	2011 Accounting Year in Review - February 2012 2011 was another busy year in accounting circles. While the number of standards finalized in 2011 was significantly less than 2010, the FASB continued to busy itself in convergence projects with the IASB. [...] Read More
	2013 Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Qualified Retirement Plans - November 2012 The Internal Revenue Service announced cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for pension plans and other items for tax year 2013. In general, since the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds, many of the [...] Read More
	Applications Now Being Accepted for 2012 Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program - August 2012 The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center ("Center") recently announced that applications are now being accepted for the 2012 Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program ("Program"). The Program offers tax incentives to [...] Read More
	California Court Rules on Deferral of Gain from Sale of Qualified Small Business Stock - September 2012 In a case of first impression, a California Court of Appeal held that California’s personal income tax deferral of capital gain from the sale of qualified small business stock violated the dormant Commerce Clause because [...] Read More
	California: The Gillette Decision - November 2012 The California Court of Appeals decision in Gillette held that California’s adoption of the Multistate Tax Compact (Compact) entitled taxpayers to elect to apportion income based on an equally weighted, three-factor [...] Read More
	Cost Segregation Study Results Challenged When Subject To a Purchase Price Agreement Allocation - March 2012 In a recent Tax Court Memorandum decision, the Tax Court ruled that, where an allocation of consideration or fair value to assets is in writing, the agreement is binding for all federal tax purposes and may not be altered [...] Read More
	Temporary Regulations Regarding Deduction and Capitalization of Expenditures Related to Tangible Property - January 2012 The temporary regulations provide guidance to taxpayers on costs paid to acquire, produce, or improve tangible property. Read More
	Deferred Compensation Amendments for 409A Compliance Due Dec. 31 - December 2012 Previously issued IRS Notice 2010-80 expanded and clarified relief made available under prior guidance, including IRS Notices 2010-6 and 2008-113, for certain deferred compensation arrangements under 409A. [...] Read More
	Delaware Proposes New VDA Program - July 2012 On June 28, 2012, the Delaware House passed SB 258 creating a new and alternative unclaimed property Voluntary Disclosure Agreement Program (VDA) as an incentive for holders of unclaimed property to report in exchange for a shortened look-back period. [...] Read More
	Distributions to S Corp Shareholder Recharacterized as Wages Subject to Payroll Taxes - August 2012 Unreasonably low salaries paid by S corporations to shareholder-employees invite IRS audits, FICA tax assessments, interest and penalties. A recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit adds to the overwhelming [...] Read More
	Effective Date of Tangible Property Regulations Delayed to 2014 - December 2012 On November 20, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2012-73, alerting taxpayers that the final tangible property regulations will be released in 2013. The final regulations will apply to taxable years [...] Read More
	Electronic Filing of Partnership Schedules K1 - January 2013 With the year's first tax filing deadline now just a few months away, we thought this a good time to remind everyone of the rules that apply to the furnishing of Schedules K-1 in an electronic format. The IRS revised [...] Read More
	Emerging Growth Company Status and Accounting Policy Elections - May 2012 Title I of the recently passed Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act allows filers that qualify as Emerging Growth Companies to provide certain reduced disclosures in their IPO registration statements and periodic filings thereafter. [...] Read More
	Expatriate Tax Update - February 2012 This newsletter brings together individual country updates over recent months. As you will appreciate, the wealth of changes across multiple jurisdictions is significant so to provide easily digestible information we have kept it to the key developments [...] Read More
	Expatriate Tax Update - May 2012 This newsletter brings together individual country updates over recent months. As you will appreciate, the wealth of changes across multiple jurisdictions is significant so to provide easily digestible information we have kept it to the key developments [...] Read More
	Exposure Draft on Disclosures about Liquidity Risk and Interest Rate Risk - August 2012 On June 27, 2012, the FASB issued an exposure draft, Proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) on Financial Instruments (Topic 825) – Disclosures about Liquidity Risk and Interest Rate Risk. The proposed [...] Read More
	Exposure Draft on Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment - February 2012 On January 25, 2012, the FASB issued an exposure draft, Proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) on Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) - Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment. [...] Read More
