Category Archives: AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009
Electronic Health Records Incentive Payments
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) authorizes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to make incentive payments to eligible professionals and hospitals that adopt, implement, upgrade or demonstrate “meaningful use” of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to improve patient care. The funds for these incentive payments may be administered through the state’s Medicaid agency or directly from CMS via a Medicare contractor.
If the state agency or CMS makes incentive payments of $600 or more to an eligible professional or hospital, they are responsible for reporting such payments to the recipients on a Form 1099-MISC by January 31 of the next year. Therefore, if a state agency or CMS made payments of $600 or more in 2012, they should issue Form 1099-MISC to the recipients by January 31, 2013.
Professionals and hospitals should not consider EHR incentive payments to be reimbursements of expenses incurred in establishing an EHR system; instead, the recipient of the payments should consider the payments to be includible in gross income.
An eligible provider receiving an EHR incentive payment may be required to give the payment to the provider’s practice or group and not be allowed to keep it. In this situation, the eligible provider is not required to include the payment in gross income if the provider (1) is receiving the payment as an agent or conduit of the practice or group, and (2) turns the payment over to the practice or group as required. The state agency or CMS should send the Form 1099-MISC to the provider regardless of whether the funds are assigned or transferred to the provider’s practice group, or retained by the provider. The eligible provider, not the state agency or CMS, would bear the information reporting obligation, if any, for payments made to the provider’s practice group.
IRS Presents: Five New Things to Know About 2009 Taxes
As you get ready to prepare your 2009 tax return, the Internal Revenue Service wants to make sure you have all the details about tax law changes that may impact your tax return.
Here are the top five changes that may show up on your 2009 return.
1. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
ARRA provides several tax provisions that affect tax year 2009 individual tax returns due April 15, 2010. The recovery law provides tax incentives for first-time homebuyers, people who purchased new cars, those that made their homes more energy efficient, parents and students paying for college, and people who received unemployment compensation.
2. IRA Deduction Expanded
You may be able to take an IRA deduction if you were covered by a retirement plan and your 2009 modified adjusted gross income is less than $65,000 or $109,000 if you are married filing a joint return.
3. Standard Deduction Increased for Most Taxpayers
The 2009 basic standard deductions all increased. They are:
- $11,400 for married couples filing a joint return and qualifying widows and widowers
- $5,700 for singles and married individuals filing separate returns
- $8,350 for heads of household
Taxpayers can now claim an additional standard deduction based on the state or local sales or excise taxes paid on the purchase of most new motor vehicles purchased after February 16, 2009. You can also increase your standard deduction by the state or local real estate taxes paid during the year or net disaster losses suffered from a federally declared disaster.
4. 2009 Standard Mileage Rates
The standard mileage rates changed for 2009. The standard mileage rates for business use of a vehicle:
- 55 cents per mile
The standard mileage rates for the cost of operating a vehicle for medical reasons or a deductible move:
- 24 cents per mile
The standard mileage rate for using a car to provide services to charitable organizations remains at 14 cents per mile.
5. Kiddie Tax Change
The amount of taxable investment income a child can have without it being subject to tax at the parent’s rate has increased to $1,900 for 2009.
For more information about these and other changes for tax year 2009, visit IRS.gov.
Links:
- FS-2010-4, 2009 Tax Law Changes Provide Saving Opportunities for Nearly Everyone
- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Information center
- 1040 Central
- Form 1040 instructions (PDF 941K)
IRS YouTube Videos:
- Tax Filing Season 2010 English | Spanish | ASL
- Earned Income Tax Credit English | Spanish | ASL
- Education Credits – Parents English| ASL
- Education Tax Credit-Claim it-Students English | Spanish | ASL
- Energy Tax Credits Claim It English | Spanish | ASL
- Haiti Earthquake Donations English | Spanish | ASL
- Making Work Pay – Claim It English | ASL
- New Homebuyer Credit-Claim It English | Spanish
- New Homebuyer Credit-Military English
- Split Refunds-Savings Bonds English | Spanish
- Unemployment Compensation English | Spanish
- Vehicle Tax Deduction – Claim It English | Spanish | ASL
Stacie's Tax Stuff 