On March 2, 2010, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 4691, the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 by a vote of 78-19.  This Senate action follows House passage of H.R. 4691 on February 25, 2010.  The President immediately signed this bill into law on March 2, 2010.

The Temporary Extension Act:

1. Extends the COBRA subsidy program that was enacted under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and
2. Extends unemployment benefits through April 5, 2010.

COBRA

The law’s COBRA provisions:

• Extend the eligibility period for the 15-month 65 percent premium subsidy to those involuntarily terminated from March 1 through March 31, 2010.

• Allow employees to receive the subsidy if they first lost group coverage due to a reduction in hours and then were terminated after enactment of the bill.

Unemployment Insurance

The law’s unemployment insurance benefit provisions:

• Extend the period during which individuals may file applications for Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) from the current end date of February 28, 2010 to April 5, 2010 and the period during which individuals may claim and be paid EUC is extended from July 31, 2010 to September 4, 2010.
• Extend the period during which individuals may qualify for the Federal Additional Compensation (FAC), the extra $25 weekly benefit amount on state and federal unemployment compensation, from the current end date of February 28, 2010 to April 5, 2010 with weekly payment provided during the phase out period for weeks ending October 5, 2010 instead of August 31, 2010.
• Extend the period during which 100% federal reimbursement for weeks of regular federal extended benefit payments to April 5, 2010, with the state option to continue the extended period from July 31, 2010 to September 4, 2010.

Additional Extension

These “short-term” extensions of the COBRA subsidy and unemployment benefits are intended to give Congress more time to consider legislation to extend these programs through 2010.  Under H.R. 4213, a bill the Senate is currently debating, both the COBRA subsidy program and unemployment benefits would be extended through December 31, 2010.

adapted from the IRS

Getting ready to file your tax return?  Make sure you have all your documents before you start. You should receive a Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement from each of your employers.  Employers have until February 1, 2010 to send you a 2009 Form W-2 earnings statement. For employers who are clients of Staff One, W-2 were sent out during the first week in January.

If you haven’t received your W-2, follow these four steps:

1. Contact your employer (if your employer is a client of Staff One, contact us) If you have not received your W-2, contact your employer to inquire if and when the W-2 was mailed.  If it was mailed, it may have been returned to the employer because of an incorrect or incomplete address.  After contacting the employer, allow a reasonable amount of time for them to resend or to issue the W-2.

2. Contact the IRS If you do not receive your W-2 by February 16th, contact the IRS for assistance at 800-829-1040. When you call, you must provide your name, address, city and state, including zip code, Social Security number, phone number and have the following information:

• Employer’s name, address, city and state, including zip code and phone   number
• Dates of employment
• An estimate of the wages you earned, the federal income tax withheld, and when you worked for that employer during 2009. The estimate should be based on year-to-date information from your final pay stub or leave-and-earnings statement, if possible.

3. File your return You still must file your tax return or request an extension to file by April 15, even if you do not receive your Form W-2. If you have not received your Form W-2 by April 15th, and have completed steps 1 and 2, you may use Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Attach Form 4852 to the return, estimating income and withholding taxes as accurately as possible.  There may be a delay in any refund due while the information is verified.

4. File a Form 1040X On occasion, you may receive your missing W-2 after you filed your return using Form 4852, and the information may be different from what you reported on your return. If this happens, you must amend your return by filing a Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

Form 4852, Form 1040X, and instructions are available on the IRS Web site, IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2010-15 addressing provisions of the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act of 2008 which relates to qualified retirement plans, including 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans. The guidance includes 20 questions and answers, and discusses topics such as survivor and disability retirement benefits with respect to military service, differential wage payments, and in-service distributions. Major provisions in the law include:

• A survivor of a deceased service member is allowed tax-free rollover of certain funds to a Roth IRA or Education Savings Account.
• Employers who pay all or some of the compensation that an employee would have normally been paid to those on active duty (”differential pay”) must recognize that compensation when calculating pension benefits. These wages paid were previously not treated as wages for federal employment tax purposes, but the HEART Act amended the Code to now treat differential pay as wages for income tax withholding purposes.
• Reservists who request distributions from defined contribution plans (including 401(k) plans) while serving at least six months of active duty on or after Dec. 31, 2007 will not be subject to the 10 percent withdrawal penalty, regardless of the participant’s age.
• The HEART Act requires plans to consider an employee who dies while on active duty to be considered a “deemed rehired employee” in order to provide the employee with any additional benefits that would have been provided to an active employee. These benefits may include accelerated vesting, life insurance and other survivor’s benefits.