	FASB Issues ASU on Required Disclosures for Offsetting Assets and Liabilities - January 2012 On December 16, 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-11, Disclosures about Offsetting Assets and Liabilities. The ASU is the result of a joint project with the IASB designed to enhance and provide converged disclosures about financial and derivative instruments that are either offset [...] Read More
	FASB Issues Exposure Draft on Items Reclassified out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income - September 2012 On August 16, 2012, the FASB issued an exposure draft, Proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) on Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) – Presentation of Items Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income [...] Read More
	FASB Issues Final ASU on Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment - August 2012 On July 27, 2012, the FASB issued ASU 2012-02, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350) - Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment. The ASU provides entities with an option to first assess qualitative factors to [...] Read More
	Final Fee Disclosure Regulation Issued for Employee Benefit Plans - March 2012 With the final regulations under ERISA §408(b)(2) disclosure rules just released by the Department of Labor (DOL), we wanted to alert you to the key features of the final regulations (as well as changes from the earlier, interim final version). [...] Read More
	Foreign Financial Account Reporting Regulations Issued In Final Form: Signature Authority Addressed - March 2012 The Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) last week issued final regulations clarifying which persons are required to file reports of financial accounts under federal banking law. [...] Read More
	Foreign Financial Account Reporting Should Be Received by June 29, 2012 - June 2012 United States persons, as defined under applicable banking regulations (and not under federal tax law), are required to file Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (commonly referred to as the “FBAR” form [...] Read More
	Highlights of the Tangible Property Regulations - March 2012 The new tangible property regulations are comprehensive and will affect virtually all taxpayers. The regulations contain guidance for determining whether and when a business must capitalize costs incurred in acquiring, [...] Read More
	Illinois: Independent Tax Tribunal Established - October 2012 Illinois has established a tax tribunal independent of the state Department of Revenue (DOR) to resolve some tax disputes between the DOR and taxpayers prior to requiring the taxpayer to pay the amounts in issue. [...] Read More
	Impact of Dodd-Frank Act on Executive Compensation In 2012 - April 2012 In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) became law. Among several other purposes, the Dodd-Frank Act required public companies to comply with a number of disclosure [...] Read More
	IRS Issues Guidance to Comply with Tangible Property Regulations - May 2012 On March 7, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedures (“Rev. Proc.”) 2012-19 and 2012-20 providing guidance on filing accounting method changes to comply with the tangible property regulations [...] Read More
	IRS Issues Updated FAQs for Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, New FBAR Procedure for Certain Filers - July 2012 On June 26, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service released new frequently-asked questions (FAQs) regarding the 2012 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) previously announced in January. Additionally, [...] Read More
	IRS Releases Proposed FATCA Regulations - March 2012 With the release of the proposed regulations for publication in the Federal Register (REG-121647-10), the Treasury Department has now provided important guidance regarding FATCA. The following is a brief overview [...] Read More
	Minnesota Announces Unclaimed Property Voluntary Disclosure Program - August 2012 The Minnesota Department of Commerce Unclaimed Property Division has announced a Voluntary Disclosure Program intended to incentivize and assist holders of unclaimed property to comply with Minnesota’s [...] Read More
	More Regulation for Fund Managers: The New CFTC Registration Requirements - December 2012 Did you know that more funds will be subject to CFTC Registration? Two reasons for this: (1) an increase in the scope of what is deemed “commodity interest” and (2) rescission of CFTC Rule 4:13(a)(4). [...] Read More
	New Disclosures Required for Multiemployer Pension Plans - February 2012 FASB ASU 2011-09 requires additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures about an employer’s participation in a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan. One of the main characteristics of a multiemployer [...] Read More
	New Foreign Reporting Requirements - February 2012 This tax year, U.S. holders of foreign assets will have to meet additional requirements from the IRS. The U.S. government has demonstrated a rigorous new approach to its oversight of this tax area [...] Read More
