The Pennsylvania elections -- both state and federal -- are receiving national attention this year, and the May 17 primary will determine which candidates will move forward as their parties' nominees for the November general election. This blog provides an overview of your primary election options, at both the state and federal levels.

Sales and Use Tax Bulletin 2021-05 covers the taxation of equipment rental and equipment rental with operators. The bulletin restates the presumption that when a vendor provides the use of equipment with an operator, the transaction is a rental of equipment. As such, the charge is subject to Pennsylvania sales and use tax. This is very important to vendors of equipment rentals and services involving the use of equipment who should review their contracts to verify that the sales and use tax treatment is consistent with Pennsylvania regulations.

With both the political and economic environments seemingly ripe for such a discussion, the Pennsylvania General Assembly appears poised to address a variety of tax law changes. One that could appear on the legislative agenda is PICPA’s effort to address the growing inequity in state and local taxation via an elective pass-through entity tax.

Recent spear phishing emails are masquerading as messages from the IRS tax return preparation software. To help practitioners identify and address spear phishing threats, the IRS Stakeholder Liaison is conducting two briefings the week of March 28 to show tax professionals what some of the most recent scam emails look like.

Approximately 44% of Pennsylvanians (about 2.1 million residents) have no access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Legislation now in the Pennsylvania House Commerce Committee would establish the Keystone Saves Program. Through the program, the state would embark on an auto-enrollment payroll deduction IRA.