With the election just one day away, there are a lot of news articles about each candidate’s proposed tax plans and fiscal policies. Third quarter 2020 earnings numbers are being reported, as well as year-end projections. Here are several articles that you should find insightful:

(Accounting Today) IRS Adjusts Tax Item Amounts for 2021 Due to Inflation. The IRS issued its annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2021, revising more than 60 tax provisions, including tax rate schedules, standard deduction amounts and more. Learn more.

(Bureau of Economic Analysis) Gross Domestic Product, Third Quarter 2020 (Advance Estimate). Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 33.1% in the third quarter of 2020, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP decreased 31.4%. Learn more.

(Cision) 83% Of Small Business Owners Report Optimism For 2021. A new sentiment survey of small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners describes their outlook for 2021 as optimistic despite the significant impact of COVID-19 on business performance throughout 2020. The report, authored by GGV Capital and Hello Alice, also suggests that business owners expect an uptick in hiring, technology purchases, and overall growth. Read more.

(IRS) The IRS Announced Cost‑of‑Living Adjustments Affecting Dollar Limitations for Pension Plans and Other Retirement-Related Items for Tax Year 2021 in Notice 2020-79. Income ranges for eligibility to make deductible contributions to traditional IRAs, to contribute to Roth IRAs, and to claim the Saver’s Credit will all increase for 2021. The limit on contributions by employees who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan, remains unchanged at $19,500. The catch-up contribution limit for employees aged 50 and over who participate in these plans remains unchanged at $6,500. The limitation regarding SIMPLE retirement accounts remains unchanged at $13,500. The limit on annual contributions to an IRA remains unchanged at $6,000. The additional catch-up contribution limit for individuals aged 50 and over is not subject to an annual cost-of-living adjustment and remains $1,000. Read more.

(MSN) What is Form 1099-NEC? Beginning with the 2020 tax year, the IRS will require business taxpayers to report nonemployee compensation on the new Form 1099-NEC instead of on Form 1099-MISC. Businesses will need to use this form if they made payments totaling $600 or more to a nonemployee, such as an independent contractor. Read more.

(Tax Foundation) 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index. The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. Once again, New Jersey was ranked the worst at number 50. Learn why.

(The New York Times) The U.S. Economy Grew 7.4% in the Third Quarter, a 33.1% Annual Rate, the Biggest Gain Ever. But GDP still lags pre-pandemic levels. U.S. economic output grew at the fastest pace on record last quarter as businesses began to reopen and customers returned to stores. But the economy has climbed only part of the way out of its pandemic-induced hole, and progress is slowing. Read more.

(Journal of Accountancy) Tax Consequences of Data Breaches and Identity Theft. Individual taxpayers and businesses that are targeted experience staggering losses. And after such data breaches and identity thefts occur, taxpayers often employ measures designed to defeat future threats. These preventive steps also commonly come at a steep price. Learn more.

(Accounting Today) Election 2020: What Preparers and Clients Say About Candidates’ Tax Plans. Few U.S. elections in memory have presented candidates who differ more. In the presidential race especially — and when it comes to taxes — the choices seem clearly in one direction or the other. Learn more.

(Accounting Today) Election 2020: Trump vs. Biden on Individual Tax Policy. Here is an at-a-glance summary of the two candidates’ proposed policies for taxes on individuals. Read more.

(Accounting Today) Election 2020: Trump vs. Biden on Corporate Tax Policy. Here is an at-a-glance summary of the two candidates’ proposed policies for corporate taxes. Learn more.

(Accounting Today) Election 2020: Trump vs. Biden on Employment, Health Care and Energy Taxes. Here is a roundup of the presidential candidates' tax proposals on a range of topics, including employment, health care and energy. Read more.

(New York Times) Did President Trump Keep His First-Term Promises? Let us Look at 5 of Them. Four years ago, Donald J. Trump won the presidency after making a series of concrete promises to his supporters. Mr. Trump’s campaign four years ago was rooted in promises of tax cuts and the appointment of judges with conservative credentials. Read more.

