THE 2022 NJ-NATP FAMOUS STATE TAX SEMINAR

 

This past Saturday I was where I have been the same time this year for the past 30+ years, with one or two exceptions.  I was in the audience of the annual “Famous State Tax Seminar” presented by the NJ chapter of the National Association of Tax Professionals (I was a founding member of the chapter). 

As the title suggests, this annual “must-attend” event for tax pros who prepare NJ and NY state tax returns for clients is an update on the changes to state tax law for New Jersey and New York resident and non-resident taxpayers to prepare us for the upcoming tax filing season   It discusses individual and business income tax, payroll, sales and inheritance/estate taxes, the NJ property tax relief programs, and often touches on federal tax changes.

Although I have officially retired from preparing tax returns, I still write about federal and state taxes and continue to prepare 1040s and state returns for family and close personal friends.

Unfortunately, the seminar was “virtual” again this year – an online “webinar” – due to COVID.  Like most of my generation of tax pros (I started in 1972) I prefer in-person continuing professional education (CPE).  Being “virtual” apparently did not substantially limit participants – it was announced at the beginning of the seminar that more than 170 tax pros had registered for the event.  It is expected that this event will return to being in-person next January. 

An FYI – my personal interest in (and attention paid to) CPE topics is limited to issues related to my specific clients.  For the last several years this has been restricted to individual income tax issues – in this case NJ-1040 and IT-201 and IT-203 filings. 

The webinar began, as usual, with greetings and opening remarks from NJ-NATP President Josh Mellum (I like the beard).  Followed, again as usual, by the “keynote” presentation from John Ficara, the Acting Director of the NJ Division of Taxation (why still “acting”).  While I appreciate Mr. Ficara’s support of NJ-NATP and his willingness to participate in the seminar, this presentation, thankfully limited to 15 minutes, is usually of little value.  However, this year was different, as he reported on the Division’s operational response to COVID issues.  Thankfully, unlike the IRS, the NJDOT did not shut down in 2020.  Employees continued to work “remotely”.  Mr. Ficara announced NJDOT should return ti full worksite operations during the upcoming tax filing season.

Next was the real “meat” of the event – NJ state tax updates presented by members of NJDOT’s “New Jersey Taxation University”.  NJTU has proven to be the most consistently competent, informed, ethical, and cooperative component of the Division of Taxation.  Tilesha McCall provided individual updates, Solange Pimental discussed the state’s Property Tax Relief Programs (Homestead Benefit and Property Tax Reimbursement), Abra Watson tacked CBT updates (which apparently replaced the sales tax update presentation that had been listed on the printed seminar agenda), and Mike Kovacs explained in detail the relatively new NJ BAIT program.  BAIT (Business Alternative Income Tax) is New Jersey’s legal scam to assist NJ taxpayers in evading federal income tax.  

Here are highlights from the webinar that relate to the 2021 NJ-1040 –

* The initial filing deadline for the NJ-1040 is the same as that for the federal return – April 18, 2022.  For 2020 returns NJ is following the IRS on the extended deadline for taxpayers who were affected by Hurricane Ida – the original January 3^rd extended filing deadline has been further extended to February 15^th. 

* As in the past, NJ will not begin to issue refunds for 2021 NJ-1040s until March 3, 2022, regardless of when the return was filed.

* COVID-related stimulus, unemployment, “EBT” (Economic Benefit Transfer), PPP loan, and NJEDA and local grant payments and cancellation of debt continues to not be subject to NJ state income tax.  These payments are not reported anywhere on the NJ-1040.

* Changes to the Retirement Income Exclusion (the Pension Exclusion and the Other Retirement Income Exclusion) for 2021 and beyond have been discussed in a previous TWTP post.

* Changes to the NJ Child and Dependent Care Credit have been discusses in a previous TWTP post.  For 2021 there is no limit on the amount of the allowable NJ credit – previously the state credit was limited to $500 or $1,000.

* Changes to the NJ Earned Income Tax Credit have been discussed in a previous TWTP post.

* As usual, excess employee contributions to the various state benefit funds resulting from having more than one employer in 2021 can be claimed as additional state income tax withholding on the NJ-1040 via Form NJ-2450.  The maximum employee contributions for 2021 are:

·         Unemployment Insurance = $153.85

·         Disability Insurance = $649.54

·         Family Leave Insurance = 386.96

There were no real changes to the Property Tax Relief (aka “Senior Freeze”) program.  Here is what you need to know about the 2021 PTR-1 and PTR-2:

The income limitations are –

·         2020 = 92,969

·         2021 = 94,178

Thankfully, the 2020 income limit was not reduced to $70,000 by the state legislature to balance the budget, as had been done in past years (2010 – 2017).

