Most Workers Need to File Schedule M; Making Work Pay Credit Offers Tax Savings Up to $800

Once again, a special tax credit offers taxpayers an opportunity to lower their tax bill or increase their refunds on their 2010 federal tax returns. Available to both Form 1040 and Form 1040A filers, this credit is claimed on Schedule M, Making Work Pay Credit.

The Making Work Pay Credit helps millions of workers and self-employed individuals. Although income limits apply to this credit, it is refundable –– meaning that those eligible can get it even if they owe no tax.

Though all eligible taxpayers must file Schedule M to claim the Making Work Pay Credit, most workers got the benefit of this credit through larger paychecks, reflecting reduced federal income tax withholding during 2010.

Most eligible taxpayers qualify for the maximum Making Work Pay Credit of $800 for a married couple filing a joint return or $400 for other taxpayers. The credit equals 6.2 percent of earned income up to the maximum amount. Thus, any eligible couple filing a joint return whose earned income is $12,903 or more qualifies for the $800 maximum credit. This is true even if the income is earned entirely by one spouse. Other taxpayers qualify for the $400 maximum if their earned income is $6,451 or more.
For most workers, the credit is based on the taxable wages reported to them on Forms W-2. Self-employed individuals figure the credit using the net profit or loss they receive from a business or farm. Additional calculations are necessary for some taxpayers, including those who have net business losses, or foreign earned income. More information, including a worksheet, can be found in the instructions for Schedule M.

Tax Changes for Small Businesses

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During 2010, new laws, such as the Affordable Care Act and the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, created or expanded deductions and credits that small businesses and self-employed individuals should consider when completing their tax returns and making business decisions in 2011.

Health Insurance Deduction Reduces Self Employment Tax

With the enactment of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, self-employed taxpayers who pay their own health insurance costs can now reduce their net earnings from self-employment by these costs. Previously, the self-employed health insurance deduction was allowed only for income tax purposes. For tax year 2010, self-employed taxpayers can also reduce their net earnings from self employment subject to SE taxes on Schedule SE by the amount of self-employed health insurance deduction claimed on line 29 on Form 1040.

Taxpayers can claim the self-employed health insurance deduction if the insurance plan is established under their business and if any of the following are true:  They were self-employed and had a net profit for the year; They used one of the optional methods to figure net earnings from self-employment on Schedule SE; or They received wages from an S corporation in which the taxpayer was a more-than-2-percent shareholder.

Small Business Health Care Tax Credit

In general, the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit is available to small employers that pay at least half of the premiums for single health insurance coverage for their employees. It is specifically targeted to help small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that primarily employ moderate- and lower-income workers.

Small businesses can claim the credit for 2010 through 2013 and for any two years after that. For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small businesses and 25 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations. Beginning in 2014, the maximum tax credit will increase to 50 percent of premiums paid by eligible small business employers and 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations.

The maximum credit goes to smaller employers –– those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees –– paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less. The credit is completely phased out for employers that have 25 or more FTEs or that pay average wages of $50,000 or more per year. Because the eligibility rules are based in part on the number of FTEs, not the number of employees, employers that use part-time workers may qualify even if they employ more than 25 individuals.

Small Businesses Can Benefit from Higher Expensing / Depreciation Limits

For tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011, small businesses can expense up to $500,000 of the first $2 million of certain business property placed in service during the year.

In general, businesses can choose to treat the cost of certain property as an expense and deduct it in the year the property is placed in service instead of depreciating it over several years. This property is frequently referred to as section 179 property, after the relevant section in the Internal Revenue Code.

Depreciation limits on business vehicles

The total depreciation deduction (including the section 179 expense deduction and the 50 or 100 percent bonus depreciation) you can take for a passenger automobile (that is not a truck or a van) you use in your business and first placed in service in 2010 is increased to $11,060. The maximum deduction you can take for a truck or van you use in your business and first placed in service in 2010 is increased to $11,160.  If you do not take any bonus depreciation for the passenger automobile, truck, or van you use in your business and first placed in service in 2010, the maximum deduction you can take for a passenger automobile is $3,060 and for a truck or van is $3,160.

Small Businesses To Use EFTPS for Deposits Beginning in 2011

The paper coupon system for Federal Tax Deposits will no longer be maintained by the Treasury Department after Dec. 31, 2010. Most businesses must now make deposits and pay federal taxes through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).

