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Tax Blog/Blawg

Tax Talk Blog for Tax Pros

Welcome to TaxBlawg, a blog resource from Chamberlain Hrdlicka for news and analysis of current legal issues facing tax practitioners. Although blawg.com identifies nearly 1,400 active “blawgs,” including 20+ blawgs related to taxation and estate planning, the needs of tax professionals have received surprisingly little attention.

Tax practitioners have previously lacked a dedicated resource to call their own. For those intrepid souls, we offer TaxBlawg, a forum of tax talk for tax pros.

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Posts from September 2011.
 
On September 21, 2011, the IRS announced the launching of the Voluntary Classification Settlement Program.  This program will provide employers with the ability to resolve past worker classification issues and achieve certainty under the tax law at a significantly reduced employment tax rate by voluntarily reclassifying their workers. Under the program, eligible employers can obtain substantial relief from federal payroll taxes owed for misclassification in the past, if they agree to prospectively treat workers as employees. In exchange, the employer will pay 10 % of the ...

On September 19, 2011, Commissioner Shulman and Secretary of Labor Solis signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow for the sharing of information intended to combat employee misclassification.  The sharing of information and collaboration between the two agencies is intended to help reduce the incidence of misclassification, reduce the tax gap, and improve compliance with federal tax and labor laws.  The increased collaboration will also strengthen the relationship between the IRS and DOL, enable both agencies to leverage existing resources and send a consistent ...

 
The American Jobs Act submitted to Congress this week calls for a temporary payroll tax cut and a temporary credit for increased payroll.  The specific tax breaks in the proposal include:
 

  • For 2012, the employee's portion of Social Security tax would be 3.1%; the employer's portion would also be 3.1%, up to the first $5 million of wages paid by the employer.  The tax on self-employed workers would be reduced to 6.2%.
  • From October 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012, the proposed bill would provide a payroll tax credit to offset the employer portion of Social Security tax due to wage increases ...
Categories: Employment Tax

In a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 8, 2011, President Obama proposed cuts to both employee and employer payroll taxes for 2012 and tax credits meant to encourage hiring of unemployed workers.

The President's proposal, the American Jobs Act, would cut employee Social Security payroll taxes in half in 2012.  It would also reduce business payroll taxes by the same percentage on companies' first $5 million in wages and would completely eliminate payroll taxes for companies that increase their payroll by up to $50 million relative to the prior year. The payroll tax ...

In the September 2011 issue of BNA International's Transfer Pricing Forum, Jonathan and I summarized the dispute resolution process for transfer pricing controversies against the IRS.   Transfer Pricing Forum provides an overview of selected transfer pricing issues under the tax laws of twenty-five countries.   For U.S. tax professionals, the publication provides a succinct resource for addressing transfer pricing problems in foreign countries.