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Are You All a Twitter About Tax News? Now You Can Follow The IRS @IRSnews
By Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA
Oh Yippee, the IRS has joined the Twitter fray. The social media storm has engulfed the treasury.
But maybe – do you think – someone might have given Timmy Geithner a copy of Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms by Michelle Golden also named by Accounting Tomorrow as one of the top 100 most influential people in the accounting industry today.
Who knows – this book is on my Christmas list anyway!
The Internal Revenue Service is using Twitter and other social media tools to share information with taxpayers and the tax professional community.
The IRS Twitter news feed, @IRSnews, provides the latest federal tax news and information for taxpayers. The focus of the IRS Twitter messages will be on easy-to-use information, including tax tips, tax law changes, and important IRS programs such as e-file, the Earned Income Tax Credit and “Where’s My Refund.” Anyone with a Twitter account can follow @IRSnews by going to http://twitter.com/IRSnews
Another important IRS Twitter feed, @IRStaxpros, is designed for the tax professional community. Follow @IRStaxpros by going to http://twitter.com/IRStaxpros.
The IRS also tweets tax news and information in Spanish at @IRSenEspanol. Follow this Twitter feed by going to http://twitter.com/IRSenEspanol.
The IRS Twitter feeds will work in conjunction with http://www.irs.gov and the IRS YouTube channels to bring IRS information direct to taxpayers. Since August of 2009, there have been more than 1 million views of videos on the IRSvideos ( http://www.youtube.com/irsvideo), IRS Multilingual (http://www.youtube.com/user/IRSvideosmultilingua) and IRS American Sign Language (ASL) ( http://www.youtube.com/IRSvideosASL) channels.
In addition to Twitter and YouTube, the IRS provides additional social media tools to inform and assist taxpayers.
IRS Patrol: IRS Provides Help For Small Employers Eligible to Claim the Small Business Health Tax Credit for the 2010 Tax Year.
Image via Wikipedia
Help is always nice to get – specially with all the new tax rules out there – and more on the way. I can hardly keep them all straight. If you are wondering if you qualify for this credit read on.
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today released final guidance for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year. Today’s release includes a one-page form and instructions small employers will use to claim the credit for the 2010 tax year.
New Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums, and newly revised Form 990-T are now available on IRS.gov. The IRS also posted on its website the instructions to Form 8941 and Notice 2010-82 , both of which are designed to help small employers correctly figure and claim the credit.
Included in the Affordable Care Act enacted in March, the small business health care tax credit is designed to encourage both small businesses and small tax-exempt organizations to offer health insurance coverage to their employees for the first time or maintain coverage they already have.
The new guidance addresses small business questions about which firms qualify for the credit by clarifying that a broad range of employers meet the eligibility requirements, including religious institutions that provide coverage through denominational organizations, small employers that cover their workers through insured multiemployer health and welfare plans, and employers that subsidize their employees’ health care costs through a broad range of contribution arrangements.
In general, the credit is available to small employers that pay at least half of the premiums for single health insurance coverage for their employees. It is specifically targeted to help small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that primarily employ moderate- and lower-income workers.
Small businesses can claim the credit for 2010 through 2013 and for any two years after that. For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small businesses and 25 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations. Beginning in 2014, the maximum tax credit will increase to 50 percent of premiums paid by eligible small business employers and 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations.
The maximum credit goes to smaller employers –– those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees –– paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less. The credit is completely phased out for employers that have 25 or more FTEs or that pay average wages of $50,000 or more per year. Because the eligibility rules are based in part on the number of FTEs, not the number of employees, employers that use part-time workers may qualify even if they employ more than 25 individuals.
Eligible small businesses will first use Form 8941 to figure the credit and then include the amount of the credit as part of the general business credit on its income tax return.
Tax-exempt organizations will first use Form 8941 to figure their refundable credit, and then claim the credit on Line 44f of Form 990-T. Though primarily filed by those organizations liable for the tax on unrelated business income, Form 990-T will also be used by any eligible tax-exempt organization to claim the credit, regardless of whether they are subject to this tax.
More information about the credit, including a step-by-step guide to claiming the credit and answers to frequently asked questions, is available on the Affordable Care Act page on IRS.gov.
Related Articles
- Health Care Tax Credits for Small Businesses Nationwide (whitehouse.gov)
- How Tax Laws Impact a Sole Proprietorship Business (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
- 10 Tax Tips for the Suddenly Unemployed (turbotax.intuit.com)
- Attention Small Employers: New Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Can Help Cut Health Care Costs (eon.businesswire.com)
- How Tax Laws Impact a Sole Proprietorship Business (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
- New report: Employer health insurance premiums increased 41 percent from 2003 to 2009 (eurekalert.org)
- New Report: Affordable Care Act Could Save Families Over $3,000 Per Year (whitehouse.gov)
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