Tax

Victory? Delaware Suggests an End to Contingency Compensation for Unclaimed Property Contract Auditors

By Stephen P. Kranz, Diann Smith & Joe Bishop-Henchman

January 17, 2020

For years, Delaware has used contract audit firms to enforce their unclaimed property laws and paid them based, at least partially, on the amount recovered. Motivated by this financial reward and empowered as an agent of the state, the contract-auditing firms with the State’s complicity harass holders, inflate liabilities by deploying aggressive estimation techniques and engage in other questionable practices to maximize their bounty. Maybe not anymore. In a federal court filing on January 10,…

Inside SALT

Vermont Bill Would Repeal Cloud Software Tax Exemption

By Stephen P. Kranz, Joe Bishop-Henchman & Eric Carstens

January 17, 2020

On January 16, a bill (H. 756) was introduced in the Vermont Assembly that would repeal the sales and use tax exemption for remotely accessed prewritten computer software. If enacted as introduced, the exemption would no longer protect Vermont taxpayers from this legally suspect tax beginning July 1, 2020. This is not the first time the Vermont Legislature has considered the issue of taxing cloud software. After the Department of Taxes administratively issued guidance interpreting…

Tax Talks

Simplification of UK Partnership Tax Reporting for Investment Fund Partnerships

By Stephen Pevsner & Katerina Heal

January 17, 2020

In the Finance Act 2018, the UK Government enacted a number of changes to the information required in partnership returns that raised the concern of undue and impracticable administrative burden being imposed on UK investment fund partnerships. The changes covered a number of areas, including requiring a UK partnership that had partnerships amongst its partners and could not identify all of its “indirect partners” to provide computation statements on four bases covering UK resident individuals…

Take Stock: Federal Policy Watch

Next Week in Congress

By Michael Drobac, Amanda Armistead, Greg Guice, Greg Walden, Nicole Cohen & Taylor Gayton

January 17, 2020

Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 5: Competitors in the Digital Economy On Friday, the House Antitrust Subcommittee will hold a field hearing at the University of Colorado, Boulder Law School. The hearing is titled “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 5: Competitors in the Digital Economy” and will include testimony from the CEOs of Sonos, Popsocket, and Basecamp, as well as the Vice President and General Counsel of Tile. The House will be in…

Zalma on Insurance

Change of Insurer When Policy Renewal is Identical No Need to Resign Agreement to Lower Available UM/UIM Coverage

By Barry Zalma

January 17, 2020

It is Difficult to Understand Why Anyone Would buy More Coverage than Others than for Themselves Most states, like South Carolina, require that insurers issue UM/UIM coverage with the same limits as liability coverages unless the insured asks for lower limits. Many reduce limits on UM/UIM to save a few dollars in premium. After an accident with an underinsured or uninsured motorist the insured reconsiders the decision to reduce UM/UIM limits. Unfortunately, wisdom coming after…

The CPA Desk

BioHouston Honoring Women at 11th Annual WISE Luncheon

By PKF Texas

January 17, 2020

BioHouston will be honoring women in the community at their 11th annual WISE luncheon at River Oaks Country Club on Friday, January 24, 2020. These are the women being honored at the luncheon: Caroline Masiello, Ph.D., Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Chemistry, and Biosciences, Rice University Cliona Rooney, Ph.D., Thomas J. Rosenbalm, M.D. Presidential Endowed Chair, Departments of Molecular Virology & Microbiology and Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., Professor,…

Zalma on Insurance

New Today – The Second Edition of The Insurance Examination Under Oath

By Barry Zalma

January 17, 2020

A Tool Available to Insurers to Thoroughly Investigate Claims and Work to Defeat Fraud Published today at Amazon.com is the Second Edition of “The Insurance Examination Under Oath” as either a Kindle book or a paperback. Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 The EUO As A Tool 24 Chapter 2 The EUO Is A Duty Owed By The Insured To The Insurer. Chapter 3 Reasonableness Of The EUO Requirement Chapter 4 A False Statement At …

Nonprofit Law Blog

Nonprofit Tweets of the Week – 1/17/20

By NEO Law Group

January 17, 2020

Stay informed of the week’s notable events and shared resources with this curated list of Nonprofit Tweets of the Week. Notable Events of the Week: “The third impeachment trial in U.S. history officially began Thursday amid a swirl of new allegations about President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, which several Republicans rushed to downplay as they dismissed Democrats’ calls for further investigation. Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, has…

U.S. Income Tax for Expatriates, Nonresidents & U.S. International Tax Matters

IRS STREAMLINED PROGRAM- CATCH UP FILING YOUR RETURNS AND AVOID MOST PENALTIES

By Emily MacLoud

January 16, 2020

Purpose of the streamlined procedures The streamlined filing compliance procedures describe below are available to taxpayers certifying that their failure to report foreign financial assets and pay all tax due in respect of those assets did not result from willful conduct on their part. The streamlined procedures are designed to provide to taxpayers in such situations with a streamlined procedure for fling amended or delinquent returns, and terms for resolving their tax and penalty procedure for filing…

Take Stock: Federal Policy Watch

Congress: Week in Review | Jan. 16, 2020

By Michael Drobac, Amanda Armistead, Nicole Cohen, Greg Guice, Greg Walden & Taylor Gayton

January 16, 2020

FEMA Administrator Confirmed The Senate confirmed Peter Gaynor on Tuesday to be Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Gaynor previously served as the Director of Rhode Island’s Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) and advised Governor Gina Raimondo on emergency management and response. USMCA Passes Senate The Senate passed the United States-Canada-Mexico trade agreement (USMCA) this morning 89-10. Earlier in the day, it made its way through committees of jurisdiction. On the Senate Commerce Committee,…

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