Final regulations under IRC section 6403 require disclosures of the beneficial owners of the entity and individuals who have filed an application with specified governmental authorities to create the entity or register it to do business in the United States to FinCEN.  The final regulations become effective January 1, 2024 requiring many corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities created in or registered to do business in the United States to report beneficial ownership information.

These requirements are intended to help prevent and combat money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption, tax fraud, and other illicit activity, while minimizing the burden on entities doing business in the United States.

Prior to adopting the final regulations, it was possible for individuals to use entities such as corporations, trusts, or partnership to hide their ownership of foreign bank accounts.  However, under the new beneficial ownership information reporting requirement for FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report), the FinCEN requires that individuals disclose beneficial ownership information for these entities.  This means that applicable entities must provide information about any person who owns or controls the entity, including their name, address, and identification number, if applicable.  The purpose of this requirement is to increase transparency and prevent individuals from using entities to hide their ownership of foreign bank accounts.

Under the final regulations, a beneficial owner includes any individual who, directly or indirectly, either exercises substantial control over a reporting company, or owns or controls at least 25% of the ownership interests of a reporting company.  The terms substantial control and beneficial owner further defined in the final regulations.

2022-21020.pdf (federalregister.gov)

CARES(Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) 법에 따라 2020년에 설립된 ERC는 2020년 3월 13일부터 2021년 12월 31일 사이의 기간 동안 COVID-19 팬데믹으로 인해 운영을 중단했거나 수입이 크게 감소한 사업체 중 직원에게 급여를 지급한 사업체에 한해 환급이 가능한 세금 크레딧이다.

IRS는 2023년 3월 7일에 발행된 IR-2023-40에서 고용주 및 사업체들에게 세금 공제 자격이 없음에도 불구하고 직원 유지 크레딧(ERC)을 청구하도록 조언하는 제3자(3rd party)를 경계하라는 경고를 다시 발행했다. 일부 제3자는 세액공제에 대한 납세자 자격 및 계산과 관련하여 부적절한 조치 및 입장을 취하고 있다.

이러한 제3자는 환급 금액에 따라 큰 선불 또는 성공보수형 수수료를 부과할 뿐 아니라 사업체의 연방 소득세 신고서(Federal income tax return)에 청구된 임금 공제(Wage deduction)가 세액 공제 금액만큼 감소되어야 한다는 사실을 사업체 및 납세자에게 알리지 않을 수 있다.

따라서, 사업체는 비약적인 절세를 약속하는 허위광고 및 접근을 주의할 것을 권장한다. 납세자(사업체)는 항상 세금 신고서에 보고 및 기록된 정보에 대한 책임이 있다. ERC를 부적절하게 청구하게 될 경우 납세자는 과징금 및 이자와 함께 공제액을 상환해야 한다.

추가적으로 IRS 범죄 수사부와 법무부는 범죄 수사를 시작했으며 과도하거나 부적절한 ERC의 발기인 및 기타 조력자에 대한 기소를 시작하였다.

ERC의 혜택을 받았지만 자격 또는 청구 금액에 대해 확신이 없는 경우 세무 고문이나 변호사와 상의하여 자격 및 크레딧 금액 결정에 사용된 계산에 대한 검토가 필요하다. ERC 크레딧을 청구할 때 오류나 부적절한 조치가 있다고 판단할 경우, 수정 보고서 또는 IRS에 자발적으로 신고하여 리스크를 manage 하는 걸 고려할 필요가 있다.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued an exposure draft of a proposed accounting standards update that would require targeted improvements to income tax disclosures in financial statement report (the “Proposed ASU”).  The Proposed ASU addresses investor requests for more transparency about income tax information through improvements to income tax disclosures primarily related to the rate reconciliation, income taxes paid information and disaggregated disclosure of income and tax expense by jurisdictions.  Here is summary of the changes contained in the Proposed ASU:

Income Taxes Paid

The Proposed ASU would require that all entities disclose the amount of income taxes paid disaggregated by individual jurisdictions in which income taxes paid on both an interim and annual basis.

Rate Reconciliation

The Proposed ASU would require public business entities on an annual basis disclose specific categories in the rate reconciliation and provide additional information for reconciling items that meet a quantitative threshold (if the effect of those reconciling items is equal to or greater than 5 percent of the statutory tax (that is, pretax income or loss multiplied by the applicable statutory tax rate).  The specific categories include state and local income tax; foreign tax effects; enactment of new tax laws; effect of cross-border tax laws; tax credits; valuation allowance; nontaxable or nondeductible items; and change in unrecognized tax benefits.

For entities other than public business entities, the Proposed ASU would require qualitative disclosure about specific categories of items and individual jurisdictions that result in a significant difference between the statutory tax rate and the effective tax rate.

Disaggregated Disclosure

The Proposed ASU would require all entities to disclose pretax income (or loss) from continuing operations disaggregated between domestic and foreign jurisdictions and disclose income tax expense (or benefit) from continuing operations, disaggregated by federal, state, and foreign taxes.

Transition and Effective Date

The Proposed ASU would be applied on a retrospective basis, that is, as of beginning of the earliest period presented in the financial statements.  The effective date of the Proposed ASU would be determined after the FASB considers stakeholder feedback.

To read the exposure draft of the Proposed ASU, please clink the link below:

Proposed Accounting Standards Update—Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures (fasb.org)

President Joe Biden released his annual budget Thursday, outlining his policy priorities for the year ahead. Biden's FY 2024 budget proposes to increase taxes for corporations and individuals with incomes above $400,000 as part of a plan intended to reduce federal budget deficits. Specifically, the budget proposes to increase the US corporate income tax rate from 21% to 28%, and to raise the tax rate on the foreign earnings of US multinational corporations from 10.5% to 21% while adopting an undertaxed profits rule.

For individuals, the budget proposes measures including increasing the top individual ordinary income tax rate from 37% to 39.6%, taxing capital gains income for high earners at ordinary rates, and imposing a 25% "minimum income tax on the wealthiest taxpayers." The budget also calls for higher Medicare health insurance taxes for individuals with incomes above $400,000 as part of a plan that seeks to avert the projected insolvency by 2028 of the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund.

President Biden's proposal seeks to increase revenue and reduce spending in order to put the federal government on a more sustainable fiscal path. However, given Republican control of the House of Representatives, it is unlikely that these proposals will be enacted without bipartisan support.

Question:  why not reduce wasteful government spending instead of increasing taxes?