http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/pf/taxes/1203/gallery.wacky-tax-deductions/12.html

Employee or independent contractor? That’s the million-dollar question-literally-facing many employers these days:

• Classifying workers as contractors can be very tricky – especially since the IRS, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Title VII, and state-level regulations all define “contractors” in different ways.
• U.S. Labor and Treasury regulators just announced a huge new enforcement campaign, hiring more inspectors and giving grants to states to pursue employers that misclassify contractors.
• If you incorrectly designate an employee as a contractor (even if it’s an honest mistake), you’ll face costly penalties and back-tax claims.

Learn the latest strategies for correctly classifying and managing independent contractors with this webinar recording, as our expert speaker explains how to avoid the biggest mistakes employers make with contractors,.

Plus, you’ll learn:

• The most current federal and state tests used to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor
• The safest ways to correct contractor misclassifications (without triggering a legal claim in the process)
• What steps you should follow to sever your relationship with any contractor
• Best practices for dealing with special contractor issues such as workers’ compensation claims and the use of temporary employees 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (PST)
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (MST)
12:30 to 1:30 p.m. (CST)
1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (EST)

 How Do Webinars Work?

A webinar is remarkably cost-effective and convenient. You participate from your office, using your computer with an Internet connection and speakers. You have no travel costs and no out-of-office time. Plus, for one low price, you can get as many people in your office to participate as you can fit around a speakerphone and a computer screen. Because the conference is live, you can ask the speakers questions – either on the phone or via the webinar interface.

You will receive access instructions via e-mail three days before the event and the morning of the event. Your conference materials will be included in these emails for you to view, print, and download prior to the event. They are also available on the webinar interface when you log in.

 The cost of the webinar is $25. If you are unable to join the webinar on January 24^th, you may purchase recordings of the webinar for $100. To enroll in the class email webinars@symmetryconsult.com. Include a contact name and phone number. Someone will contact you to get payment information.

About your Speaker:

Karolynn Humberd St-Pierre is a top HR Consultant, Author of “The Small Business Human Resource Bible”, Small Business Advisor and business owner who knows how to help the small business remain compliant with state and federal employment guidelines.  

In 2009 Ms. St-Pierre founded Symmetry Consulting, LLC – www.symmetryconsult.com.  Symmetry Consulting partners with their clients so they can focus on their bottom line and growing their business while Symmetry manages the sometimes confusing HR functions and labor law compliance tasks. 

Prior to founding Symmetry Consulting, LLC, Ms. St-Pierre spent 15 years working for some the largest human resource consulting companies providing advice to Fortune 500 companies including:  Microsoft, Coors, Target and Ford.

Visit her website for more details and to sign up: http://www.symmetryconsult.com/webinars.html

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service today launched a new program that will enable many employers to resolve past worker classification issues and achieve certainty under the tax law at a low cost by voluntarily reclassifying their workers.

This new program will allow employers the opportunity to get into compliance by making a minimal payment covering past payroll tax obligations rather than waiting for an IRS audit.

This is part of a larger “Fresh Start” initiative at the IRS to help taxpayers and businesses address their tax responsibilities.

“This settlement program provides certainty and relief to employers in an important area,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “This is part of a wider effort to help taxpayers and businesses to help give them a fresh start with their tax obligations.”

The new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP) is designed to increase tax compliance and reduce burden for employers by providing greater certainty for employers, workers and the government. Under the program, eligible employers can obtain substantial relief from federal payroll taxes they may have owed for the past, if they prospectively treat workers as employees. The VCSP is available to many businesses, tax-exempt organizations and government entities that currently erroneously treat their workers or a class or group of workers as nonemployees or independent contractors, and now want to correctly treat these workers as employees. 

To be eligible, an applicant must:

• • Consistently have treated the workers in the past as nonemployees,
• • Have filed all required Forms 1099 for the workers for the previous three years
• • Not currently be under audit by the IRS, the Department of Labor or a state agency concerning the classification of these workers

Interested employers can apply for the program by filing Form 8952, Application for Voluntary Classification Settlement Program, at least 60 days before they want to begin treating the workers as employees.

Employers accepted into the program will pay an amount effectively equaling just over one percent of the wages paid to the reclassified workers for the past year. No interest or penalties will be due, and the employers will not be audited on payroll taxes related to these workers for prior years. Participating employers will, for the first three years under the program, be subject to a special six-year statute of limitations, rather than the usual three years that generally applies to payroll taxes.

Full details, including FAQs, are available on the Employment Tax pages of IRS.gov, and in Announcement 2011-64, posted today.

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20110907/SPECIAL/110909867/1078&ParentProfile=1055

We are raffling off a $1Million dollar, full ownership, one-bedroom, slope-side condo in Grand Lodge on Peak 7. It is an incredible property with a list of amenities a mile long!  Or, if you prefer, you split ½ the raffle profits in CA$H!  We are also paying thousands of dollars in INTERIM PRIZES – in bi-weekly drawings staring July 19 (that’s this coming TUESDAY) – through December 20th. You could be the winner of an interim prize AND still win the GRAND PRIZE on New Year’s Eve, 2011!

This is our biggest undertaking to date and we are hoping it will help us to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to give back to our local and global communities. The majority of the money we raise stays right here in Summit County and goes to support such things as the Community Care Clinic, our literacy programs, scholarships, the 9 Health Fair, Cardio Plus and so many other worthwhile projects. Globally, we work to eradicate polio, provide clean drinking water, and provide disaster assistance to those in need – victims of Katrina, the Haitian earth quake, tornados in the mid west…. the list goes on.

I sincerely hope you will support this important work.  Get your entries online TODAY www.WinDreamCondo.com  or you can call Judi LaPoint at 970-389-6470!

Thanks so much for your support!
Sincerely,
Michele Knight

Business Mileage – from 51 cents to 55.5 cents
Medical/Moving Mileage – from 19 cents to 24.5 cents
Charitable Mileage remains the same at 14 cents

These new rates refelct the increased gas prices this year,  but it means that small business owners ABSOLUTELY must track their mileage on a regular basis in order to properly classify their mileage and be able to take advantage of the increased mileage rates.

Colorado homeowners will get more than $41 million in interest-free loans under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program (EHLP). Some people who meet specific criteria may not have to pay the money back.

Housing authorities are expecting a flood of applicants in Colorado. Authorities are only taking pre-applications right now. All those names will go into a lottery. If your name is drawn, you can then apply for the loan program.

Under the program, about 1,000 people in Colorado will get a home loan of up to $50,000 for two years, interest free. To qualify, you have to show your income dropped at least 15 percent due to serious illness or job loss, you have be at least three months behind on your mortgage, and your household income in 2009 had to be less than $93,840.

HUD is dividing $1 billion among 27 states and Puerto Rico and Colorado’s share is $41 million. When the money is spent, the program is over. The program is designed to help people who are at-risk of losing their homes. Colorado has the 10th highest foreclosure rate in the nation.

“The phones are ringing off the hook,” Zachary Urban of the Adams County Housing Authority said. “People are knocking on the door. People are in a very tight spot right now. So, any hope out there is something that they’re rushing to see.”

Supporters of the program say these loans will help the economy by preventing foreclosures.

Some folks won’t even have to pay the money back if they’re in the same financial trouble five years from now.

There are critics who say the program basically amounts to a $50,000 handout. The Wall Street Journal reports some Republicans in the House of Representatives tried to kill the program.

Homeowners have one month to apply. The deadline is July 22.

For more information, visit www.FindEHLP.org or call toll free at 855-FIND-EHLP (346-3345).