Summer hours are in effect: Our offices close at NOON on Fridays from May 17th to July 12th
Our offices are closed tomorrow 1/7/25 from 8am – 1pm for a firm event. Thank you.
Summer hours are in effect: Our offices close at NOON on Fridays from May 17th to July 12th
Our offices are closed tomorrow 1/7/25 from 8am – 1pm for a firm event. Thank you.
June 8, 2011
Two positive changes are coming to Colorado employers and retail businesses on July 1, 2011: the FUTA tax rate decreases and the state sales tax service fee is restored.
If you are an employer, you should be aware that the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax rate is decreasing effective July 1, 2011.
FUTA-covered employers currently are assessed a tax amounting to 6.2% on the first $7,000 of wages paid to each employee during a calendar year.
Generally, employers can take a credit against their FUTA tax for amounts paid into state unemployment funds. The credit may be as much as 5.4% of FUTA taxable wages. If an employer is entitled to the maximum 5.4% credit, the FUTA tax rate after credit is currently 0.8%.
On July 1, 2011, the FUTA tax rate is scheduled to decrease to 6.0%. For employers who can take the maximum credit of 5.4%, the FUTA tax rate will decrease to 0.6%.
The Colorado state sales tax Service Fee (also known as the Vendor's Fee) has been restored and the rate is now 2.22%. The fee may be claimed on timely filed and paid sales tax returns submitted on or after July 1, 2011 beginning with sales tax returns for June 2011 and 2nd quarter 2011 due on July 20, 2011.
Businesses with only one location will receive new DR 0100 coupon books in early July. If the new booklet does not arrive in time to prepare and file the return, change the state and district column vendor fee rates on the existing coupon to 2.22% (.0222).
Multiple location retailers, seasonal filers, and annual filers will receive pre-printed forms that will have the 2.22% rate. XML or Excel spreadsheet filers need to verify that their rate for state, RTD/CD/FD/BD has been changed to reflect the service fee change for the June 2011 or 2nd quarter 2011 returns due on July 20, 2011.
April 19, 2011
On April 14, President Obama signed the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011. The act repeals expansion of Form 1099 reporting under 2010’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Small Business Jobs Act. This short article explains why the expanded reporting requirements caused an uproar among potentially affected taxpayers, triggering widespread bipartisan support for repeal in Congress.
Businesses across the country, as well as certain property owners, can breathe a sigh of relief. Why? Congress has repealed provisions in last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Small Business Jobs Act (SBJA) that expanded the mandatory filing of Form 1099. After months of setbacks, President Obama signed the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011 into law on April 14.
Generally, individuals, businesses and other organizations must fulfill certain information reporting requirements. The purpose is to help taxpayers prepare their income tax returns and the IRS to assess the accuracy and completeness of filed returns.
Issuing a Form 1099 is one type of information reporting. The general requirement is that payments totaling $600 or more in a year to a single payee in the course of the payor’s trade or business must be reported on the form and submitted to the payee and the IRS. However, there are some major exceptions, including payments to most corporations, as well as payments for merchandise and similar items.
The PPACA included a provision that broadly expanded the mandatory filing of Form 1099, beginning for payments made after Dec. 31, 2011. The provision generally would have required businesses to report any payments to vendors that exceeded $600 in a calendar year.
The SBJA introduced another expansion of Form 1099 reporting that took effect for payments made after Dec. 31, 2010. This expansion would have affected taxpayers who receive rental income from a “passive” real estate investment, such as a vacation home. Previously, only taxpayers in the trade or business of rental properties were required to file Form 1099, but, under the new law, the IRS considered taxpayers who own one or more rental properties to be a “business” for Form 1099 purposes.
These expanded requirements likely would have created significant burdens for businesses and many property owners by dramatically increasing the number of necessary filings. In addition, affected businesses and property owners would have been responsible for obtaining taxpayer identification numbers from every payee that required a Form 1099. If a business was unable to obtain this information, it would have been required to withhold federal income taxes from payments to that payee and forward them to the government.
The repeal of the expanded Form 1099 reporting requirements means that businesses and property owners need not worry about drowning in paperwork or risking IRS penalties for failing to file a newly required Form 1099. If you need additional information on when you need to file Form 1099, we’re here to help.
If today's article about 1099 reporting has reminded you that you could use some assistance in the area of bookkeeping for your business, we can help! Stockman Kast Ryan + CO offers a wide variety of services, including assistance with many of your accounting functions, such as bookkeeping, payroll processing and reporting, sales tax returns, accounting systems and much more. For more information, click here.
April 5, 2011
We want our clients and friends to beware of a recent attempt to collect both money and information.
Small businesses across Colorado have received an official-looking letter (with a seal, citing the Colorado Revised Statues, and using attention-grabbing language) telling small business owners they're at risk of becoming "noncompliant" or "delinquent" and offering to file the business' Periodic Business Report with the Colorado Secretary of State for a fee of $225.
Though the majority of entities doing business in Colorado are required to file periodic reports with the Secretary of State’s office, the filing can be completed directly with the Secretary of State’s office, online, and in most cases the fee is merely $10.
Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler alerted Colorado businesses and non-profits to this letter issued by Nevada-based Corporate Controllers Unit, Inc. We want to pass on this important information to you.
For the full text of Secretary of State Gessler's Alert, Click here.
To protect your business' identity, the Secretary of State recommends that you subscribe to their email notification service.
By Mike Rowe, Audit Partner
January 25, 2011
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) have become increasingly complex over the past decade. Many of the new accounting standards are issued primarily to address the needs of the users of public company financial statements. Private companies have been saying for years that their financial reporting needs are different from those of large public companies, as the users of their financial statements are different. As a result, consideration is being given to creating separate accounting rules for private companies.
The following are arguments both for and against private company GAAP.
Proponents
Those in favor of creating a private company GAAP raise the following issues about the existing rules:
• Excessive Complexity
• Non-compliance
• Lack of Relevance
Opponents
Opponents of a private company GAAP raise the following issues with private company GAAP:
• Costs to Create and Implement
• Lack of Consistency and Comparability
To read more about it, please click here.
To read Mike's bio, please click here.