Lamar Whitman Posts

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced its final rule concerning size standards for “Computer Systems Design and Related Services,” on February 10th.   Generally, businesses classified under this category (NAICS 5415) will be considered a small business provided their annual receipts do not exceed $25.5 million, up from $25 million.  The SBA size standard is the main criteria for determining whether a business qualifies for SBA and other government programs and benefits.Types of busin ...

Introduced during the last week in the House, three bills aim to increase and strengthen small business participation in government contracting – a goal CompTIA has always supported.  We have reviewed this legislation and believe that a number of provisions would help to direct more government contracting dollars to small businesses.However, we need your input concerning this legislation.  Our goal is determine whether these provisions make sense for your business.  We are especially interested ...

Senators Landrieu and Snowe, chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, have introduced legislation (S. 2050, the Small Business Tax Extenders Act of 2012) that would extend certain expired small business tax provisions though 2012.  Some provisions in the bill include: Section 179 expensing limitation of $500,000:  Extended through 2012. Temporary exclusion of 100 percent of gain on small business stock:  Extended through 2012. Five-year carryback of general business credi ...

The IRS just released an update of its “tax gap” estimate, last revised in 2006 for the 2001 tax year.  This study found that in 2006 lost tax revenues amounted to $450 billion, up from $345 billion in 2001.  The “tax gap” is an important budget item as it represents the IRS’ estimate of the difference in tax that should be collected and that which is actually collected.   Of course, the causes of the tax gap are (i) nonfiling, (ii) underreporting and (iii) underpayment.The single largest compon ...

While the tax agenda for small businesses faces a number of challenges in 2012, there were two major successes in 2011.  Congress repealed two provisions that should never have been enacted in the first place: New Form 1099 filing requirements and 3% withholding on government contracts.Both of these provisions found their way into tax legislation without public notice, vetting or comment by the business community.  The underlying reason was seeking new sources of revenue; that is, both of thes ...

The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on December 1, to consider whether easing the procedures for raising equity capital would impact job growth.  CompTIA submitted testimony for this hearing urging Congress to increase the small issuer exemption and enact crowdfunding.Concerning the small issuer exemption, legislation that passed the House overwhelmingly on November 2 would increase the offering threshold from $5 million up to $50 million.  H.R. 1070, the “Small Company Capital Formation ...

CompTIA consistently has called for repeal of the 3% federal tax withholding on government contracts.  Finally, the Senate has acted, passing H.R. 674 by a vote of 95-0.  This follows overwhelming passage by the House on October 27.  However, the bill must now return to the House for a vote, as an amendment (which passed by a 94-1 vote) was added to the original House version that would: Provide tax credits for veterans hiring; Require a Treasury study of tax delinquency among federal contractor ...

In prior blogs, we’ve discussed our concerns about the Main Street Fairness Act and the Marketplace Freedom Act and how any increased compliance burdens may be imposed on many small businesses.We understand the concerns of many states that they are losing tax revenues due to the failure of purchasers to voluntarily file and pay use taxes on out-of-state purchases.  But the problem is not that businesses need to be “cracked-down” on because of some failing; the cause of the problem is that the st ...

As the economy dived, small businesses found capital to be hard (if not impossible) to secure.  Consequently, many small businesses are still working their way out of tough economic times, and most have had difficulty growing and adding employees.  While there is no single answer to this urgent problem, there are a number of small steps that Congress can take that will allow small businesses to raise capital more easily.  Clearly, our national economic recovery will not be achieved until small b ...

Congress continues to look at the complications of collecting sales taxes for interstate transactions completed via the Internet.  Earlier we discussed the Main Street Fairness Act, which would require interstate sellers to collect and remit sales taxes to the states into which sales are made.  Our concern with that legislation was that it failed to define a “small seller exception.”  Although the Main Street Fairness Act would require certain small sellers be exempted, this legislation would gi ...