Payroll Manager's - Kluwer Law International

Payroll Manager’s
LetterVolume 26, No. 3 • February 7, 2010
Why You May See More
Form 668-Ws in 2010
Like other creditors in this economy, the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) is being forced to take sterner
measures to collect what it is owed. IRS levies on
wages and other income jumped from $2.6 million
in fiscal year 2008 to $3.4 million in fiscal 2009, a 30%
increase. The stepped-up collection effort, in turn,
increases the chances that your company will be
receiving Form 668-Ws from the IRS for employees.
Form 668-W, Notice of Levy on Wages, Salary and Other
Income, is the form your company receives when it
must implement a levy on an employee’s wages to
pay off an outstanding tax liability. The form tells
you how much must be withheld, where to remit
payments, and how soon to begin withholding.
WHAT TO DO As soon as you receive Form
668-W, give Parts 2, 3, and 4 to the employee so
he or she can complete the Statement of Exemption
and Filing Status sections of the form. The
employee must return Parts 3 and 4 to you
within three working days.
The IRS recently issued the 2010 tables used for
calculating the amount of salary, wages, and other
income that is exempt from federal tax levy. These
tables must be used by employers when they receive
a Form 668-W. The exemption tables are reproduced
later in this issue.
The IRS revises the exemption tables each year to
take into account inflation and the exempt amount
of wages typically increases from year to year. But
because there has been no inflation recently (or at
least, there has been no inflation according to the
government’s calculations), the exempt amounts for
2010 are the same as for 2009.
Updated statement. If an employee’s filing status
or the number of exemptions claimed changes while
a levy is in effect, the employee may give you a new
statement to change the amount that is exempt.
2010 Levy Tables ................................................................3
Update on COBRA Subsidy Extension ..........................4
How You Handle FICA Overpayments
Determines the Interest the IRS Pays .......................5
Meals and Lodging Help Meet Minimum Wage
Requirement—Maybe ................................................6
Payroll Puzzler ..................................................................7
Payroll News and Views ..................................................8
Eight Tips If Your
Company Is Audited
By Joanne Mitchell-George
What’s a payroll manager to do when he or she
receives a notice about an employment tax audit?
This may become more commonplace as the IRS
is launching employment tax audits (see the start
of our audit series in the November 21, 2009, issue
of Payroll Manager’s Letter ) and the states are also
increasing the number of audits to replace lost revenue
due to the economic downturn. To assuage
your fears, we asked Mindy Harada, CPP, of OS
Payroll Consulting, to draw on her experiences as a
former payroll tax auditor for California and former
employee of one of the Big 4 accounting firms.
Here are Harada’s tips on what to do when faced
with an audit.
1. Contact the sender of the audit notice. You
want to find out what initiated the audit so that
you can understand the direction of the audit.
Hopefully, the notice contains a name and phone
number. If so, call the auditor and politely ask
what started the audit. (Often the auditor will tell
you.) You are better off knowing what the auditor
is looking for rather than being surprised.

Payroll Manager’s Letter
Editors
Dorinda DeScherer, J.D.
Terence Myers, J.D.
Managing Editors
Joanne Mitchell-George, J.D.
Amy Burke
Elizabeth Venturo
Editorial Director
Ellen Ros
Group Publisher
Paul Gibson
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For example, if the audit is to
determine if a worker was an independent
contractor, the Accounts
Payable or HR department would
need to be involved. Or your
company may be audited as part
of a widespread audit targeting a
particular industry. Knowing what
initiated the audit will assist you in
determining where your potential
exposure may be and who you
may need to involve in the audit
process.
2. Determine if you can handle the
audit yourself. Sometimes payroll
managers feel that the receipt of an
audit notice means they must run
to their corporate counsel, outside
attorney, or CPA. Before you do
so, try to assess the situation. Are
you comfortable dealing with the
auditor? Do you have the time to
deal with the auditor’s requests?
Remember, you are probably the
most knowledgeable person about
employment tax issues in your
company.
BE PREPARED If you
determine that you will need
help, be sure to seek a professional
who is well versed in
employment tax law, be it an
attorney, CPA, or consultant.
(Some payroll managers found
that they spent so much time
trying to educate the professionals
about the specifics of the
company’s employment tax situation
that it would have been
easier to handle the audit
requests themselves.) Keep in
mind that the audit is not something
you can ignore.
3. Specify one person as the point
of contact in the company for the
auditor. You don’t want the auditor
asking one person for some
information and another person
for additional information. Let
the auditor know the name of
the person who can be contacted
for all questions and requests
for information. All information
should flow both from and to the
designated point of contact so that
you are aware of the information
provided and the requests made by
the auditor.
4. Try to limit the list of records to
be provided. Often, the auditor
will request more records than
are needed, such as three to four
years’ worth of employment tax
records. Ask the auditor if you can
start with just one year’s worth
of records and try to determine
from the auditor if the problem
being examined is restricted to a
particular time period.
5 . Review any records before
handing them over to the auditor.
Again, you don’t want to be
surprised. Nor do you want any
company employees or executives
to be surprised. If you see
something in the records that you
recognize as a potential problem,
let the proper company officials
know.
6. Be cooperative but not overly
helpful. Gone are the days when
you could stick the auditor in
the “dungeon” to review the
company’s files. You don’t want to
antagonize the auditor. However,
don’t make it so comfortable that
the auditor won’t want to leave.
Put the auditor in a restricted area
such as a conference room. Be sure
the room is not near the accounting
records.
CAUTION You don’t
want to make the mistake that
one company did when it was
audited by the state of California.
The auditor was directed to set
up shop in the file room thereby
having access to all the company
records. This resulted in a $1
million assessment. If the company
representative had taken
the time to meet with the auditor
and had given the auditor
only the requested files, you can
assume that the assessment may
have been considerably less.
7. Advise contractors if the audit is
a worker classification one. If you
2
Payroll Manager’s Letter

