Wednesday, 07 July 2010 09:12
Written by Webb Brown
By Webb Brown, President
Montana Chamber of Commerce
Tanning Salon Tax
If you own a tanning salon or are a customer of one, you’ll be paying a new tax starting July 1, 2010. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) includes this new fee. The Internal Revenue Service has issued regulations outlining the administration of a 10-percent excise tax on indoor tanning services. In general, providers of indoor tanning services will collect the tax at the time the purchaser pays for the tanning services. The provider then pays over these amounts to the government, quarterly, along with IRS Form 720, Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return. The tax does not apply to phototherapy services performed by a licensed medical professional on his or her premises. The regulations also provide an exception for certain physical fitness facilities that offer tanning as an incidental service to members without a separately identifiable fee.
Deficit Fears Kill Budget
Leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives will put forth a “budget enforcement resolution” this year instead of a traditional budget blueprint that includes five or 10 years’ worth of projected spending and deficits, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. The House has never skipped the budget resolution process since the current budget rules were established in 1974. Increasing concern over deficit spending, the approaching mid-term elections, and the work of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform are cited as reasons for the failure.
Anti-Business-Speech Bill
“Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech”, states the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Yet, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called DISCLOSE Act. The Act directly threatens corporate speech and associations’ (like the Montana Chamber) ability to speak out in elections. The final vote was 219 to 206, with U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg voting “no”. The bill would provide tough new disclosure rules for groups that involve themselves in the election process, but it exempts certain organizations like labor unions. In fact, it has been called the “Swiss Cheese” of bills, with the numerous holes for exemptions in it. The bill will now head to the Senate. The Montana Chamber has a long history of defending the rights of business interests to speak for themselves, including overturning the highly-populist “Initiative 125” at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Montana Chamber has contacted U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester, urging them to oppose the bill.
Health Plan Site
A federal government website that starts July 1 takes a step in the direction of Internet health insurance shopping. The site, for the first time, will give consumers a list of all private and government health care plans for individuals and small businesses in their areas. The nation’s new health care law requires the site (www.healthcare.gov). Initially, it will provide just basic facts, such as the names of companies, health plans and Web links. Beginning in October, it will list detailed cost and benefits information.
Work Comp Report
The Labor-Management Advisory Council on workers’ compensation (LMAC) met last week to review draft legislative language of its reform package. Stakeholders offered numerous suggestions on how to revise portions of the bill to more accurately reflect the council’s intentions, but work still must be done before it’s ready. In addition, NCCI will be “pricing” this package in August, which should give people a better idea on whether the cost savings in the bill will actually materialize, or if more changes are necessary to get costs down. The next meeting of the LMAC is July 21-22 in Helena.
Tourism Impact
Newly released numbers show that in 2009, nearly 10 million non-residents visited Montana and spent more than $2 billion in the Treasure State. The Institute of Tourism and Recreation Research, at the University of Montana, gathered information about nonresidents and posted it online. Researchers say nonresidents contributed to more than 25,000 jobs, earning over $660 million.
Employer Info
In a recent unanimous ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and ruled that a police department’s review of the provocative text messages sent by an officer to his wife and to his mistress from his employer-issued pager, did not constitute an invasion of the officer’s privacy. For employers, the key component of the decision is the Court’s focus on the fact that the police department-employer’s review of the messages comported with its policy and was conducted for a legitimate business reason. The department’s policy provided that messages would not be reviewed unless the employee went over the allotted monthly usage. The decision was not a free-for-all pass for employers who want to review employees’ electronic messages. The Supreme Court warned employers of the possibility that an expectation of privacy may exist in certain circumstances. The decision is a critical one for employers who want to ensure employee compliance with company rules and policies without violating the employee’s privacy rights and, in turn, exposing the organization to legal liability. The Quon opinion has two key components for employers:
1. Any workplace monitoring must comply with the employer’s policy—if you don’t have a clear policy, now is the time to get one; and
2. A search of electronic communications should not go beyond what is necessary to accomplish the legitimate business purpose behind the policy—use the least intrusive means possible to make the determination at issue. Thanks to Jim Nys, Personnel Plus! Consulting Services and Western Staff Services of Helena, Inc for this info.
Due to the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act recently enacted into law, employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers after March 18, 2010. This reduced tax withholding will have no effect on the employee’s future Social Security benefits, and employers would still need to withhold the employee’s 6.2-percent share of Social Security taxes, as well as income taxes. The employer and employee’s shares of Medicare taxes would also still apply to these wages. In addition, for each worker retained for at least a year, businesses may claim an additional general business tax credit, up to $1,000 per worker, when they file their 2011 income tax returns. The new law requires that the employer get a statement from each eligible new hire certifying that he or she was unemployed during the 60 days before beginning work or, alternatively, worked fewer than a total of 40 hours for someone else during the 60-day period. Here are links to learn about and get forms for this credit:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=223606,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf
