Pension-linked emergency savings accounts

With the arrival of 2024, employers can opt to offer their employees pension-linked emergency savings accounts (PLESAs). Authorized by the SECURE 2.0 Act, these are individual accounts within a defined benefit plan, though participation in the defined benefit plan isn’t required. PLESAs are designed to encourage saving for emergencies, with a maximum balance of $2,500, […]

There’s a new threshold for electronically filing information returns

Does your business file 10 or more information returns with the IRS? If so, you must now file them electronically. This is a significant rule change that went into effect on January 1, 2024, for 2023 tax year information returns. The threshold for electronically filing most information returns has dropped from 250 to 10. Before the […]

Beneficial Ownership reporting

New rules that require companies to report beneficial ownership information (BOI) to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. The rules aim to promote corporation transparency, and the Treasury Department generally doesn’t expect the filing process to unduly burden businesses. According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, […]

Answers to your tax season questions

The IRS announced it will open the 2024 income tax return filing season on January 29. That’s when the tax agency will begin accepting and processing 2023 tax year returns. Here are answers to seven tax season questions we receive at this time of year. 1. What are this year’s deadlines? The filing deadline to […]

IRS issues final regulations relates to defined benefit plans

Companies that offer defined benefit plans are required to make annual contributions on behalf of covered employees. Minimum contributions must equal what is needed to provide benefits from the plan, given such factors as present value and inflation. The IRS has just issued final regulations to help calculate interest rates for the present value of […]

Tax-favored Qualified Small Business Corporation status could help you thrive

Operating your small business as a Qualified Small Business Corporation (QSBC) could be a tax-wise idea. Tax-free treatment for eligible stock gains QSBCs are the same as garden-variety C corporations for tax and legal purposes — except QSBC shareholders are potentially eligible to exclude from federal income tax 100% of their stock sale gains. That […]

Taxpayer Advocate updates on IRS operations

Good news entering the 2023 tax season: The National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin Collins, has reason to be more optimistic regarding the IRS in 2024. In her Annual Report to Congress, she stated 2023 was a year of transition for the tax agency. She added: “For the first time since I began serving as the National […]

Auditing concepts: Close-up on materiality

As audit season begins for calendar-year entities, it’s important to review issues that may arise during fieldwork. One common issue is materiality. This concept is used to determine what’s important enough to be included in — and what can be omitted from — a financial statement. Here’s how materiality is determined and used during an […]

Update on Employee Retention Tax Credit

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel updated the Senate Finance Committee on the agency’s efforts to combat fraudulent Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) claims. He detailed processing changes being implemented during the claim-processing moratorium, including an effort to transcribe fields from amended paper returns to identify tough-to-find sources of ineligibility. The IRS plans to complete the digitization […]

Taxing a popular kitchen staple