Ask a CPA

Earn tax-free income.

Maximize deductions.

Maximize tax credits.

Contributing to a retirement account – 401k or IRA.

Opening a health savings account.

Contributing to employer-sponsored plans.

Profiting from investment losses.

Check for flexible spending accounts at work.

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Bryan, greetings from a Texas CPA.

I would be happy to have you come aboard as a tax client.

Technically, the shareholder of an S corporation should be on payroll, receiving a reasonable compensation, from day one. However, what you read, that the IRS MIGHT give you a pass for the first year, is correct. So, yes, you’ll probably be alright for year 1. Of course, that is partly contingent on whether they see that you’re following the rules in subsequent years.

If you filed the S election and made it retroactive back to 2020, then 2020 was year 1, even if it was not a complete year. In this case, 2021 would be year 2 for you. So, yes, you are a whole year late in doing payroll. Being this late, the best we can do now is damage control, to mitigate the problem.

If you are interested in having a phone call to discuss issue, I can probably take your call between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM this morning (Tuesday, January 11, 2022). Otherwise, the rest of my day is booked at the moment (although I would be available this evening after 7:00 PM). I’d be available again tomorrow (on Wednesday), after 5 PM (as I already have meetings scheduled for tomorrow). My hourly rate for purely consulting is $200.00 per hour. During the call, we can discuss your questions and possible solutions. My direct number is (210) 413-4019. I don’t round up on time. I’m more interested in helping individuals like you and bringing them on as continuing clients than charging for consulting.

You can find my CPA firm (Adam Dickreiter, CPA, PLLC) by doing a Google search. I am located in San Antonio. If you’re not in San Antonio or the surrounding area, that’s not an issue, as we can still interact from a distance.

Hello Katie,

In order to answer your question properly, it is important to know the tax structure of your business; is it a corporation, Single-member LLC or sole proprietor.

Since we can only deduct the portion of your home that is used exclusively and regularly for business (the rule of thumb for the percentage to be in the range of 5-20%), I would advise you to pay for the expenses out of your personal accounts, then record the deductible portion on a monthly basis on a separate sheet. At the end of the year or on a monthly basis, provide an employee reimbursement report to your company for payment.

In general, the deductible portion of the mortgage, real estate taxes, utilities, and insurance need to be booked as "due to shareholder". Once it has been paid by cutting a check or transferring the money out of your business account to your personal account, you will need to reverse the entry by getting rid of your account "due to shareholder" and reducing your cash balance.

Hope my answer helped.

Hello Scott,

Unfortunately, the value of time or service is not tax-deductible, but any expenses that incur due to the pro bono work that are directly related to the charity are tax-deductible.

Hello Frederic,

You can withdraw your Roth contribution anytime with no penalty. However, the portion of the interest earned or growth will need to remain in the account for 5 years prior to the withdrawal in order to avoid the early penalty of 10% for the federal. Please be aware that some states impose an early withdrawal penalty as well. Assuming you are over 59 1/2 years, you won't need to be concerned about the penalty on the portion of the growth as long as it stays in your account for 5 years. There is an interesting fact that the 5 year period starts counting down with the first account opening. All subsequent Roth money contributed will be part of the original contribution.

Technically you cant combine years like that. As a practical matter though, the $8000 of revenue probably results in a much lower number for taxable income after accounting for expenses so if the income is immaterial for that year, adding it to 2020 might not be a real problem. Also keep in mind if there were an audit, showing the income, even though its in the wrong period could help with negating any sort of under reporting penalty.

Of course you really should consider amending 2019 to report everything in the correct year, but if you decide not to do that, be sure everything from here on out is reported in the correct period. Combining revenue is not proper.

Yes the backdoor IRA strategy will work for you. One note of caution is that there is potential this strategy will be limited if the version of the Build Back Better Act that is about to go to the Senate for a vote passes. Consider making the move soon as some of those provisions will take effect Jan of 2022.

Additionally note that there is a possibility of the side door Roth if your plan at work allows non deductible 401k Contributions. Reach out if you want to discuss further

My Answer:

Hello, from San Antonio, Texas. First, I want to say congratulations on the business venture.

