The state of California, as well as numerous other states, have a variety of programs to provide a helping hand to these service-disabled Vets.

As discussed in the link below, Los Angeles Times’ business reporter Cyndia Zwahlen provides a summary of the ways California is taking care of these business owners – including striving to allocate at least 3% of the $9 billion of government contract and purchasing commitments to businesses owned by disabled Vets.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smallbiz-vets22-2010feb22,0,7826455.story

Also read more about the valuable state and federal tax benefits available for employers of Vets in this 2009 AICPA article.   Veterans receiving food stamps, or those who have been discharged and unemployed during the last year can generate tax credits from $2,400 to $4,800 for a future employer – making Vets an attractive solution for hiring needs.

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2009/CorpTax/HireVeteran.jsp

Additional hiring credit information is also avaialable at:

www.blakechristian.com

The above link and related articles will provide you with an overview of the wide-variety of valuable, but often overlooked, federal and state energy and pollution-control equipment credits.

These credits typically range from 10% to 50% of the “qualified” cost of the equipment (excluding installation) – but in some limited cases can be as high as 100% of the equipment cost.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and so are the tax incentives.  New credits are being considered every week at the state and federal levels; therefore, it pays to do your research and fully understand these benefits before you make the capital investment.

These credits can dramatically reduce the cost of being an early adopter of these cleaner, yet more expensive, processes.

To participate in a comprehensive eco-credit webinar on Friday, January 22nd at 9:00 am  PST, or to access the archived webinar if you miss it, please click the following link:

http://www.cpelink.com/product/detail.php?p=1610

http://twitter.com/taxcredits_cpa

 Before we get into year-end tax planning, let’s focus on job creation for a moment.  President Obama held his White House “Jobs Summit” – without a few key business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which represents over 3 million companies and over 115 million employees.

Another stimulus package is being discussed, but a focus on job creation and tax reduction will be the best short-term strategy.  There are numerous federal and state programs which allow employers to claim credits ranging from $500 to $15,000 per “qualified” employee.  The Obama Administration needs to focus on refundable hiring credits, an investment tax credit for purchasing equipment and incentives for loaning funds or making equity investments in small businesses.

For a full library of articles focused on these tax incentive programs, please click on the following link:

www.blakechristian.com/blog

2009 federal and state tax changes provide huge opportunities for both business and individual taxpayers to minimize their 2009 tax liabilities and in many cases optimize refunds from prior years.

With some effort before year-end, March and April 15th can be much less taxing — but advance planning is necessary.

Businesses and individual taxpayers have had to navigate a challenging economic landscape for at least the last two years.  In addition to trying and maintain revenue levels while paring down costs, businesses and homeowners have found their financing options dramatically limited.

Therefore it is critically important for both businesses and individual taxpayers to carefully plan now for their year-end to ensure that they minimize their federal and state tax obligations – and insome cases – secure refunds for prior tax years.

As more fully detailed in the attached links to a variety of articles addressing topics raanging from:

- How to maximize tax refunds via the carryback of 2009 tax losses – including the recently passed 5 year federal carryback option for all businesses:

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2008/CorpTax/Corporate_Tax_Losses.jsp

http://www.blakechristian.com/blog/?s=tax+loss

- How to maximize write-off of wholly and partially worthless bad debts

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2007/CorpTax/Uncertainty.jsp

- Taking full advantage of federal and state depreciation and immediate write-off of equipment and other capital expenditures:

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2009/CorpTax/Stimulus_Maximus.jsp

-

Claiming the wide variety of federal and state green/ eco-credits:

http://www.blakechristian.com/green_tax_incentives.html

- Claiming valuable federal and state Location-Based Investment Credits (LBICs) for hiring employees and making capital investments in any one of the 8,500+ incentive tax Zones.  There are over 42 state Enterprise Zones in California which can often eliminate taxes in the highest rate state in the country:

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2008/CorpTax/EZstreet.jsp

 2009 was an extremely active year for tax legislation and while federal changes were often beneficial for corporations and individuals, state changes, particularly California, often resulted in higher rates, less deductions and accelerated tax payment requirements.

For a full library of corporate tax articles log onto the AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider Newsletter:

http://www.cpa2biz.com/search/results.jsp?N=79&mode=content

For a wider variety of business and individual tax and economic articles, news and otherlinks, please click onto my personal website:

www.blakechristian.com

Our comprehensive year-end tax planning guide can be accessed at:

http://hcvt.com/

Read the full piece by Yale International Trade and Finance Professor, Jeffery Garten.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d7c5b756-dd14-11de-ad60-00144feabdc0.html

by Blake Christian, CPA/MBT
How salary containment options can trigger them.

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2009/CorpTax/Unintended.jsp

Businesses are routinely implementing a variety of methods to contain compensation costs.   These techniques include freezing or deferring raises and bonuses, and reducing hours and benefits.

It is critically important to understand how IRC Section 409A may impact both the business and the employee in many innocuous situations.

