Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 18, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 23 10 T H I NG S I know about . . . ...Serving on nonprofit boards By Jessica Morris Jessica Morris is the senior associate dean of students at MCPHS University's Worcester campus. She is on the boards at the YWCA of Central Massachusetts and Mechanics Hall. Reach her at Jessica.morris@ mcphs.edu. 10) Attend meetings. Show up. Regularly attend board and committee meetings to ensure you are a known presence and well informed of the operations. 9) Ask questions. Learn as much as you can about all aspects of the organization. 8) Announce you are on the board. Tell your friends and professional network you are now serving on a nonprofit board. You were chosen to help govern the organization for your skills and reputation, so capitalize on them. 7) Attend events and programs. Be an active board member. Support the organization's programs, events and initiatives by showing up at them. 6) Network within the board. Meet as many fellow board members as possible. Get to know them and create alliances in order to move the organization forward. It will make your board service more enjoyable having relationships with fellow members. 5) Promote the organization on social media. Follow the organization and promote it through any media you are engaged in. Be excited about the organization and the work it is doing, and get your network excited too. 4) Bring new ideas to the table. You were selected to be on the board for your knowledge and experience. Use it to help bring new ideas and suggestions to help the organization grow and flourish. 3) Help diversify the board. Boards should be representative of the community they are serving. Use your network to recruit new board members who will bring a broader section of voices, perspectives and ideas. 2) Present at a board meeting. When given the opportunity, present at a board meeting. This will demonstrate you have knowledge to share with the group and you are committed to the organization's success. 1) Take on a leadership position. When given the opportunity, take on an enhanced leadership role such as executive committee or committee chair. Your voice will be elevat- ed, and you will make a greater impact. K N O W H O W Common misconceptions of the pass-through deduction 10 1: F A C I L I T A T E L E A R N I N G E ven though the U.S. Tax Cut and Jobs Act is more than a year old, businesses are still scrambling to figure out how the so-called pass-through deduction is supposed to work. As you get ready to file your 2018 tax return, consider these top five pass-through deduction misconceptions. 1. "I'm going to get a big fat 20-percent deduction!" e pass-through deduction can pro- vide a deduction equal to 20 percent of a taxpayer's total qualified business in- come. But the deduction is taken against net income, as opposed to typical deduc- tions reducing gross income. So, if a qualifying business generates $1 million in gross receipts but only $10,000 in net profit, its owner is eligible for a $2,000 deduction. e pass-through deduction may be further reduced if the underlying trade or business performs certain types of services, does not pay any salaries, or the owner has other losses. 2. "The pass-through deduction is a deduction." e pass-through deduction is computed by figuring the net business income from all qualifying trades or businesses owned by the taxpayer and then aggregating the totals. It's more helpful in understanding the possible benefit by conceptualizing it as a form of rate relief on business income. In this sense, the pass-through deduction should be viewed as something akin to the lower rate on long-term capital gains. 3. "The pass-through deduction isn't available for service trades or businesses." It is believed the pass-through deduc- tion is not available to reduce business income derived from performing personal services like the practice of law, medicine or accounting. But this is only half true. e specified service trades or businesses limitation applies if, and only if, the underlying taxpayer reports total net income over a certain threshold. e threshold for married-filing-joint- ly taxpayers is currently $315,000. So, assuming a married physician reports $250,000 in practice earnings and no other income, no limitation applies. 4. "My client is performing personal services for clients: He or she must not qualify." Even when a taxpayer is reporting income over the income threshold, it is incorrect to say service businesses will not qualify for the pass-through deduction. e limitation only applies to specified service trades or businesses. Whether a service business is specified depends on the technical language in the law and U.S. Treasury interpretations. 5. "The pass-through deduction treats all taxpayers equally." What is probably least understood about the pass-through deduction is most of the limitations are computed at the individual taxpayer level. is fact makes it difficult to predict who will receive relief. For example, assume Lawyer 1 and Lawyer 2 each own half of a success- ful law firm generating $200,000 in qualified business income during the year. Lawyer 2 is independently wealthy and has $500,000 of extra income from investments. Lawyer 1 is eligible for a $20,000 pass-through deduction, where- as Lawyer 2's deduction is $0. e takeaways are clear; the pass- through deduction is complicated, and estimating the potential benefits can be challenging. BY MICHAEL DUFFY Special to the Worcester Business Journal BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal S uccessful companies encourage em- ployee learning. Too oen, educa- tion and professional development focuses only on top-tier employees, which is a mistake, says Ann Holland of Forbes Coaches Council, "Creating a self-directed learning and develop- ment environment not only deepens the organization's bench strength, but also engages and empowers a workforce that is intrinsically motivated to grow their own capabilities." Here are some things to keep in mind about facilitating learn- ing at your workplace. Wanted: Humility. To create a learning culture, employees need to leave their egos at the door and admit they don't know everything, a mindset which should be reinforced by management, says Tala A. Nabong at TrainingIndus- try.com. "Is your company ready to give up confrontational attitudes for an open culture of trust and inquiry?" she asks. Monica McGrath at the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) agrees, "To think that someone can operate in a leadership role without learning from his or her mistakes and embracing new ideas is shortsighted." Online isn't the only answer. Hands- on learning and learning in groups is preferable. Without interaction with others, employees can miss out on what they can learn from speakers and colleagues – whether they are aware they are learning from them or not. Getting motivated to go online may be another issue: McGrath cites a study by MIT and Harvard University, showing only 5 percent of the more than 841,600 people who registered for online courses earned a certificate of completion in two years. Put knowledge to work. Learning should be communicated as highly valued and part of continuous perfor- mance improvements for employees. Dominique Jones at eBalanceCareers. com says learning at work should never be a done-and-forgotten situation, but "[integrated] into daily operations … a core part of the culture." Michael Duffy is a tax and corporate attorney at Fletcher Tilton PC. On Feb. 21, he is hosting a webinar entitled "Section 199A Bootcamp," which contains greater detail along with clarity on the just-released pass-through deduction regulations. Register at www.FletcherTilton. com/seminars-events. W W W

• Cover