I'm posting this local article about property taxes in Lilburn, GA because Lilburn is where we are based. The original headline for this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is misleading, saying that the millage rate is staying the same. Buried in the story is the fact that actual revenues are expected to be nearly six percent higher than last year.

Lilburn is not alone in increasing its property taxes. This happens every year across the country.

Stryde can help mitigate and reduce these property taxes for commercial property owners. Let us show you how much we can save you in commercial property taxes.
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LILBURN GA, June 26, 2017 -- Lilburn is scheduled to adopt the 2017 property tax rate at 7:30 p.m. July 10 in council chambers at Lilburn City Hall, 340 Main St. The city is proposing to keep the property tax rate the same at 4.43 mills. At this rate, the city anticipates collecting $1,829,589, which is 5.68 percent more than last year. This estimate includes changes in the assessed value of properties, pending appeals, as well as new growth in the city. For homeowners with increased assessed property values, this could mean slightly higher property tax bills in 2017.

Property taxes make up 28 percent of the city’s annual operating budget of $7,657,971 and 16 percent of the overall budget of $11,242,305.

Read more at the AJC....

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Thursday the Senate Republican health care bill sounds like “ObamaCare-plus” due to the increase in spending and subsidies.

“When we look at the bill, we actually find that with the ObamaCare subsidies, not only are we keeping them, we may actually be providing more subsidies than ObamaCare has,” Sen. Paul said on Fox News’ “Your World” with Neil Cavuto.

The Kentucky senator wants to apply leverage to make the bill look better and move away from subsidizing health insurance companies.
“We should be for repeal but we also have to have sufficient confidence in capitalism, competition and free markets,” Paul said.

Keep reading at Fox Business News....

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​The closely guarded Senate health care bill written entirely behind closed doors finally became public Thursday in a do-or-die moment for the Republican Party's winding efforts to repeal Obamacare.

The unveiling of the legislation marks the first time that the majority of the Senate GOP conference gets a comprehensive look at the health care proposal. With Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pressing ahead for a vote next week, senators are likely to have only a handful of days to decide whether to support or vote against the bill.

A draft circulating late Wednesday showed the Senate legislation would still make major changes to the nation's health care system, drastically cut back on federal support of Medicaid, and eliminate Obamacare's taxes on the wealthy, insurers and others. The Senate plan however would keep Obamacare's subsidies to help people pay for individual ​coverage.

McConnell's decision to keep the details tightly under wraps until Thursday was intentional and aimed at winning over his colleagues out of the public spotlight, but the secretive process has infuriated Democrats -- and aggravated plenty of Republicans, too.

"I need the information to justify a 'yes' vote. I have a hard time believing that we would have that in such a short period of time," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, told CNN on Wednesday.
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Read more at CNN....

There are many ways to measure the success of an entrepreneur, including the number of new ideas launched, the revenue and profits earned, and the ways in which he or she serves an industry or a community. But perhaps the chief among these is the impact the entrepreneur is able to have on the lives of employees. Beyond tangible rewards such as pay, and intangibles such as mentoring, a business owner can profoundly shape a worker's life by providing a generous package of employee benefits. Indeed, many entrepreneurs acknowledge that the effect they have on the lives of workers is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a business owner.

It also has the potential to keep you up at night.
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That's because in order to offer generous benefits, you must first practice careful financial planning. Most benefits packages do not come cheap and costs can rise exponentially as your company expands. Furthermore, once you offer a benefit, it is awkward to take it away should the economy turn south. 

That said, if your company becomes known for offering good benefits, you will generally find it easier to recruit talented employees and you may even see some positive side effects with respect to marketing and sales.  So what constitutes a solid employee-benefits package, and how do you set up various benefits plans? Here is an overview of the basics.

Continue reading at INC.com....

Many automobile dealerships implement significant renovations as the industry morphs due to technology changes and as manufacturers rebrand.  The goal of the renovations are, of course, to improve top line performance (sales).

Top line goals can effectively be achieved more quickly by capitalizing on the tax benefits associated with the renovations; for instance, it’s not uncommon for $1MM in renovations to conservatively equate to a $60,000 tax related improvement in the bottom line. Given a 10% profit margin, that equates to a $600,000 increase in top line results.
What Tax Benefits?

Tax benefits associated with construction costs can be procured through an Engineering Based Cost Segregation Study. This Study applies tax compliant depreciation time-lines to certain non-structural components. For instance, instead of depreciating carpeting over 39 years as if it were a structural item, it would be depreciated in five years. Many other non-structural building components can be depreciated in 5, 7 and 15 years versus 39 years.

Furthermore, the tax benefits of properly depreciating current renovations can apply to the entire existing facility, including past renovations.

So, here are the benefits of reducing Federal and State taxable income by safely ‘accelerating’  depreciation on certain building components with a rigorous Study:

• New renovation, purchase or construction will result in increased cash flow in the first 6 years.
• Owned for 5 or more years qualifies for all unrealized depreciation carried forward into the current tax year.

From our experience, its not uncommon to document as much as $200,000 in accelerated depreciation per $1MM worth of building; assuming a 35% tax rate, the resultant reduction in taxable income would translate to a $70,000 bottom line improvement.

A project fee for a Study is typically between $10,000 and $20,000 per building, and can depend on property size, construction quality, location, availability of accurate construction documents, other.

