Posted on October 4, 2013May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Small Business Healthcare Tax Credit

http://www.smallbusinessmajority.org/tax-credit-calculator/

“Starting in 2010, up to 4 million small businesses that offer healthcare coverage to their employees may be eligible for a tax credit. Fill in the amounts below to find out what your tax credit will be.

To qualify, a small business must:
Have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees
Pay average annual wages below $50,000 per FTE
Contribute at least 50% of each employee’s premium

Notes:
Owners are excluded, and should not be counted in number of employees, wages, or premium contribution amount.
Tax credits can’t be larger than actual income tax liability.
For detailed information about how the tax credit works and other issues related to the new law and small businesses, see this list of frequently asked questions. We’ll be adding to this document regularly.”

Posted on May 24, 2013May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Can You Lose Your Job if You Complain About the IRS?

Photo by Adam Fagen at Flickr.com

It appears that complaining about the IRS cost news anchorman Larry Connors his job this week. It’s kind of sad; Mr. Connors has been a local media celebrity for 37 years. First, for the full disclosure; Larry Connors is not a client of mine. If he were, I wouldn’t be allowed to discuss his case due to confidentiality laws. Since I don’t represent Mr. Connors (I‘ve never even met him), clearly there are things I don’t know about his case. That said, as an enrolled agent, I do IRS representation and I have experience with how the IRS handles these issues.

The whole thing boils down to a post Larry Connors made on his Facebook page. The page has been removed, but here’s the quote that he posted on May 13th:

“I don’t accept ‘conspiracy theories,’ but I do know that almost immediately after the interview, the IRS started hammering me. … Can I prove it? At this time, no. But it is a fact that since that April 2012 interview … the IRS has been pressuring me.”

The interview he’s talking about is one where Mr. Connors interviewed President Obama and asked him a rather pointed question about Mr. Obama’s vacations in light of the current economic crisis. Here is a link to that interview if you would like to see it. It’s only a minute 18 seconds long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CookYzmUZk

The other important piece of information is that Larry Connors’ tax issues actually date back to 2008 and that he was paying his back taxes on a monthly installment agreement since the summer of 2011. Mr. Connors did not mention this fact in his Facebook post.

So those are the facts as presented by the press. Here’s what I think—

My best guess is that Mr. Connors made one of his monthly installment payments late. I’ve seen this happen to my own clients; you only have to be late on one payment by only one day and the IRS has the right to cancel your installment agreement – and they will. And they can be really nasty about it. Really nasty. My clients often say they feel like they’re being persecuted.

So, here you have Mr. Connors doing an interview with the president that he’s been told went too far. Shortly after the interview he receives IRS nasty-grams and eventually has a lien slapped on his home. (Note that he’s been paying his installment agreement the whole time here, it’s possible that at the time he is unaware that there was a late payment.) Then he sees the news story about certain groups being targeted by the IRS for political reasons. Is it unreasonable for him to think that he might have been a political target? I don’t think so.

The day the main IRS story broke, one of my not for profit clients called and said, “Did you see the news? That’s what happened to us!” Her group was required to jump through hoops and wait for months to obtain their status while other non-profit groups leap-frogged right past them without a hitch. (I know, I was the one doing the paperwork.) I confess, before I learned more about the actual groups involved, I sort of thought my client might have been one of the targeted agencies although I now know they weren’t in that group.

Now Larry Connors is out of a job because his employer claims he has a bias against the IRS. Dear KMOV, I have a news flash for you: Everybody has a bias against the IRS! But that said, Mr. Connors is a respected 37-year veteran journalist. His Facebook post was an opinion, not a news story. If he had found proof that the IRS really was pressuring him because of the interview—what would have been the lead news story at six o’clock! Clearly he knows the difference between news and opinion.

Here’s my opinion: A 37-year veteran costs a whole lot more in payroll than someone younger with less experience. And a 66 year old anchorman doesn’t look as pretty in HD as some of the sweet young reporters do. I think KMOV is using the Mr. Connors’ IRS Facebook post as an excuse to break his employment contract and reduce their operating costs. I think that’s the real story, but I don’t expect you to hear that on the KMOV news.

Since his dismissal, Mr. Connors and his attorneys have filed a lawsuit. Good luck, Larry!

Posted on October 19, 2012May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Say Good-Bye to the Payroll Tax Holiday

Have you been watching the presidential debates? I have. I’ve heard both sides trot their “tax plans” out and I’ve heard a lot about what both Governor Romney and President Obama say they’re going to do with taxes if elected. Here’s something I haven’t heard—what about the payroll tax holiday?

What’s that you ask? The payroll tax holiday is the 2% tax cut we got back in 2011 and it got extended for 2012. Nobody’s talking about protecting it now. That means you can pretty much expect your taxes to go up starting with your first paycheck in January. How much? Well, if you make $30,000 a year and get paid once a month—your pay would go down by $50 per paycheck.

Here’s a link to the Kiplinger calculator so that you can figure out exactly how much this will affect you and your paycheck: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/Social_Security_payroll_tax_increase_calculator/index.php

Full disclosure here: I thought the payroll tax holiday was a big mistake in the first place. That’s money that goes into the Social Security fund—you know the one the tax policy wonks keep saying is going to go bankrupt? So we’ll take money from that fund? I wasn’t happy with that.

