February 25, 2021

Michael Arens has been promoted to partner at HBE LLC. He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Upon completion of his master’s degree in 2011, he worked for a public accounting firm in Kearney before joining HBE in 2014. Arens currently leads the firm’s Agribusiness Industry Specialty Team. He also serves on […]

In mid-January, AICPA Vice Chairman Bill Pirolli with DiSanto, Priest & Co. in Wakefield, RI, along with AICPA President & CEO Barry Melancon met virtually with Nebraska Society of CPAs Chairman Ryan Burger of Gabriel, Burger & Else, CPA, PC in Seward; Society Chairman-Elect Erica Parks of BKD LLC in Omaha; and Society President Joni

As with all tax matters, state and local taxes offer the opportunity to choose to plan ahead, or to choose to not plan ahead. Planning ahead usually results in the better outcome. In either situation, all taxpayers are subject to being audited. All audits are either resolved at the audit level or resolved on appeal.

1. GET IN THE RIGHT MINDSET.
The purpose of your check-in isn’t for you, it’s for the employee. Your goal is to reinforce to the employee (through both your investment of time and attention) that you care about them and are there to support them. Channel your energy into being empathetic. Try to really understand your employee’s circumstances so you can best help them succeed.

1. Economic impact payments. Round one and round two of economic impact payments (EIP) are reconciled on the 2020 tax return. The EIPs were an advance. If the client received less than he or she should have, that individual will be able to claim an additional EIP credit on his or her 2020 return. Clients who received too much of an advanced rebate because the payment was based on their 2019 (or 2018 for the first-round payments if the 2019 return was not yet filed) income do not need to repay the excess when they file their 2020 tax return.

On December 27, 2020, a year-end legislative package containing $900 billion in coronavirus pandemic relief was signed into law. Among other things, the relief bill allows businesses to deduct expenses paid for with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, extends and expands the employee retention credit (ERC), extends the payroll tax credits for paid and sick leave included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), and makes business meals fully deductible for 2021 and 2022. The coronavirus relief bill extends and modifies several provisions first enacted in the CARES Act, which was passed in March 2020. The package extends relief through mid-March 2021.

Back in 2003 when I first went on the Nebraska Board of Public Accountancy (State Board), the CPA exam was a paper exam. It wasn’t until the second quarter of 2004 that the first computer-based test was launched.

The Society Executive Committee and Board of Directors held their first meetings of 2021 via Zoom on January 5, with Chairman Ryan Burger of Gabriel, Burger & Else, CPA, PC in Seward presiding.

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