Companies using the Interest-Charge Domestic International Sales Corporation (IC-DISC) provisions of the tax code, which are intended to help U.S. companies compete internationally, already know that the incentive essentially reduces the top federal tax rate on certain income from qualified goods and services from 39.6 to 20 percent.
“What you may not realize is that the intended and allowable available savings are often much, much greater,” says Amit Mathur, CPA, partner at Quantitax IC-DISC Services.
Rob MacKinlay, president of Cohen & Company, says, “Many companies use basic, aggregate IC-DISC calculation methods, though other allowable methods explicitly encouraged in the regulations yield a much higher result. This can be the equivalent of claiming a standard deduction on your individual tax return when itemized deductions are much higher. Many of our clients have dramatically increased savings with a transactional analysis.”
Smart Business spoke with Mathur and his industry peers about IC-DISC and how business owners can extract more value from its proper implementation.
How can IC-DISC savings be maximized?
Most companies utilizing the IC-DISC enjoy the reduced tax arbitrage for either 4 percent of their qualified export gross sales, which is limited to the taxable income from those sales, or 50 percent of the taxable income from qualified export sales. Many believe that these are the maximum amounts used to determine the IC-DISC commission, which is subject to a top rate of 20 percent, rather than 39.6 percent. In reality, these amounts should be considered the minimum commission that results from the two simplest, basic methods.
Truly maximizing the intended and allowable benefits from the IC-DISC requires a more in-depth calculation, but may not take much more time. Each transaction can utilize a choice of many other attractive methods explicitly defined and encouraged in the regulations. For instance, transactions that yield a loss can generate commission. Transactions for products with less-than-average profitability compared with their product group or line also may yield additional benefits.
An analysis utilizing the most beneficial of these methods for different transactions will yield higher results, often more than double, compared with using the basic methods at an aggregate level.
Steve Switaj, CFO of Three D Metals, a company that has used transactional analysis in conjunction with the IC-DISC for years, says, ‘While fluctuation in material prices and unforeseen costs are constant concerns, the increased IC-DISC savings that often results from such variability is a nice feature of the incentive, and enables us to compete in export markets more effectively.’
Can prior year IC-DISC savings be improved?
Re-determinations of IC-DISC benefits can be performed for any open tax years. As Jim Bowen, tax partner at Bober, Markey, Fedorovich & Company, puts it, ‘If the savings from a transactional analysis of IC-DISC benefits is significant, amending the results should be considered, particularly for companies under audit for given tax years.’
Are you overlooking the IC-DISC entirely?
Closely held manufacturers, distributors, growers, software producers, equipment leasing companies, and architectural or engineering firms should consider it.
Mark Klimek, head of the tax practice at McDonald Hopkins, LLC, says, ‘Manufacturers and distributors not fully exploring this incentive may be missing significant tax benefits from a relatively inexpensive to implement government incentive that does not disrupt business operations.’
If products and services are ultimately used outside of the U.S., they will typically qualify. The rules for component parts ultimately sent outside of the U.S. are even more generous — generally, they can even return to the U.S. after being incorporated into another product. Tod Wagner, of Libman Goldstine Kopperman & Wolf, says, ‘Because of the favorable rules defining qualified export property, many companies eligible to use an IC-DISC are overlooking the incentive entirely as they do not think of themselves as manufacturers or exporters. In reality, they may need not to be either.’
Amit Mathur, CPA, is a partner at Quantitax IC-DISC Services. Reach him at (216) 292-6732 or [email protected].
Insights Tax Incentives is brought to you by Quantitax IC-DISC Services
