Federal law requires every employer hiring an individual for employment in the United States to verify his or her identity and employment authorization through completion of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. 2012 saw a record number of Form I-9 audits and enforcement actions. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted more than 3,000 audits [...]

Charity Navigator’s new ‘joint cost allocation adjustment’ is drawing criticism from many charities and nonprofit professionals, including accountants and auditors. A long-established accounting practice (embodied in FASB ASC 958-720) establishes guidelines for accounting for costs of activities that include fundraising. Such activities include direct mail, telephone [...]

Welcome to the Entertainment Newsletter, containing content related to the people, news and business issues we see in our day-to-day service to the industry.In This Issue:Section 409A – An Important Tax IssueIn response to the Enron crisis in the early 2000s, Congress enacted Section 409A to punish unethical behavior and to make clear rules regarding the taxation of d [...]

By Margaret Karren Congratulations to Faye Washington of YWCA Greater Los Angeles. Ms. Washington was named as a Southern California Champion on the PBS airing of “Makers: Women Who Make America”. Check out this link to share in Ms. Washington’s vision and see her great accomplishment of the completion of the Los Angeles Job Corps Urban Campus: http://www.youtube.c [...]

BoardSource has recently released its 2012 Nonprofit Governance Index. The Governance Index is a national survey of nonprofit chief executives and board chairs. It identifies trends in board composition, policies and practices, and provides a view of the various challenges nonprofit boards are facing in their governance roles. Two key findings from the survey that I f [...]

By: Margaret Karren After much talk during 2012, there is hope for reform of A-133 audits. The proposed changes will increase the efficiency and eliminate unnecessary requirements. OMB Proposed Guidance On January 31, 2013, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued for a 90 day comment period, titled “Proposed OMB Uniform Guidance: Cost Principles, Audit, [...]

It is not uncommon for a client to inform us of an article that they have read, which was published in one of the well-known and reputable publications, about yet another profitable multinational corporation with no corresponding U.S. income tax obligation. Moreover, they want to know how can they set up their affairs to legally do the same. Once it is explained that [...]

By: Richard Ruvelson While many tax-exempt organizations have been concerned about the provisions of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, there are some other tax “reporting” issues that I want to remind tax-exempt organizations to consider over the next few weeks. Form 990 Since the 2012 Form 990 instructions were released on the IRS website on February 1st, [...]

GHJ recently conducted a targeted survey of food industry business owners and executives to explore topics such as business growth, pricing issues, new-business strategies and financial management. This year’s survey results show that owners are cautiously optimistic about the growth of their businesses in 2012 and through 2013. We presented the results of this survey [...]

By: Richard Ruvelson Happy Super Bowl weekend! This is the inaugural issue of our GHJ Nonprofit Tax Blog and I want to start out by saying how happy I am to be back in Southern California after 14 years and am enjoying the relatively warm weather. Although we had a cold spell recently, it’s still a lot warmer than the Twin Cities and I am enjoying my view of Catalina [...]