Bring on the happily-ever-afters! It's only March, but there are already several celebrity engagements to celebrate in 2019. The happy couples include Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry, Supergirl costars Melissa Benoist and Christopher Wood, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Hamilton lovebirds Anthony Ramos and Jasmine Cephas-Jones, and Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney. Click through to see the biggest engagements of the year — so far! (Photos via Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images + Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions + Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images + Presley Ann/Getty Images)
Anthony Ramos and Jasmine Cephas Jones: On January 4, the Hamilton alums revealed that they had gotten engaged in Europe at the end of 2018. Ramos, who is set to star in the movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights, posted a photo of them (and Jones' ring) in front of the Eiffel Tower. "Cause they can write stories / And they can sing songs / But they don't make fairy tales sweeter than ours / And they can climb mountains high into the sky / But they can't take the world / Oh, like we can take the world," he captioned the pic, quoting the lyrics to Johnnyswim's "Take the World."
He added a note to his fiancée, too, writing, "I love you Jas. … Thank you for saying yes to writing stories together for the rest of our lives. I'm honored and Blessed to marry you. LEGOOO." Jones, who starred in the 2018 film Blindspotting, responded with a note of her own, in which she detailed his romantic proposal in front of her favorite castle in Arundel.
"It brought tears to my eyes because I don't get to see my family in England that I'm so close with that much because we are an ocean away, but they got to witness this amazing event in our lives. And what a moment it was!! All because of you," she gushed. "I will NEVER forget this magical trip for as long as I live. … SOOOO here's to more Basquiat paintings in Paris, Castle adventures in England, deep convos over a cup of tea, making more movies together, writing and singing songs together, walks with Nala, dancing under many moons in Puerto Rico and MOST of all loving each other for a lifetime through the bad and the good. I love you beyond words and am so excited to continue this awesome journey with you." (Photo via Presley Ann/Getty Images)
Tim Tebow and Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters: The athlete took to Instagram on January 10 to announce his engagement to former Miss Universe Nel-Peters. "Thank you for saying YES and making me the happiest man in the world," Tebow captioned a trio of pics that showed the proposal. "You're the love of my life, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." (Photo via Robin Marchant/Getty Images for DIRECTV)
Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger: "Sweet Katherine, so happy you said yes!" the Jurassic World star captioned a January 14 Instagram photo of himself and his fiancée. "I'm thrilled to be marrying you. Proud to live boldly in faith with you. Here we go!" Schwarzenegger — a lifestyle blogger and the daughter of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger — reposted the pic, writing, "My sweet love. Wouldn't want to live this life with anyone but you." (Photo via Ricky Vigil/GC Images)
Scott Grimes and Adrianne Palicki: The Orville costars announced their engagement on January 17. “So happy to spend my life with you @ScottGrimes," Palicki tweeted. She added the hashtags #ido and #iloveyou. (Photo via Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly)
JJ Lane and Kayla Hughes: Lane, who appeared on season 11 of The Bachelorette with Kaitlyn Bristowe, found his happily-ever-after with Hughes in Hawaii. "She said YES!!!" he wrote on January 28, revealing that he had proposed earlier that week. "I can't wait to marry my best friend, my love, and the woman that has made me better since the day we met!" (Photo via Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for WE tv)
Elisabeth Rohm and Jonathan T. Colby: "There's been a lot of talk here over the last week about whether I was engaged or not. I'm so happy to finally share this most blessed and personal news with all of you," the Law & Order alum captioned an Instagram post on January 27. She included a photo of her diamond ring, noting that the pic was taken moments after her fiancé, judge Jonathan T. Colby, popped the question. "As you can see I bawled like a baby with such joy to have found my one true love who I will share my life with forever." (Photo via Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney: Lawrence's rep confirmed her engagement on February 5, after the Red Sparrow star was spotted wearing a ring while out with Maroney in New York City. According to People, Lawrence and Maroney, an art dealer, have been together since at least June 2018. (Photo via Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood: The Supergirl star announced on February 10 that Wood, who played Mon-El in seasons 2 and 3, had proposed. She posted a pic of her fiancé giving her a kiss, with the caption, "Yes yes yes it will always be yes." (Photo via Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom: Perry and Bloom hinted at an engagement on Valentine's Day, posting a photo of her floral-inspired ring. She later confirmed the news on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and shared the sweet, funny story of how the actor proposed on a helicopter. (Photo via Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images)
Brittany Snow and Tyler Stanaland: The Pitch Perfect actress announced her engagement in an Instagram post on February 19. "A couple weeks ago, I said 'YES' about a million times to the man of my wildest & most beautiful dreams," she captioned a trio of pics showing her and her new fiancé sitting in a diner and admiring her engagement ring. "After celebrating with friends and family, we wanted to let a few more friends (you guys) know... this happened. I'm still pinching myself and thanking my lucky stars for the truest feeling I've ever felt. Thank you @tylerstanaland for the happiest day of my life & for not proposing in this creepy empty restaurant." (Photo via gotpap/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez: J-Rod announced their engagement on March 9. Both stars posted the same photo of Lopez's massive diamond ring, with simple but telling captions. The singer captioned hers with a series of heart emojis, while Rodriguez wrote, "She said yes." According to reports, he proposed during a trip to the Bahamas. (Photo via Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures