Friday marks the halfway point of the 2015 Legislative Session. This has been a very busy
Jane Egan
MSCPA Executive Director
eight weeks for those advocating on your behalf at the Montana Legislature. So who is advocating for you?
- Your fellow members on the Legislative & Governmental Affairs and State Taxation Committees
- Your fellow members who have an interest in specific bills
- Your lobbyist Holly Franz
- Your MSCPA staff
We are having a great session so far with all of our priorities advancing – knock wood!
So let’s talk about the bills impacting the CPA profession and the position MSCPA has taken on each of them:
HB 44– Rep. Tom Berry
SUPPORT: Change Montana from a two-tier license (certificate and then license to practice) to a one-tier (license only – no interim certificate); eliminate any reference to LPA (they are a dying class); clarify firm registration (no separate registration for satellite offices); allow a fee for firm registration
WHERE IS IT: Passed the House (1/27), transmitted to the Senate
HB 184 – Rep. Greg Hertz at the request of MSCPA
SUPPORT: Exempt CPAs from Private Investigator License Requirements
WHERE IS IT? Our first victory! SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR (2/18)! Effective Date: October 1, 2015
HB 560 – Rep. Greg Hertz at the request of MSCPA
SUPPORT: Allow the Board of Public Accountants to change their fund structure from an appropriation to an enterprise fund in order to have more control over how they spend the funds they bring in from license fees.
WHERE IS IT? Hearing in House Business & Labor 3/11
SB 39 – Sen. Cary Smith
SUPPORT: Provide for the civil offense of bad faith assertions of a patent right including remedies and damages. This bill will curtail the efforts of patent ‘trolls’ or ‘patent assertion entities’ which purchase patents for the express purpose of filing patent infringement lawsuits against companies to get licensing fees or a legal settlement without actually making any goods or providing any services
WHERE IS IT? Hearing in the House 3/9
SB 76 – Sen. Gene Vuckovich (Yes, this is Dan V’s dad)
SUPPORT: Allow a licensing board to administratively suspend a license; allow a licensing board to ask the department to do this for them
WHERE IS IT? Transmitted to the Governor
SB 286 – Sen. Cary Smith
MONITOR: Prohibit a state agency from adopting rules that will burden a person’s ability to enjoy the person’s property rights or engage in a lawful business or occupation. We are concerned this bill might prevent our Board of Accountancy from regulating CPAs. We may oppose if this bill makes it to the House.
WHERE IS IT? Passed out of Senate committee
SB 390 – Sen. Elsie Arntzen
SUPPORT: Study fees the Department of Revenue charges boards — including the Board of Accountants
WHERE IS IT? Passed Senate committee
Now let’s change gears and talk about the Bills Impacting Tax Law
HB 359 – Rep. Ed Lieser
MONITOR: Adjust the inflation factor calculations for individual income tax
WHERE IS IT? Passed the House
SB 91 – Sen. Fred Thomas by request of DOR
MONITOR: Allow for reciprocal collection and offset of tax liability between the state and Federal government
WHERE IS IT? Tabled in committee at sponsor’s request
SB 167 – Sen. Dick Barrett
MONITOR: Revise the criteria related to the water’s edge election for corporate income taxes by changing the list of countries consider tax haven jurisdictions
WHERE IS IT? Senate Finance and Claims hearing 2/25
SB 170 – Sen. Dick Barrett
MONITOR: Allow two Montana taxpayers to file a joint state return, or a combined filing separately return, if they filed a joint federal income tax return
WHERE IS IT? Passed the Senate
SB 92 – Sen. Fred Thomas by request of RATIC
SUPPORT: Reform penalty and interest amounts to more closely mirror Federal
WHERE IS IT? Passed the Senate
HB 379 – Rep. Greg Hertz
SUPPORT: Reform penalty and interest amounts to more closely mirror Federal AND lower the statute of limitations on individuals, sole proprietors and partnerships to 3 years (currently 5 years)
WHERE IS IT? Heard in House Taxation committee 2/12
SB 269 – Sen. Duane Ankney
SUPPORT: Lower the statute of limitations on individuals, sole proprietors and partnerships to 3 years (currently 5 years)
WHERE IS IT? Passed Senate Taxation committee
SB 212 – Sen. Scott Sales
SUPPORT: Revise the penalty and interest provisions for certain taxpayers who receive an extension for filing individual income tax returns; clarify they are based on tax due – not tax liability
WHERE IS IT? Heard in Senate Taxation
SB 6 – Sen. Fred Thomas for RATIC
SUPPORT: Clarify the right to request alternative dispute resolution methods including mediation
WHERE IS IT? Transmitted to the Governor
SB 166 – Sen. Dick Barrett
OPPOSE: Eliminate the waters’ edge election for corporate income tax filers
WHERE IS IT? Committee vote failed; remains in committee
SB 171 – Sen. Bruce Tutvedt
SUPPORT: Tax Simplification! This bill will restructure the individual income tax, reduce rates for the corporate income tax and eliminates several credits.
WHERE IS IT? Passed Senate committees
SB 386 – Sen. Jill Cohenour
SUPPORT: Revise laws related to pass through entity simplification. MSCPA members worked extensively with DOR to reach a compromise – second tier entities will be subject to withholding or composite returns (consent agreement goes away); small and/or family owned entities may continue using the consent agreement; the PT-STM goes away!
WHERE IS IT? Newly introduced; Hearing in the House 3/10
In addition to these bills we are also monitoring 13 tax credit bills and four tax reduction bills.
We encourage you to share your voice with your legislators on these issues and we hope you’ll join us by phone Monday mornings for Advocacy Mondays.
If you have questions about any of the legislation mentioned above or any bills you hear about and think we should be monitoring please contact me: jane@mscpa.org or call 800.272.0307.
MSCPA is proud to advocate on your behalf!
Montana Society of CPAs 
Great summary, Jane! Thank you to you, Holly, the MSCPA staff, and all of the members on the legislative and taxation committees for the work that you’re doing.