Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting:

What: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it will start accepting and processing 2020 tax returns on February 12, 2021. It stated that the start date was selected to ensure the security and readiness of key tax processing systems and to address the potential impact of recent tax legislation on 2020 tax returns. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, enacted on December 27, 2020, included many tax provisions with a potential impact on 2020 tax returns.

• In 2020, the January 27 start date was impacted by the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, enacted late in 2019
• In 2019, the January 28 start date was impacted by the government shutdown
• In 2018, the January 29 start date was impacted by the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted late in 2017

Why: The start date is important for taxpayers looking to receive tax refunds as soon as possible and for tax return preparers looking to balance workload during the tax filing season. Factors to consider with the announced start date include the following.

• Year-end tax changes with a potential impact on 2020 tax returns include: additional economic stimulus payments; allowing the employee retention credit even if you have a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiven; deducting PPP expenses; allowing 2019 Adjusted Gross Income for the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit; disaster relief; 30-year depreciation of residential rental property; and Covid-related expenses qualifying for the educator expense deduction
• Many of the tax changes enacted in 2020 could also impact 2018 and 2019 tax returns, so 2018 and 2019 amended tax returns should also be considered
• Some forms that taxpayers should start assembling for tax return preparation include: Form W-2; various Form 1099s, including the new Form 1099-NEC for non-employee compensation and Form 1099-G for certain government payments, such as unemployment benefits; and Notices 1444 and 1444-B for the recovery rebate credit
• Besides the new recovery rebate on Line 30 of Form 1040, also new on the form is a move of a virtual currency question to the top of Form 1040; the new charitable deduction for non-itemizers on Line 10b; and the reporting of estimated tax payments on Line 26
• The IRS is still prohibited by law from issuing tax refunds for tax returns claiming certain tax breaks until February 15, 2021 and estimates refunds for those returns will not be issued until early March
• The IRS continues to encourage electronic filing of tax returns and choosing direct deposit for faster refunds & more accurate returns
• The due date for individual tax returns is April 15, 2021, with no additional days due to weekends or holidays this year, although some tax preparers are requesting that, due to the later start date, the due date be correspondingly extended

Wolters Kluwer Tax Briefing: Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting published the 2020 Tax Year-In‘Review expert briefing that highlights tax code changes made in 2020 and a look ahead for 2021 and beyond.

Who: Federal tax expert Mark Luscombe, JD, LL.M, CPA, Principal Federal Tax Analyst at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, is available to discuss issues around the start of tax filing season.

PLEASE NOTE: The content of this article is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. The information is provided with the understanding that Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services.

Contact: To arrange interviews with Mark Luscombe and other federal and state tax experts from Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting on this or any other tax-related topic, please contact Bart Lipinski.

BART LIPINSKI

847-267-2225

[email protected]

Equity Trust Company (Equity Trust), a leading, technology-enabled financial services company offering alternative asset custody in retirement accounts, announced the launch of myEQUITY Connect, an application programming interface (API) that allows investment platforms, metals dealers, and advisors to integrate with Equity Trust Company to create seamless investor interactions.

The launch of myEQUITY Connect underscores Equity Trusts commitment to the development of best-in-class technology solutions. myEQUITY Connect provides endpoints that deliver connection throughout the entire lifecycle from opening and funding an IRA, to submitting an investment request, as well as real-time access to the data to track and monitor activities and cash availability.

myEQUITY Connect allows for a streamlined and simplified investor experience, said Jessica Hunley, Senior Product Manager, Digital Experience. Allowing for platforms to keep the investor on their site and leverage technology to link systems together and automate the processing of the requests.

Equity Trust anticipates the needs of todays investment platforms, metals dealers, and advisors, helping build important relationships that drive growth in an ever-changing landscape. The API suite will streamline and simplify the investing process for investors by allowing them to stay in one place to direct their IRA funds. Platforms, metals dealers, and advisors have the advantage of developing an experience that allows them to tap into the $11.3 trillion* IRA market. myEQUITY Connect promotes flexibility for partners to select full, end-to-end, or targeted integrations that support reduction in attrition and delays in the handover to IRA custodians with this toolkit.

A new developer portal enables developers to easily access all the APIs available. Through this portal, Equity Trust will provide developers with technical documentation and reference guides to support the API integrations. To get started or for more information about myEQUITY Connect, please visit: https://myequityconnect.com.

*As of September 2020. Investment Company Institute, ici.org

ABOUT EQUITY TRUST COMPANY

Equity Trust Company is a financial services company that enables individual investors and financial professionals to diversify investment portfolios using alternative asset classes such as real estate, tax liens, private equity, cryptocurrency, and precious metals. The Equity Trust family of companies offers custodial services for alternative investments and back-office solutions for Registered Investment Advisors, brokerage services, directed trustee services and more. Equity Trust Company is the trusted custodian and administrator of $28.7 billion in assets on behalf of more than 170,000 clients as of March 1, 2020.

For more information, visit https://www.trustetc.com/. Financial professionals visit https://www.equityinstitutional.com.

Equity Trust Company is a directed custodian and does not provide tax, legal or investment advice. Any information communicated by Equity Trust Company is for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as tax, legal or investment advice. Whenever making an investment decision, please consult with your tax attorney or financial professional.

Jessica Hunley

(P) 888 382 4727 x7256

[email protected]

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), the worlds leading research and advisory company, today announced that Craig Safian, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will present at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference.

Gartners presentation is scheduled for 2:50 pm ET on Thursday, February 11, 2021. A link to the live webcast of the presentation will be available via the Company’s web site at http://investor.gartner.com. A replay of the webcast will be available for approximately 30 days following the presentation.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), is the world’s leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of tomorrow.

Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. We are a trusted advisor and an objective resource for more than 14,000 enterprises in more than 100 countries across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size.

To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of business, visit www.gartner.com.

Gartner-IR

David Cohen

GVP, Investor Relations, Gartner

+1 203.316.6631

Kathleen Persaud

Director, Investor Relations, Gartner

+1 203.316.1672

[email protected]