(New York Times) How Long Will Vote Counting Take? Estimates and Deadlines in All 50 States? Although many winners may quickly be evident on election night, the increase in mail voting because of the pandemic is expected to push back the release of full results in many key states. Discover why.

(Tax Foundation) Analysis of 2020 Presidential Tax Plans. Tax policy has become one of the major issues of the 2020 presidential election. Experts are continuing to provide leading research and analysis on the latest tax proposals. Explore our resources below to see where the 2020 presidential candidates stand on taxes. Read more.

(Accounting Today) Tax Strategy: More Than the Usual Year-end Tax Planning. Year-end tax planning for 2020 involves several new wrinkles, in addition to the usual strategies. The Treasury Department and the IRS continued a significant flow of guidance with respect to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2020. Most of the new tax legislation was related to COVID-19 relief, and frequently expires at the end of 2020. Those pesky regularly expiring provisions are also expiring once again at the end of 2020. Read more.

(Accounting Today) CFOs Face Growing Demands Amid Coronavirus. CFOs and senior finance executives are dealing with a growing number of responsibilities and demands because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report. The report, from consulting firm Protiviti, found that the pandemic has been a wake-up call to finance departments that weren’t already investing, or weren’t investing enough, in cloud-based systems as they have struggled to shift to the remote work environment. Eighty percent of the 1,057 finance leaders surveyed ranked security and privacy of data as a top priority, while 78% cited enhanced data analytics, and 72% cited cloud-based applications. Read more.

(Capitive.com) US Workers Compensation Market Likely to Post Strong Profits in 2020. U.S. workers compensation insurers are poised to report strong profitability this year, despite economic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Fitch Ratings. Fitch noted that declines in economic activity resulting from the pandemic led to reduced claims frequency that is currently outpacing pandemic-related losses. However, underwriting performance in 2021 and beyond will likely deteriorate, the rating agency said, as claims activity normalizes with increased worksite business activity and premium revenue continues to fall amid recent underwriting exposure reductions and competitive pricing forces. Read more.

(Construction Dive) Second Wave of COVID-19 Impacts Construction, and the Results Aren't Good. A second wave of business impacts from COVID-19 is reverberating through construction contractors’ operations, and those consequences are getting worse as the pandemic wears on, according to the latest survey results from the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). More contractors reported postponed or canceled projects than new starts. Three quarters of contractors surveyed, or 75%, said they’d had projects pushed out or nixed completely, up from 60% in August and 32% in June, while only 23% reported working on new or expanded jobs. Learn more.

(POLITICO) SBA Presses Big Businesses to Justify Aid, Sparking Uproar. The Small Business Administration is quietly rolling out an effort to scrutinize the largest businesses that took payroll support loans during the pandemic, demanding new details about their operations to justify the aid. The SBA this week began to circulate "loan necessity" questionnaires aimed at companies and nonprofits that took forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans worth $2 million or more. There are two questionnaires: Form 3509: Paycheck Protection Program Loan Necessity Questionnaire (For-Profit Borrowers) and Form 3510: Paycheck Protection Program Loan Necessity Questionnaire (Non-Profit Borrowers) Read more.

(Office of Governor Murphy) Executive Order Outlines COVID-19 Protocol for All Businesses. Governor Murphy has issued Executive Order 192, mandating private and public companies to implement uniform health and safety standards to protect against the spread of Coronavirus. This executive order is for essential and non-essential businesses. This order goes into effect at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 5, and requires the following:

Under the order, the Department of Labor will also create an online complaint form for workers and will work with the Department of Health to create investigation protocols. Read EO 192 in its entirety.

We will continue to keep you updated. Please visit our COVID-19 Resource Page for more alerts.

Feel free to contact any member of our team at (610) 828-1900 (PA) or (732) 341-3893 (NJ) with questions. Rich Higgins, CPA, managing principal – New Jersey office can be contacted at Richard.Higgins@MCC-CPAs.com. I can be reached at Marty.McCarthy@MCC-CPAs.com. As always, we are happy to help.