Two weeks ago in a roundtable talk sponsored by The National Academy of Social Insurance Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institute said the unemployment payroll tax is a scandalously regressive tax on workers.
He’s right, except for one tiny problem: The unemployment tax is not a tax on workers at all.
Burtless glosses over this critical fact in his diatribe against what he calls the unemployment insurance payroll [...]
Tags: Employer Issues · Payroll Taxes · State Taxes · Tax Policy
WebCPA reports that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration says that weaknesses in the IRS’s employment tax compliance program could cost the U.S. Treasury more than$130 million in Social Security and Medicare taxes over the next five years:Â
The report… said the IRS should do more to protect against the improper use of employment tax forms to [...]
Tags: Announcements · Employer Issues · Payroll Taxes
On Wednesday the Senate passed the HIRE Act on a bipartisan vote of 68 to 29. Mike Godfrey of TaxNews.com reports on the key provisions (emphasis added):
The United States Senate has approved legislation providing new incentives for companies to hire unemployed workers and extending a measure allowing taxpayers to write off up to $250,000 in certain capital expenditures.
The Hiring Incentives to [...]
Tags: Employer Issues · Legislative Watch · Tax Policy
Andrew Taylor of the Associated Press reports:
Despite doubts among many lawmakers that it’ll create many jobs, the House on Thursday passed legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break. The measure passed 217-201 on a mostly party-line vote. The bill also extends federal highway programs through the end of the year.
Some [...]
Tags: Employer Issues · Legislative Watch · Tax Policy
Enacted in 1978, §530 is a safe harbor law that lists several conditions which if met allows workers to be treated as independent contractors rather than employees.
Joe Stack was compelled to burn his house down murder with his wife and children in it and fly his plane into the side of a federal building because 24 years ago Congress passed [...]
Tags: Absurd Tax Protester Arguments · Employer Issues
Tax lawyers Robert Wood and Christopher Krachale write in Home Workers: Employee Status Hidden in Plain Sight:
There are many tests for determining who is an employee and who is not. Yet much of it comes down to the common law right to control, in which rules of agency are used to determine employee status. The [...]
Tags: Employer Issues
Senator Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA) asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for its input on ways increase employment by reducing payroll taxes. Here’s part of the CBO’s response:
This letter responds to questions you posed about policy options to increase employment by reducing employers’ payroll taxes for firms that increase their payroll.
CBO anticipated that firms would respond to a payroll tax [...]
Tags: Employer Issues · News · Tax Policy · The Economy
The Sun-Herald.com reports that Greatland, one of the country’s leading providers of W-2 and 1099 products for business, has released its top W-2 and 1099 filing “pitfalls” to watch out for this tax season:
Paper filing
While many businesses are electing to e-file their W-2 and 1099 forms with the Social Security Administration (SSA) and / or the [...]
Tags: Employer Issues · Payroll Taxes · Tax Tips
Tim Geithner is Barrack Obama’s Treasury Secretary-Elect and as such, if his appointment is confirmed, will oversee the Internal Revenue Service.
But, according to the Associated Press, Mr. Geithner either intentionally disregards the tax laws or, perhaps even worse, doesn’t understand them:
The disclosure Tuesday that [Obama's] choice for treasury secretary, New York Federal Reserve chief Timothy Geithner, failed to [...]
Tags: Employer Issues · Payroll Taxes · Tax Crimes
One of most frequent problems we see is the small business that is several quarters behind in paying its payroll taxes.
There are many contributing factors to this, but usually we find that the business has had difficulty paying its landlord, suppliers and vendors and, to avoid an eviction or lawsuit, it makes the fateful (and often fatal) decision [...]
Tags: Employer Issues · IRS Liens and Levies · IRS Penalties · Payroll Taxes · Top Ten Lists
Wall Street Journal – Taxes Blog