The filing deadline for the applicable PTR form is October 31, 2022.  The application booklets will be sent out in mid-February and checks will be issued beginning on July 15, 2022.

There was no change to the application and distribution of the Homestead Benefit.

Unlike in-person offerings, there was no actual “lunch break” for this webinar.  We all had lunch at our desks while continuing to watch the presentations.  As an aside, the breakfast and lunch offerings at the in-person Famous State Tax Seminars held at what used to be known as the Woodbridge Hilton, actually in Iselin NJ, were consistently the best meal offerings of any CPE event I have attended in my 50 years in “the business”.

The last NJDOT presentation before leaving New Jersey was a Discussion Panel, new last year, which is an excellent addition to the seminar agenda (one I had recommended in past reviews).  Christina Quinones moderated a panel of NJDOT upper management to discuss systemic, operational and procedural issues.  I was glad the panel once again included NJ-NATP’s old friend Jake Foy (I also liked his beard).  Unfortunately, Jake’s screen view was fuzzy due to excess light coming from his windows.  Another aside – I miss past presenters Alexis and, of course, John Kelly.

I like that we could submit questions for the panel prior to the event.  As a component of this annual seminar, due to time constraints, it is, however, important that the seminar planners carefully review the submitted queries and consolidate similar and related questions to compose one edited question per specific topic.

Actually, there would be real value in a separate full-day in-person seminar with two NJDOT panels – one in the morning to respond to systemic, operational and procedural issues and another after lunch to answer questions and provide clarification on actual state tax law.  NJ-NATP Board – are you listening? 

The seminar ended, as it always does, with presentations by veteran tax pro and long-time NJ-NATP friend, and, like me, honorary member Kathryn Keane, EA of New York.  

While having state tax updates presented by official representatives of the NJDOT is important and valuable, there is also value in a review and interpretation of updates by an experienced tax preparer, who can discuss the practical application of tax law changes.

There is not much new for the 2021 New York IT-201 and IT-203 forms, except for these items:

* New York now has a PTET (Pass Through Entity Tax), which is the Empire State’s version of NJ’s BAIT scam.

* New York continues to decouple from federal tax law changes.  It currently does not follow the temporary or permanent federal changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

* There is a new NY Real Property Relief Credit of between $250 and $350 that is calculated on NY Form IT-229.  The NY itemized deduction for property tax paid that is claimed on IT-196 is reduced by the amount of the credit claimed on IT-229.

Lately Kathryn has also given a presentation on federal updates at this seminar, which I feel is actually unnecessary and not applicable to the event’s purpose.  This year’s presentation, titled “Post Pandemic Practice Management”, provided a different, more practical and interesting take on federal issues.

KK told us that, interestingly, the IRS did not see a reduction in Schedule A mortgage interest deductions as a result of the GOP Tax Act’s elimination of the deduction for home equity interest.  As I expected taxpayers and tax preparers are not properly complying with this tax law change (one that I actually support).

And she reminded us that the $300/$600 non-itemizer deduction for charitable contributions is for cash contributions only, and does not include non-cash contributions such as donations of clothes or household items to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, etc.

There were minimal technical issues with the virtual offering this year.  A “commercial” for one of the event sponsors ran occasionally during the webinar, replacing the tables manned by sponsors outside the “classroom” at in-person offerings.  And “Quick Poll” questions popped up throughout the day, a tool to verify the “attention” and “presence” of the participants for CPE credit purposes.  The results of the polls were also shown.

There was one interesting, but not surprising, poll result.  59% of the tax pros “in attendance” still have clients who are waiting for their 2020 Form 1040 (or 1040-SR) to be processed by the IRS.

The presenters were, as usual, good and experienced speakers, highly knowledgeable in their topics.  And the presentations were comprehensive.  The true value of this type of seminar is based on the extent of the changes to state tax law, regulations and procedures, and, of course, the extent the presentation content is relevant to a tax pro’s specific practice and clientele.  While the value to me personally, considering the limitations of my specific practice, may not have been especially high, it is important that the topics I am not interested in be presented at this seminar each year and the value for the average practitioner, and especially the newer one, was certainly very high.

I do believe that it is also important that the seminar content remain primarily true to the intended purpose of providing updates on changes to state tax law, regulations and procedures for the current tax filing season.  Comprehensive reviews and discussions of ongoing continuing tax law are topics for other offerings.

Once again kudos to the NJ-NATP Board, the NJ Taxation University and KK!

