2021

On Monday, September 13, 2021, House Ways and Committee Chairman Richard Neal released the first draft of the House Democrats’ tax legislation (including both tax increases and tax relief) they expect to consider as part of the budget reconciliation process, intended to fund key programs under President Biden’s “Build Back Better” program.

After 18 months of economic uncertainty, many business owners who were forced to put their business sale plans on hold are now ready to go forward. It’s critical for CPA’s to understand how they can best support their clients through the process of selling their business. Here are three important considerations for helping your clients through this process.

To assess taxpayers’ income without their agreement, the IRS is typically required to go through a lengthy procedure. There is, however, one exception to this requirement, which is the math error exception under Section 6213 of the Internal Revenue Code. Under this code section, the IRS can assess additional tax due to a math or clerical error on the taxpayer’s return.

Historically, research costs have been treated very beneficially by US taxpayers. First, eligible research costs are immediately deductible. Second, if those costs meet certain other criteria, they may qualify for federal and state research credits. Some of these credits are even refundable against employee withholding taxes.

The IRS has provided practitioners with a surprise gift for the 2021 filing season. They recently released drafts of new Schedule K-2 and Schedule K-3 to be included with Form 1120S for S corporations, Form 1065 for partnerships and Form 8865 for controlled foreign partnerships. These schedules each add 14 to 19 pages of additional informational reporting for items of international relevance.

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law The American Rescue Plan (ARP). A portion of this law allows both small and medium-sized employers, as well as certain governmental employers, to claim refundable tax credits to reimburse them for the cost of providing their employees with paid sick and family leave due to COVID-19.

On August 10, 2021, the US Senate voted to advance the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) with a 69-30 vote. The Act’s provisions are intended to update the country’s aging infrastructure and include over $1.2 trillion in new spending.

The consideration of virtual games as an official sport in the Olympics has been a major topic of discussion for many years. During the Tokyo Olympics 2021, which officially concluded on August 8th, a landmark move was made to include virtual games. Virtual (eSports) games made its inaugural debut and took center stage of the Olympic Virtual Series (“OVS”).