find out that the auditor is trying to determine
if workers are legitimately independent contractors,
ask the auditor if the contractors will be
contacted. If so, give the contractors a heads up.
You can send the contractors a letter saying that
they may hear from the state or federal government
as part of an inquiry about your company.
You don’t want the contractors to feel as if they
are being audited. (Some states send contractors
a postcard about the audit, which may intimidate
the contractors.) You can provide the contractor
with the IRS Form SS-8 so that the contractor can
be familiar with the type of questions that the
auditor may ask.
DON’T COACH In your letter, you can
let the contractor know that the company contact
is available to talk. Although you want to
put the contractors at ease, be careful not to
tell them what they can and can’t say. You
don’t want it to sound like you put the words
into their mouths.
8. Get a sense of how the audit is going. Generally,
the auditor will be on site for only a day (sometimes
longer for multinational companies). Any follow-up
can be by email or phone. Before the auditor leaves,
ask if he or she can give you preliminary findings.
Depending on the auditor, you may be able to dispute
the findings at the early stage. Sometimes the
auditor will give you the preliminary findings to
review and suggest you get back to the auditor with
any additional information if needed. Always keep
in mind that you have the ability to appeal any decision
with which you don’t agree.
REMAIN CALM Although the thought
of an audit can be daunting, remember to follow
the steps above to successfully survive an
employment tax audit.
2010 Levy Tables
Payroll Manager’s Letter 3

Update on COBRA Subsidy Extension
As we reported in the last issue of Payroll
Manager’s Letter , the COBRA health care subsidy—
and the related payroll tax credit for employers—
has been extended. And that means your payroll
department will be dealing with the subsidy and
the related employment tax credit for an extended
period of time. The Department of Labor (DOL)
recently issued guidance on the subsidy extension
[DOL Fact Sheet, COBRA Premium Reduction
(Jan. 8, 2010)].
Basic rules. The COBRA subsidy allows eligible
individuals who lose their jobs and their family
members to obtain continued health care coverage
under an employer plan by paying just 35% of the
otherwise required premium, with the employer
picking up the remaining 65% of the cost. An
employer providing the COBRA subsidy can then
claim an offsetting credit against its payroll tax
liabilities for its 65% of the cost.
As originally enacted in early 2009, individuals
were eligible for the subsidy if they were involuntarily
terminated from employment during the
period beginning September 1, 2008, and ending
December 31, 2008. The subsidy itself applied for
periods of health coverage that began on or after
February 17, 2009, and lasted for a period of nine
months.
New rules. The Department of Defense Appropriations
Act of 2010 continues the COBRA eligibility
period for two months through February 28, 2010.
Consequently, employees who lose their jobs in the
first two months of 2010 will now qualify for the
subsidy.
In addition, the new law extends the subsidy
from nine months to 15 months. Significantly, this
extension applies to all eligible individuals—both
individuals who become newly eligible in 2010 and
individuals who were already receiving the subsidy
in 2009.
KEY POINT The new law does not
extend the maximum COBRA coverage
period beyond the 18 months that normally
applies in the case of a termination of employment.
As a result, individuals who became
eligible for COBRA in September 2008 will
still max out their COBRA coverage at the end
of February.
Transition rules. Because the subsidy period was
originally limited to nine months, employees who
were eligible for the subsidy at the outset reached
the end of their subsidy period last November.
However, the extension of the subsidy period to
15 months was not enacted until mid-December. As
a result, these employees may have either dropped
COBRA coverage starting in December or continued
the coverage by paying 100 percent of the
premium.
Individuals caught in this “transition” must
receive notice of the changes to subsidy within 60
days of the first day of the transition period. In other
words, an employee whose nine-month subsidy ran
out at the end of November should have received
notice of the new law change by the end of January
2010.
According to the DOL, individuals who
dropped COBRA coverage at the end of the
nine-month subsidy period have until the later
of (a) February 17, 2010, (b) 30 days after the notice
of the extension is provided, or (c) the end of the
otherwise applicable payment grace period to
restore coverage and pay the premiums for the
transition period.
PAYROLL IMPACT Because of this
transition, some eligible individuals will be
paying premiums and receiving subsidies in
2010 for coverage provided in December 2009.
Despite the mismatch, the payroll tax credit
for these subsidies should be claimed for 2010,
not 2009. Internal Revenue Service guidance
provides that the credit should be claimed on
the employment tax return for the quarter in
which the subsidy is provided or for a later
quarter in the same calendar year [COBRA:
Questions and Answers for Employers,
Q&A FP-15].
Individuals who continued coverage during the
transition period by paying full premiums are
also entitled to retroactive subsidies. The DOL
guidance says these individuals should contact
the plan administrator or sponsoring employer
to discuss whether the subsidy will be provided
either as a credit for future months of coverage or
as a reimbursement of the premium overpayment.
Here again, the employment tax credit for these
subsidies should be claimed for the quarter in 2010
when they are provided (whether in the form of
a credit or reimbursement) or for a later quarter
in 2010.
4 Payroll Manager’s Letter

