I know it’s busy season and all, but you might want to focus your binoculars on Annapolis for a couple of minutes. The General Assembly is considering some pretty important stuff that could impact Maryland CPAs. Our new legislative blog provides all of the details, but here’s a quick-hit summary that might prove useful:

• Sales tax on services: House Bill 448 proposes altering the definition of “taxable service” under the sales and use tax to impose the tax on specified services — including some services provided by CPAs. Get complete details here, including a list of resources and an explanation of our opposition to this bill.
• Comparative negligence: Yep, we’re dealing with this one again. Senate Bill 267 proposes that “in an action brought to recover damages for negligence under specified circumstances, the fact that a plaintiff may have been contributorily negligent may not bar recovery by the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s legal representative.” Read about why we’re opposed to this bill and what we’re doing about it.
• Business organization filing fees: HB 1053 raises the SDAT filing fee from $300 to $1,000 for corporations, partnerships, LLCs and LLPs, but offers a $500 tax credit for state taxes. We see a problem in that most pass-through entities do not pay tax and therefore will never be eligible for a credit. The proposed fee is out of line with surrounding states and therefore uncompetitive.  We are in the process of formulating talking points but wanted to be sure you and your clients were aware of it.

Check back here and with our legislative blog for updates as the General Assembly session progresses.