News

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) have proposed amendments to the Uniform Accountancy Act to include the CPA Competency-Based Experience Pathway. The changes are designed to define a new licensure pathway while ensuring mobility for certified public accountants (CPAs) licensed under the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) framework.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed an executive order to extending tax relief granted due to severe storms in Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Fulton, Grant, Greene, Madison, Marion, Nevada, Randolph, Sevier, and Sharp counties.

On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (Department) announced a final rule, Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees, which will take effect on July 1, 2024.

A federal district court in Alabama held that the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), P.L. 116-283, which requires the reporting of beneficial ownership information (BOI) by businesses, is unconstitutional. The district court granted the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment Friday in the case of National Small Business United v. Yellen, No. 5:22-cv-1448-LCB (N.D. Ala. 3/1/24). One plaintiff, the National Small Business Association, has over 65,000 members. While the legislation may have "sensible and praiseworthy ends," the court stated in its opinion, the government's arguments that Congress has "the power to regulate millions of entities and their stakeholders the moment they obtain a formal corporate status" from a state "are not supported by precedent." The act "exceeds the Constitution's limits on the legislative branch and lacks a sufficient nexus to any numerated power to be a necessary or proper means of achieving Congress' policy goals," the opinion said.

The IRS increased the optional standard mileage rate used to calculate the deductible costs of operating a vehicle for business to 67 cents per mile driven, up 1.5 cents from 2023. The increased rate is effective as of Jan. 1, 2024 (Notice 2024-08).

IRS announces withdrawal process for Employee Retention Credit claims; special initiative aimed at helping businesses concerned about an ineligible claim amid aggressive marketing, scams

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by the terrorist attacks in the State of Israel. These taxpayers now have until Oct. 7, 2024, to file various federal returns, make tax payments and perform other time-sensitive tax-related actions.

Calls will go unanswered and mail will get no response under the IRS contingency plan for the first five days of a federal government shutdown. The plan, released Thursday, calls for furloughs of two-thirds of IRS staff if the government shuts down, resulting in "significant harmful impacts" on millions of taxpayers, Treasury said. The fiscal 2024 Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan will go into effect when the IRS is notified that government appropriations have lapsed and that a shutdown is to be initiated. All furloughed IRS employees will be able to return to work, and the Service will resume normal operations, when funds are appropriated. To avoid a shutdown, Congress must approve a budget for fiscal 2024 or a continuing resolution that keeps the government operating temporarily by Saturday, Sept. 30. If a government shutdown lasts for more than five business days, the IRS human capital officer will coordinate a Service-wide reassessment of the excepted activities. With the Oct. 16 deadline looming for some 10.5 million individual tax returns on extension, here is a look at IRS operations that would stop and those that would continue under the plan.

To protect taxpayers from scams, IRS orders immediate stop to new Employee Retention Credit processing amid surge of questionable claims; concerns from tax pros, aggressive marketing to ineligible applicants highlights unacceptable risk to businesses and the tax system. Moratorium on processing of new claims through year’s end will allow IRS to add more safeguards to prevent future abuse, protect businesses from predatory tactics; IRS working with Justice Department to pursue fraud fueled by aggressive marketin