NYSSCPA Members in the News
David Young (Rochester)
Small business tax tips and advice with CPA Dave Young
WROC Rochester First
Small Business Saturday is this weekend, so Mark Gruba sat down with CPA Dave Young for some small business tax tips and good advice. Some of Young's tips included staying organized and keeping good records, paying close attention to deductions, and even hiring your children.
SCORE/Staten Island Chapter
SCORE Staten Island Seminar Dec. 3 to Highlight Latest Tax Changes
Staten Island Live
A Dec. 3 seminar on Staten Island will provide guests with insight into some of this year's latest significant tax changes, as well as the Affordable Care Act and American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Sponsored by Richmond County Savings Bank, a Division of New York Community Bank – Member FDIC, the "Highlights of 2016 Federal & New York State Tax Changes" workshop is a SCORE Staten Island event, presented in collaboration with the Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) and the Staten Island Chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA).
Other Accounting and Financial News Stories
BITCOINIRS Targeting Bitcoin-Using Tax Evaders
PYMNTS.com
With tax season just a few months away, which means the season for creative forms of tax evasion is soon to begin. Sadly, for those with dreams of using bitcoin to cheat the tax man next year, there is some bad news. The Internal Revenue Service is actively on the lookout for bitcoin-based for tax evasion. According to documents filed last week, the tax agency is fiercely going after both tax evaders big and small – who are using bitcoin based transactions in an attempt to hide funds from the internal revenue service, by simple not reporting them.
U.S. Bond Funds See Largest Outflow in Three Years After Trump Victory
Wall Street Journal
In the week after Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory, investors pulled more cash out of U.S. fixed-income funds than at any time over the last three years, in one early sign that the recent bond selloff may have legs. Big selloffs in bond markets often go hand in hand with investors taking money out of mutual funds. This can create a vicious cycle, whereby selling begets more selling. Investors withdrew $8.2 billion from U.S. bond funds in the week ending Nov. 16, according to data provider EPFR Global.
IRS Employees Used Risky Email Practices
Accounting Today
Some Internal Revenue Service employees didn’t do enough to protect sensitive taxpayer information when they were sending emails, according to a new report. The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that nearly half the employees whose emails were examined sent unencrypted emails. TIGTA auditors reviewed a random sample of 80 employees from the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division during four weeks in May and June 2015 for the report.
Ryan—and Trump's?—tax plan could hurt New Yorkers
Crain’s New York Business
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to cut taxes and tear up the federal tax code. But one key change currently being considered could end up costing New Yorkers—big league. Republicans in Washington are pushing to eliminate a provision that allows taxpayers to deduct their city and state payments from their federal income tax bills. Scrapping that deduction would raise about $1.3 trillion in revenue over 10 years, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Advice on Avoiding Refund Delays Issued
Accounting Today
The IRS has released another in its series of reminders to ensure “smooth processing” of 2016 returns and avoiding delay in refunds. Have all relevant documents, such as W-2s and 1099s, before filing a return. Taxpayers may also need a copy of their 2015 return. Beginning in 2017, taxpayers using a software product for the first time may need their adjusted gross income from a prior return to verify their identity.
The Future of Health Care Mergers Under Trump
New York Times
The proposed health insurance mega-merger between Anthem and Cigna heads to court on Monday, as the companies face off against a Justice Department seeking to block their $48 billion deal. It will be followed in just a few weeks by the trial for another proposed insurance mega-merger, between Aetna and Humana. Together, those two mergers would remake the industry, resulting in the nation’s five largest health insurers shrinking to just three, including UnitedHealth Group, which remains independent.
Hackers Program Bank ATMs to Spew Cash
Wall Street Journal
Cybercriminals who once earned millions by breaking into individual online bank accounts are now targeting the banks’ own computers, with often-dramatic results. In Taiwan and Thailand earlier this year, the criminals programmed bank ATMs to spew cash. Gang members stood in front of the machines at the appointed hour and collected millions of dollars. Earlier this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned U.S. banks of the potential for similar attacks.
Wells Fargo Grapples With New Set of Management Restrictions
Wall Street Journal
Executives at Wells Fargo & Co. over the weekend were grasping to understand more-stringent management restrictions newly imposed on the bank by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The lender remained in the dark about both the reason for and implications of the banking regulator’s mandate, which was issued in a terse statement late Friday.