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Hopefully, you already have a sound estate plan in place to protect the interests of your heirs and minimize potential estate tax liability. But that doesn’t mean you’re completely in the clear. You can’t just fill out the paperwork, lock up the documents in a file cabinet or store them electronically, and forget about it. Consider your estate plan to be a "work in progress."

On November 17, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a new accounting standard on disclosing certain types of government incentives that businesses receive to set up shop in a locality. The standard comes at a time when investors have been clamoring for more detailed information around incentives businesses get — some to the tune of billions of dollars in tax breaks.

An external audit is less stressful and less intrusive if you anticipate your auditor’s document requests. Auditors typically ask clients to provide similar documents year after year. They’ll accept copies or client-prepared schedules for certain items, such as bank reconciliations and fixed asset ledgers. To verify other items, such as leases, invoices and bank statements, they’ll want to see original source documents.

Don’t let the holiday rush keep you from considering some important steps to reduce your 2021 tax liability. You still have time to execute a few strategies.

Kemper CPA Group LLP has been named to Forbes’ America’s Best Tax and Accounting List for 2022. The list includes firms recommended for both tax and accounting, and Kemper was included in both categories, a distinction only 176 other firms in the country earned.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented stress on private business owners. Some are now considering selling their businesses. Before putting your business on the market, it’s important to prepare it for sale. Here are six steps to consider.

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was a valuable tax credit that helped employers survive the COVID-19 pandemic. A new law has retroactively terminated it before it was scheduled to end. It now only applies through September 30, 2021 (rather than through December 31, 2021) — unless the employer is a "recovery startup business."

For 2022, the federal gift and estate tax exemption has cracked the $12 million mark: $12.06 million to be exact. Arguably more notable, the annual gift tax exemption has increased by $1,000 to $16,000 per recipient ($32,000 for married couples). It’s adjusted only in $1,000 increments, so it typically increases only every few years.

The IRS recently issued its 2022 cost-of-living adjustments for more than 60 tax provisions. With inflation up significantly this year, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many amounts increased considerably over 2021 amounts. As you implement 2021 year-end tax planning strategies, be sure to take these 2022 adjustments into account.

John Perkins, CPA from our Evansville office recently did an interview with WNIN on 2021 tax planning. Check out the video for updates on tax code changes, what moves you need to make before the end of the year, and how those stimulus dollars affect your taxes.

Please join us for a FREE webinar from Kemper CPA Group as we teach you to take a closer look at your current tax strategies to make sure they are still meeting your needs.

The AICPA is asking Congress to direct the IRS to waive payroll tax penalties after the sunset of the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). The ERC was previously available through Jan. 1, 2022. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ends the credit retroactive to Oct. 1. Due to the change, some employers may face penalties because they retained payroll taxes in anticipation of receiving the ERC.