Pub. 1 2019 Issue 2

7 nebraska society of cpas W W W . N E S C P A . O R G Contact Joni Sundquist at (402) 476-8482 or joni@nescpa.org. • The SocietyBoard has approved the addition of Student Affiliate memberships. We now have 70 new student members who are eager to learn more about the CPA profession and the Society! View a list of our new Student Affiliate members on page 8. We also have new banners and materials that our Accounting Careers Committee is using to help promote the profession at college and university career fairs. • On April 1, the Society will roll out its new cloud-hosted association management system (AMS), AM.net from Custom Data Systems Inc., which will help drive our strategic goals and initiatives, and allow us to find trends and opportunities that will benefit our membership. On the legislative front, Nebraska state senators are focusing on “priority bills” and the new biennial budget now that the second half of the session is underway. Senator priority bills are more likely to be debated by the full Legislature. Hearings concluded March 28 and full-day floor debate started April 2. The Legislature’s Revenue Committee reportedly is starting to shape a property tax package that could include income tax relief. As reported in the Nebraska Chamber’s News Update, Nebraska has the 16th highest individual income tax collections per capita at $1,177, according to the Tax Foundation, plus the 15th highest corporate income tax collections at $161 per capita. Nebraska has the 12th highest property tax collections per capita at $1,909, and the 22nd highest state sales tax collections at $956 per capita (not including local sales taxes). Here are a few other highlights that may be of interest to Society members: • LB49 was signed into law by Governor Ricketts on March 6 andwill go into effect in early September. Introduced by Society member Sen. John Stinner of Gering, the new law allows NebraskaCPA firms to create Employee StockOwnershipPlans (ESOPs). An ESOP is a type of retirement plan that often is used as a vehicle for succession planning. It provides a company the flexibility to buy out its existing owners either gradually or all at once, while allowing employees to own all the stock in the organization. ESOPs also can help businesses attract and retain good employees and offer tax benefits to businesses that are established as S corporations andCcorporations. This legislative effort was successful thanks to the ability of the State Board and the Society towork together to get things done.Also instrumental in the effort, in addition to Sen. Stinner and his staff, were former State Board Chairman JimTitus of Morris Titus Law Firm and Joan Cannon of McGrath North Law Firm. • On March 1, Society Chairman Patrick Meyer of Lincoln testif ied before the Nebraska Legislature’s Revenue Committee in opposition to LB507, a bill that would impose a sales tax on certain services, including accounting and tax preparation services. Thus far, LB507, introduced by Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, has not been moved out of Committee. • LB314, also introducedbySen. Briese, is another bill that imposes sales and use taxes on certain services. The Society was part of a coalition of 40 organizations that submitted a letter in opposition to the proposed legislation. It also remains in Committee. • LB117, which removes the requirement for a CPA to certify financial statements of contractors who are bidding on highway and bridge projects, was signed by the Governor on March 7. The Society Board had voted to remain neutral on this bill, which was introduced by Sen. Mike Hilgers. Other bills the Society is monitoring include: • LB663 would change provisions relating to Nebraska adjusted basis and is important for tracking Nebraska basis for future trade-ins. The bill has been designated as a priority bill by Sen. Curt Friesen. • AM268, an amendment to LB288, was introduced by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn. The amendment would address issues with Nebraska’s individual tax return (Form 1040N), Itemized Deductions. The bill has been designated as a priority bill by the Revenue Committee. • LB717, introduced by Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, would require certain vendors of state agencies to use Transparent Business software that tracks keystrokes, mouse movements, and takes screen shots every three minutes on the vendors’ devices. The hearing was March 20. • LB664 would provide a correction on Form 1040N to address the loss of the IRC Section 199 qualified production deduction. The bill, introduced by Sen. Friesen, remains in Committee. • LB581 would require the use of GAAP in preparing budgets for political subdivisions under the Nebraska Budget Act. The bill, introduced by Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, remains in Committee. These are just a handful of the 700-plus bills introduced by the Nebraska Legislature during this First Session of the 106th Legislature. The full text of all bills and other information is available online at https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills. The next Nebraska Society of CPAs Board of Directors meeting will take place May 29. Please contact me or any member of the Society Board with suggestions or comments prior to the next meeting. t We know that recovery—both from a personal and business standpoint—will occur in phases and will constantly change. Our top priority is serving the CPA profession in Nebraska with excellence, innovation, and remarkable service.