IRC 199A Practice Opportunities: Integrating LLC Expertise and Section 199A Expertise

The passage of Section 199A in the 2017 tax overhaul legislation was a watershed moment for tax advisers and compliance professionals. Indeed, the reach of the provision is proving to be so extensive as to constitute a separate and distinct practice area for tax practitioners, as advisers face an increased need for statute-specific competence on the workings of Section 199A.

The framework of Section 199A is straightforward: Taxpayers who are owners of pass-through businesses can claim a deduction of up to 20% of their share of the net business income of their business. The Section has created a significant benefit to the approximately 60 million taxpayers who are shareholders and members of pass-through entities.

While practitioners have spent much time and attention on the particular elements of the deduction, such as identifying what constitutes qualifying business income, not much attention has been given to the overall impact of Section 199A in creating a specialized practice area and to the interdependence of Section 199A practice and LLC legal and tax practice.

Listen as attorney John M. Cunningham provides a practical guide to structuring a Section 199A practice as a separate and distinct advisory practice.

1. Overview of Section 199A--chief features; legislative history; impact on business owners
2. Ten reasons for the extraordinary difficulty of Section 199A
3. Section 199A as a distinct practice area
   1. What do you need to know to represent Section 199A clients competently?
   2. What practice tools do you need to represent Section 199A clients competently?
   3. What practice experience do you need to represent Section 199A clients competently?
4. The need to combine Section 199A expertise with LLC competence
5. How should tax accountants and lawyers work together in serving Section 199A clients?
6. Principal pitfalls in Section 199A practice

The webinar will address these and other relevant topics:

• How does Section 199A create a separate and significant new practice area for tax accountants and attorneys?
• What knowledge and practice tools are needed to competently represent clients under Section 199A?
• Why are Section 199A expertise and LLC legal and tax expertise not only mutually supportive but mutually interdependent and mutually indispensable?

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Identify critical skills needed to provide comprehensive Section 199A expertise
• Determine how CPAs can and should work with attorneys to ensure taxpayers eligible for the QBI deduction operate under the optimal entity structure
• Recognize how LLC competence and Section 199A expertise intersect
• Discern how proposed regulation 1.1402 (a)-2 can help LLC members reduce their self-employment tax burden

• Field of Study: Taxes
• Level of Knowledge: Intermediate
• Advance Preparation: None
• Teaching Method: Seminar/Lecture
• Delivery Method: Group-Internet (via computer)
• Attendance Monitoring Method: Attendance is monitored electronically via a participant's PIN and through a series of attendance verification prompts displayed throughout the program
• Prerequisite: Three years+ business or public firm experience at mid-level within the organization, preparing complex tax forms and schedules; supervisory authority over other preparers/accountants. Specific knowledge and understanding of partnership tax rules, corporate structure, and partnership audit regulations.

Strafford Publications, Inc. is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of Accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE Credits. Complaints regarding registered sponsons may be submitted to NASBA through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.

IRS Approved Provider

Strafford is an IRS-approved continuing education provider offering certified courses for Enrolled Agents (EA) and Tax Return Preparers (RTRP).