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).
Rod Simmons is vice president of product strategy for active directory at Stealthbits Technologies.
Grant Easterbrook is co-founder of Dream Forward.
Merritt Maxim is a principal analyst at Forrester Research. He contributes to Forrester's offerings for security and risk professionals. Merritt covers identity management and access management, including user provisioning, access governance, customer identity and access management (CIAM), identity-as-a-service (IDaaS), single sign-on (SSO), user directory infrastructure, and internet-of-things (IoT) security. His research builds on his 20 years of experience helping security leaders at global enterprises derive optimal business value from their identity and access management initiatives for employees, partners, and customers.
Merritt has spoken at industry events such as the RSA Conference and Cloud Identity Summit on identity-related topics. He also coauthored the book Wireless Security.
Previous Work Experience
Prior to joining Forrester, Merritt managed product marketing for identity management and access governance at CA Technologies, where he was involved in global go-to-market strategies, product positioning and strategy, competitive analysis, and sales enablement. Previously, Merritt held product management and product marketing roles at Security Dynamics, RSA Security, Netegrity, Nuance, and OpenPages.
Education
Merritt holds a B.A. (cum laude, with high honors) in history from Colgate University and an M.B.A. degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
“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.
