The 2019 Golden Globe nominations were announced on Thursday, December 6, highlighting the best in film and television over the past year. While predicted awards season leaders such as A Star Is Born and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had strong showings, there were — as always — some surprising omissions, too. Click through to read about the most surprising 2019 Golden Globes snubs. (Photos via Colleen Hayes/NBC + Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox + Daniel McFadden/Universal Studios + Merie W. Wallace/HBO)
Ted Danson: The Good Place finally found a well-earned a spot in the Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy category, and star Kristen Bell nabbed herself a place in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy category, but unfortunately, and surprisingly, the dazzling Ted Danson was left out of the race for best actor. (Photo via Colleen Hayes/NBC)
Maniac: Emma Stone earned a best supporting actress nomination for the period drama The Favourite, but she was excluded for what many saw as an outstanding performance in Netflix's Maniac. The show was also shut out of the limited series category. (Photo via Michele K. Short/Netflix)
Atlanta: Donald Glover earned a nomination in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical, or Comedy category, but Atlanta season 2 was shut out of the comedy series category, and costar Brian Tyree Henry, AKA Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles, was omitted from the supporting actor race. (Photo via Guy D'Alema/FX)
Succession: The word-of-mouth hit HBO dramedy is due for an awards show breakout — but it won't happen at the 2019 Globes. Only Kieran Culkin earned a (well-deserved) supporting actor nomination for the compelling limited series. (Photo via Craig Blankenhorn/HBO)
Issa Rae: After back-to-back nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy — and despite shining in season 3 — the Insecure star missed out on a third consecutive nod this year. (Photo via Merie W. Wallace/HBO)
This Is Us: The NBC tearjerker has had strong representation at the Globes two years in a row, and even nabbed a win for Sterling K. Brown in 2018, but season 3 was a no-show on the HFPA's list of nominees. (Photo via NBCUniversal)
Patrick Melrose: The Showtime series was heavily favored for a nod in the limited series category, but other than an acting nom for star Benedict Cumberbatch, the show came up short. (Photo via Justin Downing/Showtime)
Widows: Steve McQueen's action drama seemed poised to deliver, at the very least, a best actress nomination for star Viola Davis, but it was shut out across the board. (Photo via Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox)
Mary Queen of Scots: Despite early awards show buzz around the historical drama, Mary Queen of Scots had a quiet start to the season with no noms for the film or its stars Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. (Photo via Liam Daniel/Focus Features)
If Beale Street Could Talk: Barry Jenkins' latest drama did earn nominations in several top categories, including Best Motion Picture, Drama, but Jenkins himself was snubbed in the best director race, and Nicholas Britell's absence from the best original score category is a notable upset. (Photo via Tatum Mangus/Annapurna Pictures)
A Quiet Place: Early awards season chatter had John Krasinski in the best director race, and Emily Blunt among the contenders for best actress, but A Quiet Place's only nomination at the Globes was for best original score. Perhaps the unconventional horror movie is too outside the awards institution's comfort zone after all. (Photo via Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures)
First Man: Claire Foy earned a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, but otherwise, Damien Chazelle's Buzz Armstrong biopic was shut out — meaning no best actor nod for Ryan Gosling as the famous astronaut. (Photo via Daniel McFadden/Universal Studios)
The Hate U Give: The powerful, timely film and its star, Amandla Stenberg, were sadly shut out at this year's Globes. (Photo via Erika Doss/Twentieth Century Fox)
The Haunting of Hill House: Netflix's surprise hit horror series didn't receive a single nomination, despite wide critical acclaim for both the show itself and the performances of its cast. (Photo via Steve Dietl/Netflix)
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