the fact that you committed a felony by lying on your loan application doesn’t concern you. And the IRS is unlikely to come after you for the extra income; after all, if you do get audited in some future year you will simply admit the error. Some who practice this simply file an amended return a year or so later. You own the home, you’re making mortgage payments, so no one’s the wiser, right? (We’ll continue to ignore that felony you committed.)

The more common reason is the Earned Income Credit (EIC). This welfare program is part of the Tax Code. Let’s say you earn nothing; you’re not eligible for it. But if you have some income (but not huge income), you’re eligible for “free money.” (And we’ll throw in a phony child or two or nineteen so you can get the Child Tax Credit and, voila, you have even more “free money.”) Of course it’s not free—it comes out of our tax dollars. And you’re committing a crime (lying on your tax return). However, given how the Tax Code works and the monetary reasons for individuals to seek the Earned Income Credit, the Bozo contingent looks at it as “free money.”

(That’s the reason Congress requires tax professionals to conduct a mandatory interview for people who are claiming this credit. There are penalties on tax professionals who evade this requirement. Of course, if you’re running an Earned Income Credit fraud program, you’re probably more than willing to lie on the tax professional’s mandatory questionnaire.)

A tax return is supposed to show the exact amount of income you made: no more, no less. If you get caught adding income that didn’t exist to your return for one of the two reasons I’ve highlighted you’ve committed at least one crime. I’d like Congress to end Tax Code welfare (end the Earned Income Credit) but that’s not going to happen. But if you get caught adding phony income (especially if you’re a tax professional running an EIC fraud mill) you can be sent to a very real prison.

Last week, I finished the tax return of a long-time client (call him John Smith).  We were on the phone reviewing his return and he mentioned his wife.  He was filing his 2024 tax return as “Single.”  After I congratulated him, I asked when he got married.  He replied, “last August.”  I sighed.

With weddings comes changes in tax status. Your marital status on December 31st determines your marital status for the year. If you are married, you file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. (In some rare cases, if you’re married you can file as Head of Household.) But you can’t file as single. Likewise, if you’re single you can’t file as married.

Perhaps it’s something in the water, but this year this is the second case of an individual who ignored his marriage license and wanted to file as single (though he was married). There’s a good reason for that, of course: you save on taxes. A big issue is rental real estate: If you’re actively involved in rental real estate you get to take losses of up to $25,000. But there’s an income cap (the deduction begins to phase out at an income of $100,000 and completely phases out at $150,000). This particular deduction is neither indexed for inflation nor does it vary if you are single or married.  (There are numerous other areas of the Tax Code that penalize marriage.)

There’s a problem taking deductions you’re not entitled to: tax evasion. It’s a Bozo act to claim things you’re not entitled to.

Marriage has its ups and downs. Claiming you’re single on your tax return when you’re married will in the long-run cause you nothing but downs. Thankfully, my client and his spouse are now discussing if they will each file “Married Filing Separately” or if they will file a joint return.