The Treasury Department and Health and Human Services announced last week that in the coming weeks it will introduce “consumer-friendly” resources for taxpayers to use to comply with the new healthcare rules. Starting this year, taxpayers are facing additional paperwork for this year’s filing, causing concern for taxpayers and their accountants. Tax filers will now have to report whether they had healthcare coverage in 2014 and if they received tax credits to help buy insurance. Those who didn’t have healthcare coverage will owe a fee. The joint agency announcement though hasn’t yet specified what the tools and resources will be,…
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Despite all the talk about new changes underway now that Republicans will assume control of Congress and governorships in 31 states, much of the current tax issues will look the same in 2015 as they did in 2014, according to Forbes. Below is a snapshot of the top nine tax stories to watch in 2015: Business Taxes. Will 2015 be the year of business tax reform? Probably not, according to Forbes, as the Affordable Care Act and battles over spending will continue to swallow up lawmakers’ focus and time this coming year. Dynamic Scoring. GOP leaders have introduced rule changes…
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“Rome was not built in a day,” but efforts are underway to do it faster for international valuation standards. At the recent World Congress of Accountants, Sir David Tweedie, chair, International Valuation Standards Council, outlined the challenges facing the valuation profession when he stated and questioned the following: “The profession developed as secondary specialization by experts working in different types of asset classes. It led to a fragmentation by asset type. Skills are regarded as technique rather than as a profession. What are the accepted qualifications? Lack of recognition by regulators, other professions, and prospective recruits.” Globally accepted professional standards…
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Thanks to the U.S. Senate, IRA owners age 701/2 and older have until Wednesday, December 31, 2014, to make a direct transfer from their account to an eligible charity of their choice of up to $100,000 without paying taxes on the distribution. The senate approved the direct rollover in addition to more than 50 other tax provisions as part of the extender’s package on December 16, 2014—just two weeks shy of the year-end deadline. This option, which first became available in 2006, can be a smart alternative for some IRA owners by allowing them to take their mandated annual required…
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In a recent valuation, Apple has been crowned the most valuable company on the planet, and second place wasn’t even close. After its stock hit a record high recently, Apple was valued at $700 billion. That’s $300 billion more than the runner-up, Exxon Mobile. It’s hard to wrap your head around these kinds of numbers, but imagine the enormity that is Google. Even with that kind of influence, Google is still worth only half as much as Apple. When CEO, Tim Cook, took the company’s reins from the late Steve Jobs, many were in doubt as to whether the…
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While the Comcast/Time-Warner merger is pending with the FCC, another mega deal has fizzled out. Toy giant Hasbro got cold feet in its $3 billion bid for DreamWorks Entertainment after its stock slid five percent after investors deemed the price way too high. Not to worry though, a new report from Ernst & Young showed 40 percent of media executives surveyed said they expected to make a buy sometime in the next 12 months. If the deals come to fruition, that would be the highest M&A rate for the media sector in three years, although one expert expects most…
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Five years ago, no one really knew what big data was and now, it seems it’s all anyone can talk about. Big data is the term used for information retailers, government agencies, and other organizations collect from the public that other entities might have a vested interest in purchasing because they produce ancillary products or services that could be marketed to the same individuals. While there has been much concern regarding big data the government collects and its impact on privacy, it’s becoming much more of a concern in the valuation world. Are these datasets assets? Some are valued in…
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Merging with or acquiring another company isn’t just about consuming or becoming bigger than the competition. In an in-depth article with ABF Journal, Phil Isom and Dan Tiemann of KPMG outline the deals their organization has pursued in the last 12 months and the strategies behind them. The authors detail how M&A can and should be used as a growth strategy with an eye on bringing new talent, tools, and resources into a company. Some deals are made to remain in sync with global trends and retain a competitive edge. It’s not always about the money, at least not…
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Back in 2007, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) were hot on the heels of Switzerland-based mega financial institutions like UBS, Credit Suisse, and Wegelin for assisting wealthy Americans in hiding billions of dollars in foreign accounts. Part of the fallout included the enactment of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in 2010, which requires all foreign banks to file reports with the IRS on all American accounts over $50,000. Americans must also file the disclosure separately on their yearly returns. Failure to report results in a 40 percent penalty for the account holder and even…
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The IRS has released the annual inflation adjustments for a number of provisions for tax year 2015, including tax rate schedules, tax tables, and cost of living adjustments for some items. In total, the IRS posted more than 40 updates. You can read them in full here. You can also find an excellent overview of all the changes at Forbes.com through the link below. [button color=”blue” link=”http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2014/10/30/irs-announces-2015-tax-brackets-standard-deduction-amounts-and-more/” target=”_blank” font=”arial” align=”left”]Read More[/button]
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With just six more weeks to go until 2015 is rung in, small business owners and managers can take simple steps now to minimize their tax bill next April, according to business advisory services firm Skoda Minotti. Below are five ideas small business owners and managers can consider from now until December 31: Make those needed office or plant repairs. For the most part, expenses for minor business premises repairs are currently deductible. Keep an eye on equipment purchases. Currently, the maximum Section 179 allowance made for qualified property placed in service remains at $25,000 versus $500,000 in 2013.…
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According to the Global State of Information Security Survey 2015 sponsored by PwC, the total number of reported cyber security breaches reported this year jumped 48 percent totaling 42.8 million new occurrences. That’s equivalent to 117,339 successful security attacks happenings per day. In addition, the compounded annual growth rate of detected security breaches has increased by 66 percent every year since 2009. Contributing to the problem is the fact that overall, allotted funds for security measures have been frozen at just 4 percent or less than the average IT budget for the last five years. Large corporations with revenue of…
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During preparation as an expert witness for trial, it’s crucial to anticipate the potential strategy and line of questioning of the opposing counsel. Many expert witnesses role-play the scenario in advance with a colleague standing in for the attorney to uncover hidden weaknesses in their preparation and to quell nerves. While years of acting as an expert witness can leave one feeling like they’ve seen it all in the courtroom and know all the tricks opposing counsel likes to play, that’s no substitute for being inside a lawyer’s mind. When the stakes are high, all bets are off, and…
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At the close of August 2014, $1.1 trillion passed through American hands in M&A deals, while the global tally was $2.4 trillion. Those totals mark the highest year-to-date volume since 2007. While that’s great for the industry, not all these deals ended happily. When anticipated value doesn’t materialize after the deal is done, disputes can arise, usually involving future payouts related to performance. While these disputes normally go before a judge experienced in such matters, some transaction agreements require the matter be heard by an accounting expert. The idea behind this change is that a neutral accountant will have…
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According to Accounting Today, performance for private companies increased for the third straight quarter. Based on a report by Sageworks, sales for private companies grew an average of 8.6 percent in the past year, yielding an increase in net profit margins of nearly 7 percent. Among the industries seeing the highest increases were law firms and medical practices. The report also identified the 10 industries that experienced the highest increases in profitability over the last 12 months. For more information, visit Sageworks at the link below. [button color=”blue” link=”https://www.sageworks.com/pressroom.aspx?article=1496&title=Private-Company-Performance-Grows-for-Third-Straight-Quarter&date=September-29-2014″ target=”_blank” font=”arial” align=”left”]Read More[/button]
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With all it does to prevent fraudulent tax returns, the IRS still paid out $5.2 billion in identity theft refunds in 2013. As if that wasn’t a big enough headache, imagine all the bureaucratic backtracking tens of millions of Americans who had their identity and cash stolen had to go through. Actually, that sum is just an estimate because the General Accounting Office (GAO) says that it’s impossible to know the full extent of identity theft tax refunds because of the challenges associated with detecting the crime. What is known for sure is that Florida is headquarters for the…
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When it was announced in August that fast food giant Burger King had purchased Tim Horton’s, a Canadian coffee and doughnut chain, for $8.4 billion and was moving its headquarters from the U.S. to Canada, it surprised some, but shocked no one. What it did do was irritate lots of people in Congress. Some called the plan of America’s second-largest fast food chain to move out of the country unpatriotic, but beneath all the bluster, the outrage was all about lost tax revenue. The idea of a national corporation moving its main offices out of the country isn’t new,…
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On September 18, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two new notices—one proposing changes for when a taxpayer can revoke healthcare coverage in a cafeteria plan and enroll in a plan on the health insurance marketplace exchanges; the second notice proposes an approach for how to measure the lookback period for determining who is a fulltime employee when an employee changes positions within the same employer group. Cafeteria Plan Elections In Notice 2014-55, the IRS proposed amendments to Regs. Sec. 1.125-4 to permit employees to revoke their election of employer-sponsored healthcare coverage under a cafeteria plan and purchase…
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Daily trading of foreign currencies is estimated to be about $5 trillion—a staggering figure, no doubt, but the sheer volume of the foreign currency market coupled with other factors such as weakened international regulation, the misapplication of translation standards, and the introduction of virtual currencies (bitcoin) has given rise to an environment where hedging, speculation, and fraud are prevalent, states Kurt Ramin, CPA, in “The Impact of Fraud in Fluctuating Currencies” in the September 3 edition of AICPA’s FVS News. For companies with overseas operations where currency exchange rates affect everything from the value of foreign assets to market…
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Executive managers of companies and not-for-profit organizations must make more uniform disclosures if there is significant doubt about a company’s ability survive, according to new standards released by the Financial Accounting Standards Board August 27, 2014. Under Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements—Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties About an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern, management is required to evaluate at each annual and interim reporting period whether it’s probable that the company will not be able to meet its obligations as they become due within one year after the date financial…