 Sign up for my daily tax updates on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/taxcredits_CPA

http://www.ezpolicyblog.com/dr-swenson-responds/

The USC study concluded that job growth, real estate values and incomes rose in EZ’s and surrounding areas.  The USC study examined precise EZ borders, detailed employment data, salary and unemployment data as well as real estate values.  

The UCI concluded that there was no measurable increase in job creation within EZ’s.   However, the UCI study limited their analysis to job creation and used employment data from credit rating agencies, which generally measure job retention and creation via ranges for different size businesses – e.g. 0-5, 6 – 10, 11-20, etc.   Therefore, if an employer with 12 employees hired 5 new employees, they would fall within the 11-20 employee range and no net job increase or decrease  would be reported.  Obviously this skews the data. 

Another flaw in the UCI study is that they used incomplete and dated borders in defining highly specific EZ regions.  The EZ borders are very Gerrymandered and defined by census tracts; however, the UCI study used other criteria including zip codes to build their database for measuring job growth.

http://www.caez.org/Conference-2009/index.html

The annual California Association of Enterprise Zone (CAEZ) conference was held last week in Fresno, California.

The host committee executed a very informative and well-paced conference which was attended by over 160 attendees from Enterprise Zone cities throughout the state. 

Key attendees and speakers included:

     – John Nunn, HCD Enterprise Zone Program Director, attended all sessions and participated in a number of panel presentations.  Mr. Nunn provided the attendees frank and detailed information regarding the administration of the program on a historical basis and the changes he envisions for the future.   The thrust of Mr. Nunn’s remarks wast to encourage Zone Administrators and EZ consultants to communicate with HCD, FTB, legislators and other CAEZ members to document successes in their regions and develop improved economic development, workforce development and program effectiveness procedures.

James Dudley, Franchise Tax Board -  Enterprise Zone Director, discussed various settled and pending Enterprise Zone cases and the logistics of the Enterprise Zone audit process.   Mr. Dudley provided some useful information, but being realtively new in this role, he was a bit reserved in providing specific detail regarding the FTB’s processes or positions.

Assemblymember V. Manuel Perez, Chairman Jobs, Economic Development and Economy (JEDE) provided very positive comments about the work of the CAEZ board and members to preserve and expand the EZ program.  Assemblymember Perez discussed the many ways the EZ program benefits business owners in his district, as well as businesses and employees throughout the state.  Mr. Perez also cautioned the members that the legislators will require more accountability and refinements to the program to ensure that the taxpayers are getting an adequate return on their $300 million/ year investment in the program.  While there are studies which clearly show that employment, poverty and property values improve in incentive zones, conflicting studies, and legislative skepticism will require members to improve documentation and communication with their legislators.  He also cautioned us to anticipate some moderate reduced benefits in any final EZ legisaltion next year.

State Senator Roderick Wright -  Senator Wright provided us a highly entertaining keynote lunch speech which included a fascinating history of why California manufaturers have exited the state since the 1960′s.  Senator Wright provided a real insiders view of  Sacramento politics and how the legislators need to take a firmer stance against the tax-and-spend policies of the past few decades.

Toni Symonds, Assembly Consultant and EZ Expert discussed the outcome of the three JEDE legislative hearings, her excellent EZ whitepaper and the 100+ suggestions for improvement/ refinement to the EZ program which came out of the hearings.  The theme was for members to increase their pro-active communication to legislators, be open-minded with respect to reasonable refinements to the program  and share best-practices with other members.

In summary – the EZ program is alive and well, and the JEDE, HCD, FTB and CAEZ are all working together to spread the word to businesses in the 42 California Enterprise Zones and work to improve certaqin aspects of the EZ Program.   Documenting Program effectiveness will also continue to be at the top of all parties’ agendas.

Additional information can be obtained at:

http://www.ezpolicyblog.com/jede-committee-hearing-1082009-part-3/

This change means that many companies which have fallen on hard times the last couple of years can secure up to five years of refunds for taxes paid in prior years.

See Time Magazine.com article for more details regarding these latest changes (note these refunds are attributable to losses rather than credit; however certain tax credits are also eligible for carryback and refunds):

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1934813,00.html

See my December 2008 AICPA article detailing the refund filing process under the prior rules:

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2008/CorpTax/Corporate_Tax_Losses.jsp

The United States Chamber of Commerce is being attacked by a number of detractors ranging from the Obama Administration to private enterprises as a result of the Chambers vocal opposition of Cap & Trade and Healthcare proposals.

Earlier this week, a fraudulent press conference by the Yes Men was widely covered by the popular press and for a period of time the public was told that the Chamber had reversed it’s position on Cap & Trade and now supports the Congressional Cap & Trade proposals.

Even after a U.S. Chamber spokesperson appeared at the fraudulant press conference and informed the reporters that the Yes Man was a fraudster, some reporters insisted on allowing the Yes Men to continue their phony press conference.

White House plan: Neuter the Chamber

By: LISA LERER

The W.H. and congressional Dems are going around the Chamber and dealing directly with CEOs.

Read More

http://www.uschamber.com/default

 <http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=17056&R=163852E8A>

The moral of this story? :  

Always check your facts!

