Government

On Monday, December 21st, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, called the Consolidated Appropriations Act, that provides $600 stimulus payments to individuals, adds $300 to extended weekly unemployment benefits, and provides more than $300 billion in relief funding for small businesses as a supplement to the original…

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 has been passed by Congress and was signed by the President last Sunday, December 27th. The bill is very large and contains over 5,600 pages. It includes the COVID-Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 (COVIDTRA) and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 (TCDTR), which contain…

On Monday, November 23rd the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) announced that it will increase the discounts available on purchases of personal protective equipment made through the NJ Small and Micro Business PPE Access Program to nearly 70 percent, effective Tuesday, November 24, 2020. The Authority will also double the per-business cap on discount…

As we all have witnessed over the last several months, the novel COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way the world works. Now, the physical location of businesses has less relevance. To meet social distancing guidelines and protect their employees while also keeping business rolling, most companies have asked employees to work remotely from their own…

As year-end approaches, it is a good time to think about planning moves that may help reduce taxes for this year and possibly next. Year-end planning for 2020 takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in addition to its devastating health and mortality impact has widely affected business finances. New tax rules have been enacted…

Cannabis is inclusive of marijuana, hemp and CBD. Recently, more states, including New Jersey, have legalized marijuana for recreational use and the number of states that have legalized marijuana use, whether recreational or medicinal, has grown exponentially. The regulatory risk exposure and financial benefit to financial institutions is significant. Has your institution considered its position…

New Jersey Pass-Through Business Alternative Income Tax (NJ BAIT) Act was passed in January 2020 and is effective for 2020.  This act was designed to help business owners mitigate the negative impact of the federal state and local tax (SALT) deduction limitation of $10,000 on individual tax returns.  Although there was initially some concern that…

The Coronavirus Relief Fund, a product of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, distributed $150 billion of payments for specified uses to state and certain local governments. The governments that receive funding have flexibility when determining who to disperse the funds to, however the funds must be used on eligible expenses. Additionally,…

Updated 1/5/21 New State Electronic Filing Requirements New for 2020: This year most states including New Jersey require mandatory electronic filing of all 1099s. If you need assistance with the new state e-filing requirements, please reach out to Mercadien’s Tax Services Group. For the 2020 tax year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and State Taxing…

Interviewing in a virtual environment can be a challenge to say the least. Regardless of whether the interview is human resources-focused or for investigative purposes, the challenges are similar and often include unpredictable technical failures, security and privacy concerns, issues with sharing documents and exhibits, limitations in assessing demeanor, body language and credibility, and more.…