Richard Maxwell CPA LLC

Home

Trump Signs PPP Application Extension Bill
On July 4, President Donald Trump signed into law a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) application extension bill that Congress had quickly passed just before the Independence Day holiday. According to...

Wolters Kluwer Interview: Outlook on Ever-Evolving Paycheck Protection Program
"If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me." — William Shakespeare...

Supreme Court Upholds ACA Contraceptive Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Trump Administration’s rule under the Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) that any nongovernment, nonpublicly traded employer can refuse to offer contraceptive c...

Guidance on Reporting COVID-19 Qualified Sick and Family Leave Wages
The IRS has issued guidance to employers on the requirement to report the amount of qualified sick and family leave wages paid to employees under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Families ...

Guidance and Relief for 2020 RMD Waiver, Required Beginning Date Changes
The IRS has issued guidance and temporary relief for required minimum distribution (RMD) changes in 2020. Distributions that would have been RMDs under old law are treated as eligible rollover distrib...

Mid-Year Safe Harbor Plan Amendments and COVID-19 Relief
The IRS has clarified and provided relief for mid-year amendments reducing safe harbor contributions. An updated safe harbor notice and an election opportunity must be provided even if the change is o...

IRS Amends 199A Regs on Suspended Losses and RICs
The IRS amended final regulations with guidance on the Code Sec. 199A deduction for suspended losses and shareholders of regulated investment companies (RICs). The amendments address the tre...

Draft 2021 Partnership Forms Clarify International Reporting by Partners
The Treasury Department and the IRS have released drafts of proposed partnership forms for tax year 2021 (the 2022 filing season). The proposed forms are intended to provide greater clarity for partne...

Final Regulations Issued on FDII and GILTI Deduction
The Treasury and IRS have issued final regulations covering the Code Sec. 250 deduction for foreign-derived intangible income (FDII) and global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI). Proposed ...

IRS Encourages Abusive Conservation Easement Taxpayers to Settle
The IRS is calling on any taxpayers involved in syndicated conservation easement transactions who receives a settlement offer from the agency to accept it soon. The Service made this request in the wa...

FAQ: What is the self-rental rule?
Under Code Sec. 469, passive losses can only be used to offset passive income. Taxpayers who have losses from a passive activity cannot use losses from a passive activity to offset nonpassive inc...

How do I? Prove business expenses
Everyone in business must keep records. Among other things, good records will help a business prepare the business tax returns, and will support items reported on tax returns. Taxpayers also must keep...

FAQ…do I need a receipt for every gift to charity
The IRS requires that taxpayers substantiate their donations to charity. Whatever the donation is, whether money or a household item or clothing, the substantiation rules must be followed. The rules a...

IRS provides repair regulations relief for small businesses
In Rev. Proc. 2015-20, the IRS substantially simplified the requirements for small businesses to adopt the tangible property regulations (the "repair regulations") for 2014. The relief allows small bu...

FAQs: How are qualified longevity annuity contracts reported?
The required minimum distribution (RMD) rules require participants to start taking distributions when they turn age 70½. Treasury and the IRS have developed a new concept to enable retirees to ...

Employers prepare for employer mandate and Code Sec. 6056 reporting
As January 1, 2015 draws closer, many employers are gearing up for the “employer mandate” under the Affordable Care Act. For 2015, there is special transition relief for mid-size employers...

IRS final rules encourage longevity annuity purchases
Life expectancies for many Americans have increased to such an extent that most taxpayers who retire at age 65 expect to live for another 20 years or more. Several years ago, a number of insurance com...

How do I? As an employer, report health insurance coverage?
One of the most complex, if not the most complex, provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the employer shared responsibility requirement (the so-called "employer mandate") and ...

FAQ: What is an information document request (IDR)?
When an IRS is conducting a detailed audit of a taxpayer, it may want to see documents and records retained by the taxpayer. The examiner will ask the taxpayer what type of documents are maintained, a...

Final employer mandate regulations include transition relief for mid-size employers
Mid-size employers may be eligible for recently announced transition relief from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's employer shared responsibility requirements. Final regulations issued ...

Treasury set to develop new retirement savings vehicle: myRAs
In his January 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama instructed the Treasury Department to develop a new savings vehicle called "myRA." The new savings arrangements share many similarities ...

Keeping good records for the upcoming tax-filing season and beyond
Good recordkeeping is essential for individuals and businesses before, during, and after the upcoming tax filing season....

FAQ: What are the tax rates on capital gains and dividends?
Despite the passage of the American Tax Relief Act of 2012 - which its supporters argued would bring greater certainty to tax planning - many taxpayers have questions about the tax rates on qualified ...

FAQ: To what extent are business meals deductible?
A business can deduct only ordinary and necessary expenses. Further, the amount allowable as a deduction for business meal and entertainment expenses, whether incurred in-town or out-of-town is genera...

How do I? Deduct employee compensation given as year-end bonuses
Whether or not the IRS will allow a deduction for year-end bonuses for services performed during that year depends not only on the timing of the payment, but also the events surrounding the payment. I...

Coming soon: greater tax-wise retirement options
Retired employees often start taking benefits by age 65 and, under the minimum distribution rules, must begin taking distributions from their retirement plans when they reach age 70 ½. Accordin...

How do I… Guard against taxpayer identity theft?
The number of tax return-related identity theft incidents has almost doubled in the past three years to well over half a million reported during 2011, according to a recent report by the Treasury Insp...

Sweeping new IRS "repair regulations" impact most businesses
The IRS has released much-anticipated temporary and proposed regulations on the capitalization of costs incurred for tangible property. They impact how virtually any business writes off costs that rep...

The tricky distinction between employees and independent contractors
In light of the IRS’s new Voluntary Worker Classification Settlement Program (VCSP), which it announced this fall, the distinction between independent contractors and employees has become a &ldq...

FAQ: Are Social Security survivor benefits received by children taxable income?
When an individual dies, certain family members may be eligible for Social Security benefits. In certain cases, the recipient of Social Security survivor benefits may incur a tax liability....

Common IRA contribution and distribution mistakes
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) -- both traditional and Roth IRAs -- are among the most popular retirement savings vehicles today. Protecting the value of your IRA (and other retirement accounts...

Newsletters

Welcome and thank you for visiting our Website. In addition to providing you with a profile of our firm and the services we provide, this Website has been designed to become a helpful resource tool to you, our valued clients and visitors. Our dedication to superior client service has brought us to the Internet as we endeavor to continue to provide the highest quality professional service and guidance.

As you browse through our Website, you will see that not only have we highlighted background information on our firm and the services we provide, but have also included useful resources such as informative articles (in our Newsletter section) and interactive financial calculators (in our Financial Tools section). In addition, we have taken the time to gather many links to external Websites that we felt would be of interest to our clients and visitors (in our Internet Links section).

While browsing through our Website, please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you may have - we'd love to hear from you. We pride ourselves on being proactive and responsive to our clients' inquiries and suggestions.