The notice provides that an amendment regarding the applicable HEART Act provisions should be effective on or before the last day of the first plan year beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2010. For calendar year plans this date is Dec. 31, 2010. Governmental plans need to make the applicable amendments on or before the last day of the first plan year beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2012 (Dec. 31, 2012, for calendar year plans).

Click here for more information.

Proactive workplace safety initiatives and risk management are essential to your company’s financial health.  Staff One delivers a comprehensive risk management and safety program that includes Pay-As-You-Go workers’ compensation coverage, specialized training, loss control management and OSHA compliance assistance.

A key to controlling Workers’ Compensation premium cost, is the management of factors that affect its experience modification factor (mod), a crucial component in the calculation of a company’s workers compensation premium.  Controlling your mod will help you to control your costs.  Here are a few tips to live by if you are trying to control this cost and your bottom line.

1. Investigate accidents immediately and thoroughly. Take corrective action to eliminate hazards. Be aware of fraud.
2. Report all claims to carrier immediately. Alert carrier to any serious, potentially serious, or suspect claims. Frequently monitor the status of the claim and communicate with the adjuster to resolve as quickly as possible.
3. Take an aggressive approach to providing light duty to all injured employees upon their release from treatment. Supervise light duty employees to assure their conformance with restrictions.
4. In serious cases that involve lost time, communicate with the claims adjuster so that they recognize your interest in returning the injured employee back to gainful employment.
5. Set safety performance goals for persons with supervisory responsibility. Success in achieving safety goals should be used as one measure during performance appraisals for managers and employees.
6. Develop a written safety program and train employees in their responsibilities for safety. Incorporate a disciplinary policy into the program, one that holds employees accountable for breaking the rules or rewards them for correctly following safety procedures.
7. Frequently communicate with employees, on a formal and informal basis, regarding the importance of safety.
8. Make safety a priority. Senior management must be visible in the safety effort and must support improvement.
9. Evaluate accident history and near-misses at least monthly. Look for trends in experience and take corrective action on worst problems first, as soon as the problems manifest themselves
10. If you don’t have the resources available internally to implement these suggestions, hire a third party who specializes in minimizing the risks.

The Internal Revenue Service, in Revenue Procedure 2010-10, set the maximum vehicle values below which the ‘‘vehicle cents-per-mile’’ valuation rule and the ‘‘fleet-average’’ valuation rule may be employed in valuing the personal use of vehicles provided in 2010 by an employer to an employee.

The maximum value of employer provided vehicles first made available to employees for personal use in calendar year 2010 for which the vehicle cents-per-mile valuation rule (Treas. Reg. § 1.61-21(e)) may be applicable is $15,300 for a passenger automobile and $16,000 for a truck or van, IRS said.

The maximum value of employer provided vehicles first made available to employees for personal use in calendar year 2010 for which the fleet average valuation rule pertaining to 20 or more automobiles (Treas. Reg. § 1.61-21(d)) may be applicable is $20,300 for a passenger automobile and $21,000 for a truck or van.

According to the IRS, if an employer provides an employee with a vehicle that is available
to the employee for personal use, the value of the personal use must generally be included in the employee’s income and wages pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 61.

• 70% of Employers are non-compliant with wage and hour laws, according to the Department of Labor (DOL).
• 2 out of 3 workplace-related lawsuits that go to trial are won by the employee.
• $10.3 Million: Civil penalties assessed against employers by the Wage &  Hour Division of the DOL in 2007.
• $220.6 Million:  Damages paid by employers for wage and hour non compliance in 2007.
• 11.2 Million:  The jury award against Mary Kay Cosmetics for classifying beauty “consultants” as independent contractors.
• $650,000:  The average jury award to plaintiffs for damages in workplace-related lawsuits.
• 88,846:  Number of violations recorded by OSHA inspectors in 2007, of which 67,176 were serious.
• $1 million: Potential per-occurrence fine for failure to safeguard personal/non-public information against identity theft under the Gramm/Leach/Bliley safeguard Bill.

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ebsa/EBSA20100056.htm

The federal Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration establishes a final rule, effective Jan. 14, 2010, giving employers that have employee benefit plans with fewer than 100 participants a seven business day safe harbor period to deposit employee contributions to plans. Employers with retirement or welfare benefit plans subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 must deposit employee contributions to plans on the earliest date that contributions reasonably can be separated from other employer assets. The safe harbor rule does not change ERISA’s requirement that employee contributions to welfare benefit plans must be made no later than 90 days after receipt, and employee contributions to retirement plans must be made by the 15th business day of the month following the month in which contributions are received.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., January 8, 2010 — Staff One, Inc. was awarded second place in the “Most Informative – National” category at the Greater Nashville Apartment Association Trade Show held July 23, 2009 at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn.

