Blog2019-10-21T16:13:14-06:00

New Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requires Action in 2024 For Both New and Existing Companies

An estimated 32 million existing entities will need to report information about their beneficial owners - the individuals who ultimately own or control the company - to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) before December 31, 2024.  Most small and medium-size businesses created in or registered to do business in the United States will be subject to these rules.  Even single-member LLCs, that are disregarded for Federal income tax purposes, will need to report unless they meet an exemption. The [...]

By |December 8th, 2023|General|

Sid Kess – Accountant, Educator, Mentor, Friend

Sidney Kess peacefully passed away on September 15, 2023 at the remarkable age of 97.  He remained dedicated to his work, contributing to conferences, writing articles, and nurturing connections with people until his very last moments.  Sid’s enduring commitment served as a wellspring of inspiration to countless individuals in the accounting profession.  We will forever hold dear the cherished memories of Sid.   https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2023/sep/remembering-the-mentorship-and-impact-of-sidney-kess.html  

By |September 19th, 2023|General|

Anti-Fraud Controls

Does your organization currently have an anti-fraud policy?  If the answer is no, consider this:  according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (“ACFE”) 2020 Report to the Nations, organizations lose an estimated 5% of revenue to fraud each year.  Now combine that with the findings that a typical fraud goes undetected for 14 months.  If this worries you, consider building an anti-fraud program at your organization. The risk of fraud can never be 100% mitigated.  Each organization needs to [...]

By |January 25th, 2023|Audit, Digital Forensics and Fraud|

The Employee Retention Credit – Beware of Scammers

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a legitimate, refundable payroll tax credit established under the CARES Act. The ERC was enacted to incentivize businesses to retain employees during a time of economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For 2020, eligible employers are allowed payroll tax credits of 50% of wages paid, up to $10,000 per employee, (max $5,000 credit per employee 2020).  For 2021, the credit was increased to 70% of wages paid per employee, per quarter for the [...]

By |January 5th, 2023|Tax|

New Pass-through Entity (PTE) State Taxes

As a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, individuals are generally limited to deducting $10,000 of state and local taxes if itemizing deductions.  State and local taxes include, individual income taxes, real property taxes, and personal property taxes.  Thus, many owners of pass-through entities, such as Partnerships, LLCs, and S Corporations, are unable to deduct some or all of the state and local taxes on the business income from their passthrough entities. Consequently, many states have recently enacted [...]

By |January 5th, 2023|Tax|

2022 Schedule K-2/K-3 Reporting for Partnership and S Corporation Owners

For 2021, IRS added Schedules K-2 and K-3 for Partnerships and S Corporations.  These schedules are an extension of Schedule K and K-1 reporting items of international tax relevance. New domestic filing exception: According to the IRS’s recently released draft instructions for Form 1065 and 1120S Schedules K-2 and K-3, for tax years beginning in 2022, a domestic partnership can avoid completing and filing Schedules K-2 and K-3 if each of the following criteria are met:   No or limited [...]

By |January 5th, 2023|Tax|

COVID-19 Kansas Retail Storefront Property Tax Relief Act

For certain retail storefronts that were operationally shut down or restricted at their retail storefront by a COVID-19-related order or by an action imposed by Kansas, the COVID-19 Retail Storefront Property Tax Relief Act may be able to provide relief.  The refunds, for property taxes or rent actually paid, are for tax years 2020 and 2021, and are up to $5,000 per year per retail storefront.  The relief program is funded through the Federal American Rescue Plan Act. There are [...]

By |September 12th, 2022|COVID-19, Tax|

Inflation Reduction Act signed by the President

The Inflation Reduction Act (a scaled-down version of the Build Back Better Act that was introduced in the House in September of 2021), a $430 billion climate, health care, and tax package, was signed by the President this afternoon (August 16, 2022).  The bill also allows the Health Secretary to negotiate prices for prescription drugs for Medicare and extends the Affordable Care Act health care benefits for three years through 2025.  Key tax provisions are: Extends the excess business loss [...]

By |August 16th, 2022|Tax|

$434,000 charitable tax deduction lost because of a few missing words

 $434,000 charitable tax deduction lost because of a few missing words         The IRS continues to remind us how rigid the standards are for charitable tax deductions, and that the absence of a few words before filing the tax return can be disastrous.  In a recent Tax Court decision, a widow donated a collection of Native American jewelry and artifacts worth $434,000 to a museum that she and her husband had acquired during their marriage.  She thought she did everything [...]

By |August 1st, 2022|Tax|

Repaying Deferred Self-Employment and Household Employment Tax

The IRS has sent reminder notices for the upcoming due date for payments of deferred self-employment from 2020 tax returns. Payments of the deferred tax are due half by the end of 2021 and the remaining half by the end of 2022. Background:  The CARES Act created a provision allowing employers, including household employers and self-employed individuals, the ability to defer the payment of 2020 Social Security taxes over two years. The IRS has outlined how the self-employed and household [...]

By |December 23rd, 2021|COVID-19, Tax|

Attention Contingency-Fee Attorneys

Attention Attorneys who work on a contingency fee basis. ACTION ITEM – For cash-basis contingency-fee attorneys, consider delaying payment of case expenses until January 1, 2022. One of the provisions in the proposed Build Back Better legislation would allow case expenses to be deducted currently (rather than treating such amounts as loans for tax purposes).  Under current law, attorneys who work on a contingency-fee basis generally must wait to deduct case expenses (costs of discovery, depositions, expert witness testimony, etc.) [...]

By |November 18th, 2021|Tax|
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