	New Jersey Tax Developments and Reminders - May 2012 On March 2, 2012, the Superior Court of New Jersey held that an employee telecommuting from her New Jersey residence subjected Telebright Corp., Inc., an out-of-state employer with no other physical presence in the state, to the New Jersey Corporation Business Tax. [...] Read More
	New Jersey Updates on Unclaimed Property and Income Taxes - August 2012 This alert contains a description of recent New Jersey legislative changes applicable to gift card rules for unclaimed property, as well as a synopsis of a recent New Jersey Tax Court case in which New Jersey [...] Read More
	New Jersey: Voluntary Disclosure Initiative Announced - October 2012 The Division of Taxation has recognized that there are companies that have nexus with New Jersey as a result of deriving income from the use of intangible assets in the state that have not fulfilled their corporation [...] Read More
	New Streamlined Filing Procedures Announced by IRS for U.S. Citizens Living Abroad - November 2012 The United States of America is one of the few countries in the world that subject their citizens to taxation when such citizens are resident in other countries. For many of such United States citizens abroad, there is [...] Read More
	New York MTA Payroll Tax Held Unconstitutional - September 2012 On August 22, 2012, the New York Supreme Court for Nassau County found the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax, also known as the “MTA payroll tax,” to be unconstitutional. If the decision is [...] Read More
	New York State Passes Budget Bill: Individual Income Tax Brackets Revised and Tax Incentives Created - April 2012 On February 13, 2012, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issued guidance in the form of a Technical Services Bureau Memorandum, TSB-M-12(3)I. Read More
	North Carolina Reforms Law on Required Filing of Combined Returns - August 2012 Under S.B. 824, signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue (D), the North Carolina Department of Revenue will be required to follow more clearly defined rules before requiring taxpayers to file their returns on a combined [...] Read More
	NYSE and Nasdaq Propose Standards to Comply with SEC Rule on Compensation Committees and Advisers - November 2012 On September 25, 2012, both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ Stock Market (Nasdaq) proposed rule changes to implement new listing standards related to the compensation committee of an [...] Read More
	Payroll Tax Cut Extended Through 2012 - March 2012 After attaining the stamp of approval from Congress midway through last month, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 was signed into law by President Obama on February 22, 2012. [...] Read More
	PCAOB Issues Auditing Standard No. 16, Communications with Audit Committees - August 2012 On August 15, 2012, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) adopted Auditing Standard No. 16, Communications with Audit Committees, and transitional and related amendments to other [...] Read More
	Pennsylvania Enacts New Tax Law Changes - August 2012 The passage in Pennsylvania of both H.B. 761 and Senate Bill 1263 on July 2, 2012 initiated a number of changes applicable to business taxpayers. The following is a description of selected legislative changes that may affect [...] Read More
	Proposed Regulations Clarify “Substantial Risk of Forfeiture” Under Section 83 - June 2012 The Internal Revenue Service recently issued proposed regulations to provide more guidance on the determination of whether or not a taxpayer’s rights to property received in connection with the performance of [...] Read More
	Recent Employee Benefit Plan Developments - September 2012 In this Alert, we discuss considerations to keep in mind as plan administrators are preparing for the upcoming 404(a)(5) disclosures to participants. As the definition of a plan fiduciary continues to evolve, we provide a status update on [...] Read More
	Recent IRS Guidance on Electronic Filing of Partnership Schedules K-1 - March 2012 The Internal Revenue Service recently issued Rev. Proc. 2012-17 in order to set forth procedures under which a partnership (including an electing large partnership, as defined in section 775) that furnishes Schedules K-1 [...] Read More
	SEC Adopts Rule Requiring Conflict Minerals Reporting - October 2012 On August 22, 2012, the SEC adopted Exchange Act Rule 13p-1, which requires disclosures mandated by Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The new rule requires [...] Read More
	SEC Adopts Rule Requiring Listing Standards for Compensation Committees and Advisors - July 2012 On June 20, 2012, the SEC voted to adopt a new rule for compensation committees mandated by Section 952 of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Act). The new Rule 10C-1 implements [...] Read More
	SEC Adopts Rule Requiring Resource Extraction Issuers to Disclose Payments to Governments - October 2012 On August 22, 2012, the SEC adopted Exchange Act Rule 13q-1, which was mandated by Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The new rule requires resource extraction issuers [...] Read More
