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Key House Republicans on Thursday discussed ways to direct an expanded state and local tax deduction to those making less than $400,000 as they seek to balance the cost of the tax break with the political needs of several lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states. The $10,000 cap on SALT, one of the most contentious issues in the GOP debate on its giant tax bill, remained unresolved as lawmakers left Washington Thursday. Republicans on the House tax panel discussed a series of options to direct the deduction to middle-class households, New York Representative Nicole Malliotakis told reporters. Committee members delved…

Insult to injury; lack of progress; gone fishing; and other highlights of recent tax cases.Los Angeles: Christopher Kazuo Kamon, former longtime head of the accounting department at a now-shuttered personal injury law firm, has been sentenced to 10 years and a month in prison for enabling the embezzlement of millions of dollars from the firm’s clients and for embezzling money from the firm itself.Kamon, formerly of Encino and Palos Verdes, California, and who was residing in the Bahamas at the time of his November 2022 arrest, was also ordered to pay $8,903,324 in restitution. He pleaded guilty in October.From 2004…

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board chair Erica Williams told Accounting Today that the role played by the PCAOB can’t simply be “cut and pasted” into the Securities and Exchange Commission after the House Financial Services Committee approved legislation that would effectively shutter the audit overseer.Speaking on the sidelines of Baruch College’s annual financial reporting conference in New York on Thursday, the day after Republicans on the committee voted to advance the bill, Williams declined to speculate on what would happen in the event of a transition of the PCAOB’s duties to the SEC. “I will say that I think that…

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. The contentious 150-hour rule — the number of college credit hours required to sit the CPA exam — has been a sticking point in the profession since it became the standard in the 1990s. With an ongoing talent crisis, uncompetitive salaries and rising education costs further weakening the inflow of new professionals, is the end of the rule the first step to changing the tide?Median annual salaries for entry-level accountants hover around $65,000, according to 2024 research by Accounting Today. It’s not until the managerial tier that…

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. Tax season has wrapped up, and this year there were increases in almost every filing statistic category compared to 2024.  According to data from the Internal Revenue Service, the number of returns filed as of April 18, 2025 (the latest figures available), was up from last year by 1.1%, with 140,633,000 returns received. The IRS processed 138,057,000 of these returns, up 1.5% from 2024.Read more: IRS marks Tax Day amid layoffs, cutbacks This year, the number of refunds was about the same as 2024, at 86,021,000. The total amount…

President Trump describes his administration’s sweeping new tariffs on other countries as a tool for accomplishing a range of key economic goals, including reviving U.S. manufacturing. Recently, he’s been highlighting another aim: lowering, or even eliminating, individual income taxes for most Americans. “When Tariffs cut in, many people’s Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated. Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year,” he wrote Sunday on Truth Social, his social media app. Tariffs are already kicking in, with businesses around the country facing import duties of 145% or more on imports from China and tariffs…

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, in collaboration with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, have introduced the COSO Fraud Risk Management Certificate program. The new certification, offered through the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Institute of Management Accountants in addition to the ACFE, aims to help professionals enhance their expertise in fraud risk management. COSO is jointly sponsored by the IIA and the IMA, along with the American Accounting Association, the American Institute of CPAs and Financial Executives International.  FraudAlex/Getty Images/iStockphoto The certificate program builds on the Fraud Risk Management Guide that COSO first introduced in…

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a proposed accounting standards update Wednesday offering guidance for debt exchange transactions involving multiple creditors.  The proposed ASU stems from a recommendation of FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force. Under the current rules, when an entity modifies an existing debt instrument or exchanges debt instruments, it’s required to determine whether the transaction should be accounted for as (1) a modification of the existing debt obligation or (2) the issuance of a new debt obligation and an extinguishment of the existing debt obligation (with certain exceptions).The proposed update would specify that an exchange of debt instruments that meets…