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).
Rama Sreenivasan is co-founder and CEO of Blitzz, a live, app-free remote video support and inspection platform. Sreenivasan has led the company through its initial inception, launch, and subsequent growth to several million video support minutes per month. Major customers include BMW, Sealy, Fedex, and Rogers telecommunications.
Before founding Blitzz in 2017, Rama spent several years working as a scientist and educator. His biggest joy comes from helping others solve their problems and he is passionate about finding effective ways to disseminate knowledge. Sreenivasan has a PhD and MS in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. He also did his post doctoral research at MIT in Cambridge, Boston.
Steve is a partner in PwC's Risk Modeling Services practice. He leads PwC's US Climate Risk Modeling team and has more than 24 years of experience in actuarial risk and financial modeling. Steve's team is comprised of actuaries, financial analysts, PhD climate scientists, data scientists, geospatial engineers, and other climate risk specialists. His approach blends climate science with geospatial analysis and financial modeling to help clients identify, measure, and manage climate risk exposure. Projects include climate change risk assessments and quantification for both physical and transition risk, emissions optimization, and other financial and risk modeling projects. Steve has a degree in Mathematics from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst.
Osho Jha is a co-founder of Arbol currently serving as its Chief Data Scientist. He is also a founding partner of dClimate, the first decentralized climate information ecosystem. As Chief Data Scientist at Arbol, he oversees the development of data-driven parametric products and climate risk solutions. Osho comes to Arbol with over a decade of experience as a product-focused data scientist. His experience ranges from cutting edge NLP research for DARPA resulting in a speech-to-speech translation system deployed by the U.S. military to using exhaust data for trading global equities.
“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.
