If you conduct your business as a sole proprietorship or using a pass-through entity (S corporation, partnership, or LLC classified as such), your shares of the business’s income and deductions are taxed at your personal rates. Assuming no legislative changes, next year’s individual federal income tax rates will be the same as this year’s, with significant bumps in the rate bracket thresholds thanks to inflation adjustments.
The traditional strategy of deferring income into next year while accelerating deductible expenditures into this year makes sense if you expect to be in the same or lower tax bracket next year. Deferring income and accelerating deductions will, at a minimum, postpone part of your tax bill from 2023 until 2024. And, after the inflation adjustments to 2024 rate bracket thresholds, the deferred income might be taxed at a lower rate. That would be nice!
On the other hand, if you expect to be in a higher tax bracket in 2024, take the opposite approach. Accelerate income into this year (if possible) and postpone deductible expenditures until 2024. That way, more income will be taxed at this year’s lower rate instead of next year’s higher rate. Contact us for details on how to implement business income and deduction timing strategies.
Timing of Year-end Bonuses. Year-end bonuses can be timed for maximum tax effect by both cash and accrual basis employers. Cash basis taxpayers should pay bonuses before year end to maximize the deduction available in 2023 if they expect to be in the same or lower tax bracket next year. Cash basis taxpayers that expect to be in a higher tax bracket in 2024 because of significant revenue increases, should wait to pay 2023 year-end bonuses until January 2024. Accrual basis taxpayers deduct bonuses in the year when all events related to the bonuses are established with reasonable certainty. However, for accrual basis taxpayers, the bonus must be paid no later than 2 ½ months of the accrual year end for a current year deduction (by March 15 for calendar year- end taxpayers). Accrual method employers who want to defer deductions to a higher-taxed future year should consider changing their bonus plans before year-end to set the payment date later than the 2 ½ month window or consider changing the bonus plan’s terms to make the bonus amount indeterminable at year end.
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