In The News—January 6, 2025

As we bid farewell to 2024, The Woodard Report team extends warm wishes for a Happy New Year! May 2025 bring you more love, success, and positivity than ever before.

In this first news post of the year, we explore the latest developments in business ownership information (BOI) reporting and highlight a landmark restitution order for tax fraud. Thank you for being with us, and here's to a fantastic start to the new year!

IRS news

IRS Sends Reminder to Disaster Area Taxpayers with Extensions IRS.gov

The Internal Revenue Service today reminded disaster-area taxpayers who received extensions to file their 2023 returns that, depending upon their location, their returns are due by Feb. 3 or May 1, 2025.

Eligible taxpayers are individuals and businesses affected by various disasters that occurred during the late spring through the end of 2024. For extension filers, payments on the 2023 tax year returns are not eligible for the additional time because they were originally due last spring before any of these disasters occurred. Read more...

Technology news

Now This Is Taxes: Intuit Campaign Brings Softer But Familiar Approach The Woodard Report

In a move that appears to course-correct its marketing strategy, Intuit has launched a new campaign, "Now This Is Taxes," which aims to promote TurboTax’s "done-for-you" tax solutions.

The campaign showcases cutting-edge, AI-powered tools designed to simplify the tax preparation process and offers unbeatable pricing. But the new campaign seems to bear subtle similarities to the earlier "Tax Breakup" campaign, which faced widespread backlash for its confrontational tone towards traditional tax professionals. Read more...

Accounting news 

Trump Picks Ken Kies for Key Tax Policy Job at Treasury Ahead of Cuts Push Accounting Today

Ken Kies is set to become the point person at the Treasury on tax cuts, one of Trump's signature policy initiatives.

A tax lawyer for 47 years, Kies has served as the chief of staff for the Joint Committee on Taxation and the chief Republican tax counsel of the House Ways and Means Committee. Read more...

BOI Reporting in Flux Following Fifth Circuit Rulings Insightful Accountant

The enforcement status of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) continues to shift following recent Fifth Circuit decisions.

After initially granting the government's emergency motion to stay a nationwide injunction on December 23, the Fifth Circuit's merits panel reversed course on December 26, reinstating the injunction "to preserve the constitutional status quo" pending oral arguments scheduled for March 25, 2025. Read more... 

Will the SALT Deduction Cap Be Repealed or Raised in 2025? Kiplinger

Discussions about the state and local tax (SALT) deduction are back. One reason? Lawmakers are prepping major tax reform since Republicans will control the White House and both chambers of Congress in the new year.

The SALT deduction allows taxpayers who itemize to deduct state and local taxes from their federal taxable income. The deduction was capped at $10,000 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), ushered in by Donald Trump in his first stint as president of the United States. Read more...

Mergers and acquisitions 

Vision Financial Merger Creates $2B Financial Integrators PLANADVISOR

Des Moines, Iowa-based Vision Financial Group announced that it is merging with two other firms to create a practice whose team would oversee $2 billion in client assets and plans for future acquisitions.

Vision Financial Group is in the process of combining with Business & Financial Strategies of Iowa City and Clevenger Financial of Joplin, Missouri, to become the rebranded Financial Integrators, offering services including financial planning and asset management, insurance, accounting, tax and estate planning, along with a growing retirement plan and business services division. Read more... 

Thomson Reuters Acquires SafeSend in $600 Million Deal CPA Practice Advisor

Thomson Reuters has bought cPaperless LLC, best known in the tax and accounting world as SafeSend, in an all-cash transaction valued at $600 million, the global content and technology company said.

SafeSend, an Ann Arbor, MI-based cloud-native provider of technology for tax and accounting professionals, was founded in 2008 as CPA Paperless, or cPaperless, to address the overwhelming amount of work that was a reality for most accounting firms moving to a paperless office. Read more...

Other interesting things we found

Ten Things Your Tax Clients Need to Hear in the New Year CPA Trendlines

Everybody resolves to get organized at the start of a new year. January 2 was the day to tell tax clients what they need to do for a hassle-free tax return.

Here’s a list of 10 things to tell them.

1. Gather Your Documents

Collect all tax-related documents, such as W-2s, 1099s, mortgage interest statements, charitable contribution receipts, and any other income or deduction records. (Give them a complete list.) Remind them where they can find these documents or when to expect them from employers, banks, etc.