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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.

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.

Of those nonfilers, the IRS did not work 369,180 high-income nonfilers, with estimated tax due of $20.8 billion.

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.

TICKER

$8 TRILLION

The reduction to U.S. GDP (3 percent) through fiscal year 2030 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office predicts.

60

The percentage of Americans who believe it is likely they’ll be personally impacted by a natural disaster in the next three to five years.

15

The number of Americans who have created a disaster plan to protect their finances.

11

Virginia’s ranking by WalletHub of the least federally dependent states. Kansas takes No. 1; New Mexico is the most federally dependent.

34

The percentage of public company execs who say their organizations have begun to implement the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) cloud computing accounting standard.

55

The percent of execs who say complying with the new standard was only somewhat efficient over the past year, costing more time and money.

VSCPA2025: Driving innovation and vision

In 2018, the VSCPA embarked on a bold plan to move the profession toward a successful, vibrant future, as embodied in our mission to empower our members to thrive. The VSCPA2025 strategic framework lays out four bold strategies centered on our aspiration to be the essential, strategic partner for CPAs, their profession and their communities. So, how are we doing? Here’s a check in on one of our bold strategies: Drive Innovation and Vision.

Because technology and change drive our society, including the business environment, CPAs must understand and embrace the latest innovations and cultural changes. Here are just a few ways we’re been rising to this challenge:

The COVID-19 pandemic has made us quickly pivot our offerings to provide the highest member value. We developed innovative ways to deliver the CPE you need remotely, offered resources and info for you on how to handle remote working, recorded videos and podcasts with governmental and professional experts and more. If anything has spurred change in the workplace to be future-forward, it’s the current global climate.

Tackling cultural changes head on is part of this strategy through our Center for Innovation. That’s why we didn’t shy away from releasing our Statement on Racial Injustice in June and continue adding info, tools and resources for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion at your own companies.

To showcase a workplace of the future for our members, we completed the renovation of the VSCPA Learning & Innovation Center. The old headquarters in Richmond received a massive facelift, with the latest technological advances for learning, working, collaborating and creating. Stay tuned; we’ll share more soon!

Visit our Center for Innovation at vscpa.com/Innovation for resources, programming and more.

We’re tweeting breaking news

Tax-related news from the Virginia General Assembly, professional articles and features, COVID announcements and more … The VSCPA publishes it all to our official Twitter feed. See you in the twittersphere! Make sure you’re following us at... Twitter.com/VSCPANews