The state’s popular California Competes Tax Credit program continues to be available during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The state has allocated approximately $237 million to be awarded to both small and large business taxpayers. In June, the final award period of last fiscal year, approximately $55 million of tax credits were granted to twenty taxpayers. (more…)
CPAs Talk Tech Biz
Tax Reform…. Not in California
UPDATED JULY 18, 2019: At Last…Partial Conformity…
In December 2017, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) which was the most significant tax reform legislation enacted since the 1980s. In July 2019, 18 months later, the California legislature acted and the governor signed Assembly Bill 91 that contained a select number of conformity provisions. These provisions will simplify tax compliance for California taxpayers as differing federal and California tax reporting for certain transactions will no longer be required. Unfortunately, California has yet to conform to most of the changes enacted by the TCJA.
The conformity changes included in AB 91 are highlighted below.
However, in an act of “reverse conformity,” the legislature passed Senate Bill 78. Originally, the federal Affordable Care Act imposed a “penalty tax” on taxpayers who did not have qualifying health insurance coverage. Congress repealed this “tax” effective January 1, 2019. But due to an act of reverse conformity, a “penalty tax” will once again be imposed on California taxpayers that do not have qualifying health insurance, effective January 1, 2020. (more…)
Cryptocurrency Tax Update - Still More Questions Than Answers
There have been a few developments since we last looked at cryptocurrency in April, 2017 (Are Bitcoin Users Cheating on Taxes? (Or Are They Just Confounded by the Rules?)). The IRS has increased tax compliance enforcement but unfortunately, guidance from the Internal Revenue Service has not kept up with the advances in the cryptocurrency world continuing tax reporting challenges.
In 2014 the IRS released their position regarding the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions in Notice 2014-21 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-21.pdf). The IRS notified taxpayers that: (more…)
Don’t Be Surprised By New Tax Filing Due Dates
Beginning next year several tax filing due dates will be changing. The existing filing schedule has been in place since I manually prepared tax returns with pencil and paper before the computer age began so these changes are significant. The new filing dates were established under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015 without much publicity outside of the tax practitioner community. The new filing dates are effective for tax years beginning January 1, 2016, so taxpayers unaware of the new dates may have an unexpected surprise next year.
Fortunately, the traditional April 15th due date for individual tax returns has not changed but the due dates of business returns have been modified. The changes were implemented to help smooth the tax filing process for taxpayers owning interests in pass-through entities such as partnerships and S-Corporations. (more…)