To answer your first question, if your question is strictly about applying for the Texas sales tax permit, you do not need a Tax ID (employer identification number or EIN). You can apply for a Texas sales tax permit, as a sole proprietor. When you apply for the Texas sales tax permit, Texas will assign you an 11 digit Texas Taxpayer Number.

To answer your second question, if you are going to operating the food truck in Texas (so the income will be generated in Texas), you definitely need the sales tax permit in Texas. You won’t be doing any sales in Oklahoma, so you probably don’t need an Oklahoma sales tax permit.

To answer your third question, you do not need an EIN (what I assume you’re calling a Tax ID) yet. However, the moment you hire any employees, you must have an EIN. Also, you may want to consider getting an EIN, even if you don’t need it. Why? Because if you don’t have an EIN, you’re going to be giving out your SSN to everyone. That definitely increases the risk of identity theft for you.

If you found this helpful, I would really appreciate if you could leave a Google review for me (Adam Dickreiter) by following this link https://g.page/adam-dickreiter-cpa-pllc/review?gm or doing a Google search for my name.

If we receive a positive Google review, my company will donate $10.00 to San Antonio Youth Literacy.

If you need a CPA or a bookkeeper, I am a CPA, and I also have a separate bookkeeping company (whose website address is www.bookkeepingsolutionssa.com). We have quite a bit of knowledge about sales tax, as we file sales tax reports for many clients and we are even engaged from time-to-time by companies (who are not even regular clients) to represent them with sales tax audits, as Texas loves to go after businesses for sales tax.

Adam Dickreiter, CPA

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. As a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), starting with 2018, no unreimbursed employee business expenses (that would include marketing/advertising) are deductible anywhere on your individual income tax return. Prior to TCJA, if employees had out-of-pocket expenses for which they were not reimbursed, they could attempt to deduct them on Schedule A (itemized deductions) to the extent they exceeded 2% of adjusted gross income. So such expenses were tax deductible, but in actuality, it was still difficult to actually get any tax benefit because you had to clear that 2% threshold and then you still needed to have enough itemized deductions to itemize.

Instead of just leaving you with an answer but no possible remedy, I have two ideas.

First, see if you can get any business expenses reimbursed by your employer. If they reimbursed the exact amount of expenses you turned in (and substantiated with receipts), the reimbursement would be tax-free to you AND a business write-off to the employer. A win-win for both of you and a LOSE for IRS. Perhaps negotiate this instead of an increase in pay in the future.

Second, see if you can create a sole proprietorship (be an independent contractor) on the side with other clients. That opens up the possibility for you to deduct some (not all) your business expenses. It would be illegal/unethical to deduct business expenses that relate directly to your work as a W-2 employee, but you could deduct expenses that relate directly to your status as independent contractor as well as expenses that benefit both activities.

If you found this helpful, I would really appreciate if you could leave a Google review for me (Adam Dickreiter) by following this link https://g.page/adam-dickreiter-cpa-pllc/review?gm or doing a Google search for my name.

Alternatively, you could leave a review on this website by following this link: https://cpadirectory.com/certified-public-accountants/texas/san-antonio-tx/adam-dickreiter/1061467 or searching on this website under Find an Accountant > All CPAs. I am ranked on top on this website, as I have answered many questions from the public, so it’s easy to find me.

Adam Dickreiter, CPA

First, congratulations are in order.

To answer your question, yes, it is possible to be both an independent contractor and an employee at the same time. Having said that, hopefully, you are not serving in both capacities for the same individual/company, as that would be questionable. So, if you are an employee for one company, but you’re an independent contractor serving your own clients on the side, there is no problem there.

Come tax-time, you will receive a Form W-2 for your work as an employee. You will continue to report your income as an independent contractor the same way you have done in the past (assuming you’ve been an independent contractor prior to 2021). In your question, you don’t state how you’re filing as an independent contractor, so I cannot speak to that issue.

To answer your last question, you cannot write off any of the expenses related to your work as an agent against your employee income. As long as you have income as an independent contractor, you can continue to write off your agent expenses. The only issue is that you don’t want to end up with a loss, as you could be subject to the hobby loss rules.

If you found this free advice helpful, please leave me a review, either through Google (search for Adam Dickreiter or by using the following link https://g.page/adam-dickreiter-cpa-pllc/review?gm) or through this website (CPAdirectory).