The SECURE 2.0 Act, passed as part of an omnibus spending bill in December 2022, added new exceptions to the 10% federal income tax penalty for early withdrawals from tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Withdrawals covered by these exceptions can be repaid within three years to an eligible retirement plan.Read More
The National Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS. TAS helps taxpayers resolve problems with the IRS, makes administrative and legislative recommendations to prevent or correct the problems, and protects taxpayer rights. TAS is required to provide an Annual Report to Congress in January of each year and a follow-up Objective Report in...Read More
This year’s January issue of the Pearson Perspective alerted small business owners to be sure to find out if your business is one of millions affected by the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Congress enacted the CTA in 2021 to combat sources of financial criminal activity and abuse of anonymous companies. The law became effective January...Read More
If you weren’t frustrated and inconvenienced by inefficiency in responses by the IRS, certainly you know one or more taxpayers who have … or heard of the considerable backlog in unprocessed returns and unissued refunds for the past three tax years. Erin Collins is our National Taxpayer Advocate. In her 2023 Annual Report to Congress she...Read More
Energy improvements to your home may make you eligible to enjoy tax credits for a portion of qualifying expenses. To be eligible, it takes your investment in renewable energy for your home such as solar, wind, geothermal, fuel cells or battery storage technology. If you expect to owe federal taxes this year, it’s worth investing...Read More
In 2020, a report by Virginia’s Legislative Information System to the General Assembly alerted lawmakers to a major employee financial shortcoming … about 45% of private-sector workers in Virginia lack access to a retirement plan through their job. That fact prompted legislative action to propose and pass a solution, HB 2174 … a remedy referred to...Read More
Over a year ago, we reported on the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) included in the CARES Act providing $80 billion dollars to encourage employers to retain employees at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The driving principle for Congressional adoption of the incentive was to help pandemic-impaired businesses and tax-exempts to retain...Read More
Six months overdue, the Virginia budget was finally approved by lawmakers on Wednesday, September 6, 2023. Included in the budget is about $1.05 Billion in tax reductions for eligible Virginians in the form of one-time tax rebates. Qualifying individual taxpayers will receive $200 … joint filers, $400. Virginia issued similar rebates for the 2022 tax...Read More
National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins released her statutorily mandated 2024 Objectives Report to Congress. She wrote in her introduction to the report, "In submitting this report, I'm finally able to deliver some good news: The taxpayer experience vastly improved during the 2023 filing season. The difference between the 2022 and 2023 filing seasons was like...Read More
At the height of the C-19 pandemic, the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was introduced to help both business owners and workers maintain payrolls and income respectively. For those businesses that qualify, the ERC is a refundable tax credit intended for employers that continued paying employees … either while shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic...Read More
