April 28, 2022

Membership in the Nebraska Society of CPAs signifies your commitment to the accounting profession and the belief that much can be accomplished by working together. Welcome to the premier organization for CPAs and accounting professionals in Nebraska.

The Society has made donations to The Foundation of the Nebraska Society of Certified Public Accountants in remembrance of Bob, Tom, and John.

The late 1950s were a turning point for the Nebraska Society of CPAs. In 1957, the Nebraska Legislature passed the Nebraska Public Accountancy Act and, in 1958, the Society brought on its first part-time staff person, Arnold Magnuson.

For the past few years, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) have collaborated with stakeholders to reimagine CPA licensure through the joint CPA Evolution1 initiative, an effort to transform the CPA licensure model. The organizations have now reached the critical implementation phase of this initiative, which addresses the rapidly changing skills and competencies required of a 21st century CPA.

Congratulations to the following 34 individuals for passing all four sections of the CPA exam on their first attempt, with their final section passed in 2021. The top two CPA exam scorers in Nebraska last year were Colin Fitzgerald, with a 96.75 average score, and Matthew Fredricks, with a 94.75 average score—both graduates of Creighton University in Omaha. One individual, James Kasun, a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, passed all four sections of the exam on the first try in four consecutive days! The Society commends each and every one of these individuals on a job well done.

Many new business owners are excited by the flow-through treatment of income and loss as well as the self-employment tax savings that can be available to entities that elect to be taxed under Subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Such savings, which stem from the bifurcation of salary versus distributions, can be reason enough to make such an election, from an economic perspective.

Paul H. Koehler and his wife Mary Ann recently endowed Concordia University’s business department with a gift of $2.5 million, the largest endowment gift in the history of the university. In appreciation and recognition of their support, the department is being named the Paul H. and Mary Ann Koehler Department of Business. The Koehlers were

Nebraska companies and individuals must confront a number of tax defense issues with the Nebraska Department of Revenue.

In most cases, estate plan documents (e.g., wills, trusts, and powers of attorneys) are prepared and executed under inconspicuous circumstances. Sometimes the circumstances under which these types of documents are executed beg questions about their validity, and legal disputes can arise. The most common bases on which to challenge the validity of estate plan documents include (i) “undue influence” of the person executing the documents by a third party, (ii) a lack of capacity to execute such documents, and (iii) fraud. In any event, challenging the validity of estate plan documents requires an in-depth and fact-specific analysis.