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As a business owner, you have to keep your eye on your
company’s income and expenses and applicable tax breaks. But you also must look
out for your own financial future. And that includes creating an exit strategy.

Buy-sell agreement

When a business has more than one owner, a buy-sell
agreement can be a powerful tool. The agreement controls what happens to the
business if a specified event occurs, such as an owner’s retirement, disability
or death. A well-drafted agreement…

For many businesses, one of the most attractive features of the 2017
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was the new Section 199A deduction for qualified
business income (QBI). In practice, however, the QBI deduction has proven to be
one of the TCJA’s more confusing provisions.

With one complete tax cycle behind us and some additional IRS guidance
now available, this is a good time to review the law’s basic provisions and re-evaluate
strategies for maximizing the QBI deduction for 2019.

If you hold a business-related debt that’s become worthless
or uncollectible, a “bad debt” deduction may allow you to cut your losses. But there
are a few hoops to jump through.

Business or
nonbusiness?

Business bad debts
generate ordinary losses; nonbusiness
bad debts are reported as short-term capital losses. The latter can be used
only to offset capital gains (plus up to $3,000 in ordinary income). Also, you
can’t take a deduction for partially
worthless nonbusiness bad…