Business Frame Weekly – 2024 filing season could be paperless / Dollar on guard as US inflation test looms

Americans are moving further away for affordable homes and 'grandbabies' ate market: Reasons for recent home inventory up to restore default view.

Elon Musk says X will keep ad revenue from content creators who don't have a Blue premium subscription.

2024 filing season could be paperless, IRS says.

In this newsletter:

• Americans are moving further away for affordable homes and 'grandbabies' ate market: Reasons for recent home inventory up to restore default view.
• Elon Musk says X will keep ad revenue from content creators who don't have a Blue premium subscription
• 2024 filing season could be paperless, IRS says
• Home Energy Audits Are a Key Part of Qualifying for New Tax Credit, IRS Says
• Proof-of-stake validation rewards are income in tax year received
• Dollar on guard as US inflation test looms

August 08, 2023

Americans are moving further away for affordable homes and 'grandbabies' ate market: Reasons for recent home inventory up to restore default view.

Americans have widened their house hunt, moving further and further from their original homes. The median distance that buyers traveled to their new home was 50 miles in 2022, according to data published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That’s more than triple the median distance moved in the last 30 years, which ranged from 10 to 15 miles. "People moved to favorable weather, taxes, more space, affordability, [and a] good job market," Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist, said during a real estate summit. "We actually saw that people moved a much longer distance than we have seen historically." And for younger baby boomers who are leading the charge on these longer-distance moves, the reason is much more personal. "Grandbabies," Lautz said. "They're chasing that grandbaby multiple states away, just to be down the street."

Elon Musk says X will keep ad revenue from content creators who don't have a Blue premium subscription

Elon Musk said that content creators on X, formerly known as Twitter, have to be premium subscribers to be eligible for its new ads revenue-sharing program. "The ad money will otherwise be kept by X if you are not an X Premium (Blue) subscriber," Musk said in a post. To be eligible for the program, creators also need to be at least 18 years old, have a minimum of 500 followers, and have 15 million or more "organic impressions" on posts within the last three months. The price of an X premium subscription starts at $8 per month, or $84 a year, and it gives users access to extra features such as "Edit." In another tweet on Saturday, Musk said the program had "far exceeded" expectations and that there would be delays in processing the funds. X rolled out its ads revenue-sharing program last month. Musk said the first block of payments to creators totalled $5 million, with some users reporting substantial payouts.

2024 filing season could be paperless, IRS says

Former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson compares the efforts of the IRS to go paperless to the interstate highway system of the 1960s, when he was a child. "You would drive from New York, where we lived, and I-95 ended in Providence," he said in an interview with JofA. "You'd be doing great and then, all of the sudden, bingo, there was no more interstate. "That's how the IRS has been operating. It's got certain forms and activities that have been automated and others have not." Until this week, that is. With much fanfare, the IRS announced Wednesday that by filing season 2024, taxpayers will be able to file most returns and documents electronically. And by filing season 2025, the IRS will digitize all paper-filed returns when they are received. If the IRS can meet these goals, the Service will curb the deluge of paperwork that overwhelms it each year. The IRS receives about 76 million paper documents each year. Scanning those paper returns will put an end to the work of entering the information by hand, keystroke by keystroke. "This is a big watershed moment that's approaching," said Everson, who served as IRS commissioner from 2003 to 2007 and now is a vice chairman of alliantgroup, a tax and business consulting group that works with over 4,000 CPA firms nationwide. "And it will make a difference to the taxpayer service."

Home Energy Audits Are a Key Part of Qualifying for New Tax Credit, IRS Says

The IRS informed taxpayers on the home energy audit requirements in order to claim the energy efficient home improvement tax credit. The IRS on Aug. 4 provided guidance to taxpayers on the requirements for home energy audits in order to claim the energy efficient home improvement tax credit. Created by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, the nonrefundable energy efficient home improvement credit is available to taxpayers who purchase and install certain energy efficient improvements in their principal residences. The tax credit amount is equal to 30% of the total amount that taxpayers pay for qualified energy efficiency improvements installed during the year, residential energy property expenditures, and home energy audits.

Proof-of-stake validation rewards are income in tax year received

Taxpayers must include the fair market value (FMV) of proof-of-stake validation rewards in their gross income for the tax year in which they gain dominion and control over the validation rewards, the IRS ruled Monday in Rev. Rul. 2023-14. The ruling applies to cash-method taxpayers who stake cryptocurrency native to a proof-of-stake blockchain and receive additional units of cryptocurrency when validation occurs (i.e., validation rewards). The FMV is determined as of the date and time the taxpayer gains dominion and control over the validation rewards, the IRS said. In addition, the revenue ruling clarified that the result is the same if a taxpayer stakes cryptocurrency native to a proof-of-state blockchain through an exchange, then receives more cryptocurrency units as rewards through that validation. Proof of stake is a way to decide which user or users validate new blocks of transactions and earn a reward for doing so correctly. Proof-of-stake validation is less expensive and involves less work than proof of work, which requires validators to compete to produce a hexadecimal number. In its explanation, Investopedia says that under proof of work, "thousands of mining programs work on one block until the hash is solved, then move to the next block."

Dollar on guard as US inflation test looms

The dollar was on the defensive on Monday after a mixed U.S. jobs report provided little directional conviction and as market focus turned to inflation data from the world's two largest economies due this week. The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in July, data on Friday showed, but it recorded solid wage gains and a decline in the unemployment rate. While the dollar fell to a one-week low against a basket of currencies in the aftermath of the data, its losses were capped as the report pointed to a still-tight labour market, suggesting the Federal Reserve may need to keep rates higher for longer. The U.S. dollar index was last 0.08% higher at 102.14, edging away from Friday's low of 101.73.

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