IT Entrepreneur MJ Shoer Seeks to Lessen Burden on Small Businesses

As a small business owner with eight employees, MJ Shoer, president and virtual chief technology officer of Jenaly Technology Group Inc., sees first-hand the costs and staff time associated with tax compliance.

“It seems like an unnecessary distraction that saps resources, time and money,” Shoer noted.  “For example, why do we need to file quarterly payroll tax returns?  It would save me a lot of time and money if I could file a single annual return.”

Like many other small business owners, Shoer views the regulations and requirements surrounding payroll tax as a significant burden – as well as an onerous cost center.  Beyond that, he believes that the payroll tax is representative of a larger issue: the disproportionate burden of tax compliance costs on small businesses.

The statistics suggest Shoer might be on to something. According to the SBA Office of Advocacy, in 2009, there were 27.5 million businesses in the United States, of which 99.9 percent or 27.4 million had fewer than 500 employees.  If the cost of filing a quarterly payroll tax return is $100, the total annual compliance costs incurred by these 27.4 million small businesses is about $10.9 billion.  If we allowed small businesses to file annually, four returns would be reduced to one, and the annual compliance costs could be reduced by 75% to $2.74 billion, a savings to small businesses of around $8 billion.  This is savings that small businesses could use to invest in new equipment, services or staff or break into new markets.

Payroll tax simplification is just one issue that spurred Shoer to get engaged with Members of Congress and become an advocate for the small business community.  He is interested in the range of opportunities that would help simplify the life of small business owners.  Shoer understands that because so many small business owners lack resources, seemingly simple requirements can become burdensome and impact the businesses’ overall ability to focus on its day-to-day activities.

Through a 25-year history with the IT industry – starting with entry into IT not long after graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 1986 and founding Jenaly in 1997 – Shoer appreciates CompTIA’s important role in advocating for small businesses by working to simplify complex issues such as the payroll tax.

By taking on this challenge, CompTIA helps ensure small businesses have the time and capital necessary to make more productive investments in growing their businesses, which is good for their business, good for the IT sector and good for the economy as a whole. To learn more on which Capitol Hill issues are affecting small businesses, check out TechVoice.org, our IT advocacy site.