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Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed an executive order to extending tax relief granted due to severe storms in Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Fulton, Grant, Greene, Madison, Marion, Nevada, Randolph, Sevier, and Sharp counties.

AR Department of Finance and Administration announces new Withholding instructions, tables and formula following the passage of an income tax cut retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024.

On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (Department) announced a final rule, Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees, which will take effect on July 1, 2024.

A federal district court in Alabama held that the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), P.L. 116-283, which requires the reporting of beneficial ownership information (BOI) by businesses, is unconstitutional. The district court granted the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment Friday in the case of National Small Business United v. Yellen, No. 5:22-cv-1448-LCB (N.D. Ala. 3/1/24). One plaintiff, the National Small Business Association, has over 65,000 members. While the legislation may have "sensible and praiseworthy ends," the court stated in its opinion, the government's arguments that Congress has "the power to regulate millions of entities and their stakeholders the moment they obtain a formal corporate status" from a state "are not supported by precedent." The act "exceeds the Constitution's limits on the legislative branch and lacks a sufficient nexus to any numerated power to be a necessary or proper means of achieving Congress' policy goals," the opinion said.

January 1, 2024 -Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) began accepting beneficial ownership information reports. The bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act, enacted in 2021 to curb illicit finance, requires many companies doing business in the United States to report information about the individuals who ultimately own or control them.

Enacted as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and amending the Bank Secrecy Act, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is intended to close a perceived information gap related to money laundering and other illicit acts. The CTA requires reporting companies to self-report information to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fin-CEN) about their beneficial owners and company applicants. Determining whether a company is considered a “reporting company” and whether an individual is considered a “beneficial owner” or a “company applicant” under the CTA is complex, and failure to comply with the CTA can result in civil or criminal penalties (or both). For instance, the failure to comply with the statutorily-mandated reporting timeframes regarding the filing of initial or updated reports could result in a $500-per-day penalty (up to $10,000) and up to two years of imprisonment. Additionally, any person who, without authorization, knowingly discloses or uses beneficial ownership information (BOI) can be fined $500 per day (up to $250,000) and imprisoned for up to five years.

The IRS increased the optional standard mileage rate used to calculate the deductible costs of operating a vehicle for business to 67 cents per mile driven, up 1.5 cents from 2023. The increased rate is effective as of Jan. 1, 2024 (Notice 2024-08).

The AICPA and over 50 affiliated organizations recommended in a letter to Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that the agency extend the effective date for the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement by one year to give the millions of affected businesses time to learn about the new and complex rules. The letter asked that the scope of the one-year deadline delay include not only new entities created in 2024, but all entities created thereafter and all entities making updates or corrections to their original filings.

IRS announces withdrawal process for Employee Retention Credit claims; special initiative aimed at helping businesses concerned about an ineligible claim amid aggressive marketing, scams

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by the terrorist attacks in the State of Israel. These taxpayers now have until Oct. 7, 2024, to file various federal returns, make tax payments and perform other time-sensitive tax-related actions.