March 2012: Recent Tax Updates

LABOR UNION NOTIFICATION POSTER

The National Labor Relations Board has once again postponed the required date for posting the labor union notification poster.  The implementation date has been postponed to April 30, 2012.  The date has been pushed back due to a legal challenge that has been filed in federal court.  They hope a resolution to the issue will take place by April 30, 2012.

SOCIAL SECURITY TAX RATE REDUCTION EXTENDED

The 2% cut in the employee payroll taxes has been extended through December 31, 2012.  The 4.2% social security tax rate that was withheld on employees earnings in 2011 and previously ex-tended through January and February 2012 has now been extended through the end of 2012.  The payroll tax reduction also includes self-employed individuals who will again pay 10.4% for the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) for 2012.

REPORTING THIRD PARTY DEBIT AND CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS

The IRS has reversed its ruling requiring sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations to sep-arately report debit and credit card payments received and reported by third party processors on Form 1099-K.  Many businesses complained about the added recordkeeping necessary to reconcile the 1099-K data with their accounting records.  The IRS has waived this separate reporting re-quirement permanently.