By Ryan G. Lafferty, CPA

In late 2017, the Pennsylvania CPA Journal Editorial Board had our annual digital-only magazine all lined up. The topics were set and the authors were hard at work. Then along came the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and blew all of our plans out of the water. The Pennsylvania CPA Journal Editorial Board and the PICPA Federal Taxation Committee scrambled to get a handle on the tax reform law. Numerous members answered the call to write articles or coordinate with subject matter experts to put together a digital publication that is exhaustive in its coverage of different aspects of the new law and its impact on the CPA landscape.

Quite frankly, it is a publication unlike any we had ever done before. And we are proud to present to you the Federal Tax Reform Guide presented by the Pennsylvania CPA Journal. We are certain it is going to help you as a CPA and PICPA member navigate the altered state of federal taxation.

There are 11 articles in this magazine. Each one is detailed and comprehensive. Here are just a few of the stories:

• “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s Effect on Personal Income Tax,” by PICPA Federal Taxation committee chair Sean J. Brennan, CPA
• “The Pros and Cons of the New Section 199A Pass-Through Deduction” by Federal Taxation Committee member Robert E. Duquette, CPA
• “State Tax Considerations of Federal Tax Reform” by Matthew D. Melinson, CPA, Drew VandenBrul, CPA, and Katherine M. Piazza, JD
• “Tax Reform and Agribusiness: Opportunity and Controversy” by Barry D. Groebel, CPA, and Bryanna L. Fredericks, CPA
• “Tax Reform’s Effect on Charitable Giving” by Laurie A. Siebert, CPA, CFP

I could go on about the tremendous contents of this edition, especially because I would like to make sure that every author who contributed under the heightened pressure of such a tight deadline gets his or her name in lights. They all provided outstanding pieces on short notice at the quality level expected by Pennsylvania CPA Journal audiences.

Please take the time to read this digital magazine. You will finish it with a greater appreciation of what tax reform means to the CPA profession, its clients, and our employers in industry. That said, tax reform is a huge topic, and you can be certain that we will be covering even more in future issues of the Pennsylvania CPA Journal.

Ryan G. Lafferty, CPA, is a partner with Attolon Partners LLC in Philadelphia and chair of the Pennsylvania CPA Journal Editorial Board. He can be reached at rlafferty@attolon.com.