LINE ITEMS
Virginia expands inclusion — By law On July 1,
Virginia became the first state in the South to enact comprehensive protections for the LGBTQ community against discrimination in housing, employment, public spaces and credit applications. The Virginia Values Act, signed by Gov. Ralph Northam in April, touches on several areas in private employment. Make sure your firms, employers and HR professions are current on the latest state non-discrimination laws. A few highlights: • Discrimination based on race or because of race now includes because of or based on traits historically associated with race, including hair texture, hair type and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists. • Employees have new legal rights and remedies if they sue employers under the Human Rights Act. • Employers may not discharge or take retaliatory action against employees because they discussed or inquired about theirs or another employee’s wages or other compensation. They also cannot take retaliatory action if an employee reports a violation of a state or federal to a supervisor or the government. This information was presented by Karen S. Elliott, Esq., in “Rethinking the Workplace Because of COVID-19,” during the VSCPA 2020 Virtual Business & Industry Conference. Check out all of our CPE offerings related to HR in the CPE Catalog at vscpa.com.
MORE THAN 1,000 NEW LAWS Highlights from new Virginia laws going into effect July 1: Election Day is a holiday. Lee-Jackson Day is no longer an official state holiday.
The gas tax goes up. The gas tax will increase 5 cents this year and 5 cents next year, and then the rate will be tied to inflation.
Online sports betting is legalized. But not for Virginia-based teams.
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DISCLOSURES
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JULY/AUGUST 2020
How much do non-filers owe? A lot. High-income nonfilers owe the government billions, according to a May report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) — and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is letting thousands slide. Even though the IRS has a new strategic approach to tackle nonfilers, the strategy is not yet implemented and there is not a single area in the IRS responsible for oversight. Data analyzed by TIGTA from tax years 2014 through 2016 found: •
879,415 high-income nonfilers did not have a satisfied filing requirement, with an estimated tax due of $45.7 billion.
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Of those nonfilers, the IRS did not work 369,180 high-income nonfilers, with estimated tax due of $20.8 billion.
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510,235 high-income nonfilers with a total estimated tax due of $24.9 billion will likely not be pursued as resources decline.
How can the problem be fixed? TIGTA has seven recommendations, such as designating a senior management official to have resources and jurisdiction over the problem. In response, the IRS disagreed with one of the recommendations, agreed with two and partially agreed with four. Learn more at treasury.gov/tigta.
