Lawrence & Philippe CPAs PLLC dba North Country CPAs

Here's to a super team of accounting professionals making tax season work in a pandemic environment!!!

Shout out to Jason Melillo, CPA, who created this great chart that compares the Employee Retention Credit as it was originally enacted with how it was revised in The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, enacted December 27, 2020.

NEW: New Yorkers who are receiving PUA benefits now do NOT need to reapply when they reach the end of their initial benefit year. Instead, PUA claimants should ...continue to certify weekly while unemployed to get the benefits they are eligible for. If you are receiving traditional Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits, you SHOULD reapply when your benefit year comes to an end, per federal guidelines. You can view your benefit year end date by logging in to your NYS DOL account and viewing your Payment History. Unsure whether you are receiving UI or PUA? Here are a few ways to check: 1. After you filed your claim, you should have received a Notice of Determination of Eligibility that says you were found eligible for PUA or UI. 2. If you are asked COVID-19-related questions each week when you certify, you are receiving PUA. 3. NYS DOL is texting and emailing all New Yorkers who are receiving PUA about this update. If you receive that email and/or text, you are receiving PUA

Thanks to ABC50 for partnering with North Country CPAs with Tax Talk!

Come on 2021!!! Our office will be closed on Friday, December 31, 2020, so our employees will have the opportunity to give 2020 a proper send off :) We'll be open starting Monday, January 4, with our extended tax season hours of 7:30am - 5:00pm, Monday - Friday. We look forward to seeing and hearing from all of our clients with this upcoming tax season. Happy New Year!!!

#IRS and the Treasury Department began a second round of Economic Impact Payments to millions of Americans. There is no action required by eligible individuals ...to receive this new payment. Initial direct deposit payments have started arriving for some and continue into next week for many. Paper checks have started being mailed starting today and continue into January. Some people may see the direct deposit payments as pending before the official payment date of Jan. 4, 2021. Please keep in mind that the payments are automatic, and you don’t need to contact your financial institution or the IRS with payment timing questions. Most recipients will receive payments by direct deposit. People who got the first payments via Direct Express will receive this second payment the same way. For anyone who receives payments by check or debit card, these will be mailed through January. Carefully check your mail. Eligible individuals who didn’t receive an Economic Impact Payment this year either the first or the second payment -- will be able to claim it when they file their 2020 taxes in 2021. You can check the status of your payments in a few days by using the Get My Payment tool, available in English and Spanish on IRS.gov. For details, see: https://go.usa.gov/xAK4f #Stimulus #EIP #EconomicImpactPayments #COVIDreliefIRS #covid19 #covid_19 #coronavirus #tax #taxes