Congressional indecision

Working in the payroll software industry during the day has certainly opened my eyes to problems created by our federal elected officials.  Under normal circumstances, Congress decides on a budget for the next year with significant lead time for the president to sign the legislation and the Treasury department (IRS) to issue tax tables based upon that law.  Tax tables, if issued in early November, can be coded, tested and released by software companies well in advance of the next tax year.  Once software companies release these tables, payroll and accounting software providers must update their customers with the new calculations after performing tests of their own.  This entire process can take up to a month.

Now, mix in this year’s congressional indecision.  The federal government’s budget has still not been finalized as of the writing of this post.  Many analysts and representatives are saying nothing will happen until the “lame duck” session following the election in November.  With no tax law available for writing next year’s tax tables, there can be no software coding and testing at the tax table software level or the payroll software provider level.  To add even more complexity to the situation, how is anyone supposed to plan for their tax liability with no rules in place to determine how much liability will exist?

The Treasury Department has three choices:

1. Issue new tables assuming all Bush-era tax cuts will be continued
2. Issue tables assuming all Bush-era tax cuts expire
3. Issue tables similar to this year with small adjustments for inflation

If Treasury and Congress do not follow the same path, any mix of two of these scenarios would cause tax confusion like we have never experienced before.  Think about the Treasury Department assuming tax cuts will continue while Congress lets them all expire.  Not only would there be two releases of withholding rules (expensive!) within a short amount of time, everyone would experience underwithholding.  This would require that everyone re-evaluate their tax position to ensure withholding or estimated payments would be enough to cover liability.

While I normally don’t get political in this blog, this time I’ll make an exception.  Please write or contact your Congressman and make a good case for the urgency of a new budget.  Delaying will cause withholding problems with all taxpayers and prohibit those who wish to plan from making those plans.  Should we withhold on an unpatched AMT, reduced child tax credits, Making Work Pay credit?  Please Congress, let’s get this resolved.

Hey Senator! Stop Taxing My Company Cell Phone!

There are a lot of fringe benefits making the news these days. But none with as much confusion as cell phones and the taxation thereof. If you follow IRS regulations closely you know there is an entity known as the property list. Items on this list are subject to taxation if used by employees for personal use. For example, company cars are on the list. And so are cell phones. They came on the list when they were first introduced way back when they were big clunky things with battery packs. Over time they have gotten smaller, smarter and cheaper. But they are still on the property list. Therefore even though they are common place at work and every second employee gets one, the personal use is still taxable wages to the employee.

Now the reason why I say they are in the news is because last year the IRS was asked to come up with a way to make the taxation easier to track and maintain. At that time the only way to do it is to take each cell phone bill for each phone for each employee and total up the personal calls. This could require an army of accounts payable clerks, so companies weren’t doing it. So the IRS came up with three ways to account for the usage without having to actually review each bill. Unfortunately CNN and the other news outlets got a hold of the IRS Notice announcing the new methods and asking for comments as they are required to do. Next thing you know CNN and the Wall Street Journal are announcing that cell phone are NOW taxable! Well the blogosphere went nuts with everyone up in arms and attacking the IRS for daring to tax our cell phones. They called for the IRS to cease this taxation attempt immediately. But what was not explained was the property list and how the IRS has no control over what goes on it. It is totally controlled by Congress.

In reaction to this uproar a new bill has been debated and passed in the House. H.R. 4994, the Taxpayer Assistance Act of 2010. Introduced by Rep. John Lewis, this bill calls for cell phones to be taken off the property list immediately. It has been sent to the Senate and is currently in the Committee on Finance. But this is not the first time that the House has attempted to take cell phones off the property list. And it always dies in the Senate. So if you care about having to tax cell phones or having your company cell phone taxed, now is the time to act. You need to write or call your senator and let them know you want this passed in the Senate and made law.

Vicki M. Lambert, CPP

www.thepayrolladvisor.com

New Homebuyer Credit Form

The IRS issued the new form 5405 for those wishing to claim the Homebuyers Tax Credit on their 2009 tax returns.  The new form is for those who have not yet claimed the credit using an amended tax return 1040-X.  Now required, an executed copy of form HUD-1.  This documentation is required simply to reduce the fraud that was occurring in this program during 2009.  When you visit your tax preparer, you will need to bring a copy of this document along with your other standard supporting paperwork.  Inclusion of this document in your tax return filing means you must file on paper and cannot use e-file.  Unfortunately, this also greatly increases the time before you can get your refund.

On a side note…

The IRS is requiring tax preparers who file more than 10 returns to file all of them electronically next year.  However, if Congress comes up with another idea that ultimately requires paper filing like this one, which directive am I to follow?  As a preparer, I am attempting to get all my clients on e-file.  Why is there no provision to attach scanned documentation to a return that is filed electronically?  We all have scanners and the reduction in paper and handling time would be significant if all supporting documentation could be included via pdf at the time of return submission.