Lamar Whitman Posts

Generally, employers are required to file Form 941 on a quarterly basis to report and pay over federal income tax withholdings, social security and Medicare tax. They also must file a Form 940 annually to report federal unemployment taxes.  However, there are some exceptions.Household employers are allowed to replace the four quarterly Form 941 filings and the annual Form 940 filing with a single annual return, Schedule H, which is filed as part of the payer’s annual individual income tax filing ...

Last year, we reported on legislation enacted in Illinois that would shut down many small Internet businesses.  Dubbed the Amazon Tax, the new law would require any non-Illinois seller to collect Illinois sales tax if that seller acquires customers through a link on the Internet website of the Illinois business. This collection requirement would apply even though the out-of-state business has no other presence in the state. We refer to this emerging concept as “virtual nexus.”  The advent of thi ...

Today, the House voted to pass H.R. 9, the “Small Business Tax Cut Act,” by a vote of 235-173. This legislation would provide a 20-percent tax cut to companies employing 499 or fewer employees during either calendar year 2010 or 2011.  The way this works is that any business – without regard to revenues – would be given a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of that business’ net income.  For example, a business having 400 employees in 2011 with a net income of $20 million would get a deduction of ...

By now you know the JOBS Act was signed into law by the President on April 5.  This legislation includes six pre-existing bills, packaged together into a single piece of legislation.  Each of these provisions is intended to increase access to equity capital investment for small businesses: H.R. 1070 — Small Company Capital Formation Act – Increases small business SEC exemption from $5 million to $50 million. H.R. 2167 — Private Company Flexibility and Growth Act – Raises the shareholder threshol ...

In a remarkable show of bi-partisanship, the House passed the Senate-amended version of H.R. 3606 “Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act” by the wide margin of 380-41.  This legislation included six existing bills, four of which had passed the House already, and which have been supported by CompTIA as a means of infusing capital into small businesses.  The Senate amended the initial House version by adopting an amendment offered by Sen. Merkley, which was passed by a vote of 64-36.  This am ...

Small tech companies have gained a significant victory that will streamline and lessen the costs of obtaining equity capital.  Yesterday, the Senate approved the JOBS Act by a vote of 76-23, following its overwhelming passage by the House of Representatives just last week.  However, before passage, the Senate did tack on an amendment (by a vote of 64-35) that would provide more investor protections for crowdfunding while increasing the individual investment limitations: Individuals earning $40,0 ...

The House Small Business Committee passed a series of small business contracting bills this morning, all by voice vote.  This legislation now will go to the full House of Representatives for action.  CompTIA supports this legislation, as well as six other contracting bills passed by the Committee on March 7, and will call on the full House to act on this legislation quickly.  Here is a brief summary: HR 3985- “Building Better Business Partnerships Act of 2012” – This bill would authorize the SBA ...

Last week, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly (390-23) to pass H.R. 3606 "Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.”  This legislation included six existing bills, four of which had passed the House already, and which have been supported by CompTIA as a means of infusing capital into small businesses.  Among the bills included in this package was crowdfunding, H.R. 2930, which had initially passed the House in November by an even larger margin of 407-17.  So at this point, the H ...

A series of bills have been introduced in the House during the last month that aim to increase and strengthen small business participation in government contracting – an important goal that CompTIA has always supported.  Development of this legislation follows over a year of hearings held by the Small Business Committee on various contracting issues.  This group of bills will help to direct more government contracting dollars to small businesses and should be enacted. Included in H.R. 3850, “Gov ...

We anticipate bi-partisan support for legislation aimed at easing access to equity capital for small businesses.  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced yesterday that the Republican majority would bring legislation to the floor next week that amalgamates six existing capital access bills, four of which have been passed by the House already.  Basically, this new bill, H.R. 3606 "Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011," is a “re-packaging” of exis ...