We receive a lot of questions about the I-9—the form used to verify the identity and employment authorization of all individuals hired for employment in the United States. Here are some of the most common: 1: How Should I-9s Be Stored? Separately. We recommend that you keep all I-9s in either a separate master file or…
The Internal Revenue Service closed the most recent filing season with more than 35 million in unprocessed tax returns, as the agency’s backlog grew markedly amid a crush of challenges related to the pandemic and economic relief efforts. The National Taxpayer Advocate indicated about 17 million paper tax returns are still waiting to be processed and approximately…
If you’ve given money or property to someone as a gift, you may owe federal gift tax, but in many cases, you will not. For example, there is usually no tax if you make a gift to your spouse or a charity. If you make a gift to someone else, the gift tax usually does…
The IRS just launched new online tools designed to help families manage and monitor the advance monthly child tax credit (CTC) payments. The first payment will be made on July 15, 2021. The tools include: Child Tax Credit Eligibility Assistant: allows families to answer a series of questions to quickly determine whether they qualify for…
According to a variety of surveys, close to 80 percent of the churches said that employees couldn’t do their job efficiently without cell phones. Despite being an integral part of daily work, many churches still do not have an effective cell phone reimbursement policy in place. With constant updates and advancements in cell phone technology,…
Q: Employees are spending a lot of time on their phones (scrolling social media, browsing the internet, listening to music or podcasts). Can we prohibit personal phone use during work hours? A: Yes, you can limit or prohibit the use of personal devices during work hours. Employees can be expected to give their undivided attention…
Clergy are dual-status employees and are not eligible to have FICA taxes withheld from their church compensation. In lieu of FICA taxes, clergy are subject to self-employment tax (SECA) which is calculated and paid on their tax return. Reimbursements from an employer of SECA are taxable as wages. Note, however, that even though clergy pay SECA…
Child Tax Advance Credit Update Recently many news outlets have been reporting a new “stimulus payment” coming in July. This has caused some confusion. There are no current plans for a fourth economic impact payment (EIP), but instead, the press is calling the upcoming advance child tax credit (CTC) payments a “stimulus payment.” Earlier this…
Filing Church Information Updates Though most churches are exempt from filing annual federal tax returns, there are other filings that are sometimes overlooked by churches. Many states require any incorporated entity, including a church, to file a periodic information update with the Secretary of State or other agency. Failure to file this update in a…
The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a refundable payroll tax credit for up to $5,000 per employee in 2020 and $28,000 in 2021. This temporary credit was enacted by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA). On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue…
