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I have been enlisted to perform my civic duty and attend jury duty on April 21, 2009.
I will be unavailable for support all day Tuesday but will return emails/ phone calls on my return to the office.
This should be a one-day event but in case of an extended trial, support calls will be forwarded to the Eric in the VA office.
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
All three states require all payroll professionals to implement the new tax tables no later than May 1st.
Failure to do so will result in under withholding for your employees.
As of April 20th , these tax tables are available to all Paymaster customers through the Apply SQL Patch menu itm in the program. The new tax tables are easily installed, directly from the PayMaster program by going to Utilities / Apply SQL Patches and selecting Internet/Check for SQL updates. The program should then download a file called 2009-taxCA.sql, 2009-taxNY.sql and 2009-taxAZ.sql. Select the appropriate file for your withholding states and apply to all active companies by checking them off. Of course if you have any questions or concerns feel free to call the support line.
Since Arizona withholding is based on the federal rates, the state would have seen declining revenue as a result of the ‘Making Work Pay’ federal tax tables. Therefore Arizona has released new tax tables for the rest of 2009 and 2010 to make up the difference.
10%, will increase to 11.5% from May 1, 2009 to EOY (10.7% in 2010)
19%, will increase to 21.9% from May 1, 2009 to EOY (20.3% in 2010)
23%, will increase to 26.5% from May 1, 2009 to EOY (24.5% in 2010)
25%, will increase to 28.8% from May 1, 2009 to EOY (26.7% in 2010)
31%, will increase to 35.7% from May 1, 2009 to EOY (33.1% in 2010)
37%, will increase to 42.6% from May 1, 2009 to EOY (39.5% in 2010)
An update to Paymaster for the 2009 tax year will be available momentarily.
New York Health Official Calls for Tax on Drinks With Sugar
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/health/09soda.html
A month after Gov. David A. Paterson dropped his proposal for a soda tax, New York City’s health commissioner has written an article advocating “hefty” taxes on sodas and sports drinks containing sugar. Such a tax, the article said, could be the biggest boon to public health since tobacco taxes.
The President of the American Beverage Association issued a statement on Wednesday responding to the article: “We agree that obesity is a serious and complex problem. It defies both science and common sense, however, to think singling out one product as a unique contributor to obesity will make a dent in the problem.” They dispute the link between sugar-laden drinks and obesity, saying that soft drink sales have been declining for much of this decade, as obesity rates have been rising.
Director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, says that based on experience with tobacco taxes, a soda tax would be “highly effective” in reducing the $79 billion in annual health care costs associated with obesity and overweight across the country.
Starting with 2009 Forms W-2 filed in 2010, Oregon employers with 250 or more employees must electronically file Forms W-2 with the Oregon DOR. Effective with 2010 Forms W-2 filed in 2011, the threshold for employers not using a payroll service provider will decrease to 50 or more employees. Effective with 2011 Forms W-2 filed in 2012, all employers must electronically file Forms W-2.
[Or. Adm. R. §150-316.202(3)].
Look for more states to follow. Another part of the stimulus package involved the gov’t boosting up each state’s unemployment coffers but each state had to promise to ‘modernize’ their wage data collection infrastructure. PayMaster currently handles 38 state’s SUTA electronic formats and RS records for the year end MMREF format. Be sure to stay current to support these everchanging state specific formats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/business/04restaurant.html
Now consumers are cutting back, and dining out is among the casualties. Finer restaurant chains have been hit hard, and so have the casual sit-down places that flooded suburban shopping centers and tourist districts across the country, aimed straight at middle American tastes.
A few chains have boarded up already. Many others are going into survival mode, trying to renegotiate their loans, cutting staff, offering bargains to customers and closing less profitable restaurants. Analysts predict thousands more restaurants could close in the next year or two.
“For those thinking about buying a new car this year, this deduction may give them a little more drive to make their purchase this year,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
The deduction is limited to the state and local sales and excise taxes paid on up to $49,500 of the purchase price of a qualified new car, light truck, motor home or motorcycle. A 5% state sales tax would earn you a maximum of deduction of $2475.
IRS also alerted taxpayers that the vehicle must be purchased after Feb. 16, 2009, and before Jan. 1, 2010, to qualify for the deduction.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — “The unemployment rate jumped last month in 49 states, with Michigan leading the way, the U.S. government reported on Friday. Nebraska was the only state to escape rising joblessness.”
Seven states are reporting unemployment rates over 10%: Michigan (12%), South Carolina (11%), Oregon (10.8%), North Carolina (10.7%), California and Rhode Island (10.5% each), and Nevada (10.1%).
Unemployment increased by at least one percentage point in every single state and the District of Columbia.
In the last year, South Carolina has lost 88,700 jobs, the S.C. Employment Security Commission reported. The biggest losses have been seen in construction, -10,400, a 9% decline; manufacturing, -23,500, down 9.5%; trade, transportation and utilities, -19,000, down 5.1%; and professional and business services, -16,200, down 7.3%.
IRS Tips on Preparing for a Disaster
Planning what to do in case of a disaster is an important part of being prepared. The Internal Revenue Service encourages taxpayers to safeguard their records. Some simple steps can help taxpayers and businesses protect financial and tax records in case of disasters.
Listed below are tips for individuals and businesses on preparing for a disaster.
For more information type “Preparing for a Disaster” in the search box on the IRS.gov homepage.
Links:
More information on the COBRA reduction act can be found on the IRS web site.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204708,00.html
There are now four sections of questions covering:
Much of the material here was updated on 3/19/09.
Important Highlight:
FP-17
Q. Does a COBRA premium assistance credit reduce an employer’s payroll tax liabilities when determining whether $100,000 in liabilities has accumulated for deposit purposes?
A. The credit is treated like a payment of payroll taxes and is applied as a deposit made on the first day of the quarter. It does not reduce an employer’s tax liabilities for purposes of determining the employer’s deposit schedule generally or applying the $100,000 deposit rule specifically. However, since the credit is applied as a deposit, a required deposit can be reduced by the amount of the credit. For example, if an employer accumulates $110,000 of liabilities and has a $20,000 subsidy credit, the employer must still deposit the next day under the $100,000 rule, but is only required to deposit $90,000. (03/19/09)