The Internal Revenue Service issued a revenue ruling explaining what happens when a distribution check from a qualified retirement plan isn’t cashed by the recipient and found that even when the check isn’t cashed, it still counts as taxable income. In Revenue Ruling 2019-19, which the IRS released last week, the IRS gave the example
Accounting
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued four documents Thursday providing guidance from its staff on the new requirements for auditing accounting estimates and the auditor’s use of a specialist. The new requirements will be taking effect for audits of financial statements for fiscal years ending on or after Dec. 15, 2020, and the PCAOB
The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department issued a notice Thursday saying they intend to issue regulations that will permit a domestic partnership or an S corporation that is a U.S. shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation to apply some proposed rules for determining the amount of the global intangible low-taxed income, or GILTI,
The American Institute of CPAs released a discussion paper Wednesday explaining some of the challenges of determining materiality in an attestation engagement when the subject matter can’t be measured quantitatively. The paper, developed by a working group of the AICPA’s Assurance Services Executive Committee, talks about some of the challenges encountered by accountants when they
The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board has issued an interpretation of some recent standards involving cost provisions among multiple entities and who is liable for the cleanup costs. Interpretation 9, “Cleanup Cost Liabilities Involving Multiple Component Reporting Entities: An Interpretation of SFFAS 5 & SFFAS 6,” comes in response to the issuance of Statement of
Xero, which makes online accounting software, has appointed Ben Richmond to U.S. country manager, and Will Buckley to Canada country manager, as part of its strategy to develop full service teams in each country. Both Richmond and Buckley have been with Xero some years, and will now be responsible for driving Xero’s growth in their
The Financial Accounting Foundation’s board of trustees has tapped Michael Morrow, a director at the chemical company Cabot Corp., as the new chair of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, effective Jan. 1, 2020, and named some new members of the Private Company Council. FASAC advises the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which the Financial Accounting
The American Institute of CPAs has released a valuation and accounting guide for private equity and venture capital firms to help them determine the fair market value of the companies in their investment portfolios. The guide, Valuation of Portfolio Company Investments of Venture Capital and Private Equity Funds and Other Investment Companies, offers nonauthoritative guidance
The Trump administration is reportedly mulling the possibility of temporarily cutting Social Security and Medicare taxes as a way to spur the economy amid recent signs of a potential recession ahead. The Washington Post reported Monday that several unnamed White House officials are discussing a temporary payroll tax cut. The Obama administration temporarily cut payroll
The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association recognized two professors for their contributions to management accounting research during the annual AAA conference in San Francisco. Adam Presslee, Ph.D., assistant professor of accounting at the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo (Canada)
Abby Dupree (pictured), managing partner at Tallahassee-based accounting firm Carroll and Company, began her term as chair of the Florida Institute of CPAs for the 2019-20 fiscal year. Tom Chisholm, managing director at Fulcrum Partners, Ponte Vedra Beach, was appointed to serve on the advisory council for World Bicycle Relief, a nonprofit that distributed specially
The AICPA’s “2019 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits” breaks down the new face of the profession as it enters a new decade. The biennial report, first published in 1971, is based on university responses from the 2017-2018 academic year and U.S. accounting firm responses from the
A deadline is looming to maximize the stepped-up basis afforded to realized capital gains invested in qualified opportunity zone properties and businesses. To get the full 15 percent step-up in basis, investment must be made by the end of 2019. There has been a corresponding surge of offerings, primarily real estate investment trust-like investments in
BPM LLP, a Top 100 Firm based in San Francisco, has expanded in the Seattle area by adding CPA Consulting, a firm based in Bellevue, Washington. CPA Consulting was founded in 1997 and works with clients throughout western Washington, Hawaii and Alaska. After the merger, its 10-person team will continue to work out of its
The American Institute of CPAs’ Financial Reporting Executive Committee is offering some draft guidance on various issues related to the implementation of the new credit losses standard. The standard is also known as CECL because it uses a Current Expected Credit Loss model for estimating the allowances for expected losses over the life of a
The American Institute of CPAs recognized three academics for exemplary teaching and research contributions during the annual American Accounting Association meeting, held this week in San Francisco. Stephen Moehrle, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is the recipient of the 2019 AICPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award. Panos Patatoukas and Yaniv Konchitchki,
It is a question that always arises in the wake of any high-profile fraud: How could this have happened? Too often, responsibility for fraud is passed along like a hot potato among members of the management team, outside consultants and the board. Ultimately, senior management has the responsibility to detect and prevent fraud. Unfortunately, according
The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it would automatically waive the estimated tax penalty for over 400,000 eligible taxpayers who have already filed their 2018 federal income tax returns but didn’t claim the waiver. Earlier this year, in response to complaints from taxpayers who discovered they hadn’t withheld enough from their paychecks last year after
Todd and Julie Chrisley, the stars of the reality TV series “Chrisley Knows Best,” were indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on charges of tax evasion, bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy, while their accountant Peter Tarantino was also indicted on tax-related charges Tuesday. Their show, which revolves around the lives of Todd
Taxpayer defined; W-4 2.0; cryptocurrency and FBAR; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. Unresolved issues IRS Mind (https://www.irsmind.com/): In 2018, the IRS questioned the accuracy of about 6 million returns, most often using a CP2000 — under-reporter — matching notice. About 3 million CP2000 notices were sent in 2018. In second place is