For example, you could hire your under-age-18 children, pay
them, say, $10,000 each, and they could pay zero federal income taxes. And you
or your corporation, the employer, would deduct the $10,000 you paid to each of
the children.

The child wins. You win. There’s more.

Schedule C Business

Let’s say you operate your business as a sole
proprietorship, a single-member LLC that’s treated as a sole proprietorship for
tax purposes, a husband-wife partnership, or an LLC that’s treated as a
husband-wife partnership for tax purposes. Good!

That means you can hire your under-age-18 child, and the
child’s wages will be completely exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes
(FICA tax) and FUTA taxes.

To be clear, the FICA tax exemption applies to the
employee’s share of FICA tax that’s withheld from the employee’s paychecks and
to the employer’s share of FICA tax that your business must pay over to the
Feds. You have to like that!

For 2020, your under-age-18
employee-child’s standard deduction will shelter from federal income tax
the first $12,400 of wages received if the child has no taxable income from
other sources. No federal income taxes for this child. You have to like that too!

You can hire the under-age-18
child part-time, full-time, or whatever works for you and the child. Right now,
children in this age category are probably not attending school, and the school
district’s lengthy summer vacation may have already begun.

In the fall, will your under-age-18 child be attending
school in person or online? You probably don’t know anything for sure at this
point. But in the COVID-19 era, your under-age-18 child’s availability to work
in your business may be at an all-time high.

The wages received by your child can be used to help keep
the family afloat financially. If the family is not so financially stressed,
your child can use some or all of the wages to fund a college savings account
or make a Roth IRA contribution.

What if My Business Is Incorporated?

If you operate your business as an S
or a C corporation, your child’s wages received from the business are subject
to FICA and FUTA taxes, just like any other employee, regardless of the child’s
age.

What if I Hire a Family Member over Age 21?

Do it! The wages received from your business are subject to FICA
and FUTA taxes, just like any other employee. This is the case whether you operate
your business as an unincorporated sole proprietorship, a partnership, or an LLC
or as an S or a C corporation.

Tax Advantages for Your Business

When you hire a child or other family member, your business deducts
the wages paid.

• If you operate the business as a sole proprietorship, a single-member
  LLC that’s treated as a sole proprietorship for tax purposes, a husband-wife
  partnership, an LLC that’s treated as a husband-wife partnership for tax
  purposes, or an S corporation, the wage expense deduction reduces (a) your
  individual federal taxable income, (b) your individual net self-employment
  income, and (c) your individual state taxable income (if applicable).
• If you operate the business as a
  C corporation, the corporation deducts the wages paid to a child or other family
  member. The deductions reduce the corporation’s federal taxable income and
  probably the corporation’s state taxable income (if applicable).
• If your business will be unprofitable this year
  due to the COVID-19 fallout, deductions for wages paid to a child or other
  family member can create or increase a net operating loss (NOL) for 2020.
  If so, you can carry back the 2020 NOL for up to five tax years—back to
  2015. The NOL carryback can trigger a refund of income taxes paid for the
  carryback year. That can really help. An NOL carried back to a pre-2018
  tax year can be especially helpful, because tax rates were generally
  higher in those days.

Keep payroll records just like you would for any other
employee to document hours worked and duties performed (e.g., timesheets and
job descriptions).

Issue W-2s just like you would for any other employee.

If you would like to discuss the tax and financial benefits
of hiring family members, please don’t hesitate to call me on my direct line at
408-778-9651.

New Easy Road to 100 Percent Forgiveness

How much is clarity worth?

A lot, a whole lot.

And how much is making things easier worth? Of course, it’s
a lot, a whole lot, too.

We now have both the new (a) clarity and (b) easy road to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness for
the self-employed with no employees. Get ready to smile.

New Easy Road to 100
Percent Forgiveness

Say thanks to the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility
Act of 2020. This new law creates a 24-week period for you to spend your PPP
loan proceeds.

