Important End-of-Year Business Filing Reminders

January 8, 2021

Click here for our Guide to Information Returns.

If you have any questions about the information in this article or would like us to assist you in the preparation of your W-2s, 1099s, ACA forms, or business personal property tax listings, please feel free to call or email either Wendy Andrei at the Asheville office (828) 259-9900, [email protected] or Liz Brown at the Charlotte office (704) 676-6335, [email protected]

Shareholders owning a 2% or more interest in an S corporation must include group term life, health, long-term care, accident and disability insurance premiums paid on their behalf in their Form W-2 wages. Premiums that are considered self-employed health insurance are deductible on the shareholder’s personal income tax return.

Fringe benefits are taxable to recipients unless specifically excluded by law. Taxable fringe benefits that are provided to employees are generally subject to employment taxes and are reported on Form W-2. The following is a listing of common types of taxable fringe benefits:

  • Personal use of company vehicles (click here for worksheet using the lease value method).  Note – In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IRS is allowing a switch to the cents per mile method (57.5 cents per mile for 2020) if the result is more favorable than the lease value method.
  • Reimbursement of employee business expenses (with no accountable plan)
  • Moving expenses

Use this form for reporting non-employee compensation amounts of $600 or more.  These amounts were formerly reported on Form 1099-MISC in box 7.  Continue to use Form 1099-MISC for other reporting requirements.

As a general rule, you must issue a Form 1099-NEC to each person or unincorporated business to which you have paid:

  • At least $600 in professional service fees and nonemployee contractors.
  • Payments to attorneys for legal services of $600 or more – regardless of their incorporation status.

As a general rule, you must issue a Form 1099-MISC to each person or unincorporated business to which you have paid:

  • At least $600 in rent.
  • At least $600 prizes and awards or other income payments.
  • Royalties of $10 or more.
  • Gross proceeds paid to attorneys not reported on 1099-NEC

IRS enforcement of 1099 filing requirements has increased over the past few years.  All business tax returns now include questions addressing whether payments were made during the year that would require the filing of 1099s and whether or not those forms were actually filed.

There are penalties which range from $50 to $270 per return or statement associated with the late filing, non-filing, and incorrect filing of forms.  The penalty for intentional disregard is $550 per return.

To ensure you have the proper information for filing 1099s on time, every qualifying vendor should fill out and sign a Form W-9 before they begin work.  The W-9 should be retained in your tax records.  For the current form click here.  Please note: A sole proprietor or single member LLC that files their business information on a 1040 return, must provide their name on Line 1 and their personal Social security number in Part 1.

Note:  If a vendor has an ITIN, additional federal and state withholding requirements may apply.

An ITIN or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  An ITIN is a nine-digit number and always begins with the number 9 and has a 7 or 8 as the fourth digit, for example 9XX-7X-XXXX.

North Carolina requires withholding on payments made to contractors who do not provide a taxpayer identification number, as well as, nonresident contractors and ITIN contractors.  Click here for additional information.

In addition to the Payroll Protection Program that provided funds to qualified borrowers for maintaining payroll costs, other relief options have also been made available, such as:

  • Employee Retention Credit – available to employers who experienced significant declines in business revenues
  • Paid Sick and Family Leave Credit – available to employers who paid COVID 19 related leave payments
  • Deferral of Employment tax deposits – allows the deferral of certain social security and self-employment taxes
Please contact our office for more details on these programs if you think you may qualify.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced a final rule to make 1.3 million American workers newly eligible for overtime pay.

With the final rule that went into effect on January 1, 2020, the DOL is:

  • raising the “standard salary level” from the 2019 enforced level of $455 per week to $684 per week (equivalent to $35,568 per year for a full-year worker);
  • raising the total annual compensation requirement for “highly compensated employees” from the currently enforced level of $100,000 per year to $107,432 per year;
  • allowing employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) paid at least annually to satisfy up to 10% of the standard salary level, in recognition of evolving pay practices; and
  • revising the special salary levels for workers in U.S. territories and the motion picture industry.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers’ reporting of certain health insurance coverage amounts.  While most reporting requirements apply only to “Applicable Large Employers” (those employers with an average of 50 or more employees), you may be subject to the reporting requirements even if you have less than 50 employees.  Certain health reimbursement arrangements, such as reimbursement of health insurance premiums for S Corporation shareholders, may be subject to these reporting requirements.

All businesses are required by North Carolina General Statutes to list business personal property with each county that the property is located.  This is also true for business personal property held in counties in other states.

Business personal property is any tangible property owned, claimed, used, possessed, managed or controlled in the conduct of a trade or business. This includes all machinery, fixtures, office furniture and equipment.

We have recently seen counties in North Carolina and other states place a heightened emphasis on enforcement with regard to the filing of business property tax listings.  This has resulted in more businesses being audited and fined for not filing the required returns.

States throughout the country continue to take more aggressive stances with sales tax matters.  Some states now require collection of sales tax if you make sales or provide services in the state, even if you do not have a physical presence in the state.  Please contact our office if you want to discuss in more detail how these sales tax changes affect your business.