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IRS Updates Per Diem Rates for Travel Expenses for 2021-2022
The Internal Revenue Service has issued the special per diem rates that take effect Oct. 1, 2021, which taxpayers can use to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses when traveling away from home. Notice 2021-52 includes the special transportation industry rate, the rate for the incidental-expenses-only deduction, along with the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low ...
Read MoreHow Many of Your Primary Controls Are Preventive?
When I started my auditing career during the rollout of Sarbanes-Oxley, there was sustained debate within the industry as to which type of internal control was better: preventive or detective. While preventive controls are intended to prevent unauthorized or unwanted activities and variances from the established process, some argue that such events are bound to occur. Organizations should therefore focus intently on detective controls ...
Read MoreLease Accounting: Private Companies on the Clock After Delay
In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic added another element of business disruption for organizations to manage while the effective dates to comply for FASB's new lease accounting standards were quickly approaching. Following a pandemic-related delay, the new standard takes effect for entities within the "all other entities" category for fiscal years starting after Dec. 15, 2021, and for interim periods within fiscal years beginning after Dec.
Read MoreBusiness Meal Deductions after the TCJA
The legislation known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), P.L. 115-97, eliminated the general deduction of business entertainment expenses under Sec. 274(a). The TCJA mostly left intact, however, the deductibility of food and beverage expenses as a business expense (generally, at 50% of the expense amount). But because of a long-standing understanding and practice of treating business entertainment and meals as congruent, practitioners sought ...
Read MoreEase Staff’s Fears About Returning to the Office
Fifteen-person firm Goldglit & Company LLP went remote virtually overnight last March when New York City was among the first locations to be hard-hit by COVID-19. As the pandemic’s impact receded in the city, the firm decided to reopen its offices on June 1, 2020, and allow staff to choose between remote or in-office work, an arrangement that’s still in place. Despite the firm’s efforts to minimize staff’s anxieties, ...
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