Corporate Taxation

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., says he will introduce legislation to repeal the controversial 1099 filing requirement that is part of the health care reform law. Baucus, who worked to craft the 1099 provisions that require businesses to report all purchases of goods and services of more than $600 from the same vendor in a calendar year, says he now wants to repeal the rules after meeting with small-business owners in Montana and across the nation. Read more»

The Internal Revenue Service is still avoiding questions about how it will implement the controversial 1099 reporting rule, a provision of the health care reform law that requires a business to file a 1099 when a vendor is paid more than $600. IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman has declined to provide information on the rule after requests for clarity, says Rep. Sam Graves Read more»

The Internal Revenue Service recently introduced a rule that requires corporations to disclose uncertain tax positions. A survey of executives found that 44% were most concerned about their ability to adequately describe their UTP reserves, while 15% were unsure which companies were required to comply with the requirement, KPMG’s Tax Governance Institute reports. About half of respondents said they expect the rule to increase conflicts between auditors and tax staff. Read more»

The Internal Revenue Service issued two announcements Friday regarding its proposal to require certain corporate taxpayers to report their uncertain tax positions. Responding to comments from the AICPA and others, the IRS has made several significant changes to the plan and is expanding its policy of restraint in connection with uncertain tax positions. The IRS also issued the final version of Schedule UTP and taxpayer instructions, starting with this tax year. Read more»

The House on Thursday passed the Small Business Jobs Act and sent it to the president, who is expected to sign the bill into law. The legislation, which the Senate passed last week, would expand loan programs through the Small Business Administration, strengthen small-business preference programs for federal projects and give incentives to exporters. It also would include a variety of small-business tax breaks and some revenue raisers. Read more»

Many Democrats are joining Republicans in an effort to repeal a tax provision in the health care reform law that would require businesses to file a 1099 tax form for anyone from whom they purchase more than $600 in goods. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., says that businesses with fewer than 25 employees should be exempt from the requirement and that the reporting threshold for larger businesses should be set at $5,000 rather than $600. A spokeswoman for the National Federation of Independent Business said that under the proposal, businesses would still have to track vendor payments to determine whether they exceed the threshold. Read more»

As part of its ongoing initiative to require certain business taxpayers to disclose uncertain tax positions on their tax returns, the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations on Wednesday requiring the use of Schedule UTP, Uncertain Tax Position Statement. Read more»

The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday released a draft of the form small businesses will use to calculate and claim the new health care tax credit. Eligible businesses with 25 or fewer full-time employees and less than $50,000 in average wages per year, and that contribute at least half the cost of single coverage toward buying health insurance for their employees, can claim a credit equal to 35% of the premiums they pay (25% for eligible tax-exempt organizations). Read more»

President Barack Obama will call for increasing bonus depreciation for purchased business equipment from 50% to 100% and extending the tax break through 2011, a White House official said. Obama plans to propose that the bonus be made retroactive to Sept. 8, 2010, the official said. The measure applies to capital investment including office, factory and transportation equipment. Read more»

Laura Monroe’s article HIRE Act: Incentives to Hire and Retain the Unemployed appeared in the August newsletter of the Pelican Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors