A Fair Payout or a Disaster Waiting to Happen In 2020 alone, approximately 7,300 companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Of those corporate debtors, 42 were found to have awarded pre-bankruptcy retention bonuses to a total of 223 executives, with the bonuses totaling approximately $165 million. These pre-bankruptcy bonuses were given to executives anywhere from five months to two days before the filing. ...

On May 21, 2018, President Trump signed into law a resolution disapproving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) guidance on Indirect Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.  In that Guidance, the CFPB expressed the view that certain indirect auto lenders—that is, lenders that coordinate with dealerships to provide auto loans to consumers—are subject to the Equal Credi ...

Should Pension Participants Take the Lump-Sum Option? Traditional pensions are increasingly offering participants a lump-sum payment in lieu of monthly payments over the rest of their lives.  This option makes sense in some cases, but a monthly payment can reduce the chances of running out of money in retirement.  Ann Carrns explains how, unfortunately, not all employees are able to make informed decisions. ...

Large Partnerships Face Major Changes to Audits and Adjustments The recently enacted federal budget deal includes major changes to how the IRS will audit large partnerships and, when adjustments result in tax underpayments, will allow the IRS to collect the tax directly from the partnership, instead of from the individual partners.  Alistair M. Nevius, Journal of Accountancy editor-in chief, discusses the n ...

What is the level of uncertainty behind why 401(k) plan sponsors don’t change default investment options?  Hazel Bradford, reporter (Washington), visits this issue and addresses some concerns. To find out more on the Pensions & Investments’ article, click: GAO: 401(k) plan executives hesitant to change default options. ...

  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 ...

In 2011, after a six-year pilot program, the IRS made the Compliance Assurance Process (CAP) a permanent fixture. The intention was to give large corporate taxpayers a pre-filing period where discrepancies or contentious issues could be ironed out to simplify examination after filing. The goal was to provide each side with more confidence in the contents at the time it was officially filed. The problem: CAP ...

Details Found in IRS Explanation Issued Wednesday; $20,000 Figure Based on a Family of Four.   In a final regulation issued Wednesday, January 30, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.   Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the I ...

Far fewer small employers claimed the health insurance tax credit for small businesses in the health care reform law than were eligible, according to a new government report.  So reports Michael Cohn at Accounting Today: The Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as a way to help small businesses pay for the cost of health insurance. ...