FYI – next year’s Famous State Tax Seminar is scheduled for Saturday, January 14^th and is expected to be, and I sincerely hope it is, an in-person event.

TTFN

THE NJ-NATP ANNUAL “FAMOUS” STATE TAX SEMINAR

Every year at this time you will find me where I have been, with 1 or 2 exceptions for snow, for almost 30 years now – attending the New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Tax Professionals annual “Famous State Tax Seminar”, at the APA Hotel Woodbridge (formerly the Woodbridge Hilton) in Iselin NJ for probably 20 years now.  It truly is “famous”.  As I say each year, it is a “must-attend” for anyone who prepares New Jersey taxes for individuals and businesses. 

As has been the custom each year, the first presentation of the day, after preliminary remarks by the NJ-NATP President and Seminar Chair, is the “keynote” speaker, which is normally the current Director, or Acting Director, of the NJ Division of Taxation.   Unfortunately, while I do believe the NJDOT Director should be invited to speak each year, and his attendance shows his and the Division’s support of, and highlights the importance to the Division of, NJ-NATP and NJ tax professionals in general, the actual presentation usually provides the least amount of actual “continuing professional education”.

This year (still) Acting Director John Ficara returned.  And his presentation was, like last year’s, “redundant, touching briefly on topics that were discussed in more detail by the other NJDOT representatives in subsequent presentations.”

And, as I first observed a few years ago, “ . . . there was really nothing of consequence to ‘take away’.  There was no time for audience questions or comments, and he did not address real systemic issues with the Division.”

I once again repeat my suggestion first made a couple of years ago –  “Perhaps for the future seminars registrants could be asked to submit to the chapter in advance written systemic questions and concerns for the seminar chair to present to the Director instead of the nice but mostly useless keynote address.”

Before I continue, as a point of information, at this point in my career my interest is pretty much limited to individual income tax issues – involving the NJ-1040 and New York’s IT-201 and IT-203 – and only issues that would affect my current clients, although I still have a basic interest in major NJ corporate tax changes and the NJ property tax relief programs.  And, since I no longer accept new clients and am actually winding down toward retirement, as I have said often here and elsewhere, while I do believe you can teach an old dog new tricks, there are some new tricks this old dog doesn’t want to learn, and I say to any existing client to whom these “new tricks” might apply “Homey don’t play that”.

The reason we come to this seminar each year is to learn what is new with NJ state taxes – individual and corporate income, payroll, sales, estate and inheritance, and property.  And the “main event”, so to speak, is always what began in the mid-2000s as the “Jake and Jim Show” (long-time readers of TWTP and long-time attendees of this seminar will know what I mean) and has now become the “Alexis and Abra Show”.  I am talking about the presentations of what is now known as the NJ Division of Taxation’s “Taxation University”.

The TU program started off with sales tax.  As there was apparently nothing new in this area to report the NJDOT representatives walked us through the process and procedures of a sales tax audit.  Not a topic I was interested in.

The individual and property tax relief issues were covered by the Alexis of “Alexis and Abra”, who has been speaking at this seminar for years now and has been extremely helpful to me and other NJNATP taxpros in dealing with NJ tax issues during the year.  Her presentation identified the changes I have previously blogged about here in my post “WHAT’S NEW FOR 2019 NEW JERSEY STATE TAX FORMS” from last Tuesday. 

One item Alexis discussed involved the new sales tax and occupancy tax rules for transient vacation rentals that took effect with 2018.  Effective 8/9/2019, only properties rented via agencies like Air BnB and VRBO, travel agencies like Expedia, or that are “professionally managed” are subject to these taxes.  Individual property owners who personally rent out vacation homes do not have to register with NJ and be concerned with sales or occupancy tax.  And if an individual rents a property via Air BnB, VRBO or another such agency it is the agency that is responsible for registering with the state and collecting and remitting the tax.

Alexis also reported that beginning with 2020, all NJ W-3s, W-2s, W-2Gs, and 1099s - 2020 forms that will be filed in January of 2021 - need to be filed electronically –.  It is anticipated that these forms will be able to be filed directly via a free online option.

There were no changes to either the NJ Homestead Benefit or NJ Property Tax Reimbursement programs, other than increasing the PTR income eligibility limit to $91,505 for 2019.  The filing deadline for the 2019 PTR-1 or PTR-2 form is November 2, 2020.  Alexis reminded us that the 2018 PTR was the first time in over a decade the NJ legislature did not reduce the income limit for receiving a check to $70,000 in order to balance the budget.  All qualified applicants whose PTR gross income was less than $89,014 received a reimbursement check in 2019.  Let us hope the 2019 threshold will remain intact when the budget is passed this June.

