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Tag Archives: small business

Tax Help for Small Businesses from the IRS

The IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center, available on the IRS website, offers extensive resources and online tools designed to help small businesses and self-employed persons. Among the information and resources available on the website are:

The site provides important tax information for all stages of owning a business. Other resources available on the IRS website include the following:

The IRS Video Portal: Learn about tax topics through video and audio presentations. The video portal contains archived versions of live panel discussions, archived webinars, video clips, and audio archives of national phone forums.

IRS Audits Video Series: “Your Guide to an IRS Audit” takes the viewer through the steps of an audit from notification to closing. The video series is composed of scenarios that demonstrate the stages of each type of audit: correspondence, office and field. The scenarios address issues that are common to audits of small businesses.

Virtual Small Business Tax Workshop: An interactive resource to help small business owners learn about their federal tax rights and responsibilities. The workshop contains nine stand-alone lessons that can be selected and viewed in any sequence. The workshop is available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any computer. It can also be ordered
on CD.

Tax Calendar for Small Business Taxpayers: This 12-month calendar is filled with information on general business taxes, IRS and Social Security Administration customer assistance, electronic filing and paying options, retirement plans, business publications and forms, and common tax filing dates. Each page highlights different tax issues and tips that may be relevant to small-business owners, with room on each month to add notes, state tax dates or business appointments. You can also download the tax events into your calendar or subscribe to the tax calendar events.

To access the IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center, please click here.

Small Businesses May Qualify for a Tax Credit in 2010

Certain small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that provide health insurance coverage to their employees may qualify for a special tax credit in 2010, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Included in the recently enacted health care reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is a tax credit designed to encourage small employers to offer health insurance coverage for the first time or maintain coverage they already have. The following are eligibility rules and the amount of credit as explained by the IRS.

ELIGIBILITY RULES

Providing Health Care Coverage
A qualifying employer must cover at least 50 percent of the cost of health care coverage for some of its workers based on the single rate.

Firm Size
A qualifying employer must have less than the equivalent of 25 full-time workers (for example, an employer with fewer than 50 half-time workers may be eligible).

Average Annual Wage
A qualifying employer must pay average annual wages below $50,000. Both taxable (for profit) and tax-exempt firms qualify.

AMOUNT OF CREDIT

Maximum Amount
The credit is worth up to 35 percent of a small business’ premium costs in 2010. On Jan. 1, 2014, this rate increases to 50 percent (35 percent for tax-exempt employers).

Phase-Out
The credit phases out gradually for firms with average wages between $25,000 and $50,000 and for firms with the equivalent of between 10 and 25 full-time workers.

Three Simple Steps for Employers to Qualify
If you are a small employer (business or tax-exempt) that provides health insurance coverage to your employees, determine if you may qualify for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit by following the three simple steps featured here.

Frequently Asked Questions
The IRS has issued 22 FAQs for employers on the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit, including the following topics:

  • Employer eligibility
  • Claiming the credit
  • Determining average annual wages
  • Calculating expenses
  • Tax-exempt organizations
  • Relief in 2010

To view this detailed FAQ page from the IRS, please click here.

Examples
The IRS has also provided several employer scenarios for the credit, including numbers of workers, part-time employees and non-profit groups. To view the scenarios, please click here.

For additional information on the credit, please visit the IRS site here.

LEARN MORE

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