Tax & Accounting Update is provided by Thomson Reuters and based on material published on Checkpoint, its online news and research platform. The Update is a quick-reference guide to the most pressing issues coming down the regulatory and administrative pipeline. Visit https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/checkpoint-news/ for further information and daily updates.
IRS News
IRS further extends tax relief for 2023 Hawaii wildfire victims.
The IRS has extended an earlier postponement, until August 7, 2024, for individuals and businesses with filing and tax-payment deadlines affected by the August 8, 2023, wildfires in Hawaii. Previously, the deadline was February 15. Affected taxpayers in Maui and Hawaii counties will now have until August 7, 2024, to file their 2023 returns and pay any taxes due; this relief is in addition to the tax relief the IRS announced last August.
IASB News
ISSB pressing to advance adoption of sustainability disclosure rules in Africa.
International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) board members recently met with high-ranking officials in three African nations to discuss “considerations for implementation” of sustainability disclosure standards, among other matters. Faber and ISSB board member Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien met with President William Ruto of Kenya; President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria; and government ministers in South Africa, according to a March 27 board announcement. The ISSB members also met with regulators, among others, to discuss the work of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rulemaking board. “A key theme of discussions throughout the week was around the opportunity for unlocking capital flows through the introduction of the ISSB standards,” the board said. Furthermore, the ISSB heard about “the expected benefits from establishing transparency within value chains, providing investors with a great understanding of the associated sustainability-related risks and opportunities through comparable, reliable, and assurable disclosures.” As part of the trip, the IFRS Foundation announced a partnership with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) and the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA), the board also said. FCDO “will provide seed funding to PAFA to create a comprehensive PAFA ISSB Capacity Building Strategy for the African continent,” the announcement stated. The program will “aim to empower PAFA’s network of 125,000 African accountants on the use of the ISSB standards and assist global progress towards high-quality, comparable sustainability-related financial information.”
Canada, Japan, Singapore consult on adopting new international sustainability disclosure rules.
Canada, Japan, and Singapore recently issued proposals to facilitate the adoption of the ISSB’s two disclosure standards, the board announced on April 3. This comes on the heels of similar steps by 13 other countries, which signals that efforts are rapidly advancing worldwide to adopt the landmark guidance. “The consultations demonstrate the momentum towards a global baseline of sustainability-related disclosures so that investors have access to high-quality, comparable information,” ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber said in a statement. “We encourage stakeholders to engage proactively with these consultations, as the ISSB continues to work with jurisdictions on their journeys to adoption or other use of our Standards.” Specifically, the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) proposed the first Canadian Sustainability Disclosure Standards based on IFRS S1, General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information, and IFRS S2, Climate-related Disclosures, “with some brief extensions to transition reliefs.” Canada’s rules would take effect in January 2025, the announcement states. The comment period ends on June 10, 2024. Furthermore, the Sustainability Standards Board of Japan (SSBJ) proposed to “incorporate all requirements” in S1 and S2, and added “when considered necessary, any jurisdiction-specific options the entity can choose to apply.” The comment period ends on July 31, 2024.
FASB News
FASB backpedals, will tailor international accounting rules on government grants for U.S. GAAP.
The FASB voted 6 to 1 to tailor an international accounting standard on government grants and incorporate it into U.S. GAAP—backpedaling on prior decisions that would have carved a different path of rules; board academic Christine Botosan dissented. The board said that the lack of explicit rules in GAAP presents a compelling need to stem accounting differences that have cropped up negatively in the U.S. capital marketplace. Further, the international accounting standard is already understood and used, and would fix an issue that was left unaddressed for years, according to the discussions. “When we do outreach with investors, we hear that frequently they do look at domestic and international companies, and so I do think it’s incumbent upon us when we have absence of GAAP that looking to international standards can be helpful,” FASB Chair Richard Jones said. “One thing I know is not to ‘do nothing,’ which is what we’ve done over and over again on this topic; we don’t make any progress,” he said among other remarks. The board will leverage the accounting framework within International Accounting Standard (IAS) 20, Accounting for Government Grants and Disclosure of Government Assistance, and revise it in targeted areas, according to the discussions. The standard will be improved in areas such as scope, recognition threshold, and cash flow statement presentation. Views were mixed about whether additional implementation guidance to illustrate some of the main principles of the requirements would be necessary.
