Payroll Tax Problems

UK Payroll Issues

April 13, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

U.K. revises rules on how short-term business trips by employees from other countries are taxed [HMRC website]: The United Kingdom’s tax agency, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has amended its Employment Procedures (EP) manual with respect to the taxation of income earned by employees from other countries who are working in the U.K. on a short-term basis. In most circumstances, if employees from other countries perform duties in the U.K., they are responsible for U.K. income tax on a “pay-as-you-earn” (PAYE) basis, regardless of how long they are in the U.K. However, employees who are residents of a country with which the UK has a treaty agreement are not subject to income tax in the U.K. if the resident is in the U.K. for less than 183 days of the taxable year, and certain other conditions are met. Prior to the amendment to the EP manual, when determining the 183 day limit, a partial day counted as a partial day, not a full day. Therefore, someone spending three consecutive 8 hour days working in the UK was regarded as having spent one day in the U.K. Effective April 6, 2009, each partial day spent in the U.K. is now considered a full day. Therefore, someone spending three consecutive 8 hour days working in the U.K. is now regarded as having spent three days in the U.K. for purposes of the 183 day limit. For further information on the U.K. payroll tax system, see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers

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For payroll tax problem resolution contact the tax firm of Mike Habib, EA at 877-788-2937 or at myirstaxrelief.com

Payroll Tax Relief

April 7, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Roundup of recent employment tax related cases of interest

Mike Habib, EA Tax Relief & Tax Problem Resolution

Federal courts have recently issued rulings on: (1) whether medical residents may qualify for the student FICA exception, (2) whether an employee’s embezzlement was reasonable cause for failing to remit withholding taxes, and (3) whether the sole owner of a limited liability company (LLC) may be held liable for the LLC’s unpaid employment taxes.

Subsidiary employment tax problem

March 31, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Subsidiary’s employment tax liability cannot be collected from the parent corporation [Chief Counsel Advice 200913052]:

The IRS Office of Chief Council has expressed its opinion in a new Chief Council Advice (CCA) that the employment tax liability of a subsidiary corporation in a consolidated group cannot be collected from the parent corporation.

A “subsidiary” is defined under Reg. § 1.1502-1(c) as a corporation that is a member of a consolidated group, but is not the common parent of the group. In a consolidated group, (1) the parent corporation must directly own at least 80% of the total voting power and 80% of the total value of the stock in at least one other “includible” corporation in the group, and (2) one or more of the other includible corporations in the group must directly own at least 80% of the stock (by vote or value) in each of the remaining includible corporations.

Solve Your 941 Payroll Tax Problems

March 23, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Solve Your 941 Payroll Tax Problems

It’s fairly common for businesses – no matter what size – to struggle with some sort of 941 tax issue or another. Even companies that use good payroll software to sort out their entire payroll related taxes are still prone to errors. The IRS implements strict guidelines when it comes to filing and paying payroll taxes in a timely manner. Are you a business owner with 941 payroll tax problems? It’s going to be difficult to obtain tax relief if you have been found guilty of deliberately failing to meet your obligations.

Late filing and payment

Late payment of payroll taxes causes your business to incur penalties and additional fees, which can be a huge problem especially if your business is already contending with cash flow issues to begin with. Small businesses, for instance, rarely have ample capital to run their operations, so when unexpected fees like these come up, cash flow is compromised.

Payroll tax problem resolution

March 5, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Fifth Circuit finds tax-exempt hospital’s chairman liable for trust fund penalty

Verret v. U.S., (CA 5 2/26/2009) 103 AFTR 2d ¶2009-576

Mike Habib, EA Tax Relief & Tax Problem Resolution

No More Tax Problems

January 5, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

No More Tax Problems in 2009

Mike Habib, EA

Here is a New Year resolution you can’t afford to ignore… No more tax problems!! Yes, you can get rid of your tax problems in 2009.

Tax Relief Roadmap

December 15, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

A roadmap to disaster area tax relief in 2008 legislation

Mike Habib, EA

The 2008 calendar year has seen more than the usual share of natural disasters in the U.S., and legislation designed to provide tax relief to the victims. By and large, legislative relief has been granted on an ad-hoc basis, with an attempt made in the last go-around (tax provisions included with the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, referred to here as the Bailout Act, P.L. 110-343) to provide “national” disaster relief. Inevitably, there are some overlapping tax relief provisions and as-yet unanswered questions on the scope of the relief and the interplay between national relief provisions and other relief provisions. This Practice Alert, to be issued in several parts, provides practitioners with a roadmap to disaster-related provisions that may provide significant tax relief to their business and individual clients.

H-1B Visa Payroll Problem

December 15, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

IT company owes nearly $1.7 million in back wages due to H-1B Visa Program violations [DOL ESA News Release, 10/30/08]:

Mike Habib, EA

An information technology (IT) company has agreed to pay $1,683,584 in back wages to 343 non-immigrant workers after a Department of Labor (DOL) investigation found that the company had violated the H-1B visa provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Employment Tax Rulings

December 15, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Roundup of recent employment tax rulings

Mike Habib, EA

There have been several recent rulings issued in the employment tax area. Here is a summary:

Year End Tax Planning

November 11, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Year-end tax planning client letter with checklist

As the end of the year approaches, it is a good time to think of planning moves that will help lower your tax bill this year and possibly the next. Factors that compound the challenge include the stock market’s swoon, the difficult economic climate we’re in right now, and the strong possibility that there will be tax changes in the works next year. In fact, there might even be another economic stimulus package carrying tax changes enacted before the end of this year.

The indisputably good news we are certain of is that Congress has acted to “patch” the AMT problem for 2008, has retroactively reinstated a number of tax breaks (such as the option to deduct state and local general sales tax instead of state and local income tax and the above-the-line deduction for higher education expenses), and has created new tax breaks that go into effect for the 2008 tax year (including a tax credit for first-time homebuyers, a nonitemizers’ deduction for state and local property tax and a nonitemizers’ deduction for certain disaster losses). For 2008, businesses enjoy tax breaks such as a beefed-up expensing option and a 50% bonus first-year depreciation write-off for most machinery and equipment placed into service this year and a reinstated research credit.