Months after the House adopted a project wish list for the one-time capital funding pool established in the biennial budget, the Senate introduced SB288 (Dolan) on Monday that includes a plan for all $700 million set aside in HB33 (Edwards).

Governor Mike DeWine on May 31 announced the 2024 expanded Sales Tax Holiday will take place from 12:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 30 until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, August 8. In conjunction with the Ohio General Assembly, Governor DeWine expanded the length of Ohio’s Sales Tax holiday to 10 days and will allow tax-free purchases made in-person or online on all eligible items of up to $500.

New Ohio Employer Withholding Rates: The Ohio Department of Taxation has issued new employer withholding tables for payrolls that end on or after July 1, 2024. The new tables include the income tax rate reductions that went into effect when House Bill 33 (135th General Assembly) was signed into law on July 4, 2023.

Tax revenues were back on target in May after a slide over the past several months that turned a $200 million-plus overage into a $400 million-plus shortfall in collections, according to preliminary figures from the Office of Budget and Management (OBM).

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final rule on April 23 banning virtually all noncompete agreements covering workers in the United States. Absent a successful court challenge, the rule will go into effect Sept. 4, 2024.

On May 9, the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity, of which OSCPA is a member, sent a letter to the Department of Labor urging them to delay until at least Sept. 1, 2024, the first increase to the minimum salary threshold under the DOL’s new overtime final rule.

The Ohio Society of CPAs government relations team has already hosted three guest speakers during the live portion of the Advance sessions, with one more still on tap for May 14.

Around the country at the state and national levels, discussions continue to take place about potential licensure improvements that will achieve the collective goal of increasing the number of licensed CPAs entering the accounting profession and increasing the number of experienced CPAs who stay in the accounting profession.

As the Joint Committee on Property Tax Review and Reform looks at potential solutions to rising property taxes around the state, one witness told the committee on April 24 that decoupling property taxes from the Fair School Funding Plan "may have very bad consequences," a notion backed by Ohio school officials.

The Accountancy Board of Ohio (ABO), the state government entity charged with licensing, regulating, and when necessary, disciplining CPAs, can significantly affect the practice of all CPAs. That is why OSCPA represents the profession at every ABO meeting and advocates for best-practice rulemaking. This meeting included a variety of topics.