In this first quarter update, we cover some of the most important tax issues for companies in the technology, clean technology, life sciences, and communications and media industries and touch on what your organization can do to stay ahead of them.
POSSIBLE TAX REFORM
With Congress and the
White House both controlled by the Republican party, there’s a general
consensus among those in Washington that now is the time to enact significant
tax law changes. However, reaching an agreement on the details of such
comprehensive tax reform will be incredibly complex, and it’s not clear how the
legislative process is going to play out. Some things to be aware of:
·
Health
care changes. To date,
Congress has been focused on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, a
task seen by many congressional Republicans as essential before they could get
to work on tax law changes. However, the House pulled its legislation on
Friday, March 24, after it became clear there weren’t enough votes for it to
pass. This inability to address health care may complicate their efforts on tax
reform.
·
Reconciliation
process. Sixty votes are
required to pass legislation in the Senate. This means a bill would need some
Democratic support in the Senate. However, a special reconciliation process
could be used that only requires 51 votes to pass, but it would place additional
requirements on the legislation, making the process even more difficult.
·
Rate
reduction. The president
and congressional Republicans have proposed significant reductions in the
income tax rates for businesses (among other changes), but there isn’t
agreement on how to pay for this rate reduction. One option proposed by
Republicans in the House of Representatives is a "border adjustment
tax" that’s designed to incentivize exports and penalize imports. However,
some congressional Republicans are concerned about this type of tax as they
believe it could increase consumer prices on many goods purchased in the United
States, so it may not be a viable option without more support.
The details of any
potential tax reform, including when such changes would be effective, will
likely change as the legislative process moves forward. It’s also hard to know
how long the process may take. The last time any significant tax reform was
enacted was in 1986, and the process took more than one year.
FBAR REPORTING DATES
FinCEN Form 114,
Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), used to be due June 30.
Now it’s due April 15 (or April 18 this year), but it can be automatically
extended to October 16. This form is required by any US person who has a
financial interest in, signature, or other authority over any foreign financial
accounts if the aggregate value of these financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at
any time during the calendar year. Corporations based in the United States and
their executives are often required to file this form for their foreign
subsidiary financial accounts. The penalties for failure to file start at
$10,000 per year.
EXPORT TAX INCENTIVES
FOR THE TECH INDUSTRY
The tech ecosystem has
been global from its earliest days, and exports are good for the economy. While
tech companies regularly take advantage of R&D credits, there are other
federal tax incentives that may be available. An Interest Charge-Domestic International
Sales Corporation (IC-DISC) is used extensively by exporters in the
manufacturing and agricultural sectors to lower overall US tax rates, but it’s
often overlooked in the tech community.
What’s an IC-DISC?
IC-DISC is a corporate
structure that can be implemented by manufacturers, resellers, and other
exporters of goods made in the United States. The IC-DISC delivers tax benefits
by carving off a portion of profit earned on export sales and converting the
profit into dividend income, which reduces the tax rate from 35 percent to 23.8
percent (including the net investment income tax).
Around since the
1970s, IC-DISCs are largely paper entities and are exempt from most substance
and arm’s length pricing rules. At the present time, IC-DISCs are the one tax
incentive specific to exporters.
What Type of Activity Qualifies?
There are three
criteria. Goods must:
·
Have at least half of
the value provided by domestic content
·
Be exported
·
Be profitable
How Would a Loss-Making Tech Company Qualify?
The IC-DISC rules have
the ability to allocate and apportion expenses between domestic and export
sales. One of the most beneficial rules applies when R&D is performed in
the United States, which largely characterizes the cost of R&D as a
domestic expense. We’ve often found that walking through selling, general, and
administrative expenses—known as S, G & A—can identify opportunities to
characterize certain items as wholly domestic, which can turn a loss-making
tech company into a loss-making tech company with profitable exports.
The domestic content
piece is often misunderstood. A significant amount of foreign value add can be
incorporated into a finished product and still result in the product being
classified as being made in the United States for purposes of the IC-DISC.
Exports can also
include digital downloads of software—a number of Software-as-a-Service
companies have a qualifying software component, for example. So, while a
company may think of itself as a service company, for tax purposes that same
company may be providing a product in the form of software.
It’s important to note
that developers and distributors both qualify for benefits. If a tech company
uses an app store to interface with the customer, the sale through that app
store to a foreign buyer qualifies as an export.
NEW PARTNERSHIP AUDIT
RULES
The IRS issued 277
pages of proposed regulations on the new partnership audit regime that was
enacted as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the BBA, P.L. 114-74,
11/2/2015).
The proposed
regulations provide rules for partnerships subject to the new regime, including
procedures for:
·
Electing out of the
centralized partnership audit regime
·
Filing administrative
adjustment requests
·
Determining amounts
owed by the partnership or its partners attributable to adjustments that arise
out of an examination of a partnership
They also address the
scope of the centralized partnership audit regime and provide definitions and
special rules that govern its application, including the designation of a
partnership representative.
Following the issuance
of these regulations, the Trump administration instituted a regulatory freeze,
which resulted in these regulations being withdrawn by the IRS for further
review and approval. It still remains to be seen whether and when they’ll be
reissued, and, if so, whether they’ll be changed in the interim.
TENNESSEE CHANGES
Tennessee has moved to a new factor-based economic presence
standard. If you have customers in Tennessee you may have a potential new tax
liability. Read more about it here.
SAN FRANCISCO GROSS
RECEIPTS TAX
Since 2014, San Francisco has imposed a gross receipts tax on
persons and companies engaging in business within the city of San Francisco.
This tax applies to companies that solicit or perform work in the city. Read
more about it here.
WE'RE HERE TO HELP
Moss Adams
continuously reviews the regulatory and tax landscape for technology, clean
technology, life sciences, and communications and media companies. For more
information about any of the issues discussed above or for insight on how they
may impact your business, contact your Moss Adams professional.
If you’d like to find out whether an IC-DISC is right for your
company, please contact Christine Ballard to help review your unique
situation.
For more information,
click here.