Tax News

Dear Tax Return Preparer,

Set yourself APART! Participate in the Annual Filing Season Program. This voluntary program is for non-credentialed return preparers who aspire to a higher level of professionalism. The Annual Filing Season Program promotes the importance of education and filing season preparation for return preparers without professional credentials. We encourage you to take time to review the requirements and consider participating for the upcoming 2019 filing season.

If your clients have approached you about which legal entity is best for their business and when they should file, you’ve likely felt a bit stuck in how to handle those inquiries. After all, you’re an accountant, not a lawyer!

Although you cannot advocate one business entity type over another based on legal significance, you can offer general information and provide your expertise from a tax and financial perspective to help clients weigh the pros and cons.

To get a better understanding of how you can assist your clients, register for my upcoming webinar, Pros and Cons of Popular Entities & When to File, via Latino Tax Pro on November 13, 2018, at 11 a.m., Pacific Time.

What the South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. decision may mean for your business: Understanding Economic Nexus

Understanding where your company has nexus is an integral part of your sales tax compliance strategy because nexus dictates where your business is required to collect and remit tax. There are a lot of business activities that can cause your business to have nexus, but one is getting a lot of attention from states right now because it was at the forefront of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) case South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (Wayfair): economic nexus.

Date: September 12, 2018

From: Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Subject: Guidance on Claiming a Hardship Exemption through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

This guidance provides information about claiming a hardship exemption from the individual shared responsibility payment for 2018 on a federal income tax return without obtaining an exemption certificate number (ECN) from the Exchange.

IR-2018-171SP, 22 de agosto de 2018

WASHINGTON – En un esfuerzo para proteger mejor los datos de los contribuyentes, el Servicio de Impuestos Internos anunció hoy un nuevo formato para transcripciones de impuestos individuales que redactará información de identificación personal de la serie del Formulario 1040.

Esta nueva transcripción reemplaza el formato anterior y será el formato predeterminado disponible mediante Obtenga una transcripción en línea, Obtenga una transcripción por correo, o el sistema de entrega de transcripción para profesionales de impuestos, a partir del 23 de septiembre. Las entradas financieras seguirán siendo visibles, lo que dará a los contribuyentes y terceros los datos que necesitan para la preparación de impuestos o la verificación de ingresos.

IR-2018-171, Aug. 22, 2018

WASHINGTON – Moving to better protect taxpayer data, the Internal Revenue Service today announced a new format for individual tax transcripts that will redact personally identifiable information from the Form 1040 series.

This new transcript replaces the previous format and will be the default format available via Get Transcript Online, Get Transcript by Mail or the Transcript Delivery System for tax professionals as of September 23. Financial entries will remain visible, which will give taxpayers and third-parties the data they need for tax preparation or income verification.