Staff One was among more than 100 exhibitors at the annual event, which connects apartment owners, managers and leasing professionals with local and national companies that serve their industry.

“We are very pleased that Staff One was recognized by the GNAA,” said Dan Telford, Business Development Executive for Staff One. “We support the GNAA at every opportunity and really enjoyed participating in this year’s trade show. We work hard to make sure our trade show exhibits convey the services Staff One provides, as well as sharing relevant information on how we can impact business owners and managers.”

With a presence in more than 41 states, Staff One is a leader in the HR Outsourcing industry, providing PEO services that include HR, benefits administration, risk management, compliance management, payroll and tax administration services to small businesses. Staff One has worked with clients in the property management industry for more than 20 years – playing a key role in decreasing employee turnover, maximizing occupancy rates and managing workers compensation risk. As a result, Staff One’s clients have grown more than 500% since they started with Staff One.

About Staff One
Founded in 1988, Staff One is a leading Human Resources Outsourcing firm with an ESAC accredited and bonded PEO service offering. Staff One operates as a full-service human resources department and delivers a comprehensive range of solutions that provides our clients with a level of support and value previously only available at much larger companies. By aggregating the buying power of hundreds of firms, Staff One provides premium benefits and benefits administration, risk management, compliance management, payroll outsourcing, tax administration and strategic HR services. Staff One currently serves clients with employees in more than 40 states. For more information, visit www.staffone.com.

About Greater Nashville Apartment Association
The Greater Nashville Apartment Association is a non-profit trade organization representing owners, management companies, apartment communities and suppliers to the multi-family industry.

While the tax filing deadline is more than three months away, it always seems to be here before you know it. Here are the Internal Revenue Service’s top 10 tips that will help your tax filing process run smoother than ever this year.

1.     Start gathering your records Round up any documents or forms you’ll need when filing your taxes: receipts, canceled checks and other documents that support an item of income or a deduction you’re taking on your return.

2.     Be on the lookout W-2s and 1099s will be coming soon from your employer; you’ll need these to file your tax return.

3.     Try e-file When you file electronically, the software will handle the math calculations for you. If you use direct deposit, you will get your refund in about half the time it takes when you file a paper return. E-file is now the way the majority of returns are filed. In fact, last year, 2 out of 3 taxpayers used e-file.

4.     Check out Free File If your income is $57,000 or less you may be eligible for free tax preparation software and free electronic filing. The IRS partners with 20 tax software companies to create this free service. Free File is for the cost conscious taxpayer who wants reliable question-and-answer software to help them prepare a return. Visit IRS.gov to learn more.

5.     Consider other filing options There are many different options for filing your tax return. You can prepare it yourself or go to a tax preparer. You may be eligible for free face-to-face help at an IRS office or volunteer site. Give yourself time to weigh all the different options and find the one that best suits your needs.

6.     Consider Direct Deposit If you elect to have your refund directly deposited into your bank account, you’ll receive it faster than waiting for a paper check.

7.     Visit IRS.gov again and again The official IRS Web site is a great place to find everything you’ll need to file your tax return: forms, tips, answers to frequently asked questions and updates on tax law changes.

8.     Remember this number: 17 Check out Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax on IRS.gov. It’s a comprehensive collection of information for taxpayers highlighting everything you’ll need to know when filing your return.

9.     Review! Review! Review! Don’t rush. We all make mistakes when we rush. Mistakes will slow down the processing of your return. Be sure to double-check all the Social Security Numbers and math calculations on your return as these are the most common errors made by taxpayers.

10.   Don’t panic! If you run into a problem, remember the IRS is here to help. Try IRS.gov or call our customer service number at 800-829-1040.

Links:

• Forms and Publications
• E-filing
• 1040 Central
  

President Obama, on Dec. 19, 2009, signed the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations Act which includes amendments to the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that provided health care premium assistance for certain individuals. ARRA revised the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to require employers with COBRA-covered group health plans to pay 65 percent of health care premiums for up to nine months for assistance eligible individuals who lose health care coverage due to employees’ involuntary employment termination between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009. The new law expands the duration of the 65 percent premium assistance from nine to 15 months, and extends premium assistance to individuals who lose health care coverage due to employees’ involuntary employment termination between Sept. 1, 2008, and Feb. 28, 2010.