Country music's best and brightest took over Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 14, for the 2018 CMA Awards. This year's show was hosted (for the 11th time!) by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, with performances by nominees including Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, and Kelsea Ballerini — all of whom made it a date night with their significant others. Click through to see the cutest red carpet couples from country music's biggest night! (Photos via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher: Underwood — who's co-hosting the awards show for the 11th time with Brad Paisley, and is also nominated in two categories — stunned in a blush-colored gown as she walked the carpet with her hockey player husband. The couple are expecting their second child together. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Caroline Boyer and Luke Bryan: College sweethearts Boyer and Bryan were all smiles ahead of the big awards show. Bryan is among the night's performers and is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd: Morris, who's nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year (for the song "Dear Hate," featuring Vince Gill), glittered in gold on the red carpet. Her husband, whom she married in March, wore a matching gold tux jacket. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Kelsea Ballerini and Morgan Evans: The "I Hate Love Songs" singer, who's nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2018 CMAs, turned heads in hot pink as she walked the carpet with her husband of almost a year. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Lauren Akins and Thomas Rhett: Akins wowed in an ombre hot pink gown as she walked the carpet with Rhett, who's nominated in three categories, including Male Vocalist of the Year. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood: The country music power couple, who have 17 CMA Awards between the two of them, bundled up in black on the red carpet. Brooks is set to perform a special song dedicated to Yearwood during the show. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Jason Aldean and Brittany Kerr: The "Drowns the Whiskey" singer, who earned nominations in four categories, including Entertainer of the Year and Single of the Year, walked the red carpet with his pregnant wife, who stood out in buttercup yellow. The couple are expecting their second child together. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Tyler and Hayley Hubbard: The Florida Georgia Line musician and his wife, Hayley, made it a family night with daughter Olivia Rose, who turns one year old in December. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Brittney-Marie and Brian Kelley: The Florida Georgia Line musician walked the red carpet with his wife of almost five years. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Alex Hopkins and Lauren Alaina: The "Road Less Traveled" performer, who's nominated for New Artist of the Year, brought her fiancé as her date to Wednesday's awards show. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Brantley Gilbert and Amber Cochran: Two-time CMA nominee Gilbert walked the red carpet with his wife of three years, who inspired some of his many songs, including "You Don't Know Her Like I Do" and "More Than Miles." (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Christina Murphy and Frankie Ballard: The "Sunshine & Whiskey" crooner and his wife made a stunning couple outside Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Kailey and Russell Dickerson: The "Blue Tacoma" singer-songwriter couldn't keep his hands (or lips) off of wife Kailey on the red carpet. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Gabi Dugal and Scotty McCreery: The American Idol alum and his longtime love, who tied the knot this past June, coordinated in black at the awards show. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Brett Young and Taylor Mills: The New Artist of the Year nominee and his longtime love were the picture of newlywed bliss — they said "I do" on November 3! — outside Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Jordan Davis and Kristen O'Connor: The "Singles You Up" singer and his wife coordinated their red carpet looks in shades of blue. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Katelyn Jae and Kane Brown: Newlyweds Brown and Jae, who married in Nashville just last month, were a perfect match in head-to-toe black ensembles. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Summer Duncan and Jon Pardi: The "Heartache on the Dance Floor" crooner coordinated with Duncan in black and red. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Kelly Lynn and Chris Janson: The "Drunk Girl" singer, who's nominated for three awards including New Artist of the Year, was all smiles with his songwriter wife on the red carpet. (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Chris Lane and Lauren Bushnell: The country singer and the Bachelor alum walked the red carpet together just hours after news of their romance broke. (Photo via Terry Wyatt/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