Author Archives: Nick Spoltore, Esq.

Did you know that, as part of the IRS’s new program, whistleblowers may recover 15 to 30 percent of the amount collected (provided the taxes and amounts in dispute exceed $2 million)? The fact is that over the last 10 years, the federal government issued record-breaking awards to whistleblowers to reward those who report misconduct. Several federal agencies […]

Customer feedback drives the customer experience, which is why Surgent conducts annual customer surveys that ask CPAs to provide feedback about their experiences with Surgent CPE, the competition, and the overall market. These insights allow Surgent to make adjustments to their high quality CPE online courses and continue delivering exactly what CPAs need and want. […]

By Nick Spoltore On November 9, 2017, the Senate released its Description of the Chairman’s Mark of the “Tax Cuts & Jobs Act,” detailing many proposed changes to the Code. The following highlights are major points of the proposed legislation. The changes apply to tax years beginning in 2018 unless noted. 2017 Tax Rates – […]

By Nick Spoltore On November 2, 2017, the House released The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It is the most comprehensive tax legislation since 1986. Its intended tax reform may very well affect each American taxpayer. The Senate just announced it will release its own tax reform legislation by the end of this week, so […]

By Rich Daisley, CPA In its recent issuance, ASU No. 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, the FASB both simplified certain elements of hedge accounting under Topic 815 as well as increased the types of effective risk management strategies for which hedge accounting treatment would be applicable. In […]

By Nick Spoltore Early on November 2nd, a press release from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways & Means provided policy highlights of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act. The following are the hot-off-the presses details you and your clients need to know. The tax rates will be 12%, 25%, 35%, and 39.6% – retaining the current […]

By Ilene Eisen, CPA.CITP I have been working with QuickBooks clients for over 20 years and I have seen many changes in both the online and the desktop versions. I am a fan of both versions but when it comes to choosing which is best, it’s important to consider your company’s needs and the way […]

By Mary Trapani Usernames. I can’t sign up for that new, cool service because I cannot come up with even one more username. Passwords. The bane of many an existence. Change it every 30 days and you can’t use the same one as you ever did in the last 40 years. It’s a hassle. As […]

By: Denise Appleby, CISP, CRC, CRPS, CRSP, APA As the deadline for recharacterizing a 2016 Roth IRA conversion approaches, practitioners will likely be consulted about whether individuals should recharacterize their 2016 Roth conversions. In cases where the Roth conversion amount has lost market value, a recharacterization might make good tax sense. In this article, we […]

By Nick Spoltore On September 27, 2017, the Trump Tax Reform Plan (the framework of the “Big Six” group of Congressional and White House tax-reform precepts) was released. In the document, titled “Unified Framework For Fixing Our Broken Tax Code,” President Trump lays out four principles for tax reform at the core of this unified framework: 1. […]