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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).

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

Calls will go unanswered and mail will get no response under the IRS contingency plan for the first five days of a federal government shutdown. The plan, released Thursday, calls for furloughs of two-thirds of IRS staff if the government shuts down, resulting in "significant harmful impacts" on millions of taxpayers, Treasury said. The fiscal 2024 Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan will go into effect when the IRS is notified that government appropriations have lapsed and that a shutdown is to be initiated. All furloughed IRS employees will be able to return to work, and the Service will resume normal operations, when funds are appropriated. To avoid a shutdown, Congress must approve a budget for fiscal 2024 or a continuing resolution that keeps the government operating temporarily by Saturday, Sept. 30. If a government shutdown lasts for more than five business days, the IRS human capital officer will coordinate a Service-wide reassessment of the excepted activities. With the Oct. 16 deadline looming for some 10.5 million individual tax returns on extension, here is a look at IRS operations that would stop and those that would continue under the plan.

Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Conway metro area ranked #4 out of 99 top metro areas for accountants in 2023.

To protect taxpayers from scams, IRS orders immediate stop to new Employee Retention Credit processing amid surge of questionable claims; concerns from tax pros, aggressive marketing to ineligible applicants highlights unacceptable risk to businesses and the tax system. Moratorium on processing of new claims through year’s end will allow IRS to add more safeguards to prevent future abuse, protect businesses from predatory tactics; IRS working with Justice Department to pursue fraud fueled by aggressive marketin

An updated Federal Trade Commission rule takes effect on June 9, 2023, and it affects many members, including tax practitioners. A Written Information Security Plan (WISP) is required by the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Safeguards Rule of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) whereby financial institutions, including tax preparers, must develop, implement and maintain a comprehensive security plan to protect customer and client information.

Arkansas storm victims now have until July 31, 2023, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. The Internal Revenue Service announced this news on April 3, 2023. The IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a result of tornadoes and severe storms that occurred on March 31. This means that individuals and households that reside or have a business in Cross, Lonoke and Pulaski counties qualify for tax relief. Other areas added later to the disaster area will also qualify for the same relief. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov. The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on March 31, 2023. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until July 31, 2023, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.