News

The 2024 filing season, which began with a hint of uncertainty, has progressed into one of the smoothest in recent memory — but the uncertainty still exists, fueled by court decisions and pending legislation.

The AICPA and over 50 state CPA societies have written to the Treasury secretary and the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) asking that enforcement of beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements be suspended until one year after court cases have been resolved.

In a recent letter to the Department of the Treasury and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and CTCPA, together with 54 state CPA societies, expressed serious concerns with the rollout and push to implement FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Information reporting requirement without regard for the impact to the small business community.

In a recent letter to the Department of the Treasury and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and CTCPA, together with 54 state CPA societies, expressed serious concerns with the rollout and push to implement FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Information reporting requirement without regard for the impact to the small business community.

The budget passed by Congress over the weekend officially rescinds $20 billion in long-term spending for the IRS, a move that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said will reduce federal revenues and increase the cumulative deficit.

The IRS has identified about $1 billion in potential savings from erroneous employee retention credit (ERC) claims, with over half of that money coming from enforcement efforts and the rest from the ERC voluntary disclosure program (VDP) and claim withdrawal process, officials said Friday.

To counter promoters that marketed misleading information about the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), the Internal Revenue Service urged businesses to review seven suspicious signs of a bad claim and see if the agency’s special programs can help them avoid future compliance issues.

A pair of lawmakers proposed a bill Wednesday to end the abuse of grantor-retained annuity trusts to avoid taxes.

Danny Werfel understands that the IRS has a perception problem. The IRS commissioner said in a speech Monday at American University that the Service is "iconically unpopular," even playing a clip from The Simpsons to illustrate the point.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) appealed a federal court decision that held the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), P.L. 116-283, which requires the reporting of beneficial ownership information (BOI) by businesses, is unconstitutional.

More than two-thirds of this batch will go toward infrastructure and transportation projects.

The Department of Labor has announced a six-factor test for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This new rule takes effect on March 11, 2024.

The SEC on Wednesday adopted a long-awaited rule for climate-related disclosures.

The National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG) on Thursday opened the response period for its national pipeline survey and its survey for college students, which will shape profession-wide efforts to address the accounting talent shortage.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel defended his agency's delay of the implementation of a lower threshold for reporting income on Forms 1099-K, telling a House committee on Thursday that his office has the responsibility to protect taxpayer rights.

A number of other states have followed the IRS' lead by issuing tax relief to taxpayers affected by recent storms.

The IRS could collect $561 billion in tax revenue over 10 years if it maintains its funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, P.L. 117-169, the Service said in a study released Tuesday.

The House on Wednesday passed a roughly $78 billion tax bill that contains provisions making changes to restrict the employee retention credit (ERC), expand eligibility for the child tax credit (CTC), and temporarily reinstate the expensing of research or experimental (R&E) expenditures. It also restores tax breaks for companies from the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, P.L. 115-97, that have expired or would expire in the coming years.

In Rev. Proc. 2023-29, recently issued by the Internal Revenue Service, the affordability percentage for Affordable Care Act plans has been set at 8.39% beginning in 2024. This marks a significant decrease from the previous 9.12% applicable for 2023. This is the lowest percentage since the inception of the employer mandate which means these plans will cost employers more.

Inflation adjustments have significantly increased the civil monetary penalties for violating the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rules and for the unauthorized disclosure or use of BOI. The rules requiring the reporting of BOI just went into effect this month.