News Updates

Discussion continues over how the Federal Reserve will proceed after its July 25-26 meeting, when the market expects another interest-rate hike.

People born between 1965 and 1980 could face financial challenges, as the typical Gen X household with a private retirement plan has only $40,000 saved, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security. About 40% of the generation has nothing saved. The institute also reported that just 55% of Gen X workers take part in an employer-sponsored plan and that wage growth has been flat for most of this generation's time in the workforce.

John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said that he does not "have a recession in my forecast." However, Williams is predicting "pretty slow growth," and he noted that the central bank is likely not done raising interest rates as it seeks to control inflation.

A survey finds that students form perceptions of the accounting profession early -- even before they enter college.

There are several factors to weigh when deciding whether to make pretax or Roth contributions to a 401(k), in addition to current and future tax brackets. These include the scheduled expiration of certain provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as well as recent changes under SECURE 2.0.

KPMG plans to invest $2B in artificial intelligence and cloud services across its business lines globally over the next five years through an expanded partnership with Microsoft. Through the new investment, the roughly 265,000-person company will further automate aspects of its tax, audit and consulting services, aimed at enabling employees to provide faster analysis, spending more time on doling out strategic advice and helping more companies integrate AI into their operations. KPMG’s global chair and chief executive, Bill Thomas, said in an interview that the company isn’t looking to use technology to eliminate jobs, but rather to enhance its workforce with AI skills—for example, by moving people to new roles or offering them training. As part of the expanded partnership, KPMG will have early access to an AI assistant called Microsoft 365 Copilot, before its launch to the general public. KPMG’s deal with Microsoft also includes the Azure cloud platform, through which the professional-services company already uses OpenAI to build and run apps. Microsoft has a partnership with OpenAI, the startup behind the viral ChatGPT chatbot, which made generative AI a household word.

"The One Ring," a one-of-a-kind playing card in the game "Magic: The Gathering," was reportedly discovered in Toronto last month, and bidding for the card has reached into the millions of dollars. Here is a look at the implications of selling the card from a tax perspective, including a discussion of Canadian and U.S. tax laws.

While some results of the landmark Supreme Court decision may have been foreseeable, many complications have blindsided remote retailers.

Financial institutions face complexities with multistate tax compliance and should timely review key state and local tax considerations to remain compliant and avoid traps for the unwary.

The possibility of a recession is "not completely off the table," according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who noted that inflation is still too high. However, Yellen also noted that she believes "there is a path to bring inflation down in the context of a healthy labor market" and that the U.S. appears to be on that trajectory.

The Experience, Learn & Earn (ELE) program aims to turn accounting students into employees faster and in a more economical way, to the benefit of companies seeking talent.

Kristen Gray of EY explains what information businesses need to submit to the Energy Department when applying for clean energy tax credits and how tax professionals can assist them through the process.

Practitioners now have at their fingertips an interactive PDF that can quickly help determine whether AR-C Section 70 of SSARS No. 21 is required to be applied when performing accounting services.

Growing numbers of 80-somethings are choosing to keep working instead of retiring; roughly 650,000 Americans over 80 worked last year, about 18% more than a decade earlier. Many cite a simple reason to keep working — they just want to. Nearly half log full-time hours, with 80-somethings more common in professional, managerial, and financial roles than in service jobs. Although 80-somethings are a sliver of the overall U.S. labor force and a rarity in the highest echelons of business, signs point toward growing ranks. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that workforce participation among people 75 and older will climb to 11.7% by 2030 from 8.9% in 2020. The participation rate for every other age group is expected to decline. The demographic shift is prompting neuroscientists, employment consultants, and others to rethink how older workers can stay in the workforce with meaningful jobs.

PwC probes security incident tied to Clop cyber gang A criminal hacking gang has added more names to its lists of alleged victims from a recent campaign that exploited a vulnerability in a popular file-transfer product. The group, known as Clop, threatened to post internal data from professional services firms PwC and EY unless they pay a ransom fee. The scope of the incidents weren't immediately clear. The Russian-speaking gang has in recent weeks launched scores of attacks after discovering a vulnerability in MOVEit, a file-sharing software from Progress Software Corp. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on June 1 issued an advisory about a vulnerability in MOVEit software, warning that "a cyber threat actor could exploit this vulnerability to take over an affected system." Progress has since released a patch to fix the vulnerability, but about 90 companies are so far known to have been affected by the hack, according to cybersecurity researchers.

The Supreme Court has announced it will weigh in on the constitutionality of wealth taxes by deciding whether Congress may require taxpayers to pay their share of earnings from a foreign company, even if they received no dividends or income.

Pentagon accounting error means extra $6.2bn for Ukraine The Pentagon has revealed that it overestimated the value of weapons sent to Ukraine by $6.2bn over the past two years, double the previous estimate. The accounting error was due to the military services using replacement costs instead of the book value of equipment taken from Pentagon stocks. The mistake means the department has additional funds to support Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia. The U.S. has committed more than $40bn in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded, but the new calculation shows it has provided less than $34bn. The Pentagon has used presidential drawdown authority to pull weapons and equipment off the shelves to get them to Ukraine more quickly.

State corporate income tax systems are complicated to administer, difficult to enforce, and yield modest revenue, but the recent rush to cut or eliminate business taxes raises larger questions for some about collecting revenue fairly and financing state services. According to Adam Thimmesch, a professor of tax law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, the states have more to lose than gain if they choose to shave or eliminate corporate income taxes. Thimmesch advised that states should streamline and modernize their corporate tax systems, not do away with them.

The IRS has provided a comprehensive, updated list of changes in tax accounting methods to which the automatic change procedures in Rev. Proc. 2015-13 apply. The list includes 29 changes that the Service describes as significant.

The IRS is holding discussions with advocacy groups on the free direct file tax system it plans to begin testing early next year.