Stay on top of your accountancy game in minutes....

The IRS has unveiled two new tools to help families monitor and manage the expanded Child Tax Credit. The first, called the Child Tax Credit Eligibility Assistant, will help families see if they are eligible for the advanced credit, which offers parents a $3,000 credit for every child age six to 17, and $3,600 for every child under age six (up from $2,000 per dependent child up to age 16). The second new tool, the Child Tax Credit Update Portal, allows taxpayers to verify their eligibility for the payments and to unenroll or opt out of receiving the monthly payments. “The Update Portal is a key piece among the three new tools now available on IRS.gov to help families understand, register for and monitor these payments,” said IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. The Update Portal, which is password protected, will also have additional features in the future. “Future versions of the tool planned in the summer and fall will allow people to view their payment history, adjust bank account information or mailing addresses and other features,” the IRS said.

 

CNBC

Forbes

NJ.com

Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed key pieces of a tax swap plan to disentangle Louisiana's income tax collections from federal tax payments, although it still needs voter approval this fall to take effect. The proposal on the October ballot would get rid of personal income tax and corporate tax deductions for federal income taxes paid in exchange for lowering the state’s income tax rates. Louisiana also would permanently eliminate the corporate franchise tax for small businesses and lower the tax rate for others. Louisiana allows taxpayers to deduct the federal income taxes they pay from the computation of state income taxes. When federal income taxes go up, Louisiana collects less in state taxes. When federal income taxes go down, state tax collections rise. The legislation would undo that link, a long-sought goal of tax experts, economists and others.

 

US News and World Report

The IRS has posted new procedures to explain how a change in tax law last year potentially affects the depreciation of residential rental property. The guidance explains how a business can change its method of computing depreciation to comply with the 2020 change in law to retroactively provide a 30-year recovery period under the alternative depreciation system for certain kinds of residential rental property placed in service before 2018 and held by an electing real property trade or business. 

 

Accounting Today

Second-hand apparel is gaining increasing popularity among shoppers according to a new survey from retail consultancy GlobalData commissioned by online resale site ThredUp - and 44% of the 3,500 people questioned think the US government should offer tax breaks to brands or shoppers who buy second-hand clothing. The report’s findings reflect shoppers’ engagement with social issues, from racial equity to climate change, and desire to see politicians and corporations get engaged. ThredUp President Anthony Marino said initiatives like plastic bag fees and tax credits for electric vehicles have paved the way for the apparel industry to become the next frontier. He added that the pandemic has raised consumers’ awareness about their own environmental impact and desire to reduce waste. Over the past year, he explained, people have been stuck at home and noticed the huge amount of clothes, shoes and other items piling up or getting squeezed into drawers, inspiring them to start selling gently-used items or to become more intentional about what they buy, he said.

 

CNBC

Deloitte US has acquired Terbium Labs, a Baltimore-based firm that delivers solutions and services in digital risk protection. Founded in 2013, Terbium Labs helps companies track their digital footprint across the open, deep, and dark web – as well as mobile apps and social media – in order to identify and neutralize fraudulent activity. The firm’s Matchlight platform monitors for account takeover and spoofed accounts on social media; data loss on the web; counterfeit domains and brand impersonations on mobile apps; and exfiltrated employee personal information. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

 

Consulting.us

U.S. home prices in May experienced their biggest annual increase in more than two decades, as a shortage of properties and low borrowing rates fueled demand. The National Association of Retailers said yesterday that the median existing-home sales price hit $350,300, a 23.6% annual increase.  Existing-home sales fell 0.9% from April to a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of 5.8m units. Sales declined in every geographical area except in the Midwest, where home prices are lowest; down 4.1% in the West, 0.4% in the South, and 1.4% in Northeast. Total housing inventory at the end of May was 1.23m units, 7% from April, 20.6% below the 1.55m homes available a year ago. Unsold inventory ticked up to 2.5 months, but remained far below the 4.6-month supply that was seen in May 2020.

 

CNBC

Fox Business

Wall Street Journal

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is to review Amazon's proposed acquisition of film studio MGM, the Wall Street Journal reports. The FTC pushed for jurisdiction over the merger review because it already has an open, wide-ranging antitrust investigation into Amazon’s business practices. Although MGM is one of the smaller Hollywood studios, Amazon's purchase of the firm could raise concerns about the expansion of the online retailer’s platform, which some critics already believe is too powerful.

 

Wall Street Journal

U.S. oil and gas companies, along with their investors, may be facing the risk of significant stranded assets because they aren’t doing enough to reflect the impacts of the climate crisis in their financial reports, according to a study from sustainability nonprofit Ceres. The report includes details on investor expectations on reporting in line with the goals of Climate Action 100+, an investor initiative on climate change. It discusses the steps that companies and their boards, audit committees and auditors can take to align financial reporting with the Paris Agreement goal to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius while staying consistent with the U.S. GAAP rules.

 

Accounting Today

The European Union has opened a formal antitrust investigation into allegations that Google abuses its leading role in the advertising-technology sector. The European Commission will examine a broad array of allegedly anticompetitive business practices around the firm's brokering of advertisements and sharing of user data with advertisers across websites and mobile apps. “Online advertising services are at the heart of how Google and publishers monetize their online services,” said Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief. “We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack.” A Google spokeswoman said European businesses choose to use Google’s advertising tools “because they’re competitive and effective,” adding that the company “will continue to engage constructively with the European Commission to answer their questions.”

 

CNBC	Wall Street Journal