Here is a useful link to a number of national databases which can be combined and sliced and diced to allow you to evaluate various scenarios.

http://www.datamasher.org/

Despite the challenging economy and related capital market gyrations, business owners across the country are continuing to invest in a variety of eco-friendly technologies.  Businesses that choose to invest in green technologies do so for a variety of reasons including: 

-     Being socially responsible, 

-     Reducing long-term operating costs, 

-     Public relations/ employee relations benefits, 

-     Securing tax benefits 

-     Or most likely a combination of these factors. 

A sampling of the type of investments that business owners are making to reduce their energy costs, as well as their carbon footprint , include: 

-         Developing their own power sources, such as solar, cogeneration, geothermal, etc.,

-         Purchasing more energy efficient office and processing equipment,

-         Acquiring alternative powered vehicles,

-         Installing pollution control and energy control systems,

-         Adopting or improving their office and plant recycling programs,

-         Using more renewable raw materials and supplies,

While great strides are being made to reduce the carbon footprints of businesses and individuals, these new eco-friendly shoes can come at a very high price.   Many technologies are still being proven in the marketplace, and proven technologies such as solar, LNG powered vehicles, and LEEDS certified buildings require significant investment and long-term pay-back.

As positive as these eco investments are on the environment and the communities these businesses operates in, business owners will still naturally look to the lowest cost method for greening their business.  Unfortunately, sometimes this means deferring the planned upgrades until cash flow is sufficient to justify the significant up-front costs.

On the bright side, there are a large number of federal and state tax incentives, including eco-credits such as energy and pollution control tax incentives, hiring credit incentives research & development credits and accelerated depreciation benefits (through December 31, 2009) readily available to a large cross-section of industries.  The combination of state and federal credits, and bonus/ section 179 asset write-offs can dramatically reduce the after-tax cost of green infrastructure.

Energy Incentives (Just a Sampling)

-         Federal Solar Credit of 30% on Solar Panels and related equipment,

-         Federal Small Wind Energy Credit of 30% (Maximum Rating of 100 kilowatts),

-         Cogeneration energy production from alternative fuel sources – 30% federal credit

-         Alternative Fueling Stations, including electric recharging stations – federal credit equal to the lesser of: i) 50% of the eligible costs, or ii) $50,000 per station.  More pricey hydrogen station credit caps are increased to the lesser of: 30% or $200,000 per station.  See: www.carbondayautomotive.com  for more info on plug-in recharging stations.

-         Hybrid or Electric Vehicles – $2,500 to $15,000 per electric vehicle purchased or a 10% credit for conversion costs to convert a conventional or hybrid vehicle to a plug-in electric format.  The pay-back period can be relatively quick at $3 per gallon,

-         Federal bonus depreciation at 50% of asset costs and IRC Section 179 “expensing” of most tangible personal property for assets purchased by December 31, 2009 also offer significant up-front tax advantages,

-         Federal and state Research & Development costs for developing or refining new equipment or processes

For companies that design, manufacture, assemble or distribute green technology products, some of the largest tax incentives come in the form of Location Based Incentive Credits (LBICs) which are available to most companies operating in any of the over 8,000 federal, state and local tax incentive zones throughout the country.   Therefore, companies are very wise to carefully choose where they establish or expand their business in order to minimize their federal and state tax burdens.

A small sampling of the 40 state and numerous federal LBIC programs  include:

-         The California Enterprise Zone Program (www.caez.org) available in 42 Zones throughout the state, which offers:

•  hiring credits up to $13,000 per year/ per qualified employee
• equipment credits up to 10.75% on pollution control, energy control, technology, manufacturing and processing equipment used exclusively in a Zone,
• lender tax exemption for loans to businesses operating exclusively in a Zone
• Employee-Level credits up to $525
• Favorable permitting, bidding, grants and loans

-         Florida Enterprise Zone Program available in numerous regions throughout the state provides benefits including: hiring credits, equipment tax breaks, sales tax benefits, and property tax reductions,

  -         Federal Empowerment Zone Program (up to $3,000 per qualified employee/ per year)

-         Federal Renewal Community Program (up to $1,500 per qualified employee/ per year)

-         Federal Rural Renewal County Program (up to $4,800 per qualified employee/ per year)

-         Federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Program available to business operating in any location – from $2,400 to $4,800 per qualified employee and up to $8,500 for Welfare-to-Work employees.

Federal and state grants and more liberal loans are also available for these assets.

 Businesses that either purchase or sell energy and pollution control equipment and spend the time educating themselves on the very beneficial green/ eco credits, state enterprise zone programs, federal tax incentive programs, can enhance their cash flow and profits and will gain significant competitive advantages. 

Read additional green tech blog entries below or review the article library at: www.blakechristian.com.

For more information on identifying Location Based Incentive Credit Zones, please refer to: www.ntcgtax.com.

Download SBDC Presentation 3.31.09 ppt

Download LB Magazine April Article

Download LBACC Advocate Spring column Blake Christian

Download Socially Responsible YEP Article

Download CA Tax Rates article 12.2007

 Download CA Reduce Emissions article 12.2007

Additional articles, videos, etc. are available below and in the "Library" section of this site.