	SEC Issues Two Staff Papers on Work Plan for Convergence of Global Accounting Standards - January 2012 On November 16, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Chief Accountant issued two Staff Papers related to the Commission’s Work Plan towards convergence of global accounting standards. The Work Plan’s objective [...] Read More
	SEC Staff Announcements at AICPA National Conference Could Have Immediate Effects - December 2012 The AICPA held its National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments on December 3 — 5, 2012 in Washington, DC. The SEC staff provided the guidance outlined below, which may have an immediate [...] Read More
	SEC Staff Publishes Final Report on Incorporating IFRS into the U.S. Domestic Reporting System - October 2012 The SEC staff issued its Final Staff Report (the “Report”) on the Work Plan on July 13, 2012. The Report is a paper prepared by the Staff for the consideration of the SEC, and the SEC has expressed no view regarding the [...] Read More
	SEC Year in Review - January 2012 Entering 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission had expected to decide whether, and if so, how and when, to incorporate International Financial Reporting Standards into financial reporting by domestic issuers. The SEC staff made substantial progress toward [...] Read More
	Severance Payments Not Subject to FICA According to Sixth Circuit Ruling - September 2012 In United States v. Quality Stores, Inc., No. 10-1563 (6^th Cir. Sept. 7, 2012), the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a decision made by a lower court which held that certain severance payments are not subject [...] Read More
	Significant Accounting and Reporting Matters - February 2012 This alert provides a comprehensive overview of important, recent developments that have changed the financial reporting environment. Our detailed breakdown covers relevant guidance and rules issued by [...] Read More
	Significant Accounting and Reporting Matters - April 2012 This alert provides a comprehensive overview of important, recent developments that have changed the financial reporting environment. Our detailed breakdown covers relevant guidance and rules issued by [...] Read More
	Significant Accounting and Reporting Matters - July 2012 This alert provides a comprehensive overview of important, recent developments that have changed the financial reporting environment. Our detailed breakdown covers relevant guidance and rules issued by [...] Read More
	Significant Accounting and Reporting Matters - October 2012 This alert provides a comprehensive overview of important, recent developments that have changed the financial reporting environment. Our detailed breakdown covers relevant guidance and rules issued by [...] Read More
	Staples Settles Unclaimed Property Dispute with Delaware for $8.9 Million - October 2012 A report by the Associated Press said that Staples, Inc. will pay $8.9 million to settle an unclaimed property dispute with the state of Delaware. Staples and Delaware officials issued a joint statement on June 22, 2012 [...] Read More
	Supreme Court Rules on Affordable Care Act - August 2012 On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling on the constitutionality of key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). For American businesses in general, and the [...] Read More
	Planning in 2012 for Substantial Tax Changes Coming Into Effect on January 1, 2013 - August 2012 With 2013 fast approaching and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, substantial tax law changes are looming for many Americans. The sunset of the “Bush tax cuts” is to take place at [...] Read More
	The 2011 AICPA SEC and PCAOB Conference - January 2012 The annual AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments held on December 5-7, in Washington, DC, provided insights into the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) staff’s views [...] Read More
	The Changing World of Governance: Considerations for Nominating Committees - March 2012 Numerous rules have been put into place by regulators since the enactment of the SarbanesOxley Act (2002) and the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act (2010), including revisions to national stock exchange listing requirements. [...] Read More
	The Jump Start Our Business Startups Act - April 2012 On April 5, 2012, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law. 1 The Act was approved by Congress in late March. A primary goal of the JOBS Act is to improve small companies’ access to [...] Read More
	United Kingdom Budget Released - May 2012 On March 21, 2012, the United Kingdom government released its 2012 Budget proposals. The proposals require parliamentary approval and Royal Assent before they are enacted into law. [...] Read More
	U.S. GAAP Private Company Council - June 2012 In May 2012, the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) established the Private Company Council to improve the standards-setting process in U.S. GAAP for private companies. Its purpose will be to determine [...] Read More
	U.S. Supreme Court Weighs In on Tax Deficiency Attributable to Overstatement of Basis in Property - June 2012 On April 25, 2012, the United States Supreme Court held in United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC that the Internal Revenue Service must assess a tax deficiency attributable to a taxpayer’s overstatement of basis in property [...] Read More