ECL Consulting, LLC is
dedicated to informing
and educating our
clients about business, accounting, QuickBooks and tax issues.
Our biweekly e-newsletter
provides
timely articles to help you manage
your business and
finances and
achieve your financial goals.
Please come back and visit often.
Employers - Social Security, Medicare, and
withheld
income tax. File form 941 for the first quarter of
2010. Deposit any undeposited
tax.
(If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with
a
timely filed return.) If
you
deposited the tax for the quarter in full and on
time, you have
until
May 10 to file the return.
Employers - Federal Unemployment Tax. Deposit the tax
owed through
March
if more than $500.
May Tax Deadlines
May 10
Employers - Social Security, Medicare, and withheld
income tax. File form 941 for the first quarter of 2010. T his due date applies
only if you deposited the tax for the quarter in full and on time.
May 17
Employers - Nonpayroll withholding. If the monthly
deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in April.
Employers - Social security, Medicare, and withheld
income tax. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in
April.
Getting
Organized
As
a
small business owner you wear many hats. With all the rewards and
responsibilities
of ownership, it's no wonder that paperwork often
falls to the
bottom
of your list, along with organizing
your office,
work flow and schedule.
If
you want to eliminate
misplaced
paper files, know exactly where you put
that document on
your
computer,
have a clutter-free path to your desk,
and remember
important
deadlines and appointments every time, contact
us to
put ECL's Organizing
Solutions
to work for you!
Better yet - call
us BEFORE
you get stuck to free up your
time
& start saving money!
QuickBooks
Specials
A+
Consulting, LLC is offering the following promotions:
25% off
QuickBooks
Enterprise Solutions 10.0
Up to 40% off
QuickBooks
Point of Sale 9.0 software and hardware
Wage and payroll laws can be confusing for a small business owner. See our articles below for some insight to keep you on the right side of the law - and a new incentive that helps you save on taxes!
ECL Consulting,
LLC provides accurate, timely, customized and accessible
financial record keeping
solutions that
give you with the tools
to
make informed and profitable management
decisions.
Does Your Company Violate These Wage Laws?
The U.S. Department of Labor received a 28% increase in its 2010
budget to increase enforcement of federal wage and hour laws, so small
businesses need to avoid common violations that bring penalties and
employee complaints, says Karen Harned, executive director of
the National
Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center.
Here are 5 common traps for small businesses:
1. Allowing hourly employees to waive their right to overtime
pay.
An employee may not waive his right to overtime pay. Even if an
employee is instructed to work only 40 hours per week, any hours
actually worked over 40 hours in a seven-day workweek will be subject to
overtime pay.
In California, allowing an employee to work more than eight hours one
day to make up for working fewer another day, violates the law and can
bring big penalties.
An employer can instruct an employee not to work more than 40 hours
per week, and generally may discipline an employee who works
unauthorized overtime.
2. Averaging the hours worked over two weeks.
Even though the employer uses a two-week pay period, the federal Fair
Labor Standards Act treats each work week as a single unit. If an
employee works 42 hours in one week, the employee must be paid the two
hours of overtime, even if the employee only works 20 hours in the
subsequent week.
Again, in California, if an employee works nine hours one day, he
must be paid an hour's overtime, even if he works a total of 40 hours
for the week.
3. Giving time off instead of cash.
The FLSA is very biased in favor of cash compensation rather than "comp time." Neither the employer nor employee can agree to or insist on
comp time in lieu of overtime pay.
4. Treating all salaried employees as exempt from FLSA
overtime rules.
Being a salaried employee is not solely sufficient to classify an
employee as exempt from FLSA overtime requirements. Additionally,
neither job title nor job description is sufficient.
Employers must be careful to ensure that employees are properly
classified. Exempt employees must meet a certain minimum salary and fall
under a certain exemption category specified by the FLSA.
5. Docking the pay of an employee who is exempt from overtime
payments.
An exempt employee must be paid on a salary basis. This means that the
employee on a weekly or less frequent basis receives a predetermined
amount of pay, which is not subject to reduction.
If you make improper deductions from an exempt employee's salary, the
salaried basis of payment is destroyed and the exemption is lost.
Don't jeopardize the exemption. Make sure the exempt employee's pay
is the same every week, regardless of hours worked. In other words, if
an exempt employee shows up for part of a workday, you must pay him for
the whole day.
Click here
for more federal information about wage and hour laws.
Ask
An Expert
Q: What is the HIRE Act and how does it help me?
A: Under the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act,
enacted March 18, 2010, two new tax benefits are available to employers
who hire certain previously unemployed workers ("qualified employees").
The first, referred to as the payroll tax exemption, provides
employers with an exemption from the employer's 6.2 percent share of
social security tax on wages paid to qualifying employees, effective
for wages paid from March 19, 2010 through December 31, 2010.
In addition, for each qualified employee retained for at least 52
consecutive weeks, businesses will also be eligible for a general
business tax credit, referred to as the new hire retention credit, of
6.2 percent of wages paid to the qualified employee over the 52 week
period, up to a maximum credit of $1,000.
Ever
have tax,
QuickBooks
or
accounting question, but didn't know who to
ask? Now you can Ask An Expert. Send us your
question
and we'll answer it here.
Have
you enjoyed this newsletter?
Have
any suggestions for things you'd like to see covered? Have a question for our resident
Accounting
Expert? Let us know
by
emailing askexpert@eclconsulting.com.
Each issue will cover
different
topics and have different features, so watch for our next
e-newsletter.
Remember,
we
provide accounting and cash flow solutions for successful companies
--
yours!
Have any feedback
about
this email or our new website? Please
Contact
Us with your questions or comments and we'll be happy to extend a
free
1 hour consultation to all new clients!
Know
anyone
who could use ECL's services? When you refer someone who becomes
a
client
we will give you either $25 off our services or a gift card to
one
of many great local businesses. *Please see Referral Rewards
on our website for more information.
ECL Consulting, LLC
PO Box 57669
Tuson, AZ 85732 Phone: 1-520-843-2092Ext 1
Fax: 1-520-843-2092 info@eclconsulting.com