There were also no changes to the NJ inheritance tax for 2019 or going forward, but TU did provide present a primer on the rules and policies for this tax - another topic I was not interested in.

As an aside, it is my belief that this day-long seminar should be limited to discussions of changes that affect the current tax filing season and really should not include purely educational presentations.

Abra of “Alexis and Abra” discussed NJ corporate taxes.  Here the major change involved “Unitary Combined Reporting” for corporations with direct or indirect common ownership.  I learned, thankfully, that this will not affect any of my very few remaining corporate return clients (an example of a “new trick” I don’t have to learn).  This blog if about individual income taxes anyway, so I won’t go into this topic here.

The last TU speaker covered “Identity Theft and Fraud Protection” items.  While not really an update, because of the increase in such theft and fraud it is a topic that needed to be addressed.

As has been the custom the last several years, the seminar ended with long-time NATP instructor and friend of NJ-NATP Kathryn Keane’s presentation of NY state tax updates and “Late Breaking Federal Updates”.  There was really nothing new for NY (I will address any changes to the NY state income tax forms in a post here when the 2019 forms are made available online) , so the “meat” of her discussion involved the last-minute extension of the infamous “tax extenders” by the idiots in Congress and the changes to retirement savings from the SECURE Act.

As always, NJ-NATP, the Taxation University, and KK did a great job.  Seminar Chairs Josh Melum and Alyce Taylor and new chapter President Teresa Marron deserve kudos.

TTFN

NATP YEAR-END TAX UPDATE SEMINAR

Monday and Tuesday of this week I attended the annual National Association of Tax Professionals 1040 Update seminar (Monday) and a seminar on “Business Tax Reporting on the 1040” (Tuesday).at Bally’s in Atlantic City.  Click here for more details on these offerings.

I have been attending the annual update seminar for as long as I have been a member of NATP (over 30 years).  However, it no longer has the value for me that it did in earlier years.  The actual update portion is truly redundant.  It is a year behind from my point of view.  While NATP is teaching the 2019 Form 1040-related numbers I am reviewing and compiling the 2020 numbers.

This was the first seminar I was attending as a designated NATP volunteer, helping with the signing in, handing out of workbooks and signing out.   

One new feature of the event was a pleasant surprise.  For the first time the continental breakfast provided included a hot option – bacon, egg and cheese or sausage, egg and cheese on a bagel.  As a diabetic I would have also preferred cereal and fruit as another option, and for the afternoon dessert break sugar-free cookies.

Monday began with New Tax Law and New Developments.  The only new tax-related law passed in 2019 was the “Taxpayer First Act”, dealing with taxpayer protections and identity theft prevention.  Congress is, and will be, incapable of enacting any substantive legislation on any issue until 2021.

There were few new developments, a major one being the issuance of IRS regulations dealing with the new, truly complicated, and in my opinion unnecessary Section 199a QBI deduction.  Speaking of the QBI deduction, new for 2019 are Form 8995 and Form 8995-A to calculate the QBI deduction, replacing worksheets that were used for 2018.  The applicable form is included in the 2019 Form 1040 filing.   

We reviewed the draft of the new 2019 Form 1040 and 1040-SR, which I have discussed here in previous posts, and the 2019 supplemental schedules.  What was new to me was the reduction of the previous 6 supplemental schedules to 3 – Schedule 2 and 4 are combined in the 2019 Schedule 2, Schedule 3 and 5 are combined in Schedule 3 for 2019, and the information previously reported on Schedule 6 is now on the 1040.  Reporting Schedule D income or loss has been moved from Schedule 1 to a line on the 2019 Form 1040.

We also took a look at the proposed new 2020 Form W-4.  Click here for a copy of the draft.  There are no more exemptions to claim – you no longer indicate “Single-0” or “Married-3”.  When filling it out you must follow the instructions and enter the requested information.  I would recommend you do not enter any amount for “deductions”, but do enter any other income, such as interest and dividends, and do not claim any or your dependents, or at least claim only half the number of exemptions to which you are entitled. 

One thing discussed was new to me - I was not aware that the $10,000 “SALT” limitation on Schedule A could have an effect on the home office deduction on Form 8829 and the rental income and expenses on a two-family home reported on Schedule E.  This is something I need to review further and perhaps devote a future post to it.

Under the GOP Tax Act only casualty losses resulting from Presidentially-declared disasters are deductible on Schedule A.  The workbook provided a list of these areas so far for 2019, and I wanted to share it here, but for some reason I cannot access the workbook online.  When this is fixed and I am able to I will post the list.

