The United States has separate federal, state, and local governments with taxes imposed at each of these levels. Taxes are levied on income, payroll, property, sales, capital gains, dividends, imports, estates and gifts, as well as various fees. In 2020, taxes collected by federal, state, and local governments amounted to 25.5% of GDP, below the OECD average of 33.5% of GDP.
Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms. It primarily provides assurance, tax, information technology services, consulting, and advisory services to its clients.
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own stock of other companies to form a corporate group.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United States, the CPA is a license to provide accounting services to the public. It is awarded by each of the 50 states for practice in that state. Additionally, all states except Hawaii have passed mobility laws to allow CPAs from other states to practice in their state. State licensing requirements vary, but the minimum standard requirements include passing the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, 150 semester units of college education, and one year of accounting-related experience.
H&R Block, Inc., or H&R Block, is an American tax preparation company operating in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The company was founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of Columbia, with 2,629 branches and 9,523 ATMs. PNC Bank is on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets and is one of the largest banks by number of branches, deposits, and number of ATMs.
Grant Thornton LLP is the American member firm of Grant Thornton International, the seventh largest accounting network in the world by combined fee income. Grant Thornton LLP is the seventh largest U.S. accounting and advisory organization. The firm operates 59 offices across the US with approximately 8,500 employees, 550 partners, and produces annual revenue in excess of US$1.9 billion.
An S corporation, for United States federal income tax, is a closely held corporation that makes a valid election to be taxed under Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code. In general, S corporations do not pay any income taxes. Instead, the corporation's income and losses are divided among and passed through to its shareholders. The shareholders must then report the income or loss on their own individual income tax returns.
The United States federal government and most state governments impose an income tax. They are determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income, which is the total income less allowable deductions. Income is broadly defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and trusts may be taxable on undistributed income. Partnerships are not taxed, but their partners are taxed on their shares of partnership income. Residents and citizens are taxed on worldwide income, while nonresidents are taxed only on income within the jurisdiction. Several types of credits reduce tax, and some types of credits may exceed tax before credits. Most business expenses are deductible. Individuals may deduct certain personal expenses, including home mortgage interest, state taxes, contributions to charity, and some other items. Some deductions are subject to limits, and an Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) applies at the federal and some state levels.
Lewis William Seidman was an American economist, financial commentator, and former head of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, best known for his role in helping work to correct the Savings and Loan Crisis in the American financial sector from 1988 to 1991 as head of the Resolution Trust Corporation. He also worked as an economic adviser during three separate administrations of United States presidents: Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. He was lauded by both Republicans and Democrats for his work in cleaning up the frauds of the Savings and Loan disaster, but was pushed out of American government by the George H.W. Bush administration for disclosing the full extent of the crisis to the United States Congress and taxpayers.
RSM US LLP is an audit, tax, and consulting firm focused on the middle market in the United States and Canada and is a member of the global accounting network RSM International. RSM US has been ranked as the 7th most prestigious accounting firm in the US as voted on by accounting professionals. It is the 5th largest accounting firm in the United States by revenue and employs more than 16,800 professionals across 81 cities nationwide and in Canada. RSM US also maintains offices in India and El Salvador. Since 2012, RSM US has been headquartered in downtown Chicago.
Mazars is an internationally integrated partnership, specialising in audit, accounting and consulting group employing more than 47,000 professionals in more than 95 countries through member firms. With head offices in Paris, France, Mazars has a network of correspondent partners and joint ventures in a further 21 countries and is a founding member of the Praxity alliance, a network of independent firms.
The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses forms for taxpayers and tax-exempt organizations to report financial information, such as to report income, calculate taxes to be paid to the federal government, and disclose other information as required by the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). There are over 800 various forms and schedules. Other tax forms in the United States are filed with state and local governments.
Corporate tax is imposed in the United States at the federal, most state, and some local levels on the income of entities treated for tax purposes as corporations. Since January 1, 2018, the nominal federal corporate tax rate in the United States of America is a flat 21% following the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. State and local taxes and rules vary by jurisdiction, though many are based on federal concepts and definitions. Taxable income may differ from book income both as to timing of income and tax deductions and as to what is taxable. The corporate Alternative Minimum Tax was also eliminated by the 2017 reform, but some states have alternative taxes. Like individuals, corporations must file tax returns every year. They must make quarterly estimated tax payments. Groups of corporations controlled by the same owners may file a consolidated return.
Beard Miller Company LLP (bmc), a legacy firm of ParenteBeard LLC, was an accounting and auditing firm serving clients mainly in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The firm was created through a series of mergers, the largest occurring in January 2001 between Beard & Company and Miller & Company. Prior to merging with Parente Randolph in October 2009, bmc had 16 offices located in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, and more than 600 employees. bmc was a member of the larger BDO Seidman Alliance, which enables Accounting and Consulting organizations other than the "Big 4 auditors" to share resources which may be otherwise unattainable. The CEO of bmc was Lamar Stoltzfus, who is now chairman of ParenteBeard.
FORVIS ranks among the U.S. top 10 public accounting firms, providing assurance, tax, and consulting services.
GBQ Partners, LLC is a professional services firm. Founded in 1953, GBQ has grown organically and through acquisition to over 100 associates, making it the largest Columbus-owned accounting firm.
TaxSlayer LLC is a privately held tax preparation and tax software company based in Augusta, Georgia. The company offers online tax preparation technology for American consumers and tax professionals, allowing them to electronically file state and/or federal returns. TaxSlayer also offers business technology products and services for legal, bookkeeping and HR/payroll.
An accounting network or accounting association is a professional services network whose principal purpose is to provide members resources to assist the clients around the world and hence reduce the uncertainty by bringing together a greater number of resources to work on a problem. The networks and associations operate independently of the independent members. The largest accounting networks are known as the Big Four.
BDO is an international network of public accounting, tax, consulting and business advisory firms that provide professional services under the name BDO. It is the fifth-largest accounting network in the world. Global fee income of the member firms in the network for the year ended 30 September 2021, including the members of their exclusive alliances, totaled US$12.8 billion. Each BDO member firm is an independent legal entity in its own country. The network, founded in 1963 as Binder Seidman International Group by firms from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, is coordinated by BDO Global Coordination B.V., with an office in Zaventem, Belgium. In 1973, the organisation adopted the name BDO, made up from the initials of the three founding firms: Binder (UK), Dijker (Netherlands) and Otte (Germany).
$12.8 billion (global)