News

The Department of Revenue Services and Internal Revenue Service have issued additional guidance on the taxability of Connecticut's Hero payments.

On September 14th, 2023, the IRS announced a moratorium until at least the end of the year on the acceptance of new ERC claims. This moratorium was implemented due to the number of fraudulent claims being filed across the nation. In total, the IRS has received 3 million ERC claims, and nearly a fifth of all applications received were submitted in the 90 days before the declaration of the moratorium, indicating a large spike in fraudulent filings. Many businesses have been encouraged to apply by “Tax Promoters.” “Tax Promoters” encourage and pressure businesses across the nation to file, often improperly indicating that businesses are eligible to receive a refund. With this in mind, the IRS has implemented a withdrawal process for those who filed for the credit in err.

In a major step to help people who owe back taxes, the Internal Revenue Service today announced new penalty relief for approximately 4.7 million individuals, businesses and tax-exempt organizations that were not sent automated collection reminder notices during the pandemic.

As part of continuing efforts to combat dubious Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims, the Internal Revenue Service is sending an initial round of more than 20,000 letters to taxpayers notifying them of disallowed ERC claims. IRS is disallowing claims to entities that did not exist or did not have paid employees during the period of eligibility to prevent improper ERC payments from being made to ineligible entities.

Final regulations issued Monday (T.D. 9978) authorize the assessment of erroneous refunds of paid sick leave credits, family leave credits, and employee retention credits paid to employers under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, P.L. 116-127; the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, P.L. 116-136; and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, P.L. 117-2.

High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) will generally no longer be permitted to cover testing for and the treatment of COVID-19 without a deductible or with a deductible below the minimum deductible (for self-only or family coverage) for an HDHP as of the end of 2024, the IRS said Friday in Notice 2023-37.

On May 10, exactly three years and two months after Gov. Ned Lamont declared a public health emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he declared it over.

With some temporary provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act approaching their sunset, members of Congress are considering extending or making them permanent — but Anne Zimmerman believes that the act was disproportionately beneficial to large corporations at the expense of small businesses.