The text also identified this IRS webpage as a source of continuing information on disaster relief.

BTW – a Presidentially-declared disaster is different from a Presidentially-caused disaster.  Taxpayers cannot deduct losses from national disasters caused by Trump.  Trump himself IS a national disaster. 

As a point of information - my entire perspective in attending continuing professional education sessions is different now.  While, as a tax blogger I have a general journalist’s interest in new tax law and new tax developments, as a tax preparer who no longer seeks or accepts new clients, and is winding down my practice, I have no interest in taking time to learn anything new that does not directly affect my existing 1040 clients, or anything that involves too much complexity or study that perhaps might affect a few clients.  It is easier for me to tell the clients that the new law or development might affect, “Homey don’t play that”.

As I tell my clients, while I do believe you can teach an old dog new tricks, and I have to learn some new tricks every year, there are some new tricks this old dog doesn’t want to learn.

I was truly pleased that for the second year the update seminar did not include 2 hours of redundant ethics preaching.  I had always complained in the past that I paid for 8 hours of actual tax education but only got 6.

This may perhaps be the last year I attend the update seminar.  Next year I may choose the NATP Forum, also held each year in Atlantic City but at Harrah’s on the marina, instead to learn of new developments.

Tuesday’s business reporting seminar was basically a review, albeit a good review, and I really did not learn anything new. 

One more item worth sharing before I go.  The instructor explained that she was told why the new treatment of alimony in the GOP Tax Act did not take effect until 2019, instead of beginning in 2018 like other items.  As per the Act, alimony is not deductible by the payer or included in income of the recipient for divorce or separation decrees or agreements executed after December 31, 2018.  For decrees or agreements executed before January 1, 2019 the old law still applies.  At the time the bill was being written 3 Congressmen, presumably Republicans, were going through divorce proceedings which would not be finalized until 2018.  And as we know, most Congresspersons, apparently as we’ve learned recently certainly Republican ones, put their personal interests ahead of the country’s interests.

TTFN

AN ANNUAL TRADITION

Just as I always knew, before he retired, where one of my 1040 clients would be every year on New Year’s Eve – he was the technician that worked the machine that dropped the ball at midnight on One Times Square – you can be sure where I will be (barring weather or health complications) on the second Saturday in January every year - at the APA Hotel Woodbridge in Iselin NJ for the “Famous NJ State Tax Seminar” presented by the NJ chapter of the National Association of Tax Professionals.

In the almost three decades that this event has been held I have missed only a few offerings, due to snow.  This seminar is a “must attend” for any tax professional who prepares NJ state individual or corporate income, payroll, inheritance, and/or sales tax returns, and certainly worth, for me, the 2-hour 100 mile drive each way.

The event always includes a breakfast and lunch buffet, both now offered in the seminar area, which I prefer.  Last year the lunch buffet was limited to salads and sandwiches, and I had commented that I would prefer it include hot items.  Someone was listening, as this year the lunch buffet included cold salads and sandwich makings and several hot offerings.  I was pleased.  And the breakfast buffet continues to be among the best of those offered at tax seminars I have attended over the decades.

As has become the custom, after welcoming remarks from chapter Board members the seminar begins with a “keynote address” by the current Director, of Acting Director, of the NJ Division of Taxation.  This year we heard from, still only Acting Director, John Ficara.

I repeat my comment from last year’s “review” of the seminar –

“I have always felt that over the years, with very few exceptions, these presentations have been of no real substantive value to the tax pros in the audience.  I do accept that this practice is probably a good and necessary one, and, thankfully, very little time in the schedule is allotted to the Director’s presentation.  Mr. Ficara, was a good and obviously knowledgeable speaker . . . but there was really nothing of consequence to ‘take away’.  There was no time for audience questions or comments, and he did not address real systemic issues with the Division, such as its continued unethical practice of remaining ‘silent’ on taxpayer overpayments or unidentified payments.”

This year’s address was truly redundant, touching briefly on topics that were discussed in more detail by the other NJDOT representatives in subsequent presentations, and, again, nothing about the Division’s ongoing systemic issues.

To again repeat a comment from last year’s review post –

“Perhaps for the future seminars registrants could be asked to submit to the chapter in advance written systemic questions and concerns for the seminar chair to present to the Director instead of the nice but mostly useless keynote address.”

