0 DC WITHHOLDING REQUIREMENTS ON RETIREMENT DISTRIBUTIONS REVISED

Brian Wynne, CPA

DC passed emergency legislation last Friday, February 24, 2012, mostly repealing the new-for-2011 withholding requirements on retirement distributions to DC residents.  Previously, DC required top-rate (8.95%) withholding on all retirement distributions to DC residents.  Effective immediately, the withholidng requirement is repealedfor periodic and non-lump-sum retirement plan distributions.  The withholding requirement now only applies to lump-sum distributions, but excludes:
 

(1) any portion of a lump-sum payment that was previously subject to tax;

(2) an eligible rollover distribution that is done […]

February 29, 2012 Accounting, Tax Read more...

Court Holds Audit Reports are Timely, Admissible, and Conclusive of Damages

Posting by Erinn Weeks Waldner

In his October 25, 2011 Decision and Order, Judge Richard M. Berman ordered six alter ego companies to pay Plaintiffs, the trustees and fiduciaries of multiemployer employee benefit plans, nearly $12 million in unpaid contributions and statutorily-mandated remedies pursuant to ERISA Section 502(g)(2), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2).  See Gesualdi v. Juda Constr., Ltd., et al., 10 Civ. 1799 (RMB), 2011 WL 5075438 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 25, 2011) (“Decision”). Friedman & Wolf represented the Plaintiffs in this […]

February 27, 2012 Payroll Audit Read more...

THE 2013 GREEN BOOK RELEASED WITH SOME INTERESTING ESTATE AND GIFT TAX PROVISIONS

Early last week, President Obama released the General Expectations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2013 Revenue Proposals, which outlines potential tax changes and is otherwise known as the ‘Green Book.’  This year many estate and transfer tax provisions were specifically mentioned.  As you may be aware, the current estate tax laws are set to revert back to tax year 2001 rates on December 31, 2012.  Current laws provide an estate tax exemption of $5.12 million and a top tax […]

February 21, 2012 Accounting, Tax, Wealth Management Read more...

That’s a Shareholder Problem!

2Posting by Eric Fletcher, CPA

For most large businesses, the personal financial needs of their shareholders, partners or members are of little concern.  Obviously, there is a market incentive to maximize the value of the company, thus enriching the owners, but the impact that the income or appreciation of the company has on the shareholders does not have to be a principal concern of management.  The exact opposite is true for the family business, where the finances of the company […]

February 21, 2012 Accounting, Family Owned Businesses, Wealth Management Read more...

PAYROLL TAX AGREEMENT REACHED

Brian Wynne, CPA

Congress has come to an agreement on extending the payroll tax cut, and the deal is expected to be approved by the end of this week.  The agreement would leave in place the 2% reduction (from 6.2% to 4.2%) in Social Security tax paid by workers for the remainder of 2012.  It had previously been reduced only for the first two months of 2012.  Social Security tax is paid by US workers on up to $110,100 of […]

February 16, 2012 Accounting, Tax Read more...

Disclosing Your Foreign Assets: Uncle Sam Wants More Information

Posting by Dan Bottner and William Thomas

Picking up right where we left off, remember the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act from 2010.  One of the goals of this Act was to develop a framework for the IRS to ensure disclosure of foreign (or off-shore) assets held by individuals and companies.  Not to mention, off-shore asset disclosure has become a theme within our own blog.

There are many guidelines […]

February 13, 2012 Tax Read more...

2011 Form 5500 Has Been Released

Dave Miller

The Department of Labor (DOL) has released the 2011 Form 5500.  There are only a few changes from last year’s instructions.  These changes mainly add clarifications to the instructions rather than actually changing the Form 5500 or the information requirements.

Expenses.  Further guidance has been provided concerning contributing employers in a multi-employer or multiple-employer plan paying the expenses of the plan.  Whether the expenses are paid directly by the employer, or the employer reimbursed the plan for the expenses, […]

February 10, 2012 Accounting, Audit, Benefit Plan Accounting Read more...

DOL Update: Final Regulation Released for Service Provider Fee Disclosure

David Miller

On February 2, 2012, the Department of Labor (DOL) released the final service provider fee disclosure rule.  Under this new rule, certain service providers of both defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans need to disclose, in writing to plan fiduciaries, comprehensive information concerning fees.  The purpose is to aid plan fiduciaries in better understanding the services and fees of these service providers while also helping identify potential conflicts of interest.  These disclosures must include the following:

All […]

February 9, 2012 Accounting, Benefit Plan Accounting Read more...

Electronic Discovery: Is it Worth the Cost?

Alex Helfand, ENCE, Computer Forensic Specialist

Electronic Discovery (e-discovery) has become a common method of obtaining information for a wide variety of legal investigations.  However, the potential costs of e-discovery are causing many litigants to waive the option of this technology for their cases.

Robert Hilson recently wrote an article for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists that highlights this issue.  He states that attorneys are reverting back to paper discovery as a result of the high costs related to e-discovery.  […]

February 8, 2012 Accounting, Audit Read more...

Form 8955-SSA Update: Participant Statements

David Miller

New reporting requirements for IRS Form 8955-SSA are now in place for employee benefit plans. While December 31 year-end plan filings for the 2009 and 2010 plan years were due on January 17, 2012, there is still time to submit non-December 31 year-end plan filings, which are due when filing the 2010 Form 5500, including extensions.

The IRS recently released Announcement 2011-21 with additional clarifications about these Form changes. Here is an overview of the new reporting requirements:

Background
In 2011, […]

February 8, 2012 Accounting, Benefit Plan Accounting Read more...