Detroit — Plastics processors can look for tax advantages as they face the challenges of the 2022 marketplace.
Mark Stevens and Mike Devereux of Wipfli LLP took on these topics May 26 at Injection Molding & Design Expo in Detroit. The firm recently completed a survey of 200 manufacturing firms. Stevens and Devereux both are partners at the Milwaukee-based financial advisory and accounting firm.
"The No. 1 topic was that businesses can't get enough people," said Stevens. "Firms now need to have curb appeal and a learning environment."
Some manufacturers are using referral bonuses and open houses to get prospective workers in the door, while others are targeting workers in the hospitality industry, he added.
Companies also are adjusting to the idea of job sharing or a part-time workforce, where employees work five to six hours per day, Stevens said.
On the tax front, manufacturers continue to look for an edge.
"There are tax savings in your plants, you just have to dig to find them," Devereux said.
One new tax challenge to U.S. companies is the elimination of a research deduction that had been in place since 1954. R&D work now has to qualify, Devereux said. Designing, developing and sampling new injection molds can be qualified as research.
Manufacturing firms also can look into work opportunity federal tax credits of up to $9600 per employee for workers in several categories, Devereux said. Those categories include eligible military veterans, food stamp or Social Security recipients and summer youth workers.
Some firms also might be eligible for employee retention credits or energy-efficient building deductions, he added.