The rest of the morning was devoted to the presentations of NJ state tax updates from “Jake and Company”, aka the Division’s “Taxation University”.  Although it is no longer “Jake and Company”, but now “Bill and Company”.  Jacob Foy, who had been the Supervisor of the “Taxation University”, and had been speaking each year at this seminar since 2005 (when his hair was down to his shoulders and often tied in a pony tail), in the earlier years part of the popular “Jim and Jake Show”, is now the head of the, I believe, Taxpayer Communications Unit, apparently a newly created position.  Jake was replaced as TU Supervisor by William Malkin.  Bill has some huge shoes to fill; he got off to a good start Saturday.  Good luck, Bill!

Jake has truly been very helpful to NJ-NATP and its members, and specifically to me personally with various client issues, over the years.  I thank Jake for all his help in the past.  He assured me that he would continue to attend this “famous” state tax seminars in the future.

The first topic was “NJ Tax Updates” presented by Alexis Reid, another frequent speaker at the seminar and good friend to NJ-NATP, who has also provided invaluable help to me personally in dealing with client issues and NJDOT FUs.  I will be discussing the many changes to NJ state individual income taxes in detail in an upcoming post, once the 2018 Form NJ-1040 and instructions are available at the Department’s website.  Alexis did report that the NJ-1040, and its supplemental schedules, has been substantially revised, and the instruction booklet has been totally rewritten.  I look forward to reviewing the new editions, and, again, will report on the changes in detail in the future TWTP post.

NJ business taxes were discussed next, by Christina Quinones.  There have been several changes in the area of sales tax.  “Transient Rentals”, rentals of residential property located in NJ for less than 90 days, are now subject to the NJ state sales tax, which remains at 6.625%.  Rentals that are managed by realtors – the tenant deals with, receives the key from, and pays the rent to a realtor – are exempt from the tax.  The entity that collects the rent – A‌i‌r‌b‌n‌b‌, VRBO or other such agencies or the actual landlord for direct private rentals – is responsible for collecting and remitting the sales tax.

NJ now charges a “surcharge” on rideshare services, like those provided by Uber and Lyft.  Again, the entity that collects the rideshare fee – Uber or Lyft or the individual driver – is responsible for collecting and remitting the surtax.

There were no changes to the NJ property tax relief programs – the Homestead Benefit and the Property Tax Reimbursement – but Taxation University provided a review of the various qualifications with William Malkin and Tilesha McCall.

Actually, there was one change to the calculation of the Homestead Benefit.  It is now, in most cases, based on 5% of the 2006 property tax assessment instead of the previous 10%.  This 5% was used to calculate the benefit provided issued on May 1, 2018.  The 2019 budget provided a supplemental benefit equal to the amount paid in May to be issued on November 1, 2018.

The morning ended with a presentation by Jake on the current NJ Tax Amnesty program, which ends tomorrow (January 15^th).   

As an aside and follow up to last year’s comments, I was glad that the schedule this year did not include another full presentation on NJ state inheritance and estate taxes.

After lunch was perhaps the most important presentation of the day – at least for NJ tax pros who prepare or consult on payroll – “New Laws Regarding Sick Pay” by John Baldino of Humaresco.  It dealt with the, in my opinion, ridiculous and complicated “New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act”, signed into law on May 2, 2018, and which became effective on October 29, 2018.

John began the presentation by telling us to write on the front of his handout “I did not write this law!”  He discussed much of the program in detail, fielding a multitude of questions from the audience, but did not have time to cover everything.  As I said this was a very important topic, and it was appropriate not to limit the questions.  More time should have been given to John, as there were important items not adequately covered and questions unanswered due to the time constraint.

Again as has become custom, the final item of the day was a combination of NY state tax updates and federal updates by popular NATP speaker Kathryn Keane.  The big news for NY for 2018 is the state’s “decoupling” from the GOP Tax Act.  As with NJ, I will discuss the NY changes in detail in an upcoming post when the 2018 IT-201 and IT-203 are available.

Kathryn followed the NJ state discussion with a review and update of the GOP Tax Act.  I left before this began, having already sat through 4 redundant GOP Act presentations in 2018 and because of my 2-hour drive back to PA.  As I have said for the past several years, I very strongly believe that federal topics should NOT be a part of this seminar.  It should be limited to state tax issues only – NJ and NY and possibly PA.  The time allotted to the federal portion of KK’s talk should have been given to John Baldino for the Sick Leave Act.  In addition, the 10 or so minutes wasted giving out tote bags as prizes should have also been given to John.

As usual, the NJ chapter, and the state’s Taxation University, did a great job and once again deserve my annual kudos.  And John Baldino was an excellent addition to the roster.  I hope he can return in the future to speak on a different topic.

