|
We know that an informed client is our best customer. There is a lot of information on the Internet and it can be tough to determine what is valuable. That is why we have selected the following article(s) for you to view.
Unclaimed Property
Many businesses have unclaimed property resulting from normal operations. Any asset, tangible or intangible, belonging to a third party that remains unclaimed for a specified period of time is considered unclaimed property. For example, un-cashed payroll checks are expected to be turned over to the State after one year; most other property types, such as vendor checks and accounts receivables credit balances, must be turned over after three years. Government entities must turn over all unclaimed property, regardless of property type, after one year.
Payroll Tax Cut Temporarily Extended into 2012
Nearly 160 million workers will benefit from the extension of the reduced payroll tax rate that has been in effect for 2011. The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 temporarily extends the two percentage point payroll tax cut for employees, continuing the reduction of their Social Security tax withholding rate from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent of wages paid through Feb. 29, 2012. This reduced Social Security withholding will have no effect on employees’ future Social Security benefits.
2011 Year-End Tax Planning Check List
Year-end tax planning is especially challenging this year because of uncertainty over whether Congress will enact sweeping tax reform that could have a major impact in 2012 and beyond. And even if there's no major tax legislation in the immediate future, Congress next year still will have to grapple with a host of thorny issues, such as whether to once again “patch” the alternative minimum tax (e.g., to avoid a drastic drop in post-2011 exemption amounts), and what to do about the post-2012 expiration of the Bush-era income tax cuts (including the current rate schedules, and low tax rates for long-term capital gains and qualified dividends), and the expiration of favorable estate and gift rules for estates of decedents dying, gifts made, or generation-skipping transfers made after Dec. 31, 2012.
Budget Control Act of 2011 signed into law; tax changes left to bipartisan committe
After a bitter partisan battle, on August 2 Congress passed and the President signed into law S. 365, the “Budget Control Act of 2011.” The initial $1 trillion round of deficit reduction over fiscal years 2012 through 2021 doesn't include revenue hikes, but the second, $1.5 trillion round of deficit reduction over the same years may feature fundamental tax changes as part of the work-product of the bill's newly established Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (JSC). This article carries an overview of the JSC's mandate, tax changes it could adopt, a timeline of the JSC's work, and some thoughts about the Budget Control Act's impact on tax planning.
Snyder signs tax reform bills
Today, Governor Rick Snyder signed an eight-bill package which will repeal the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) and replace it with a corporate income tax and the package will make major changes to the state's individual income tax law. HB 4361 eliminates numerous individual income tax credits, deductions and exemptions and changes future income tax rates. HB 4361 also creates a corporate income tax, levied on businesses organized as traditional C corporations under federal law. The new corporate income tax will be effective January 1, 2012. HB4362 amends the Michigan Business Tax to allow certain taxpayers that wished to claim select credits allowed under current law to continue claiming those credits if they continued to file returns under the MBT.
2010 Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act
The 2010 Tax Relief Act includes an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for two years, estate tax relief, a two-year “patch” of the alternative minimum tax (AMT), a two percentage point cut in employee-paid payroll taxes and self-employment tax for 2011, new incentives to invest in machinery and equipment, and a host of retroactively resuscitated and extended tax breaks for individuals and businesses.
|
