Archives for Industry News

Ryan Working, CPA, MST Tax Director   As a small to midsize business navigating the world of state income/franchise taxes can be difficult.  Every state has different rules, tax rates, and requirements for filing.  In this article, I will provide some basic concepts we use to help decide if an income/franchise tax return may be required in another state. Economic Presence: Historically, in order to be subject to taxes in a state you would need to have a physical presence in the state.  In recent years due to the development of significant court cases and e-commerce, the vast majority of
Read More

Dean Smith, CPA Audit & Accounting Partner   Revisions affecting defined contribution plans (including 401(k), money purchase and ESOP plans) subject to independent audits have been issued for 2023 plan years and beyond. On February 24, 2023, The Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service issued final forms and related revised instructions for the 2023 Form 5500 filing series. The release includes what could be a significant change in the definition of a participant for purposes of determining whether the plan has exceeded the threshold to be considered a large plan, where an independent audit is required to be included
Read More

Manny Trelles, CPA Tax Manager   Recently, the US Supreme Court held that the $10,000 penalty for a non-willful failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) for foreign accounts accrued per report, not per account. (Bittner, No. 21-1195 [U.S. 2/28/23]). In the past, you may have been assessed a $10,000 penalty per account. For example, if a taxpayer failed to disclose 5 foreign bank accounts on the FBAR report, the penalty assessed may have been $50,000 ($10,000 per account). With the US Supreme Court ruling, a taxpayer may only be assessed a $10,000 penalty per
Read More

Richard A. Huffman, CPA, MST Tax Partner   The IRS and California recently announced that disaster-area taxpayers who reside in or have a business in the following California counties will now have until October 16, 2023 to file and remit payment for federal and California individual and business tax returns.  Previously the deadline had been postponed to May 15 for these areas: Alameda, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kings, Lake, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo,
Read More

Manny Trelles, CPA Tax Manager   Governor Newsom signed SB 951 on September 30, 2022 repealing the wage ceiling for contributions into California’s State Disability Insurance (SDI) fund beginning January 1, 2024. This means all wages paid will be subject to California’s SDI tax. The purpose is to increase the SDI benefits paid and short-term disability insurance to three categories of employees: Employees on parental leave Employees taking time off to care for injured and ill family members Employees unable to work due to injury or health condition To pay for these increased benefits, SB 951 will eliminate the taxable
Read More

Richard A. Huffman, CPA, MST Tax Partner   Victims of the most recent California storm now have until May 15, 2023 to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. The IRS announced January 10, 2023 that Californian’s who reside in or have a business in the following counties will have until May 15, 2023 to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments: Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo,
Read More

Manny Trelles, CPA Tax Manager   Measure ULA (aka the “Homelessness and Housing Solutions Tax”) was recently approved by voters in the City of Los Angeles. The new transfer tax is set to start April 1st, 2023. The transfer tax applies to all real property asset classes in the City of Los Angeles as follows: Residential Property (examples include single-family home, multi-family homes, and apartment buildings) Commercial Property (examples include office buildings, restaurants, or a warehouse) Vacant Land Under the new tax, sales of residential and commercial real property valued at over $5 million but less than $10 million in
Read More

Richard A. Huffman, CPA, MST Tax Partner   The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed under the tax neutral reconciliation rules and included a significant amount of tax law changes that begin to adjust this year. Here are the details as follows: 2022 Tax Year Changes Research and Development costs Through 2021 research and development costs could be immediately deducted for tax purposes but starting in 2022 are now required to be capitalized and amortized over five years for research conducted within the United States or fifteen years for research conducted outside of the United States. Research and
Read More

  On August 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law. The provisions included in the Act are intended to address the climate crisis, lowering prescription drug prices, and reduce the deficit – while being paid by several revenue raisers included in the bill. The Act has had undergone some amendments since first being announced late last month. The bill contains various income tax changes – the following is a summary of the final provisions that we feel will most likely impact you: Increased IRS Funding The Act calls for $80 billion to be
Read More