One non-state thing I was happy to learn on Saturday – the 2020 NATP National Conference will be held in San Antonio.  I last attended a tax conference there in 2004.  At a class taught by former IRS Director of National Public Liaison Beanna Whitlock she asked the assembled tax pros who still prepared tax returns manually – without using tax preparation software.  Of course, my hand was the only one to go up.  Beanna came over to where I was sitting and said, “I want to shake your hand.  You are the only person in the room who actually knows how to prepare a 1040.”  Needless to say, I have told that story many times in many venues over the years.   

TTFN

A CAPITOL IDEA – THE 2017 NATP NATIONAL CONFERENCE – PART 2

Let me return to the 36th annual National Conference of the National Association of Tax Professionals at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington DC, which I attended along with about 1000 colleagues (attendance was down from past NATP conferences I have been to) last week. 

As I said in Part 1, several of the sessions identified in the conference material caught my eye -

ü  Unusual Income Items

ü  Is It Above the Line, Below the Line or Not Deductible?

ü  Tax Stuff You Thought You Knew

ü  Special Occupations

ü  Every Choice Has a Consequence for Your Clients

ü  Panel Discussion

In addition to the above sessions I also attended classes on “Business use of Automobiles”, “Dealing With Divorce” (I had written on the tax issues of divorce in the latest issue of NATP’s TaxPro Journal and wanted to make sure I got it right), and “Casualty Losses and NOLs” (a topic that applied to a specific client’s 2016 situation).

I have been asking for a “Special Occupations” session on my conference evaluation forms for decades.  But just not necessarily the occupations this session addressed.  Discussed here were clergy, gamblers, teachers, and truck drivers.  I am more interested in police officers, firefighters, actors, and artists.  However I did attend this session.

NATP has not had a “panel discussion” session at a conference I have attended in many, many years.  I think the last time it was offered it was called “Ask the Experts”.  This conference session had 4 NATP instructors answering questions from the floor.  I would have preferred a more structured session – with maybe 1 or 2 more panel members and having questions submitted beforehand, either online prior to the conference or handed in at the Registration Desk during the conference (the panel discussion was the last session on the last day).  Questions from the floor could have been taken if there was time left after the previously submitted issues had been dealt with.

For those of you who also attended this session - my thoughts on the last question discussed were posted in “Silence is Golden” here at TWTP back in February.

One of the problems I have with the conference schedule – similar to my issue with the sessions at both the IRS and NATP Forums – is that each session was limited to 100 minutes, or 2 CPE hours.  This is not always enough time to properly cover a more involved topic.  I would prefer some extended sessions, similar to the schedule at the California Society of Enrolled Agents “Super Seminar” held each year in Vegas where there are some half-day sessions.  And some topics could be perhaps 75 minutes.

I did go to the annual “Tax Update” session, held in “general session” for all to attend at the same time (which I like, since almost everyone usually does attend).  However it was of no real value this year.  With no new tax laws and only minimal developments they had to really stretch to cover the 100 minutes.  The “tag team” of instructors filled some time by discussing “proposed” legislation.  I do not like this inclusion – I only want to hear about actual passed and signed tax law at this session so as not to cause confusion.  Perhaps there could be a separate session (here the shorter time frame would work) to discuss the various tax proposals with audience feed-back.

The keynote speaker at the conference this year was IRS Commissioner John Koskinen – appropriate since we were in Washington DC.  He opened his remarks by saying, “I’m going to read the fine print of the contract next time around to see what I am getting myself into.”

Koskinen was a good and humorous speaker.  He told us the recent 2017 tax filing season was the smoothest filing season in his tenure.  And he explained, as expected, that most of the IRS problems and deficiencies were due to underfunding by Congress and the continued adding of “unfunded” responsibilities related to the administration of government social benefit programs like the Affordable Care Act.  See the CCH news item “Koskinen Discusses Taxpayer Service, Return Preparers at NATP Event” for more on what he said in his prepared remarks.

He spoke for half of the 100 minutes and then opened the floor up for questions – telling us we could “ask anything and complain about anything”.

To be perfectly honest – I had a better opinion of the Commissioner after hearing him speak than I did before the session.

As is the case at most CPE events, most of what is discussed is basically a review and reminder of what I already knew, but I always learn some new things. 
 
I found one of the statements made by an instructor, new to me, to be verrrrry interesting (sorry – showing my age).  He said (in effect – I didn’t write down the exact quote) that if an answer to a tax question seems logical and reasonable and sounds right it is probably wrong.  Obviously our current Tax Code is rarely logical or reasonable.
 
As usual NATP did a good job of putting together an informative and entertaining conference, with excellent and knowledgeable instructors (many of whom were familiar to me) – and deserves kudos.  I was glad I attended.  I do believe I earned 22 CPE credits for the 4 days of classes.

