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).
Tanguy Catlin leads McKinsey's North American P&C Insurance Practice.
In addition, he is a leader of McKinsey’s Digital Strategy Practice and Digital Quotient™ (DQ) initiative, and helps companies build out their digital capabilities to deliver rapid results and sustained growth. DQ is an assessment that allows organizations to clearly identify their digital strengths and weaknesses across different parts of the organization, and compare them against hundreds of organizations around the world.
Catlin works with leading global financial service firms on multichannel distribution strategies, digitally enabled business model transformations, large scale marketing and sales programs. He also serves insurance clients more broadly on topics ranging from strategy and organization to operations, technology, claims, and underwriting.
His recent client engagements include assisting a top-ten property-and-casualty and life insurer in building an internal digital agency, helping a US multiline carrier accelerate test-and-learn capabilities and a personalization engine for its online channel, and working with a number of major multiline players to optimize their marketing spending across media, channels, and products.
Catlin frequently contributes to industry publications and has authored several McKinsey white papers on issues confronting the insurance industry.
Catlin is member of the Alumni Board of the MIT Sloan School of Management and a former board member of the Massachusetts chapter of March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies.
David McKeegan, MBA, EA is co-founder of Greenback Expat Tax Services, which specializes in preparing U.S. tax returns for American expats living all over the world. Greenback can be reached at info@GreenbackTaxServices.com and Twitter @GreenbackTax.
Rick Reiman is vice president of employee benefits at MJM Global Insurance Brokerage Group. Rick has more than 15 years of experience in the employee benefits marketplace including specific experience in association, staffing and franchisee plans. He can be contacted at rreiman@mjmglobal.com.
“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.
