President Biden has released his proposed budget for the federal government for the 2024 fiscal year. The budget, which aims to cut the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over 10 years, includes numerous provisions that would affect the tax bills of both individuals and businesses. While most of these proposals stand little chance of enactment with a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, they shed light on the Democrats’ priorities as they prepare for the 2024 election season.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently weighed in on an issue regarding a provision of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) that has split two federal courts of appeal. Its 5-4 ruling in Bittner v. U.S. is welcome news for U.S. residents who “non-willfully” violate the law’s requirements for the reporting of certain foreign bank and financial accounts on what’s generally known as an FBAR. The full name of an FBAR is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.

According to various sources, around 10% of all insurance claims involve fraud. Insurance companies generally pass along the cost of these fraud losses to policyholders in the form of higher premiums. Unfortunately, small businesses, which are generally less able to pay premium hikes, are particularly vulnerable to insurance fraud. To protect your company from losses and minimize the likelihood of increased premiums, learn how to identify insurance fraud.

An array of tax-related limits that affect businesses are indexed annually, and due to high inflation, many have increased more than usual for 2023. Here are some that may be important to you and your business.

We must receive all necessary documentation to prepare your return by April 1, 2023. If a client has not provided their 2022 tax information by April 1, 2023, we make no guarantee that the return will be filed by the April 18, 2023, deadline. If a client's return is not filed by April 1, 2023, we will place them on an automatic extension.

IRS Schedules K-2 and K-3, new for 2021, may need to be completed to include items of international tax relevance from the operations of a pass-through entity.

On December 23, 2022, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. The sprawling year-end spending "omnibus" package includes two important new laws that could affect your financial planning: the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) 2.0 Act (also known as SECURE 2.0) and the Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act.

Although the national price of gas is a bit lower than it was a year ago, the optional standard mileage rate used to calculate the deductible cost of operating an automobile for business will be going up in 2023. The IRS recently announced that the 2023 cents-per-mile rate for the business use of a car, van, pickup or panel truck is 65.5 cents. These rates apply to electric and hybrid-electric automobiles and gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.

In 2022, inflation took its toll on the American economy, generally, and the stock market, in particular. However, the increased cost of living has also increased various estate and gift tax measures. The exclusion will be $17,000 per recipient for 2023—the highest exclusion amount ever. Further, the annual amount that one may give to a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen will increase to $175,000 in 2023.