Prior to COVID-19, models of what could happen during a pandemic overstated the possible global death toll, but understated the potential hit to GDP. But as a series in The Economist explains, our current pandemic may have lasting impact. The impacts of shutting down schools for months at a time may persist for decades. Governments around the world are issuing debt at levels never before seen to finance support for… Read more
Fall is here, and with it, the beautiful colors of the season. Hikes and drives to see the colors are still something we can do, despite COVID-19, as this guide in the New York Times reminds us, with pictures and suggestions across the country. The Berkshires in Massachusetts, Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park, West Virginia’s Spruce Knob, Maine’s Grafton Notch, Percy Warner Park and Radnor Lake near Nashville, and Guanella… Read more
With our normal routines turned upside down, people have found as many ways to cope with the pandemic as there are neighborhoods. I love the section of the New York Times showing a series of postcard vignettes of neighbors coming together to connect and help each other, check it out. In Los Angeles, a family picks citrus fruit from trees in their neighborhood, sharing the bounty with the owners of the trees… Read more
Sleep is as close to a panacea as we are likely to get in our lifetimes: it helps us recover from injuries and illness, plays a vital role in memory formation, and helps keep us healthy. Disrupting our sleep has an adverse impact on nearly every system in our bodies. So it’s perhaps not surprising that a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that unemployment disrupts… Read more
As the world becomes more tech-centric, our behaviors have changed in ways that Emily Post could not have envisioned when she first compiled her guidance on etiquette. Fortunately for my firm we have been using video-chat software for years and have a system in place for two of our staff members NOW THREE to work remotely without skipping a beat. Elizabeth Spradley is now a “southern girl” having relocated to… Read more
After a solid week of number-crunching, a supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee analyzed the genetics of the COVID-19 virus to understand why it impacts so many different systems of the body. Analysis of the data resulted in a new theory about how the virus operates and why it causes so much havoc. Unlike many viruses that target just one or two systems in the body, the researchers… Read more
Shutting down economies around the world to fight the coronavirus has been a blunt and costly instrument, as this piece in the Wall Street Journal describes. Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong demonstrated that it was possible to reduce infection rates by widespread testing, contact tracing, cutting off travel with China and adopting masks. Such stringent controls were not possible in most states in the U.S., so instead we resorted… Read more
It’s been almost 3 weeks and we accountants, employers and employees have been waiting for answers so that we can make an informed decision. When I first read the memo I was concerned about the unforeseen consequences. Please click through to my blog post of August 10th, for the full details and concerns as next week starts the clock and I am still concerned. So are many who have been… Read more
Security has always been important to me as my firm started using: cloud based accounting software more technology solutions for transferring data between my clients, the tax authorities and my staff more technology solutions for client business efficiencies communicating between remote staff and clients As read through my on-line newsletters this morning I was reminded that although I have been writing and talking about the importance of protecting client data… Read more
In the past, automation and technological advances created more jobs than it disrupted, and innovation has greatly improved our lives. However, as this article in the Wall Street Journal reports, economists caution that the COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated the changes that have already been happening for the last several decades which may be creating a divide between skilled and low-skilled workers. “For many professionals, technology has been a lifeline… Read more
Until scientists develop an effective and safe vaccine, and that vaccine is administered to millions of people, our best means of protection from COVID-19 is herd immunity. Recent models hint that the protective effects of a population that has already been infected by the COVID-19 virus may exist at much lower percentages than previously thought. Instead of requiring that 70 to 80 percent of a population be immune, that threshold… Read more
Even though unemployment still remains high, and the US economy took a nosedive during the second quarter of 2020, US households managed to decrease their overall debt for the first time in six years. Even in the face of unemployment, credit card debt dropped by $76 billion during the second quarter as households cut back on non-essential spending. In the first six months of 2020, consumers reduced their credit card… Read more
Presidential Memoranda – Budget & Spending Issued on: August 8, 2020 Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster I knew it was too good to be true that this weekend I would not be studying yet another new tax act, policy, rev.proc. or similar! This weekend the White House has issued a Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster. Here… Read more
It’s no surprise to most Americans that the U.S. economy has suffered greatly from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what may surprise you is the extent of the decline: a record 32.9% contraction during the second quarter of 2020, the biggest drop since 1947. The virus is still spreading across much of the country, and for 19 straight weeks, more than 1 million people have submitted new claims… Read more
Perhaps the most challenging part of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is that many infected people never show symptoms or have such mild symptoms it’s easy to chalk that out-of-sorts feeling to a poor night of sleeping. Some estimate that as many as 40% of those infected never exhibit symptoms, and these people could be shedding nearly as much contagious virus as those with full-blown symptoms. This high rate of… Read more
Good morning again I am happy to be taking a short break after this long tax season. Blogging from Michigan where I am visiting with my family while MI Morning practicing social distancing. I am so glad the weather is cooperating as last night we were able to catch up and then eat dinner together while sitting at different locations in the backyard. Check out this beautiful MI morning as… Read more
Are you feeling out of balance from the changes brought on by the pandemic? You’re not alone, according to economist Jeffrey Tucker. Thanks to the media, many of us have been overtaken by fear, which may cause us to act irrationally. Tucker recalled a book from 1841, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, in which the author Charles Mackay describes many panic-inducing events of the past that resulted… Read more
“I got an Offer for an SBA Loan Now What Should I Do?” A few weeks ago I clicked on the email from disastercustomerservice@sba.gov and was a bit surprised that they were inviting me to set up my portal so I could continue my SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Application. I said to myself “I got an Offer for an SBA Loan Now What Should I Do?” Then I said… Read more
This tax season which (really) started December 2019 and just ended Wednesday, July 15th as we e-filed the last of the 2019 personal tax return extensions gives new meaning to the quote from Charles Dickens’, A Tale of Two Cities. While drafting the polling questions for our week’s NCCPAP tax and accounting live stream seminar which is focused on individual and business tax consequences of working at a “home location”… Read more
It’s the morning of July 15, 2020 and as I post this the clock is ticking on the last day of “Tax Season 2020”. With the countdown to the end of Tax Season 2020 on the opportunity will pass for a few time sensitive actions on your part: Today is the last day you can timely pay your 2019 tax liability with either your tax return or extension and the… Read more