News

There is no more hiding from the eventuality of the effective date for new Federal regulations affecting the institutions serving students in programs leading to a license or certification. Institutions and the U.S. Department of Education (Department) have a common goal to support a student participating in an educational program leading to a state license to complete the state educational requirements to pursue their goal of becoming employed in the occupation for which they were trained and educated.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Consensys Software Inc. with engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of securities through a service it calls MetaMask Staking and with operating as an unregistered broker through MetaMask Staking and another service it calls MetaMask Swaps.

As the Federal Trade Commission prepares to enforce its ban on non-compete agreements (NCAs), the agency’s chair spoke in Hartford about some of the gaps that could still remain when the rule goes into effect.

The Internal Revenue Service's plans to expand the Direct File free tax program nationwide next year could meet an early demise if Republicans gain control of Congress and the White House.

The AICPA has made recommendations to the IRS on its 2024–2025 Priority Guidance Plan, including on the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) and group exemption letters.

An independent national group featuring stakeholders from throughout the accounting profession published a draft set of recommendations for tackling the talent shortage.

The salary threshold required to exempt a salaried executive, administrative, or professional employee from federal overtime was increased from $35,568 to $43,888 effective July 1, 2024. The salary threshold will further increase to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025.

The board of directors of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) announced today that Daniel J. Dustin, CPA, has been selected to become NASBA’s next president and chief executive officer. Dustin holds extensive expertise in the areas of accounting regulation and Board of Accountancy operations. His tenure as president and CEO will begin on August 1, 2024, following the retirement of current President and CEO Ken L. Bishop.

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 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.

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.

New London county has received a FEMA disaster emergency declaration which allows for the postponement of certain due dates for specific tax filings and tax payments. It also allows for the deduction of casualty losses attributable to emergency declaration within the declared area.

In a letter addressed to members of the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee, the AICPA and all 54 state CPA societies, including the Connecticut Society of CPAs asked that H.R. 4035 and S. 2623, the Protecting Small Business Information Act of 2023, or similar legislation to delay, be included in any year-end legislative package. The bills would delay the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirement until all three rules under the Corporate Transparency Act have been finalized to specify that all such rules would take effect on the same date.

CTCPA has joined AICPA and dozens of other state CPA societies to ask the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to extend and expand the deadline for beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements, specifically for Reporting Companies Created or Registered in 2024.

The AICPA and over 50 affiliated organizations recommended in a letter to Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that the agency extend the effective date for the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement by one year to give the millions of affected businesses time to learn about the new and complex rules. The letter asked that the scope of the one-year deadline delay include not only new entities created in 2024, but all entities created thereafter and all entities making updates or corrections to their original filings.

The Internal Revenue Service announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by the terrorist attacks in the State of Israel. These taxpayers now have until Oct. 7, 2024, to file various federal returns, make tax payments and perform other time-sensitive tax-related actions. In Notice 2023-71PDF, the IRS provided relief to certain taxpayers who, due to the terrorist attacks, may be unable to meet a tax-filing or tax-payment obligation, or may be unable to perform other time-sensitive tax-related actions. The IRS will continue to monitor events and may provide additional relief.

Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Wednesday that would extend the deadline for companies created or registered in 2024 to file their first beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports. The NPRM (RIN 1506-AB62) would provide 90 days for those companies to file initial reports rather than the original deadline of 30 days from the earlier of the date on which the company receives actual notice that its creation or registration has become effective or the date on which the secretary of state first provides public notice that the company has been created or registered.

Practitioners preparing for the new AICPA quality management (QM) standards now have access to a practice aid designed to help their cause. The free practice aid, Establishing and Maintaining a System of Quality Management for a CPA Firm's Accounting and Auditing Practice, is available in versions for sole practitioners and for small- and medium-sized firms.

On August 30, the Biden administration issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the Department of Labor to extend overtime pay eligibility to more than 3 million workers. The initiative comes following a similar attempt by the Obama administration over eight years ago to revise overtime eligibility regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the new proposal, employers would be required to provide time-and-a-half pay for eligible workers who work beyond 40 hours per week. The previous threshold for this requirement set in 2019 by the Trump administration—$35,568—would be increased to $55,000.