Accounting firms Crowe LLP and BKD LLP released year-end tax-planning guides Wednesday, during a time of great uncertainty over future tax changes in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the upcoming election.
Crowe’s Tax Planning: 2020 Year-End Guide discusses a number of issues, including recent legislation passed in Congress in response to COVID-19, such as the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
Tom Wamberg is CEO of Wamberg Genomic Advisors, a company dedicated to making genomic-based programs and services, not typically covered by health insurance.
Amanda Mich is a senior recruiter at UHY Advisors, Inc., and has been supporting the firm for the past six years. As an internal UHY recruiter, Amanda fills tax, audit, assurance, advisory, HR, IT, administrative and marketing positions for all of the offices across the country. This includes sourcing, screening, assessments and interviewing.
Paul Daley joined as Managing Director of BondWave’s Information Lab after serving as head of execution and account management for SunGard’s Fox River Execution where he was responsible for overseeing trading activities in the US, Canada and Japan. In addition to managing the firm’s strategic relationships, Mr. Daley published papers on high-frequency trading, spread time series studies, liquidity modeling, dark pool trading and the nickel spread pilot program. He was also responsible for designing new algorithmic trading strategies and trading suites. Prior to joining Fox River, Mr. Daley was head of quantitative trading at UBS O’Connor, a multi-strategy hedge fund. He was also head of derivative and portfolio trading sales at Merrill Lynch and served as the global head of equity indexing at ABN Investment Management (now a part of Northern Trust Global Advisors). Mr. Daley graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and received his MBA from the University of Chicago with a concentration in Finance.
“Navigating the current landscape can be tricky and confusing,” said Gary Fox, managing partner of tax services at Crowe, in a statement. “It is important to stay on top of all the fast-moving law changes of the past six months and to remain prepared for the possible changes in the near future.”
Other topics include standard deductions vs. itemizing, state and local tax deductions, home-related breaks and tax-advantaged saving for health care. The guide also covers family-oriented tax breaks such as child, dependent and adoption credits, dependent care breaks, the “kiddie tax,” Section 529 plans, education savings accounts and Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts.
The Crowe guide also covers investor issues, such as capital gains taxes and timing, being tax-smart with losses, mutual funds, income investments and 3.8 percent net investment income tax. Business-related tax topics include business structure, Section 199A deductions for pass-through businesses, projecting income, depreciation, vehicle-related depreciation, meals, entertainment and transportation, employee benefits, tax credits and the self-employed.
Retirement tax topics include 401(k)s and other employer plans, more tax-deferred options, Roth alternatives, early withdrawals, required minimum distributions, IRA donations to charity and the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act).
Estate-planning topics in the guide include estate taxes, gift taxes, the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax, state taxes, exemption portability and tax-smart giving.
The Crowe guide also covers income tax rates for individuals, corporations and estates and trusts.
The BKD Year-End Tax Advisor aims to help businesses and individuals with their year-end planning decisions and the development of an effective tax strategy, given the recent changes in requirements, updated regulations and new tax laws this year.
“2020 has been a year like no other, with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting each of our lives, businesses and communities in ways many of us have never experienced,” said BKD director of tax quality control Jesse Palmer in a statement. “Solid tax planning is probably more important than it’s ever been before as you work to create a healthy financial future for yourself and your business.”
The BKD Year-End Tax Advisor includes reminders for the year ahead. More than a dozen contributors have written 18 articles for the guide, including discussions of how COVID-19 has affected various industries, charitable giving and information-reporting reminders.
