The penalty for underpaying your taxes is about to sting a bit more than in the past.

The IRS announced last week that the interest rates it charges for underpayments will rise for the last quarter of 2022 — Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

The rates the agency pays for overpayments also will rise. (Yes, if you pay more in federal income taxes than you owed, the government owes you interest on the excess.)

For the first time in 44 years, Pennsylvania has updated the rules affecting tipped workers and salaried workers who have fluctuating work-week schedules. These changes went into effect on Aug. 5, 2022, and a summary of these regulations can be found below.

Summertime is the perfect time for a mid-year tax checkup. A tax checkup will help you avoid being surprised with a potentially large tax bill and may help uncover ways you can save throughout the rest of the year. Keep in mind that big tax breaks were enacted for the 2021 tax year, but most of those tax law changes expired at the end of 2021. As a result, the child tax credit and credit for other dependents, child and dependent care credit, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and other popular tax breaks are different for the 2022 tax year than 2021.

As the new school year begins, the Internal Revenue Service reminds teachers and other educators that they'll be able to deduct up to $300 of out-of-pocket classroom expenses for 2022 when they file their federal income tax return next year.

President Joe Biden signed two bills on Friday, August 5th, 2022, that give the federal government more time to catch and prosecute fraud related to two of the most popular COVID-19 small business relief programs — the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

Oftentimes, businesses do not have the ability to hire a team of experts in their accounting department. Many company owners attempt to manage the company books themselves, but this could easily lead to inaccuracies and issues somewhere down the road.

The Senate passed the climate and tax legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 on Sunday. The bill includes an investment of about $370 billion to combat climate change and several major tax provisions, the Washington Post reported.

The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act (CHIPS Act) was recently passed by Congress as part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. President Biden is expected to sign it into law shortly. Among other things, the $52 billion package provides generous tax incentives to increase domestic production of semiconductors, also known as chips. While the incentives themselves are narrowly targeted, the expansion of semiconductor production should benefit a wide range of industries.

The updated lease accounting standard is currently in effect for private companies. After several postponements during the pandemic, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) voted unanimously to move forward with the changes. That means private companies and private not-for-profit entities that follow U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) must adopt the new standard for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022. Surprisingly, some organizations still haven’t completed the implementation process, however. (Note: The updated accounting rules for long-term leases took effect for public companies in 2019.)