If your employment status has been affected by COVID-19, you can apply for unemployment benefits. Below was found on the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance website. On March 16, 2020, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued an executive order to ensure workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have full access to unemployment benefits. The executive order makes applicants eligible for unemployment benefits if: A healthcare professional or health authority recommended or ordered them to avoid contact with others. They have been ordered not to come to their workplace due to an outbreak of a communicable disease. They have received notification from a school district, daycare, or other childcare provider that either classes are Read More...
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)
On March 18, 2020, the Senate passed and the President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Here are some notes you may need to know as it relates to FFCRA (for self-employed individuals, please scroll to the section titled Self-Employed Individuals): The law is effective 4.2.2020 thru 12.31.2020 FFCRA covers all employers with less than 500 employees including nonprofits and government agencies Employers with less than 50 employees are eligible for an exemption from the requirements to provide leave to care for a child whose school or child care is closed where the requirements would jeopardize the ability of the business to continue. Credit is not available to employers that are already Read More...
COVID-19 – No More In-Person Appointments
As we monitor the COVID-19 situation developing around the world (by following the CDC and WHO), our top priority is to maintain the health and safety of our employees, clients and community members while maintaining a consistent level of client service. We wanted to reach out to you to provide another update on what Christianson is doing in the wake of the current events. Effective today, we will no longer be holding in-person appointments until April 3rd. We will have a drop-off plan for clients who need to bring in material to get their taxes completed. We will also have our front desk staffed for those picking up tax returns, but we respectfully ask that everyone follows the CDC guidelines with proper hand sanitizing measures as well Read More...
COVID-19
Regarding COVID-19: This is a profoundly anxious time in the world, and with recent government announcements stating that there will be many local closings, we feel it’s time that we address our staff, clients, and community members and what steps we plan to take to ensure everyone stays safe and limits potential exposure. We are committed to providing the same level of exceptional service and expertise as always. Please expect that if you have a currently scheduled meeting with one of our team members, you will be contacted prior to that meeting to discuss comfort levels of meeting in person. During this discussion, we may ask you about recent travel that would potentially impact that meeting. If there are any concerns, we will work Read More...
Congress Reinstates OSLT for 2020
What is the OSLT? The oil spill liability tax (OSLT) expired on December 31, 2018, and therefore was not required for the 2019 calendar year. Effective January 1, 2020, the law reinstated the oil spill excise tax imposed on crude oil and imported petroleum products. The cost of the OSLT is calculated at a rate of $0.09 per barrel (approximately $0.00214 per gallon) of crude oil products (including natural gasoline used as denaturant). How is the OSLT usually filed? This excise tax is filed quarterly with IRS Forms 6627 and 720, but deposits are required for each semimonthly period in which the tax liability is incurred. The amount of this deposit must not be less than 95% of the amount of net tax liability incurred during the Read More...
Refundable Biodiesel Blender Credits Extended
Under the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, the refundable biodiesel blender credits were extended. How is the refundable biodiesel blender credit usually filed? A one-time claim can be made for the $1.00/gallon refund on biodiesel mixture gallons for 2018 and 2019. Total gallons for these two years need to be combined and reported on one Form 8849, Claim for Refund of Excise Taxes. Form 8849 Schedule 3, Certain Fuel Mixtures and the Alternative Fuel Credit, must be included with the submission with appropriate gallons reported on Line 2. It should be noted that the refund received from these credits is not-taxable. You can find additional rules and information on the IRS website here. Now What? The 180-day claim period Read More...
Charitable Contributions as Tax Deductions
It's almost tax time, which means our experts will be releasing information more frequently in an effort to make tax time easier for you. This time around, we want you to be aware of the potential tax deductions as it relates to charitable contributions. Taxpayers who donate to charity should check out the resources below to see whether they qualify for a deduction on their tax return. If you donate to a charity, you may be able to claim a deduction on your tax return. These deductions basically reduce the amount of taxable income. Keep in mind, you can only deduct charitable contributions if you itemize deductions. Although, Minnesota does have a subtraction of 50% of the total amount of contributions over $500. Here are some Read More...
Lease Accounting Standard Delay
On Wednesday, October 16th, the FASB officially approved the delay of the lease accounting standard, ASU 2016-02 Leases (Topic 842), for Private companies and Nonprofit organizations to December 31, 2021 (delayed to 2022 for fiscal year-ends). No changes were made for Public entities, which have a December 31, 2019 implementation date. Although delayed, the impact of the lease standard will be significant to the financial statements of many organizations and it’s never too early to begin this analysis. Christianson PLLP is here to assist in the transition process for your organization, and has developed tools and templates to assist in the implementation of the lease accounting standard. Give us a call or email Sara DeRoo Read More...
Oregon Releases Draft Rule for Verification Program
Our compliance experts work hard to identify and research new regulations and opportunities to keep you up to date with the ever-changing rules that guide our industry. Recently our compliance experts identified a new regulation that we wanted to introduce to you, the first draft of Oregon’s verification rules. On Friday, September 6, Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) released three draft rules. Two of the draft rules are updates and modifications to Oregon’s existing Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (Division 215) and Clean Fuels Program (Division 253). The third draft rule was the addition of Division 272, Third Party Verification. We would like to call your attention mainly to the Third Party Verification Rule at Read More...
RenovaBio – A Brazilian Carbon Reduction Regulation
RenovaBio is a Brazilian carbon reduction regulation that will become effective in December of this year. The regulation was fast tracked and has developed very quickly leaving a lot of questions and concerns for the US renewable fuel industry. In our attempts to keep you current with recent industry happenings, Christianson has prepared a brief overview of the program and the main concerns for U.S. participants. There are three main points that we want to address prior to getting into the overview of the model and regulation. First, it was announced that the Brazilian tariff rate quota would remain intact but would be raised to 198 million gallons of tariff free gallons rather than the previous 159 million gallons. Anything Read More...
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