The case for Section 199 amended returns continues! The first pre-settlement appeals conference with the IRS Appeals Office is scheduled for August 8th and 9th. Please be aware that if you filed an amended return to claim an enhanced Section 199 deduction and have not heard from the IRS, please contact us so that we may follow up on and track the status of your amended return.

The dilemma is that Section 199 and bonus depreciation are effective ways to mitigate taxes, but they tilt the imbalance in member’s equity further towards retained earnings. We are trying to address this with our coop clients so that decisions are made with an understanding of how they affect members in the current and future years.

In addition to the changes made for Bonus Depreciation and 1099 reporting, several other items of interest were changed by the recent legislation for 2011 and 2012:

The latest tax law changes passed in 2010 enhanced available bonus depreciation from 50% to 100% for property placed into service between September 9, 2010 and December 31, 2011. 

January is the month that 1099’s are prepared and distributed. As a cooperative, the form 1099 PATR is used to report information to your patrons. The following are items typically associated with cooperatives and should be reported as described:

In the early days of cooperatives, the normal practice was to operate at break-even, and if you made a profit, the member business portion of that profit was allocated back to members. Little, if any, was retained. But if you ask a banker today, he’ll say, “you can never have enough retained savings.” There has to be a happy medium.