Tax and Finance Management

Treasury Issues Much-Anticipated Opportunity Zone Proposed Regulations

From OMA Connections Partner GBQ Partners: “On Friday, October 19, 2018, Treasury issued much-anticipated guidance in the form of Proposed Regulations and related Revenue Ruling 2018-29 to allow investors to move forward with Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) projects. The QOZ tax incentive was established … to encourage long-term capital investment and job creation in distressed communities. Treasury has designated 8761 QOZs across the country.

“Although the Proposed Regulations do not answer all of our key questions, Treasury did provide generally taxpayer friendly guidance to the issues.”

To learn more from GBQ about the proposed regulations, click here. 10/23/2018

RSM Gets You Ready for Tax Compliance & Planning

OMA Connections Partner RSM has prepared the following year-end materials to support your business and individual tax compliance and planning:

• 2018 year-end tax considerations for businesses – Addressing the implications of tax reform, Wayfair and other regulatory developments. Get the guide.
• 2018 year-end state and local tax summary of legislative changes. Get the guide.
• Individual tax planning guide – An online resource providing up-to-date tax information pertaining to individual taxpayers, business owners and executives. Read more.

10/25/2018

Washington National Tax Year-end Webcast

As the year draws to a close, businesses face an evolving political and economic landscape in a post-tax reform environment that makes it challenging to structure year-end tax planning.

OMA Connections Partner RSM has assembled its Washington National Tax team to discuss important federal, international and partnership tax considerations you need to know to prepare for year-end.

The 90-minute webcast is Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018.

Learn more and register here. 10/16/2018

Ready for Overhaul of Revenue Recognition Accounting Standards?

Under the new revenue recognition accounting standards (ASU 2014-09), all companies will recognize revenue from customer contracts using a five-step model.

OMA Connections Partner Clark Schaefer Hackett is designing a series of short videos to help define and explain the changes.

You can check it out here. 10/16/2018

IRS Rules Business Meals Are Still Deductible After TCJA Changes

From OMA Connections Partner Clark Schaefer Hackett (CSH): “The IRS appears to have resolved an ongoing controversy over business meals remaining deductible following the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changes in late December 2017. …”

Read more from CSH about the guidance that the IRS has issued. 10/5/2018

OMA Comments on Manufacturing Sales and Use Tax Exemption Draft

This week the OMA submitted comments to the Ohio Department of Taxation in response to its draft revisions to the manufacturing sales and use tax exemption.

The draft looks to update the rule to reflect legislative changes over the years and clarify aspects of the rule with additional examples.

The OMA’s working group on the issue actively participated in the review and drafting of the proposed changes. If you have questions or concerns please contact OMA’s Rob Brundrett. 10/4/2018

Tax Foundation Trashes Ohio Tax Code (Again)

The Tax Foundation has recently published its annual ratings of states for tax competitiveness, ranking Ohio among the 10 worst states at 42^nd.

Some may question the low ranking since Ohio has made great strides in state tax competitiveness over the past 15 years by abolishing the state estate tax, zeroing out tangible personal property tax, eliminating corporate income tax and lowering personal income taxes.

The Tax Foundation has taken a dim view of gross receipts-based taxes such as the Ohio commercial activities tax (CAT) which applies a low-rate, broad-based tax on all in-state sales (only).

Interested in Ohio tax issues for manufacturers? Register for the upcoming OMA Tax Committee meeting on October 10. You can come in person or join by phone. 9/26/2018

Manufacturing Sales and Use Rule Up for Public Comment

This week the Ohio Department of Taxation announced several proposed changes to the manufacturing sales and use tax rule OAC 5703-9-21. This rule has been under discussion for the past year.

The OMA’s sales and use tax working group participated in stakeholder meetings with the department, and the final draft rule reflects many of the group’s specific recommendations.

The proposed rule is available here. All comments regarding the proposed rule changes should be sent to this public comment email address and to Laura Stanley, Division Counsel, Sales and Use Taxes, by October 1, 2018. Please contact OMA’s Rob Brundrett if you have questions or concerns regarding the updated rule. 9/12/2018

Opportunity Zones Provide Attractive Investment Opportunity

From OMA Connections Partner Clark Schaefer Hackett (CSH): “… arguably one of the most exciting provisions (of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) has not received much attention. This is the ability to defer and even permanently exclude certain capital gains when properly invested in Qualified Opportunity Zones.

“… in the past such zones were a bundle of sometimes confusing tax credits and deductions. The new law is unique in a couple of ways: first, the scope is national, with qualified areas in every state (and Puerto Rico), and second, investment is more straightforward … for tax law.

“All that is needed to start is an investor with a capital gain. …”

Read more about opportunity zones from CSH. 9/12/2018

Updates on Ohio’s Business Gateway

According to a recent Gateway post, from the time the modernized Gateway went live on July 2 through August 29, users have successfully filed more than 1 million transactions, with a total value of nearly $4 billion. This represents an increase of more than 115,000 transactions and $660 million flowing through the Gateway over the same time period in 2017.

Some users have experienced issues, a majority of which are related to accounts of existing users who file on behalf of multiple businesses and who may share log in credentials.

In the modernized Gateway, each username and password is associated with an individual user, not a company or business account, and should not be shared. This aligns with the latest in security best practices and allows for verification of the individual who is filing a transaction on behalf of the business account.

Here’s an FAQ. You can call (866) 644-6468 to speak to a customer service representative. 9/5/2018