LIFOPro’s 2024 Top LIFO Election Candidates Guide

View/Download the PDF report version of this guide or our 2024 Top LIFO Candidates List Excel file by clicking the buttons below! LIFOPro’s 2024 Top LIFO Election Candidates List LIFOPro’s 2024 top LIFO election candidates list provides you with the ability to quickly accomplish the following: Determine if a company or industry is a good […]

LIFOPro’s 2024 LIFO Opportunities & Strategies Guide

View/Download the PDF report version of this guide or our 2024 Top LIFO Candidates List Excel file by clicking the buttons below! 2024 Top LIFO Tax Savings Opportunities Abound Although inflation has returned to a more normalized level, there are many industries with inflation at or above the historical levels & will be good LIFO […]

Use of External Inflation Indexes for Financial Reporting

Dollar-value LIFO Background The vast majority of companies on LIFO use what’s called the dollar-value method. Under this method, LIFO is essentially treated as an annual top-side adjustment to account for the change in the current vs. prior period’s LIFO reserve and to convert the year end inventory balance from cost to its LIFO value. […]

Financial Reporting & Tax Treatment of Change to LIFO Method

Tax Treatment of Change to LIFO For tax purposes, the IRS allows all taxpayers to use LIFO method, and establishing preferability regarding the use of LIFO is not required. The tax requirements incident with and subsequent to a LIFO election are as follows: LIFO must be applied as a cutoff change, meaning it’s to be […]

LIFO Financial Reporting Disclosure Requirements & Alternatives

What Rules Exist Regarding LIFO Disclosures for Financial Reporting Purposes? The IRS tax law commonly referred to as the “LIFO conformity rule” is the authoritative guidance that prescribes the financial report and statement requirements for companies that use the LIFO method (assuming financial reports or statements are issued to external parties; these rules are not […]

Why Companies Use Different Book & Tax LIFO Methods

What is the LIFO Conformity Rule? IRS Reg. §1.472-2(e)(1) requires for taxpayers using the LIFO method to also do so for financial reporting purposes beginning in the year that LIFO is adopted for tax purposes (LIFO can be adopted for financial reporting purposes prior to the adoption for tax purposes, but not vice versa). What […]

How the IPIC Method Could Maximize Your LIFO Reserve

What is the IPIC Method? Dollar-value LIFO method users are allowed to use an internal or external inflation measurement source to calculate inflation. Here’s an overview of these two methods: Internal indexes Current period’s quantities are double extended against current & prior period unit costs (prior period unit costs are used if the link-chain method […]

Record Number of Companies Electing LIFO

What has Caused the Surge in First-time LIFO Elections? LIFOPro has seen a nearly 40% increase in first-time LIFO elections amongst new clients between 2021 – 2022. The primary cause of this record number of companies electing LIFO has been the highest inflation seen in 40 years over the last two years, which translated into […]

When the Use of a LIFO Specialist May be the Best Choice for Your Client

When I worked at Touche Ross many years ago, the idea that another CPA or professional would be a better choice to provide specialized accounting services for one of our clients would have been just about unthinkable. Things have changed a lot over the years and the use of outside service providers for accounting services […]

LIFO Election Essentials

LIFOPro’s LIFO Election Essentials What are the advantages of LIFO? It will reduce taxable income whenever there’s inflation (unless material inventory liquidation occurs) Most companies remain on LIFO once they elect because the benefits will continue to accrue & there’s no limit on how long you stay on LIFO or cap on the size of […]

LIFO Conformity for Foreign-Controlled Consolidated Groups with U.S. Subsidiaries

IRS Revenue Ruling 78-246 provides an exception to the LIFO conformity rule for foreign-controlled consolidated groups. The use of a non-LIFO method of calculating income, profit and loss in the consolidated statements of a foreign-controlled consolidated group even when one or more of the subsidiaries uses LIFO for U.S. income tax reporting is not in […]

Top 10 LIFO Election Locks of 2022

Exploring electing LIFO in 2022 is essential in certain industries because it’d be irresponsible to fail to do so. The inflation experienced in many industries this year will may never occur again in our lifetimes. In many cases, the benefits from electing LIFO in 2022 will create tax benefits that would normally take many years […]