PC Computing: Best Free Software/ZDCD.iso/top100/smalb.exe/F250.SBE

Text File | 1997-09-23 | 13.4 KB | 314 lines

@108 CHAP 8

        ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │ TARGETED JOBS TAX CREDIT FOR HIRING EMPLOYEES │
        │  (NOW KNOWN AS THE "WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT"  │
        └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

If you hire members of certain economically disadvantaged
groups, the federal government will pay you a subsidy of up
to $2,400 per employee in the form of "Work Opportunity
Tax Credits" (formerly known as "Targeted Jobs Tax Credits")
against your income tax liability.  Unfortunately, most
small business employers seem to be unaware of this
substantial tax subsidy or else mistakenly assume that
it applies only if you hire ex-felons or the like.

Part of the reason so many employers failed to take advantage
of this tax giveaway in the past was on account of a Catch-22
in the way the program worked, before its recent revision in
1996:  To qualify for the old targeted jobs credit for hiring
a disadvantaged category person, he or she had to be certified
as such by a designated state employment security agency and
the certification was required to be received by the employer
(or requested in writing) at least one day before the employee
began work.

At the same time, state and federal anti-discrimination
laws make it very difficult for you as an employer to ask
prospective job applicants if they belong to any of the
disadvantaged groups that are eligible for the tax credits,
since to do so could be considered a discriminatory hiring
practice....

Accordingly, many employers simple didn't bother to try to
obtain the old targeted jobs credit.

The new work opportunity credit, which expired on May 31,
1997 (but has been extended again for individuals hired
through June 30, 1998), provides a better mechanism for
determining if an employee is a member of a targeted
group.  The new rule is as follows:

  . An agency certification must be received on or before
    a worker commences employment, or,

  . On or before an offer of employment is made to an
    individual, the employer must complete a "pre-screening
    notice" (on the new Form 8850, Work Opportunity Credit
    Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request), which
    obtains necessary information from the job applicant,
    on the basis of which the employer believes the person
    is an eligible member of a targeted group.  The employer
    then has 21 days after the person begins work in which
    to submit the Form 8850, signed by both employer and
    employee, to the state employment security agency,
    requesting the certification that is needed to obtain
    the work opportunity jobs credit for federal income
    tax purposes.

The targeted group individuals for whom you can claim the
jobs tax credit when you hire them are as follows has also
been slightly revised under the new work opportunity
credit provisions enacted in 1996:

    . QUALIFIED IV-A RECIPIENTS.  Individuals certified by
      the designated local agency as being a member of a
      family receiving assistance under a program approved
      under part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act.

    . QUALIFIED VETERANS.  Includes certain veterans who
      are members of a family receiving food stamps or
      assistance under a IV-A plan.

    . QUALIFIED EX-FELONS.  This category includes certain
      recently convicted or released felons with low
      family incomes.

    . HIGH-RISK YOUTHS.  Youths age 18 or older but under
      25 who live in empowerment zones or enterprise
      communities.

    . VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION REFERRALS.  These are
      certain individuals with substantial physical or
      mental disabilities who have completed (or are
      currently enrolled in) vocational rehabilitation
      programs.

    . QUALIFIED SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYEES.  Economically
      disadvantaged youths 16 or 17 years old who are
      hired to work between May 1 and September 15, who
      were not previously employed by you.

    . QUALIFIED FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS.  Youths between
      age 18 and 25 who are members of families receiving
      food stamp assistance and who meet certain other
      requirements.

    . QUALIFIED SSI RECIPIENTS (added by 1997 tax law).
      Individuals certified by appropriate local agency as
      receiving supplemental security income (SSI) benefits
      under the Social Security Act for any month during the
      60 days prior to the hiring date).

On the first $6,000 you pay an eligible target group
employee, you will earn tax credits of 40% of the wages
(formerly 35%) if the employee works a minimum of 400 hours
for you.  A lesser credit of 25% is allowed for an employee
who works only between 120 and 400 hours for you, under the
1997 extension of the work opportunity credit.  The credit
is not allowed for wages paid to strikebreakers or "scabs."

NOTE: One drawback of this tax credit is that you must
reduce the wages you can deduct dollar-for-dollar for the
jobs credits you claim.  That is, if you pay someone $1,000
and claim a $350 targeted jobs tax credit, you can only
deduct $650 for wage expense on your tax return, not the
full $1,000.

Congress also enacted a new "welfare-to-work" tax credit in
1997, effective for hiring of certain long-term family assistance
recipients in 1998 and until April 30, 1999.  This credit is for
35% of the first year's wages (up to $3,500) and up to 50% of
the second year's wages (up to $5,000) paid to an eligible
recipient.

@CODE: CA
California has also provided certain special jobs tax
credits for hiring disadvantaged or unemployed persons in
"Enterprise Zones" and "High-Density Unemployment Areas"
that have been designated in certain parts of the state
that are economically depressed.  Note, however, that
the previous Enterprise Zone Act and Employment and Economic
Incentive Act have been repealed by a new Enterprise Zone
Act, which went into effect on January 1, 1997, which makes
numerous modifications and improvements over the prior Acts.

Employers in California may also claim a 50% credit (up to
$600 per dependent) under a plan providing child care for
employees.

        ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │       CALIFORNIA INVESTMENT TAX CREDIT        │
        └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Effective January 1, 1994, California began to allow a 6%
investment tax credit (ITC) on certain purchases of equipment
and other tangible personal property purchased for use by a
"qualified person" where the property is placed in service
in California.  Such personal property must be used primarily
in any stage of the manufacturing, processing, refining,
fabricating, or recycling of property, beginning at the
point any raw materials are received by the "qualified
person" and introduced into the process, and ending at the
point at which the manufacturing, etc. process has altered
the property to its completed form (including packaging,
if required).

(Effective September 11, 1994, if you pay sales tax or use
tax on the purchase of equipment that would qualify for the
investment tax credit, and if you are "pre-qualified" by the
Board of Equalization as a "new business," you may instead
elect to receive a refund of the sales or use tax, 6% in
1994, or 5% in 1995 and subsequently, in lieu of claiming
the 6% investment credit on your income or franchise tax
return.  Businesses that operate in Enterprise Zones or
Program Areas may be able to claim BOTH a sales tax and
income tax credit.)

The credit also applies to tangible personal property that
is purchased for use by a qualified person, to be used in
California:

  . primarily in research and development;

  . primarily to maintain, repair, measure, or test the
    property described above; or

  . by a contractor purchasing the property either as an
    agent of a qualified person or for the contractor's own
    account and subsequent resale to a qualified person for
    use in the performance of a construction contract for
    a qualified person who will use the property as an
    integral part of the manufacturing, processing, refining,
    fabricating, or recycling process, or as a research or
    storage facility for use in connection with the
    manufacturing process.

NOTE:  Property that is leased by a "qualified person" to
another person DOES NOT qualify for the ITC for the lessor.

Under this law, a "qualified person" who can claim the
credit (or for whom it can be claimed by an agent) is any
person engaged in lines of business described in Codes 2000
to 3999 of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
Manual published by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget,
1987 edition.  These particular SIC codes are under the
heading of "Manufacturing."

Note that, in addition to machinery and equipment, "tangible
personal property" (for purposes of the California ITC)
includes:

  . Equipment or devices (including computers and software)
    used or required to operate, control, regulate or
    maintain the machinery, plus repair and replacement
    parts with a useful life of one or more years;

  . Property used in pollution control that meets State
    Air Resources Board or Water Resources Control Board
    standards;

  . Certain special purpose buildings and foundations used
    as an integral part of the manufacturing, etc., process,
    but not including warehouses for completed products;

  . Fuel used or consumed in the manufacturing process; and

  . Property used in recycling.

However, tangible property does NOT (except as noted above)
include consumables with a useful life of less than a year,
inventory, equipment used in the extraction process, or
equipment used to store finished products that have completed
the manufacturing process.

While the new ITC could be EARNED in 1994, taxpayers could
not actually claim it on their tax returns until the 1995 tax
year (along with credits earned in 1995, if any).  Credits
that exceed your tax liability for any tax year can be
carried over for up to seven succeeding years (nine for
certain "small businesses").  A "small business" is one
that meets any one of 3 tests for the taxable year:

  . It has gross receipts of under $50 million;

  . It has net assets of under $50 million, OR

  . It has a total credit (ITC) of under $1 million.

This law provides that the ITC will remain in effect until
at least January 1, 2001 (or longer if manufacturing
employment does not grow to specified levels).

Note that, while claiming the credit as an offset against
sales tax is allowed only at the rate of 5% in 1995 and
later years, versus 6% if claimed as an income tax credit,
there may be advantages to claiming the sales tax credit
instead of an income tax credit:

  . The sales tax credit is available immediately, when you
    purchase equipment and give proper documentation of your
    eligibility for the credit to the seller; and

  . For many new businesses, it may be several years, if
    ever, before there is any income tax liability against
    which the income tax credit could be offset, unlike
    the sales tax credit, which can be used whether or
    not your business has any net taxable income.

(On the other hand, the "tax basis" of the asset must be
reduced for state tax depreciation purposes if the sales tax
credit is claimed, which is not the case for the income tax
credit.  Thus, there are numerous trade-offs to consider.)

NOTE:  S corporation shareholders get to claim the full 6%
income tax investment credit, and the S corporation itself
still gets to use 1/3 of the credit against its tax
liability, which is a fairly generous rule.

@CODE:OF
@CODE: HI

        ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │        HAWAII TARGETED JOBS TAX CREDIT        │
        └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The Hawaii legislature has enacted a "targeted jobs tax
credit" equal to 20% of the first $6,000 of "qualified
first-year wages."  It applies only to wages paid to an
individual who is a vocational rehabilitation referral.

In addition, Hawaii law provides a capital goods excise
tax credit, which is essentially an investment credit of
4% of the cost of equipment placed in service by a business
in Hawaii, which amounts to a full credit for the 4%
General Excise Tax paid on the purchase.

This law is modeled after the federal investment credit
law that was in effect before 1986.
@CODE:OF
@CODE: PA

        ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │     PENNSYLVANIA JOB CREATION TAX CREDITS     │
        └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has adopted a job creation
tax credit, effective July 1, 1996, under which a company
that creates 25 or more new jobs in the Commonwealth may be
entitled to a tax credit of up to $1,000 per employee, if
proper application is made to the Department of Community
and Economic Development.  A "new job," for purposes of the
credit, is defined as a full time job for which the average
hourly wage rate (excluding benefits) is at least 150% of
the federal minimum wage.

Tax credits may be used against either the corporate income
tax, capital stock and franchise tax, or applied against
the personal income tax of sole proprietors or owners of
an S corporation or partnership, or against the gross
receipts tax or against certain taxes imposed on financial
institutions.
@CODE:OF