If you obtained your loan proceeds before June 5, you can
elect to use the eight-week period to spend your PPP loan proceeds.

Here’s the big difference:

• If the 24-week covered period applies, your loan
  forgiveness for your deemed payroll is capped at 2.5 months of your
  2019 Schedule C net profit, not to exceed $20,833.
• If you elect the eight-week covered period, your loan
  forgiveness for your deemed payroll is capped at eight weeks, not
  to exceed $15,385.

Why Is This Important?

When you file as a Schedule C taxpayer and have no
employees, your PPP loan is based on 2.5 times your 2019 Schedule C, line 31,
net profit, limited to $20,833.

Here’s how the loan amount works:

Okay, you have your loan proceeds either in hand or in play
at this point.

Let’s keep our eyes on the “easy road” to forgiveness. Under
the new 24-week rule, you achieve 100 percent forgiveness when you pay yourself
the total loan amount within 10.8 weeks of the date you received your loan
proceeds. Let’s round the 10.8 to 11 weeks.

Yes, you are reading this correctly. By simply using the
loan proceeds on yourself during the first 11 weeks, you achieve total
forgiveness.

Note this. By using the 11 weeks, you achieve total
PPP loan forgiveness without having to spend any money on rent, utilities, or
interest.

When Can I Apply for
Forgiveness?

According to SBA guidance issued on June 22, 2020, you may
submit your loan forgiveness application anytime on or before the maturity date
of the loan—including before the end of the covered period—if you used all the
loan proceeds for which you requested forgiveness.

Example. Ron receives his $20,833 PPP loan on May 15,
2020. He puts the money in his business checking account. During the 11 weeks
beginning with May 15, 2020, Ron writes checks to himself that total $20,833.
Ron can apply for $20,833 of loan forgiveness anytime after the 11th week.

Is It Really This Easy?

Yes.

What About
Interest, Rent, and Utilities?

With the 11-week program described above, you don’t have to
consider interest, rent, or utilities to achieve 100 percent forgiveness.

In fact, why bother? By simply using the 11 weeks, you have
less paperwork and worry.

Of course, you might want to consider interest, rent, and
utilities if this takes you to earlier forgiveness. To obtain full forgiveness,
you could spend as little as 60 percent on payroll and the balance on interest,
rent, and utilities.

Example. Jane files a Schedule C and has no
employees, and on June 1, 2020, she obtains a PPP loan of $20,000. During the
first eight weeks, Jane spends $12,000 on herself and $8,000 on qualified
Schedule C deductible business interest, rent, and utilities. Jane can elect
the eight-week period and qualify for 100 percent forgiveness.

Here are the basic PPP forgiveness requirements that apply
to your 2020 Schedule C business deduction payments for interest, rent, and utilities:

• Interest payments on any business mortgage obligation on
  real or personal property where such obligation was in place before
  February 15, 2020 (but not any prepayment or payment of principal).
• Payments on business rent obligations on real or personal
  property under lease agreements in force before February 15, 2020.
• Business utility payments for the distribution of
  electricity, gas, water, transportation, telephone, or internet access for
  which service began before February 15, 2020.

Meet the Paid Rule

On page 2 of the 3508EZ instructions, you find this:

Enter any amounts paid to a
self-employed individual. For a 24-week Covered Period, this amount is capped
at $20,833 (the 2.5-month equivalent of $100,000 per year) for each individual
or the 2.5-month equivalent of their applicable compensation in 2019, whichever
is lower.

We may suffer from unfounded paranoia because we find the word
“paid” a word to be reckoned with. But in our opinion, you should have your
Schedule C business write you checks from its business account. If there’s no
separate business account, make sure the business writes checks that pay your
personal expenses in the amount of the deemed compensation.

If you would like to discuss this PPP forgiveness rule with
me, please don’t hesitate to call me on my direct line at 408-778-9651.