But now that everyone has gotten used to that 2% “tax holiday”, when your first paycheck in January comes and it’s a little lighter, you’re certainly going to feel like you’ve had a tax increase, even though technically, it’s not an increase.

Seriously, it’s not considered to be a tax increase because it’s an “expired tax reduction.” And that’s why both sides can say they are not raising taxes—they’re just letting this reduction slide into oblivion.

Personally, I’m just not that sophisticated. I like plain language. Taxes are going to go up or they’re going to go down, or they’re going to stay the same. I know that come January, our taxes are going to go up no matter what the politicians call it.

Posted on September 26, 2011May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Excerpts from the Facebook feed during the President’s LinkedIn Discussion about the Jobs Act

Photo on Flicker by Jose' Lui's Agapito

I recently watched President Obama’s LinkedIn townhall meeting on Facebook. Talk about a double dose of social networking media!

I haven’t really blogged about the tax proposals because quite frankly, I prefer to wait until something is actually the law before I post about it. But I found the comments that people were making about the economy and their concerns were pretty relevant and important. If you’d like to read the comprehensive fact sheet, here’s a link to that right here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/08/fact-sheet-and-overview

This certainly isn’t every Facebook post from the meeting, I couldn’t keep up with all of them and I did omit items that were off topic. But I found that these posts reflected issues that are certainly facing people today. And I felt they were worth sharing.

• Charles B
I agree that best way to keep Social Security is raise the salary cap. I would recommend a tax rebate, and reinstating the consumer loan interest tax deduction. This would be more effective than deducting the amount going into Social Security using the payroll tax cut.

• Morrie E
How about coming up with an export program that supports already successful small to medium US manufacturers ship their products to the international markets? This takes companies that are already having success and expands their market so they will have to hire more people to meet the increased demand.

• Daisy H
When we have 14 – 26 million Americans unemployed and only 3.5 million jobs available; as Jeff of LinkedIn previous stated, it is obvious, that we need to put lots and lots of resources into helping Americans to create small businesses and hire each other.

• Wendy D
Mr. President: I have been looking for a permanent job fo 15 months. I have found that employers are reluctant to hire the long term unemployed. Can an incentive be given to employers for hiring someone who has been searching for a long time as opposed to hiring someone who alreayd has a job? Thank you.

• Morrie E
Why can’t growing small businesses like mine access the SBA for small working capital loans. Without a good FICO score, the banks will not underwrite the loan. Of course, many small businesses are just recovering from 2008 and now the business owners personal FICO score is now being used instead of the D&B for just the business even if your business is a C corp.

• W Reynolds W
It is a known fact that employers discriminate the unemployed. Even if legislation is passed trying to ban discrimination, the legislation won’t be worth the paper it is written just as it has been ineffective to control discrimination based on race. We need a universal employment policy that is based on economic reality.

• Norman Wade P
When the times are tough, you take care of home first. America is our home, take care of schools, manufacturing, construction, medical invsestment, transportation, environment.

• W Reynolds W
The President has been pushing infrastructure repair as part of his American Jobs Act bill. He would be wise to focus on repairing employment legislative infrastructure to stimulate true jobs growth.

• Shashank M
The guy who has obviously made tons of money in Silicon Valley business stands up and wants his taxes to be raised. Fine – do that. Why wrap the rest of us in it. Not all of us have minted money so we can afford to be “unemployed out of choice”! And no – you did not invest in my education. I paid every dollar out of my earnings.

• Susan S
What is the point of all this discussion when we all know the rep are never going to allow your reforms. I have been out of work for 2 yrs due to medical issues and am still waiting for a hearing with SSD I will lose my home before I even get to Hearing after owning my home for 25+ yrs. whats fair about that after paying into SS all these years They are dragging their heels long enough to lose it after all these years

• Vickie T
Mr. President, I have been laid off for almost two years. Working in the IT world. I need the immediate training and now!!! Not next week! Now!

• Ben K
In the current economy, a lot of people, myself included are working as contract workers, and not employees and receive limited or in some cases no benefits, and are part of what has come to be called the Permanent Temporary Workforce and have been for a year or longer, as I have been. What is your plan to help companies hire contractors and other temporary workers as employees?

• Wendy D
Retraining will work for most. But there are many like me, 60 yrs +, who don’t have time to retrain. We need jobs now, in our areas of expertise, or we are domed to living in poverty as we age.

•Connie L
Mr. President , take the debt off the backs of the American not the big corporations and banks, have a good day!

•Joseph G Jr.
I don’t have problems finding work even though for the past 10 years it has come in the form of contract work but finding a permanent job or starting my own business is my motive though I can’t seem to make enough money to make my business grow and getting a small business loan is out of the question in this economy. I’m a contractor in the Information Technology field who badly wants to start my own business and I’m full of ideals and have a deep passion for technology and a desire to lead and help others, how can I get the funds I need to grow, hire employees and compete in today IT industry without going into financial ruins getting business loans?

•Peggy H
Education is important but at this point and time it is secondary until we manage to keep jobs in the US. Also we can’t all be in management. We need the blue collar worker too.

Back to me again. Here’s a link to the White House Press Release about the event. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/09/26/president-obamas-town-hall-linkedin-we-are-thing-together?utm_source=092711&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=daily It has the video and the written transcript if you’re interested. Thanks for reading.