Hanging onto old tax records can save you time and energy if you’re ever audited or need to file an amended return. Past years’ tax returns can also help you document your income when you apply for a loan, like a mortgage. In this article, we’ll cover how long to keep tax returns and how to organize your records in case you need them later on.

In 2021, amid the ongoing pandemic and “Great Resignation,” Americans filed a record 5.4 million applications for new businesses, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

In late January, a survey entitled “Audit Committee Practices Report: Common Threads Across Audit Committees” was published by Deloitte and the Center for Audit Quality, an affiliate of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The survey analyzed 246 responses, including 86% of respondents who served on audit committees of public companies. Here are some key findings from that survey.

Succession is inevitable in a business. When it comes to thinking about retiring or transferring ownership, it is essential to understand common issues related to the process. When a closely-held business owner is asked about their succession plan, it is often a topic that receives little thought due to the amount of time consumed with day-to-day operations. Every business owner has an emotional and financial investment in their company and often relies on the proceeds from their investment to fund retirement. The earlier an owner can design a succession plan in their career, the smoother it will make the transition and maximize the financial rewards.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) did not meet the 90-day statutory requirement to remit Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgiveness payments to lenders for loans totaling $66.4 billion, according to a report released Monday by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

The IRS has announced additional relief for pass-through entities required to file two new tax forms — Schedules K-2 and K-3 — for the 2021 tax year. Certain domestic partnerships and S corporations won’t be required to file the schedules, which are intended to make it easier for partners and shareholders to find information related to “items of international tax relevance” that they need to file their own returns.

The credit for increasing research activities, often referred to as the research and development (R&D) credit, is a valuable tax break available to eligible businesses. Claiming the credit involves complex calculations, which we can take care of for you. But in addition to the credit itself, be aware that the credit also has two features that are especially favorable to small businesses:

Initially, the employee retention credit (ERC), enacted by the CARES Act, was not available to paycheck protection program (PPP) borrowers. The passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, on December 27, 2020, changed that and allowed PPP borrowers to claim the credit after all. This modification to the law allowed PPP borrowers to qualify for the ERC for 2020 retroactively by filing amended employment tax returns (on Forms 941-X) for the applicable quarters in 2020.

If your company generally benefits from research and development (R&D) expenditures, prepare for a change. Starting this year, R&D costs can no longer be expensed immediately but must be capitalized and amortized over at least five years, due to major tax legislation enacted in 2017. The impact will include higher immediate tax liability for companies with R&D expenditures.