William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence

The Texas A&M Master and LL.M. of international tax, transfer pricing, wealth management, or risk management is accepting applications from financial professionals and from lawyers with at least five years of industry experience. Even though our graduate program has grown to over 800 enrollment, the enrollment for a course’s section is kept to between 20 and a maximum of 30 so that each student receives meaningful feedback throughout the course from the full-time academic faculty and renowned professional case study leaders, and each other via teamwork and peer review. Learn more about how we educate and position the industry’s leaders: https://law.tamu.edu/distance-education

Prof. William H. Byrnes

Robert Bloink, J.D., LL.M.

The DOL has recently announced yet another change to the worker classification standard that will apply in determining whether a worker is properly classified as an employee or independent contractor. That shift could have a wide-ranging impact on employers who have increased their reliance on independent contractors following the “great resignation.” In other news, clients should be reminded to check their withholding to account for any changes–and new guidance shows that increased IRS funding is likely to impact non-U.S. citizens and residents. Read on for more.

A note about our branding: You may have noticed that Tax Facts is no longer using the National Underwriter brand and is now using the ThinkAdvisor brand. At ALM Global, LLC, we are working to align our expansive tax and finance portfolio to make pertinent coverage more accessible. We have joined Tax Facts with ThinkAdvisor, a global information, data, intelligence and content division with reporters and editors all over the world. Although we have a new look, all of the valuable Tax Facts content is still here for you.

DOL Publishes New Rule on Worker Classification. The Biden Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a new standard for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The “new” rule would restore the multi-factor, totality-of-the-circumstances approach to determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. Those factors would once again be evaluated without assigning any particular weight to any specific factor. The focus in determining independent contractor status under this rule focuses on the economic realities of the work relationship, including investment, opportunity for profit or risk of loss and whether the work is integral to the employer’s business. The proposed rule also rescinds the 2021 standard that was developed under the Trump administration entirely. For more information on how workers are classified for employment law purposes, visit Tax Facts Online. Read More

IRS Reminder: Adjust Tax Withholding Now to Avoid Penalties During the 2022 Tax Filing Season. The IRS has released a reminder for taxpayers to check their withholding for 2022. Making adjustments now can prevent taxpayers from learning they have a larger than expected balance due during the April tax filing season. Clients should be reminded that they may need to adjust their withholding based on major life events, like marriage, divorce, a home purchase or the birth of a new child. The IRS website offers a tax withholding estimator that can help taxpayers determine whether they are having too much or too little withheld from their paychecks. Items that may impact a taxpayer’s taxes for 2022 include COVID-19 tax relief (including relief related to health insurance plans), disaster provisions designed to help taxpayers recover from wildfires, hurricanes and other unexpected events and a taxpayer’s moving into the gig economy during the so-called “great resignation.” For more information on estimated tax payments, visit Tax Facts Online. Read More

IRS Expected to Direct Increase Funding to Increase Compliance Among Non-U.S. Citizens. As most advisors now know, Congress will be allocating nearly $80 billion in additional funding to the IRS over the next ten years. One big questions that most have had is where the IRS intends to use those funds to increase enforcement efforts. At a recent American Bar Association Tax Section conference, one IRS official noted that a chunk of those funds will be used to increase tax compliance among non-U.S. citizens and foreign nationals who live and work in the United States. For advisors whose client rosters include non-U.S. citizens, now is the time to focus on compliance efforts. That may include participating in voluntary disclosure program. Advisors should also consider discussing the potential immigration consequences that falling out of compliance with U.S. tax obligations may create. For more information on the tax treatment of non-citizens, visit Tax Facts Online. Read More

Look in your Tax Facts Online app for our continuing analysis of 2022 and 2023 legislative and regulatory updates, weekly intelligence, and the impact on planning for a client’s wealth preservation and growth.

Texas A&M, operating budget of $9.6 billion (FY2022) and capital budget of $1.9 billion, is #1 for U.S. public universities, one of only 60 accredited U.S. universities of the American Association of Universities (R1: Doctoral Universities – Highest Research Activity) and one of only 17 U.S. universities that hold the triple U.S. federal grant of Land, Sea, and Space! The law school, ranked in the 1st tier of law schools and is ranked in the top 10 for the employment of its graduating law students among U.S. law schools.

• Ranked in top 20 public universities by Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education (2020)
• #2 endowment for U.S. public universities, #8 overall
• #1 of U.S. public universities for a superior education at an affordable cost
• #1 for most CEOs employed by Fortune 500
• top 10 for the employment of its law graduates
• Rank #11 by Money Best Colleges Report, 2021 and #5 in U.S. among public universities (Sources: U.S. Department of Education, Peterson’s, PayScale.com, Money/College Measures calculations)
• Texas A&M ranks #1 in Texas, #1 in the SEC, and #12 in the U.S. in Washington Monthly’s 2020 overall college rankings based on the quality of education, accessibility, graduation rates, student involvement, and research: see tx.ag/WashMonth20
• The School of Law enrollment is 850 Master/LL.M. students with a maximum of 30 per course section. The university enrollment is 70,000 degree seekers.