We’ve published a lot of news in 2021, but a few posts seem to be exceptionally popular! Here’s a review of our top blog posts that received the most attention this year.
Please note that some of these posts may be outdated and further updates are linked in the article.
1. Major Changes to Meals Expense Deductions for Tax Years 2021 and 2022
The Consolidated Appropriations Act included several new relief packages for individuals and businesses. As we dissect the current bill, YHB is producing a series of in-depth analysis on the bill to help you take advantage of the bill. In this article, we will explore the new rules involving meal deductions.
2. Do You Know the Rules Surrounding your Investment Wash-Sale?
One tax planning tip that can be overlooked in year-end planning is possible wash-sale complications for investment holdings if not discussed with your tax or investment professional.
3. What is FAR? (Federal Acquisition Regulations)
A quick internet search will yield approximately 89 meanings for “FAR”, from “False Alarm Ratio” to “Fatal Accident Rate”. In the GovCon space, we are generally concerned with only one of them, the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).
4. Related Party Transactions
As calendar year-end audit season moves into full swing, you can expect to receive a request from your audit firm for your related party listing. Related parties can sometimes be a topic of confusion and gray area. While judgment may still be required when applying the standards to your entity, hopefully the overview below will provide clarity to the topic.
5. The EIP Debit Card Debacle
If you are like me, the first thing you do after leaving your mail “rest/sanitize” for 24-hours is to weed out the junk. Well, if you have not yet received your Economic Stimulus Payment, you may want to open all envelopes right now, and be extra careful in deciding what to keep and what to toss.
6. Establishing Rates for Government Contracts
Understanding your cost pool is vital for all government contractors to succeed in competitive bid situations and remain profitable. This critical understanding keeps you compliant with federal regulations and allows companies to set sustainable rates that drive growth. One of the foundational building blocks for the government contractor’s accounting system is the allocation of costs across contracts.
7. Possible Changes to Capital Gains under the Biden Administration
With a new administration comes the possibility of new tax laws. The basic proposals under Biden’s tax plans that were laid out during the campaign trail only impact taxpayers if their income is greater than $400,000 in a tax year. If that applies, then any realized capital gains and qualified dividends which are included in that income will be taxed at the taxpayer’s ordinary tax rate.
8. Congress Passes New Stimulus Bill
On December 21, 2020, Congress passed another stimulus bill aimed to help individuals and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The President later signed the bill right before year-end. Below is an overview of some significant changes from the act.
9. Still waiting for your 2020 Federal tax refund? You aren’t alone.
Haven’t received your tax refund yet? Welcome to the club. A historically high number of taxpayers are experiencing delays in receiving their tax refunds this year. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) finished the tax filing season with over 35 million unprocessed tax returns, four times more than the last, pre-COVID-19 season in 2019.
10. Received a letter from the IRS about Child Tax Credits? Let us answer your questions.
Eligible parents will soon begin receiving payments from the federal government. The IRS announced that the 2021 advance child tax credit (CTC) payments, which were created in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), will begin being made on July 15, 2021, and have recently mailed letters to the people who may be potentially eligible for the credit.
