Tax news and information - Journal of Accountancy

TOPICS

December 18, 2019

You might be a tax shelter if …

Does your business fall under the definition of a syndicate? Chris Hesse, chair of the AICPA’s Tax Executive Committee, reveals where the traps lie for business taxpayers and their CPA advisers.

December 17, 2019

Proposed regs. would govern Sec. 162(m) executive compensation limits

The IRS issued proposed regulations on the Sec. 162(m) $1 million limit on executive compensation paid by certain publicly held corporations.

December 16, 2019

Guidance issued on payments to charitable organizations

The IRS issued additional rules on the treatment of deductions for charitable contributions in lieu of state and local taxes, an area in which it has already issued final regulations and other guidance.

December 10, 2019

Partnership capital reporting requirements postponed until 2020

The IRS is postponing the requirement to report partners’ shares of partnership capital on the tax-basis method for 2019 (for partnership tax years beginning in calendar 2019) until 2020 (for partnership tax years that begin on or after Jan. 1, 2020).

December 3, 2019

BEAT regs. are finalized, new regs. are proposed

The IRS issued detailed guidance on the Sec. 59A base-erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT), which was added to the Code by the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

December 2, 2019

Deadline for health care information statements extended

As it does every year, the IRS extended the due date to furnish certain health care information statements to individual taxpayers to March 2, 2020.

December 1, 2019

IRS cannot stack frivolous-return penalties for 6 photocopies

The copies were clearly labeled as such in attachments to the taxpayer’s correspondence with the IRS and so did not purport to be returns, the Tax Court holds.

December 1, 2019

Helping clients after they are divorced

CPAs should review several key financial planning steps with newly single clients.

December 1, 2019

Line items

Travel per-diem rates updated … IRS offers expatriate tax relief … Voluntary compliance shrinks slightly

December 1, 2019

Father’s treatment of partnership interest expense does not bind son

The son, who inherited and received as gifts the interests in real estate partnerships, could treat nonrecourse debt as acquisition indebtedness, the Tax Court holds.

December 1, 2019

Accounting method choice cuts both ways

Change is hard, especially without a Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method.

December 1, 2019

AICPA seeks guidance on adjustments for conversions from S corp. to C corp.

A reduced corporate tax rate could encourage changeover.

December 1, 2019

Safe harbor allows QBI deduction for rental real estate businesses

An earlier notice’s proposed rules are finalized with revisions and clarifications.

December 1, 2019

Business tax quick guide — tax year 2019

Download and print this quick guide for use during tax season, and look for our quick guide for individual taxpayers in the January 2020 issue.

December 1, 2019

Robotic process automation for tax

See what “bots” can do for tax practices and departments.

December 1, 2019

Short-term use prevents grouping real property activities

District court holds management contracts did not establish required period of customer use.

November 26, 2019

Per-diem method clarified in light of TCJA changes

The IRS issued updated rules for substantiating the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses paid or incurred while traveling using the per-diem rates.

November 25, 2019

Final regs. eliminate estate and gift tax clawback

The IRS issued final regulations that reconcile the current higher exclusion for the estate and gift tax unified credit amount in effect under the TCJA with the lower unified credit scheduled to go into effect in 2026.

November 15, 2019

Use of standard mileage rate, other rules are updated for TCJA

The IRS updated its rules concerning the use of standard mileage rates and to reflect the current suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions and moving expense deductions.

November 14, 2019

IRS commissioner seeks to enhance taxpayer contacts, target enforcement

Speaking to the AICPA National Tax Conference in Washington, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig discussed possible Internal Revenue Service restructuring, more-targeted enforcement efforts and IRS use of data analytics.

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Build reusable Skills in Anthropic’s Claude AI

Instead of rewriting prompts each time, CPAs can turn routine tasks into reusable AI Skills. This Technology Q&A walks through how to build Claude Skills that process files, ask setup questions, and export clean Excel outputs.