Under pre-Act law, the net income of these pass-through businesses— sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), and S corporations—was not subject to an entity-level tax and was instead reported by the owners or shareholders on their individual income tax returns. Thus, the income was effectively subject to individual income tax rates.

New law. Generally for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017 and before Jan. 1, 2026, the Act adds a new section, Code Sec. 199A, “Qualified Business Income,” under which a non-corporate taxpayer, including a trust or estate, who has qualified business income (QBI) from a partnership, S corporation, or sole proprietorship is allowed to deduct:

• (1) the lesser of:

(a) the “combined qualified business income amount” of the taxpayer, or

(b) 20% of the excess, if any, of the taxable income of the taxpayer for the tax year over the sum of net capital gain and the aggregate amount of the qualified cooperative dividends of the taxpayer for the tax year; plus

• (2) the lesser of:

• (i) 20% of the aggregate amount of the qualified cooperative dividends of the taxpayer for the tax year, or
• (ii) taxable income (reduced by the net capital gain) of the taxpayer for the tax year.

The “combined qualified business income amount” means, for any tax year, an amount equal to: (i) the deductible amount for each qualified trade or business of the taxpayer (defined as 20% of the taxpayer’s QBI subject to the W-2 wage limitation; see below); plus (ii) 20% of the aggregate amount of qualified real estate investment trust (REIT) dividends and qualified publicly traded partnership income of the taxpayer for the tax year.

QBI is generally defined as the net amount of “qualified items of income, gain, deduction, and loss” relating to any qualified trade or business of the taxpayer. For this purpose, qualified items of income, gain, deduction, and loss are items of income, gain, deduction, and loss to the extent these items are effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. under Code Sec. 864(c) and included or allowed in determining taxable income for the year. If the net amount of qualified income, gain, deduction, and loss relating to qualified trade or businesses of the taxpayer for any tax year is less than zero, the amount is treated as a loss from a qualified trade or business in the succeeding tax year. QBI does not include: certain investment items; reasonable compensation paid to the taxpayer by any qualified trade or business for services rendered with respect to the trade or business; any guaranteed payment to a partner for services to the business under Code Sec. 707(c); or a payment under Code Sec. 707(a) to a partner for services rendered with respect to the trade or business.

The 20% deduction is not allowed in computing adjusted gross income (AGI), but rather is allowed as a deduction reducing taxable income.

Limitations. Except as provided below, the deduction cannot exceed the greater of:

• (1) 50% of the W-2 wages with respect to the qualified trade or business; or
• (2) the sum of 25% of the W-2 wages paid with respect to the qualified trade or business plus 2.5% of the unadjusted basis, immediately after acquisition, of all “qualified property.”
  • Qualified property is defined in as meaning tangible, depreciable property which is held by and available for use in the qualified trade or business at the close of the tax year, which is used at any point during the tax year in the production of qualified business income, and the depreciable period for which has not ended before the close of the tax year.

The above limit does not apply for taxpayers with taxable income below the “threshold amount” ($315,000 for married individuals filing jointly, $157,500 for other individuals, indexed for inflation after 2018). The application of the limit is phased in for individuals with taxable income exceeding the threshold amount, over the next $100,000 of taxable income for married individuals filing jointly ($50,000 for other individuals). Thus, for 2018, the limit fully applies to married taxpayers with taxable income over $415,000 and other individuals with taxable income over $207,500.

For a partnership or S corporation, each partner or shareholder is treated as having W-2 wages for the tax year in an amount equal to his or her allocable share of the W-2 wages of the entity for the tax year. A partner’s or shareholder’s allocable share of W-2 wages is determined in the same way as the partner’s or shareholder’s allocable share of wage expenses. For an S corporation, an allocable share is the shareholder’s pro rata share of an item.

Service businesses. Except as provided below, the deduction does not apply to specified service businesses but excluding engineering and architecture; and trades or businesses that involve the performance of services that consist of investment-type activities. However, the disallowance of the deduction for specified service trades or businesses of the taxpayer does not apply for taxpayers with taxpayer income below the threshold amount described above. And, the benefit of the deduction for service businesses is phased out over the next $100,000 of taxable income for joint filers ($50,000 for other individuals). Thus, for 2018, the limit fully applies to married taxpayers with taxable income over $415,000 and other individuals with taxable income over $207,500.

The deduction does not apply to the trade or business of being an employee.

The new deduction for pass-through income is also available to specified agricultural or horticultural cooperatives, in an amount equal to the lesser of (i) 20% of the co-op’s taxable income for the tax year, or (ii) the greater of (a) 50% of the W-2 wages of the co-op with respect to its trade or business, or (b) or the sum of 25% of the W-2 wages of the cooperative with respect to its trade or business plus 2.5% of the unadjusted basis immediately after acquisition of qualified property of the cooperative.