GTM Household Help BLOG

Congress agrees to keep the payroll tax (employee social security) rate at 4.2% UNTIL March 2012, instead of reverting back to the 6.2%. As a result, employees will see the same social security withholding in January and February as they did in 2011.If this did not happen, an average of a $1,000 tax increase for 160 million Americans would have taken place in 2012. This means that your paycheck would shrink by about $40 per pay period without this tax cut. There will be a further discussion of a year-long extension after the holidays when Congress reconvenes in January.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/23/politics/congress-payroll-tax-cut/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204552304577114394185169820.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

MTA Payroll Tax reduced, eliminated for many employers

The MCTMT is imposed on employers engaged in business within the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD). Effective April 1, 2012, employers with a payroll expense of $312,500 or less in a calendar quarter will be exempt from the MCTMT. Currently, this threshold is $2,500 in a quarter. Certain educational institutions, including public and private elementary and secondary schools, will also be exempt from the MCTMT, effective April 1, 2012.

For more information check out the link...

http://info.americanpayroll.org/pdfs/news/new-york-tax-change.pdf

According the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), 20 states and the Virgin Islands could not pay the loans they borrowed from the Federal Unemployment Account (FUA) to continue to pay unemployment benefits after their unemployment insurance (UI) trust funds became insolvent by the November 10, 2011 deadline. As a result, they will lose the full Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) credit for 2011. With the IRS’s release of federal Form 940 and Schedule A (Form 940), the determinations of the credit reduction states for 2011 is made official. Here is a list of the states that are subject to a FUTA credit for 2011.



Arkansas 0.3%

California 0.3%

Connecticut 0.3%

Florida 0.3%

Georgia 0.3%

Illinois 0.3%

Indiana 0.6%

Kentucky 0.3%

Michigan 0.9%

Minnesota 0.3%

Missouri 0.3%

Nevada 0.3%

New Jersey 0.3%

New York 0.3%

North Carolina 0.3%

Ohio 0.3%

Pennsylvania 0.3%

Rhode Island 0.3%

Virgin Islands 0.3%

Virginia 0.3%

Wisconsin 0.3%



For more information, check out:

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=250782,00.html

or

http://legacy.americanpayroll.org/currently/pcwebpage.html