The Florida Legislature and Governor Charlie Crist have passed and signed into law unemployment tax relief for all Florida employers that were previously issued 2010 tax rates. These actions take effect immediately. In support of economic stability and job creation, the law will help strengthen the efforts of Florida's business community as it faces the economic challenges that have confronted our state.
This new law: •Adjusts tax rate calculations through 2011. •Reduces the taxable wage base from $8,500 to $7,000.
•Provides for quarterly installment payments. The tax relief will apply to taxes due by April 30, 2010. Employers will receive their new 2010 tax rate information (Form UCT-20) from the Florida Department of Revenue in late March or early April. Employers who are ready to expand operations and hire new workers are encouraged to use services provided by Florida's workforce system through www.EmployFlorida.com.
Rates
The new law, passed March 2, 2010 and retroactive to January 1, 2010, adjusts the rates to the following (based on annual salary up to $7,000 per employee): •Minimum rate: 0.0036 or $25.20* per employee •Maximum rate: 0.0540 or $378 per employee The Department of Revenue must recalculate the 2010 unemployment tax rates. The minimum rate is an approximate figure until the rates have been recalculated.
Resources
Read the full text of the bill at http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2010/house/bills/billtext/pdf/h703302er.pdf
COBRA Subsidy Extended Through March 31, 2010
On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 4691), which amends the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Among other things, the Act extends eligibility for the 65%, 15-month COBRA premium subsidy to individuals who have been involuntarily terminated through March 31, 2010. Without the extension, employees laid off after February 28th would have been ineligible for the subsidy. The law is retroactive, so individuals involuntarily terminated on March 1 st and 2nd are eligible for the subsidy.
Background: The ARRA, as amended on December 19, 2009 by the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (2010 DOD Act) provides for COBRA premium reductions. Eligible individuals pay only 35 percent of their COBRA premiums and the remaining 65 percent is reimbursed to the Coverage provider through a tax credit. To qualify, individuals must experience a COBRA qualifying event that is the involuntary termination of a covered employee's employment. The premium reduction applies to periods of health coverage that began on or after February 17, 2009 and lasts for up to 15 months.
What You Should
Do Now
Employers and other health plan sponsors should revise their COBRA notices to reflect the new March 31, 2010 subsidy eligibility expiration date.
The Model Employer CHIPRA Notice
Right on the heels of the COBRA subsidy and subsidy extension notices required as a result of the COBRA subsidy and its extension, here is yet another notice that employers with group health plans must send to their employees annually. On February 4, 2010, the Department of Labor issued a model notice for employers to use in drafting their annual Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act ("CHIPRA") notice.
The initial CHIPRA notice must be sent to all employees starting with the first plan year after February 4, 2010. For plan years that begin February 4, 2010 through April 30, 2010, the initial notice must be sent by May 1, 2010. For plan years starting after May 1, 2010, the notice deadline is the first day of the next plan year. Therefore, for calendar year plans, the first notice must be sent by January 1, 2011. Even though the CHIPRA notice is not required to be sent until the dates just mentioned, the two new special enrollment rights that CHIPRA created were effective April 1, 2009. The model notice can be found at http://www.dol.Qov/ebsa/chipmodelnotice .doc.
IRS Announces
Audit Program
The IRS is conducting 6,000 comprehensive, random employment tax audits as the centerpiece of its National Employment Tax Research Program (NRP), which will help it focus its resources on the industries and practices that contribute most to this portion of the tax gap. The American Payroll Association offers these tips if your company is selected for an employment tax audit under the NRP or under the IRS's general audit program, or if your company is selected for a comprehensive tax audit. FIRST STEPS: An organization may be informed by letter or by phone that it has been selected for an audit. The letter, often referred to as the "confirmation letter" may contain a request for the information the IRS wants to peruse, or this request may come at a later date. In either case, the next step for the IRS is to have the agents who will be conducting the fieldwork meet with the organization.
Before this meeting takes place, the organization should establish an internal team that will coordinate its participation during the examination. This may include representation from payroll, accounts payable, accounting, human resources, internal auditing, general counsel, and outside tax professionals.
A properly functioning internal team should appoint an audit controller to manage the examination and supervise input from employees. This individual should assemble and regulate the flow of information between the IRS and the organization. The audit controller should review all information before it is turned over to the IRS and be present during tours and interviews of employees.
The objective is not to restrict or hide information. Rather, the objective is to make sure the information released to the IRS is ., organized, complete, and focused.
Requests for information by IRS should be made through the audit controller in writing by use of Form 4564, the Information Document Request. The organization is required to provide the IRS with all the information it is legally allowed to request. However, the organization should also note that it needs to provide no more than the information specifically requested by the IRS. APPEALS: It is perfectly acceptable to have unresolved audit issues with the auditors. If at any time the organization does not feel an agent is conducting himself/herself professionally, the audit should be stopped, and the organization should ask to discuss the matter with the auditor's supervisor to resolve differences.
Audit issues that cannot be resolved during the examination and which are not part of a closing agreement may be appealed to an IRS Appeals Office. Open audit issues that cannot be resolved with this Office may be litigated through a formal trial. Because of the time and expense involved with litigation of unreconciled tax disputes, this option should be chosen only as a last resort.
Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Service (CBSV)
CBSV (http:// eww.ssa.gov/cbsv/) is a fee and consent-based Social Security number (SSN) verification service available to enrolled private companies and government agencies, whether Federal, State or Local. It provides instantaneous, automated verification and it easily handles large volume requests. Using CBSV, participating companies can verify the SSNs of their customers and clients. CBSV requires the written consent of the SSN holder and the verification results can only be used for the reason the number holder specifies.
CBSV verifies whether a name and Social Security Number (SSN) combination match the data in SSA's records. The submitted information is matched against SSA's Master File of Social Security Numbers (SSNs). The matching elements include: Social Security number, name, date of birth and a gender code if available. Each SSN and name combination submitted to CBSV will be returned with a "yes" or "no" verification code that the submission either matches or does not match our records. If applicable, a death indicator will be reported if the records reflect that the SSN holder is deceased. Please note that the results obtained from CBSV do not confirm or authenticate "proof of identity". Registration required.
GET READY TO FILE YOUR H-1B VISA PETITIONS ON APRIL 1, 2010
On April 1, 2010, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting new H-1B visa applications for employment that will begin on October 1, 2010. The H-1B visa is a popular choice for companies who want to hire a foreign worker to fill a "professional" or "specialty occupation" position requiring a minimum of a bachelor's degree or the equivalent.
There are 65,000 H-1 B visas available each year plus an additional 20,000 H-1 B visas reserved for holders of U.S. master's or higher degrees. Although USCIS reached the quota in the first week of filing in previous years, the quota this past year was not filled until December 2009. Since we anticipate that the H-1 B visa numbers will be filled more quickly this year as the economy starts to recover, an April 1st target date for filing H-1 Bs will increase your chances of a successful H-1 B petition. To meet a target filing date of April 1st, we recommend that you start evaluating your needs for H-1 B workers now. Unlike previous years, there is no longer the possibility of one-day approval from USDOL for Labor Condition Applications which are required in order to file the H-1 B petition with USCIS. The USDOL is generally taking seven days to process Labor Condition Applications and we expect this processing time to increase as employers prepare to file H-1 Bs.
Possible candidates for H-1 B visas are current employees or potential new hires now working in F-1, J-1, L-1 and TN categories whose employment authorization will expire before October 2011. After you evaluate your hiring needs, consult with Fisher & Phillips LLP's Global Immigration Practice Group to have the H-1 B materials prepared in advance and ready to be filed on the April 1 filing date.
