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The IRS has warned taxpayers about the new $600 threshold for receiving Form 1099-K for third-party payments. Before 2022, the federal Form 1099-K reporting threshold was for taxpayers with more than 200 transactions worth an aggregate above $20,000. However, Congress reduced the limit as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and a single transaction over $600 may now trigger the form. The change applies to payments from third-party networks, such as Venmo or PayPal, for transactions such as part-time work, side jobs or selling goods. “It’s going to be a new form for a lot of people,” said Adam Markowitz, vice president at Howard L Markowitz PA, CPA.

 

CNBC

For the last five years, businesses have been able to use bonus depreciation to expense 100% of qualified property, including big-ticket purchases such as business aircraft. But from the start of the new year, bonus depreciation will begin to phase out, at first being reduced to 80% and then dropping by 20% every year until it reaches zero. Since the pandemic, many business owners have purchased private business aircraft to supplement their business travel needs. Business owners who are considering the purchase of a business aircraft are being advised that now is an opportune time to take advantage of bonus depreciation to expense up to 100% of the cost.

 

CPA Practice Advisor

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Accounting practice management software should bring together all of your practice’s mission-critical functions in one place. But it is important to evaluate what you need, and just as important, what you don't need in the software in order for your firm to be streamlined and successful. Download the ebook and make sure your firm's tech is setup for success.

 

The merger between Elliott Davis and Whitley Penn, which was supposed to close on November 1st, has been called off. The collapse of the deal was first reported by Going Concern, which had received an anonymous tip that the two firms had canceled the merger. Exactly why the deal didn’t happen has not been revealed or confirmed, but an employee of one of the firms told Going Concern anonymously the reason was because “the cultures didn’t match.” The two top 50 accounting firms announced their plans to combine on June 13th, and the Elliott Penn entity was expected to become one of the top 25 largest in the U.S. by revenue.

 

CPA Practice Advisor

Going Concern

Canada's MNP has acquired Malenfant Dallaire S.E.N.C.R.L., a Quebec City-based accountancy. Founded in 1982, Malenfant Dallaire provides a range of assurance, tax, and business advisory services to mid-market companies, non-profits, and government organizations. “MNP complements and enhances our current service offerings for our business community and brings greater bench strength that we believe will help us provide even greater value to our clients,” said Malenfant Dallaire partner Paul Bolduc, who will join MNP as a regional managing partner. MNP was founded in 1958 and is the largest mid-market accounting and consulting firm in the country – beating out BDO and Grant Thornton. The firm has more than 7,000 people across 125+ locations in Canada.

 

Consulting

Sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in October, largely driven by an increase in the South and likely representing a pause in an otherwise weak housing market. Purchases of new single-family homes increased 7.5% to an annualized 632,000 pace last month after falling in September, according to the Commerce Department. September's sales pace was revised down to 588,000 units from the previously reported 603,000 units. Sales surged 45.7% in the Northeast and accelerated 16.0% in the densely populated South. But they tumbled 34.2% in the Midwest and fell 0.8% in the West. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales, which account for about 10% of U.S. home sales, would decline to a rate of 570,000 units in October. The median new house price in October was $493,000, a 15.4% increase from a year ago. 

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Prager Metis, an accounting firm that touts itself as the first to open its headquarters in the metaverse, has been accused in a lawsuit of turning a blind eye to a pattern of racketeering at FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed causing billions of dollars in losses. Investor Stephen Pierce is suing the firm, and claims to have lost almost $20,000. He is also taking action against Armanino, an auditor for FTX US, FTX's co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and others, accusing all of them of a racketeering conspiracy. Armanino and Prager Metis issued certified audit reports giving FTX US and FTX clean bills of health in March, according to the lawsuit. Mr. Pierce is seeking unspecified damages in the proposed class-action lawsuit, filed in San Francisco federal court.

 

Accounting Today

The Wall Street Journal reports on how the spectacular collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX has affected the Bahamas, which has in recent years encouraged crypto companies to set up shop. FTX planned on building its new headquarters in the island nation’s capital Nassau, but the company’s failure means some Bahamians are now questioning the role of the crypto sector in their country’s economy, and how it has shaped their country’s reputation. The Bahamas prime minister, Philip Davis, has previously made a commitment to crypto. In a speech to parliament, he described the collapse of FTX as just one example of broader problems in the tech industry and not an indictment of local regulatory oversight, adding that his government would investigate FTX thoroughly. The Journal has reported that many of the young foreigners employed by FTX who had spent big on the island left quickly after the company’s implosion. “In the eyes of many people, we’re a joke,” Pamela Musgrove, a Bahamas-based financial-services executive, said on a Nassau radio show recently.

 

Wall Street Journal

A North Carolina insurance agent and two St. Louis tax attorneys have been indicted on charges related to a $200m insurance scam and the operation of a fraudulent tax shelter that caused a tax loss to the IRS of tens of millions of dollars, reports Insurance Business. David Shane Simmons, a North Carolina insurance broker, and attorneys Michael Elliott Kohn and Catherine Elizabeth Chollet, have been charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and helping clients file false tax returns, according to the Department of Justice.

 

Insurance Business

Businesses hope to reduce turnover among their cyber employees by encouraging volunteer work. Unpaid work at nonprofits speaks to a sense of mission that is core to cyber professionals, corporate managers say. For example, Janet Roberts, global head of security awareness and training at Zurich Insurance Group, is one of around 10 employees at the insurer who started volunteering for the CyberPeace Institute, a Geneva-based group that helps nonprofits, humanitarian and healthcare organizations address cybersecurity. “Most of the people I work with in cybersecurity very much like stopping criminals [and] protecting employees,” she says.

 

Wall Street Journal