Using EFTPS to make federal tax deposits provides substantial benefits to both taxpayers and the government. EFTPS users can make tax payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week from home or the office.

Deposits can be made online with a computer or by telephone. EFTPS also significantly reduces payment-related errors that could result in a penalty. The system helps taxpayers schedule dates to make payments even when they are out of town or on vacation when a payment is due. EFTPS business users can schedule payments up to 120 days in advance of the desired payment date

Information on EFTPS, including how to enroll, can be found on line or by calling EFTPS Customer Service at 1-800-555-4477.

2010 Changes Offer Expanded Tax Benefits

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Three Extra Days to File and Pay

Taxpayers, nationwide, will have until Monday, April 18, 2011, to file their 2010 returns and pay any taxes due. Taxpayers get the extra time because Emancipation Day, a holiday in the District of Columbia, is observed this year on Friday, April 15. By law, D.C. holidays impact tax deadlines in the same way that federal holidays do. The April 18 deadline applies to any return or payment normally due on April 15. It also applies to the deadline for requesting a tax-filing extension and for making 2010 IRA contributions.

Special Charitable Contributions for Certain IRA Owners

This provision, now available through the end of 2011, offers older owners of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) a different way to give to charity. An IRA owner age 70½ or over can directly transfer, tax-free, up to $100,000 per year to eligible charities. Known as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), this option is available for distributions from IRAs, regardless of whether the owners itemize their deductions. Distributions from employer-sponsored retirement plans, including SIMPLE IRAs and simplified employee pension (SEP) plans, are not eligible to be treated as a qualified charitable distribution. For tax-year 2010 only, IRA owners can choose to treat QCDs made during January 2011 as if they occurred in 2010.

To qualify, the funds must be contributed directly by the IRA trustee to an eligible charity. Amounts so transferred are not taxable and no deduction is available for the transfer.  Not all charities are eligible. For example, donor-advised funds and supporting organizations are not eligible recipients. Remember to check eligibility of the charity before requesting a QCD.

More People Qualify for Roth IRA Conversions

Income limits no longer apply to rollovers or conversions to Roth IRAs from other retirement plans. In the past, only taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less were eligible, and a married person filing a separate return who lived with his or her spouse at any time during the year was barred from Roth IRA rollovers or conversions, regardless of income.

For 2010 rollovers and conversions only, half of the resulting income must be included in income in tax year 2011 and the other half in 2012, unless the taxpayer chooses to include all of it in income in 2010. In all situations, taxpayers must report any 2010 conversion on Form 8606 for tax year 2010. These rules do not apply to rollovers from another Roth IRA or from a designated Roth account.

Exemptions and Itemized Deductions No Longer Phased Out

Overall income limits for personal and dependency exemptions and itemized deductions do not apply. Before 2010, taxpayers whose incomes were above certain levels lost part or all of their exemptions and part of their itemized deductions. For taxpayers at all income levels, limitations continue to apply to particular itemized deductions, such as medical and dental expenses, certain miscellaneous itemized deductions and casualty and theft losses.

Adoption Credit Expanded

The maximum adoption credit for 2010 is increased to $13,170 per child, up from $12,150 in 2009. The credit is refundable, meaning that eligible taxpayers can get the credit even if they owe no tax. In general, the credit is based on the qualified adoption expenses, which include adoption fees, court costs, attorney’s fees and travel expenses. Income limits and other special rules apply.

First-Time Homebuyer Credit

Taxpayers who claimed the first-time homebuyer credit for a home bought in 2008 must generally begin repaying it on the 2010 return. In most cases, the credit must be repaid over a 15-year period. Many of those affected by this requirement received reminder letters from the IRS.

A repayment requirement also applies to a taxpayer who claimed the credit on either their 2008 or 2009 return and then sold it or stopped using the home as their main home in 2010. Use Form 5405 to report the repayment.

Standard Mileage Rates for 2010

The standard mileage rate for business use of a car, van, pick-up or panel truck is 50 cents for each mile driven. The rate for the cost of operating a vehicle for medical reasons or as part of a deductible move is 16.5 cents per mile. The rate for using a car to provide services to charitable organizations is set by law and remains at 14 cents a mile.