The Difference Between Cash Transfers & In-Kind Benefits

What Is Payment-in-Kind (PIK)?

The term like-kind property refers to two real estate assets of a similar nature regardless of grade or quality that can be exchanged without incurring any tax liability. The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) defines a like-kind property as any held for investment, trade, or business purposes under Section 1031, making them a 1031 exchange.

What do you mean by in kind?

adjective. paid or given in goods, commodities, or services instead of money: in-kind welfare programs. paying or returning something of the same kind as that received or offered.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) passed in December 2017 removed everything but real estate held for business, trade, or investment. As of 2018, however, the like-kind property exchange is still an excellent way to build tax-deferred wealth in real estate.

The current federal public assistance programs can be traced back to the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Social Security Act of 1935. Like just about any other business loan, a payment-in-kind loan, often called a PIK loan, requires the borrower to pay interest. Unlike most business loans, though, the interest on a PIK loan isn’t actually paid in cash during the loan term. Even so, as long as the loan is used for business purposes, the value of PIK interest should be tax-deductible. On the other hand, in-kind programs have sometimes been deemed “paternalistic” because they dictate that people spend assistance money on things governments deem most necessary.

Example sentences from the Web for in-kind

As more and more companies continue to acknowledge their corporate social responsibility, they are also recognizing the benefits of participating in gifts in kind programs. In addition, with cash donations on the decrease over the past several years, offering donations of goods and services is a way for corporations to continue pursuing their philanthropic goals. Gifts in kind, also referred to as in-kind donations, is a kind of charitable giving in which, instead of giving money to buy needed goods and services, the goods and services themselves are given. Examples of in-kind gifts include goods like food, clothing, medicines, furniture, office equipment, and building materials.

in kind definition

Veterans’ benefits and Stafford student loans are other examples. Payment-in-kind loans allow businesses to borrow money for a relatively short period of time — five years is common — without having to come up with cash to service that debt.

The major benefit is that the program administrator can be certain that the benefit is used for the purpose for which it is meant. A cash transfer is simply a payment from the government to help improve the lives of its citizens.

  • Gifts in kind, also referred to as in-kind donations, is a kind of charitable giving in which, instead of giving money to buy needed goods and services, the goods and services themselves are given.
  • In addition, with cash donations on the decrease over the past several years, offering donations of goods and services is a way for corporations to continue pursuing their philanthropic goals.
  • As more and more companies continue to acknowledge their corporate social responsibility, they are also recognizing the benefits of participating in gifts in kind programs.

This means both properties involved in the exchange must be for business or investment purposes. Personal residences, therefore, do not qualify as like-kind properties. Poverty is still a serious problem in the United States and would be even more so but for various federal and state public assistance programs.

Services

Instead, it provides the lender with something else of value, often shares of stock in the company. Say a company takes out a five-year $5 million PIK loan with a 10 percent annual interest rate. People or businesses that hold qualifying business or investment properties can exchange them in a like-kind exchange.

This is known as a tax-deferred or 1031 exchange under Section 1031 of the U.S. tax code, allowing the seller to avoid paying capital gains on the exchange. The like-kind property must meet the definition set out by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to qualify for a Section 1031 transfer. In order to qualify for tax deferral, like-kind properties cannot be sold directly—they must be exchanged. Housing assistance is another major in-kind public assistance benefit. Most federal housing programs are run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

in kind definition

Examples of cash transfer programs in the U.S. include Social Security and unemployment benefits. Cash transfer payments can be made in a lump sum or in many smaller installments. Governments around the world transfer benefits to their citizens, sometimes as cash and sometimes in the form of in-kind transfers of goods and services. Some economists feel that cash benefits give the biggest boost to the happiness of the recipients, yet most governments choose in-kind transfers as the preferred way to control how aid dollars are used.

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Programs include public housing, rental assistance programs, and housing vouchers so that individuals and families below a certain income threshold can pay for adequate housing. Before the 20th century, public assistance was pretty much left in the hands of local government and private charitable organizations. However, the Industrial Revolution and urbanization of the United States outpaced the ability of these local efforts. State governments started public assistance programs, but their efforts collapsed under the weight of the Great Depression.

Performance of services, such as building an orphanage, providing office space or offering administrative support, may also be counted as in-kind gifts. An in-kind transfer is also a type of public spending to help specific populations. Unlike a cash transfer, it takes the form of specific goods and services, which recipients get for free or at a reduced rate. One example of a U.S. in-kind transfer program is Medicare, which subsidizes health care for senior citizens and the disabled.

In-kind contributions are known as donations to a company that affect its assets. These contributions can be recorded into QuickBooks using a journal entry. You’ll need to have a few different accounts already set up before recording the transaction, but once recorded, you can track contributions. Some of the downsides of gifts in kind may be mitigated by allowing recipients to communicate their needs to donors, thus helping donors and recipients match up. This has been made possible with the advent of the Internet as it is now possible to create an online marketplace for in-kind donations.

Gifts in Kind International operates a network called Good360 that aims to do exactly this. Occupy Sandy volunteers use a sort of gift registry for this purpose; families and businesses impacted by the storm make specific requests, which remote donors can purchase directly via a web site. Frequently these are termed unconditional cash transfers, because the government imposes no restrictions on how the aid money may be spent. Recipients can use the money any way their wish and have the greatest freedom over what goods and services they buy. Although individuals overwhelmingly prefer cash transfers as a method of payment, in-kind transfers of goods and services are often used by federal agencies as a method of controlling monetary supply.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of federal and state assistance programs are in the form of in-kind benefits. By giving in-kind transfers, governments specify how individuals must use public assistance dollars. For example, Stafford student loans can only be used to finance college education, and Medicare benefits only cover the medical costs of those who are taking care of their health.