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2-24-2015
Minimum Wage
The federal minimum wage provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Many states also have minimum wage laws. Some state laws provide greater employee protections; employers must comply with both.
4-1-2015
California City & County Sales & Use Tax Rates (effective April 1, 2015)
Retailers engaged in business in California must register with the BOE and pay the state's sales tax, which applies to all retail sales of goods and merchandise except those sales specifically exempted by law. The use tax generally applies to the storage, use, or other consumption in California of goods purchased from retailers in transactions not subject to the sales tax. Use tax may also apply to purchases shipped to a California consumer from another state, including purchases made by mail order, telephone, or Internet
The sales and use tax rate in a specific California location has three parts: the state tax rate, the local tax rate, and any district tax rate that may be in effect.
State sales and use taxes provide revenue to the state's General Fund, to cities and counties through specific state fund allocations, and to other local jurisdictions.
5-5-2015
What Is Estimated Tax & Who Does It Apply To?
Everyone must pay taxes on the income they receive during the year, whether it is from a job, self-employment, or other sources. The IRS expects to receive tax payments as your income is earned, not just at the end of the year when you file a tax return. This is referred to as a “pay as you go” system.
7-1-2015
Employee Benefits (effective July 1, 2015)
With the exception of wages and salaries, employee benefits are the primary tools by which employers attract and retain qualified personnel for their organizations. Most employers voluntarily provide a variety of benefit packages.
Reasons for providing such benefits range from a desire to be competitive in the relevant labor market to a genuine concern for their employees’ welfare.
Beginning July 1, 2015, employers will be required to offer paid sick leave. You can find the details about this change at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/ab1522.html
Vacation, holidays, medical, dental and vision coverage, and retirement benefits are not required by law. If such benefits are offered, the employer may choose to pay all, part or none of the costs. Once the benefits are offered, however, law regulates how the employer must apply them. The following highlights some of the key issues of each benefit.
IR-2016-05, Jan. 14, 2016
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced that the nation’s 2016 individual income tax filing season opens Jan. 19, with more than 150 million tax returns expected to be filed this year.
People will have several extra days to file their tax returns this year. Taxpayers have until Monday, April 18 to file their 2015 tax returns and pay any tax due because of the Emancipation Day holiday in Washington, D.C., falling on Friday, April 15. Taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts will have until Tuesday, April 19 because of Patriot’s Day observances on April 18.
The IRS expects more than 70 percent of taxpayers to again receive tax refunds this year. Last year, the IRS issued 109 million refunds, with an average refund of $2,797.
“IRS employees have been working hard to get ready to help taxpayers this filing season,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. “As part of our Security Summit initiative, the IRS has been working closely with the tax industry and state revenue departments to provide taxpayers with stronger protections against identity theft during the tax filing season.”
The IRS encouraged taxpayers to plan ahead and take advantage of the online resources available on IRS.gov.
“IRS.gov is the best place for taxpayers to go for information about filing their income tax returns this year,” Koskinen said. “Although we will have more people staffing our phone lines this year, we expect those lines to remain busy so we encourage people to visit the web first as the quickest and easiest way to get assistance.”