Posts by Jeff Michael

This bill, which is expected to be passed in the Senate without significant modification, requires all employers to provide paid sick leave, allocates federal funding for new disaster unpaid sick leave, increases funding for low-income food assistance, and increases health care worker protection.  Beyond increasing funding for state unemployment insurance, this bill falls short of…

At a White House Press briefing Tuesday, March 17, Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin announced that the IRS was postponing the April 15 deadline for paying taxes for 90 days. The extended deadline applies to individuals who owe less than $1 million and corporations that owe less than $10 million.  Not only will the IRS…

On October 9, 2019, the IRS released Revenue Ruling 2019-24 and a question and answer document (FAQs on Virtual Currency Transactions) that confirm when cryptocurrency owner’s taxes are due.  This has previously been a source of confusion.  In this ruling, the IRS ruled that a “hard fork” (i.e., when one cryptocurrency becomes two) will not cause…

The new tax laws signed by President Trump make numerous temporary changes to the taxes imposed on beer, wine, and distilled spirits. These provisions will sunset after 2019. 1. Reduced Rate of Excise Tax on Beer Section 13802 of the new tax legislation amends Section 5051 of the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the amount…

Employers need to look no further than IRC Section 139 when looking for a way to help employees pay for reasonable and necessary personal, family, living, or funeral expenses incurred as a result of a qualified disaster. According to Section 139(a), payments received to help with unreimbursed expenses following a qualified disaster are excluded from…

Employers can defer payroll payments and get an employee retention credit– For employer payroll tax payments that would otherwise be due before January 1, 2021, 50% of such payments are now due December 31, 2021, with the remainder due December 31, 2022.   Employers severely impacted by COVID-19 (either subject to a shut-down order or…

The U.S. government passed a $2 trillion stimulus plan on Friday, March 27, 2020.  Now the U.S. Government is preparing to send stimulus payments to taxpayers to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic.  How much you receive may depend on whether you have filed your 2019 income taxes.  The U.S. government is going to give…

Wednesday, March 25, 2020 – Taxpayers concerned about paying or settling tax debt were treated to good news from the IRS.  Today, the Service announced a new initiative that promises welcome relief to people facing uncertainty over taxes.  The IRS is encouraging all taxpayers owing debt to take advantage of the relief to settle any…

Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, announced by Tweet that the IRS was postponing the April 15 tax filing deadline until July 15, now matching the extended tax payment deadline.  As taxpayers rejoice, it remains to be seen if the announcement will also extend the deadline for funding Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) for the 2019 tax…