I will not be attending next year’s conference in Anaheim – too hot, already been to Anaheim, not interested in Disney, overall will cost more than the value of the education received, and I don’t want to fly.  But I will be returning to Chicago for the 2019 conference.

TTFN

 

 

 

 

 

A CAPITOL IDEA – THE 2017 NATP NATIONAL CONFERENCE – PART 1

Last week I attended the 36th annual National Conference of the National Association of Tax Professionals at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington DC.  This was my 19th NATP conference.  My first was the 1988 conference in Orlando, Florida.  I had registered for the 2015 conference in New Orleans, which would have made this year my 20^th, but a health emergency kept me from attending.

I now choose which conferences to attend based on (1) the location and (2) the value of the education provided.  While there are many locations to which I would gladly return, with some one visit was sufficient – and I really no longer want to fly if I can help it.  No fear of flying – it has just become too much of a PITA. 

In a year when there is a lot of tax law changes and developments there is much more value.  There was no new tax law or developments this year – but I was intrigued by the titles and descriptions of some of the new educational sessions. 

I have been going to tax conferences, conventions, forums, and events for 30 years and at this point many of the educational sessions are truly redundant.  Or not relevant. 

I am in a unique situation.  I am winding down my practice and do not accept any new 1040 clients (or any new clients for that matter).  So I have no interest in tax law that does not apply to my current clients, except occasionally as a writer on tax planning and preparation issues.  While in the few years left before my official retirement clients may have new, different, or unique situations with which I have no experience and about which I have minimal if any knowledge.  In such a situation whether or not I would continue to prepare the return depends on the client – and if I did continue I would research the new issue or seek help from a colleague when it arose.

The location this year, unlike past CPE events I have attended in DC, was not in the downtown area – near the government buildings and monuments and the theatres.  It was on the outskirts of the Adams-Morgan section, and a couple of blocks from the Zoo.  I had never been to this part of DC before, and have no complaints about the location.  I am, however, curious to learn from my NATP Board friends if the choice was purposeful, or if downtown hotels like the JW Marriott were much more expensive or not available. 

I travelled to DC via Amtrak, driving to Jersey City from PA and taking the PATH to Newark.  The train going down to DC was “chock-a-block” and I was actually assigned a specific seat for the trip.  When I went to my gate at Washington’s Union Station for the return trip I found a very long queue.  However, I was pleased that, when it came time to actually board, a conductor came along the line looking for seniors, which apparently applied to me at age 63, and I was moved to the much shorter “priority” queue.  The train home was less crowded and seating was not assigned.

As has been my custom lately, I did not stay at the host hotel.  I selected the Windsor Park Hotel, just off Connecticut Avenue about ¾ of a mile from the Marriott across the bridge over the Potomac.  The room rate was a bit less than the Marriott and it provided free breakfast (adequate for my diabetic limitations – cereal but no fruit).  So I figured I saved about $200 in total, plus the side benefit of the exercise provided by the walk back and forth each day.

My room was clean and comfortable, if not luxurious.  The only issue was that I couldn’t get the tv to work (confusing directions), but this really wasn’t bad.  There was nothing much on tv anyway, and I watched new episodes of the BBC series VERA on my laptop via Acorn.com in the evenings, and listened to CNN being streamed live on Tunein.com in the mornings.

There were no restaurants either in or near my hotel – but there were several choices near the Marriott, on Connecticut Avenue and Calvert Street.  I had two dinners and a lunch at the Woodley Café, on Connecticut, and dinner at Sorriso Bistro and a restaurant named for me (not really – I was told Robert’s Restaurant was named for the son of the hotel’s owner) at the Omni Shoreham, both on Calvert Street.  I had one dinner, at Harry’s Pub, and three lunches, one at Stone’s Throw the others from The Pantry, in the Marriott.     

I had hoped to be able to see Washington’s resident comedy troupe CAPITOL STEPS while in DC – I especially wanted to see their take on the current political situation (in the troupe’s unique “pig latin” Donald Trump is, appropriately, Tronald Dump) - but they were not performing at their home venue while I was there.  They will be in Red Bank NJ in the fall, so I will have to wait until then.  I could not find any theatre or entertainment venues in the nearby area, and there was no evening entertainment at the Marriott.  What I miss at high-end chain hotels is a piano bar – like Bobby Short at Café Carlyle in NYC’s Carlyle Hotel.

On Wednesday, here at TWTP, I will discuss the content of the various educational sessions of the NATP National Conference in Washington, and provide some tax information of interest from the sessions.

TTFN