I’ve refrained from blogging for awhile as most of my spare time seems to have disappeared due to workload. Don’t get me wrong – I’m happy to have the work, its just that nowadays when I get a free moment I usually end up pondering a rising trout on a particular eastern sierra stream rather than thinking of current tax issues.
However there are some really important happenings going on that you should be aware of. Notably, the Health Care legislation being kicked about in Washington has some important changes in taxation included in it. For the first time interest, dividends, royalties, rents, annuities AND CAPITAL GAINS would all be hit with a 3.8% tax surcharge. If your income is over $200k ($250k married filing joint) then under the current proposal you will be hit with this new change in the tax law. Stay tuned for more updates as the political drama plays out.
There will be some changes definitely hitting sooner that may affect you. A new law just signed by the President will provide for a tax credit for employers who hire new employees between 2/3/2010 and 12/31/2010 who were previously unemployed for 60 days or more. The credit is equal to the employer’s 6.2% social security tax on wages. Further, for each new hire retained for at least a year employers will be eligible for up to $1000 in additional tax credits in 2011.
If you have money in a foreign bank or own 10% or more of a foreign business, the same new law discussed above now requires that these overseas investments be subject to US withholding (How are they going to enforce that???). Congress is also looking at requiring disclosure of foreign bank accounts on your tax return in 2011 or risk up to $50,000 in penalties.
Some good, some bad, but as Bob Dylan said…the times, they are a changing….