ADVOCACY

Post-Stosch era kicks off with quiet session

The 2016 Virginia General Assembly session was the first in three decades that the VSCPA had to navigate without its greatest ally in Richmond — former Sen. Walter Stosch, CPA (R-Henrico), who retired at the end of 2015. His absence, while still felt profoundly in the Capitol, didn’t stop the VSCPA from accomplishing its legislative priorities and protecting CPA interests, even in seemingly unrelated legislation.

TAX CONFORMITY

The annual issue of tax conformity saw its quickest resolution in recent memory, with Gov. Terry McAuliffe signing HB 402 into law Feb. 5. The bill and its Senate counterpart, SB 545, provided permanent conformity with the enhanced earned income tax credit and advanced Virginia’s date of conformity with the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to Dec. 31, 2015. As always, the VSCPA supported the bills, which contained emergency clauses.

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION (TAX) LEGISLATION

The VSCPA didn’t take official positions on other legislation introduced by TAX, but did play its usual role in making sure new legislation didn’t cause conflicts with Virginia accounting statutes. This year, with the 2016–2018 state budget being determined, we closely scrutinized the budget bills to make sure they contained the proper accounting language. We also tracked unsuccessful bills that would have introduced new penalties and restrictions for filing fraudulent tax returns.

REGULATORY/EMPLOYMENT REFORM

The VSCPA also sought to prevent unintended consequences for the accounting profession on other bills. HB 499, HB 838 and HB 1388 all created potential barriers to effective regulation of the accounting profession before the VSCPA worked with the bills’ patrons to mitigate negative impact. The VSCPA also tracked two unsuccessful “ban-thebox” bills, HB 530 and SB 335. To hear Emily Walker, CAE, VSCPA vice president of advocacy, discuss the 2016 General Assembly session, click on the video above in the digital Disclosures edition at disclosures.vscpa.com, or watch it at tinyurl.com/2016SessionRecap.

FANTASY CONTESTS ACT

HB 775 and SB 646 place Virginia at the forefront of legitimizing and regulating the fantasy sports industry, and the VSCPA played a role by making sure the audit requirements contained in those bills match requirements the requirements contained in U.S. Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS).

BUDGET ITEMS

The VSCPA supported two line items in the aforementioned biennial budget that would increase funding for two organizations with missions the VSCPA supports. The Community Tax Law Project provides free legal representation to low-income Virginia residents in tax disputes, educates taxpayers about their rights and responsibilities and advocates for low-income taxpayers. The Virginia Council on Economic Education is the primary organization assisting Virginia teachers in attaining the comfort level with basic economic and personal finance principles to effectively teach the subject. At press time, both items were still included in the budget, but had not yet been approved by McAuliffe.

Follow more on the VSCPA’s efforts at in the “Advocacy” section of vscpa.com, where you will find news, position papers and more. n