So, a $2MM building could provide a $140,000 bottom line improvement; that’s about a 10:1 benefit-to-cost ratio for performing the Study (…and that’s not considering the net cost basis of the Study after writing it off as a business expense!).
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In summary, cost segregation analysis is a logical tax strategy dating back to 1959 when the Tax Court first allowed component-based depreciation of buildings (though greatly clarified over the past decade with the IRS’s Audit And Technique Guidelines). Even properties purchased years ago can capture benefit with a very attractive cost-to-benefit ratio for performing an Engineering Based Cost Segregation Study. Any auto dealership whether purchased, constructed or renovated for costs in excess of $500,000 should consider this service.

This article originally appeared on the GMG Savings website.

By Leo Doran

While considerable attention is paid to the role Pell Grants play in subsidizing higher education, the federal government forgoes nearly as much revenue every year through tax incentives also aimed at making a postsecondary education more affordable. Unlike the Pell Grant program however, higher education tax incentives are not targeted specifically to parents and students from low-income families — in some cases, the highly complicated system actually results in greater benefits for wealthier Americans.

There are three main tax incentive programs that are designed to make higher education more affordable, the American opportunity tax credit, the lifetime learning credit, and the tuition and fees deduction. By law, taxpayers can only take advantage of one of these programs each year they file their taxes, meaning that savvy filers will calculate their tax burden multiple times applying the different incentives each time to figure out which program they should participate in. There is also a fourth program that allows taxpayers to take a student loan interest deduction, though this incentive is usually most relevant after a higher education degree has been completed.
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Gordon Mermin, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute’s Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and an expert in higher education tax incentives, spoke with InsideSoures about how the current system works and what kind of reform proposals are being discussed. Mermin also helps maintain a simulation model of the federal tax system that allows researchers to evaluate who would benefit and who would suffer from proposals to alter the tax code.
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Read more at Inside Sources....

Restaurants have two major tax incentives available to them, yet most are not taking advantage and consequently losing money. The main programs that most in this industry are missing out on are:

1. Engineering-based Property Cost Allocation
2. Property Tax Reduction

Engineering-based Cost Allocation
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Engineering-based cost allocation identifies opportunities for federal, and in some cases, state tax advantages to owners of commercial industrial real estate by accelerating the depreciation on their property.

Taxpayers are typically correct in depreciating personal property such as equipment and furniture over five or seven years, but they often neglect available federal and state tax benefits by erroneously depreciating their entire investment in constructing or acquiring a building over 39 years. To do this correctly, one must hire an experienced engineer with a thorough understanding of construction finance.  The engineer will review all blueprints, architectural drawings, and electrical plans to isolate structural and mechanical components from those that are considered personal property in addition to identifying architectural and engineering fees that can be segregated.  The resulting cost allocation report will allow a taxpayer to:

• Adjust the timing of deductions thus maximizing tax savings
• Create a complete audit trail to resolve any IRS inquiries
• Capture immediate retroactive savings on qualifying properties
• Reduce real estate tax liabilities significantly

Property Tax Reduction

Probably the most frustrating bill that comes each year (or in some cases, twice each year) is the property tax bill. As of this writing, our studies indicate the average Restaurant in the United States is being overcharged by 10% on their property taxes. There are many reasons Restaurants are overcharged but mainly it is the result of improper assessments by the municipality. If you own a Restaurant and are paying property taxes over $50,000 per year, you should have a review completed on your facility. Reductions in this area are direct to your bottom line!

If you have not had a thorough review on your facility, especially as it relates to the areas of Property Cost Allocation, and Property Tax Reduction, you are likely losing money that should remain in your pocket.

This article originally appeared on the GMG Savings website, and is reprinted with permission.

Year after year, the Federal Government has continued to incentivize those who invest in Commercial Property. The IRS has established guidelines that, if ignored, cause commercial real estate investors to pay more in taxes than they should.

What guidelines are being ignored by Commercial Property Investors?

Those revolving around Accelerated Depreciation; known in the taxation world as Property Cost Segregation.

Ramifications of Improper Depreciation Allocation

Most commercial property investors do not truly understand the substantial benefits of accelerated depreciation. This is evidenced by our analysis of thousands of depreciation schedules over the years. We have found less than 10% of investors are properly depreciating their properties. The most common misconception is, “I am going to get this money anyway.” Is this a true or false statement?

Let’s investigate....

1. Capital Gains vs Ordinary Income Rates
   Although the mechanics of these calculations are not always as simplistic as we will be making it for this example, the short response is – increased depreciation leads to paying taxes at the capital gains rate as opposed to the ordinary income rate. Since capital gains rates are likely much lower than the Investor’s income tax rate, they would benefit from accelerated depreciation.
2. Time Value of Money
   Simply put, your dollar is worth more today than it will be in the future. A tax dollar saved today therefore is worth more than a tax dollar saved in the future. Why lock up a tax savings in your property for 27-39 years when you can receive it today?
3. Catch-Up Depreciation
   If you have not completed a Cost Segregation study on your property that you have held for a period of time, did you know that you can capture your entire missed benefit immediately? The IRS allows you to complete a 481 adjustment thus enabling you to catch up all the missed accelerated depreciation into the current tax year. This provision alone could save you hundreds of thousands immediately!
4. The Power of Cash in hand
   You are a real estate “investor." This means you understand the investing power of having funds in your hand today. Cash today [in the form of tax savings] enables you to invest in additional properties. The benefits of this are exponential and allow continued growth of your investment portfolio.

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Correct allocation of real estate depreciation is essential for Commercial Property Investors to effectively manage their tax situation. Are you one of the 90% who are missing out on opportunities that 10% of your competitors are capturing?

This article was originally published at GMGSavings.com, and is reprinted with permission.