How You Handle FICA Overpayments Determines
The Interest the IRS Pays
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) pays interest
when refund claims are filed for overpayments of
FICA. But according to newly released IRS guidance,
the amount of interest paid can depend on how an
employer handles the refund claim [Chief Counsel
Advice 200951033].
Interest rates. The tax law provides that a
taxpayer filing a refund claim for an erroneous
overpayment of taxes is entitled to interest accrued
from the date of the overpayment [I.R.C. § 6611].
There are three different interest rates that
can be used to calculate the interest owed on
overpayments:
1. Interest owed by the IRS to noncorporate taxpayers
is calculated at a “regular” rate equal to the
Adjusted Federal Rate (AFR) plus 3 percentage
points;
2. The “regular” interest rate for refunds due corporations
is equal to the AFR plus 2 percentage
points; and
3. To the extent that an overpayment of tax by
a corporation exceeds $10,000, interest on a
refund is computed at the AFR plus 0.5%. (This
rate is often referred to as the “GATT” rate
because it was enacted as part of a law implementing
the Uruguay Round of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT))
[I.R.C. § 6621(a)].
FICA refund claims. Since FICA taxes are shared
by employers and employees, but refund claims are
usually initiated by employers (by filing Form 941-
X), the IRS has set up procedures designed to protect
employees’ rights.
Generally speaking, an employer cannot file a
refund claim for its share of FICA taxes unless it also
files a claim for a refund of the employee’s share. To
do that, the employer must either (1) repay or reimburse
the employee for the employee’s share of FICA
before filing the claim, or (2) receive written consent
from the employee to file a refund claim on behalf of
the employee, in which case the employer refunds
the employee’s share after getting the gross refund
from the IRS.
The repay/written consent requirement does
not apply, of course, if no FICA was erroneously
withheld from the employee’s pay (i.e., the employee
has no right to a refund). This requirement also
does not apply if the employer is unable to locate
the employee or the employee refuses to provide
the necessary written consent. In these situations,
an employer may file a refund claim for only
the employer’s share of FICA [Reg. § 31.6402(a)-
2(a)(1)(ii)].
New IRS Guidance
XYZ Corporation deducted the employee’s
share of FICA tax from its employee’s wages. XYZ
paid that amount and its share of FICA tax to the
IRS. XYZ later discovers that there was an overpayment
of FICA tax. XYZ files a claim for refund
of the overpayment plus interest. The refund
claim indicates that (1) XYZ repaid or reimbursed
some employees prior to filing the claim, (2)
other employees have consented to having XYZ
pursue the FICA claim on their behalf, and (3) in
some cases, XYZ is filing only for its share of the
refund.
Which interest rates apply to the FICA
overpayments?
IRS answer. The IRS may refund an overpayment
of tax, including interest, only to the taxpayer
that made the overpayment. Thus, it is important
to establish who “paid” the FICA taxes in XYZ’s
case.
• When a corporation is permitted to file a refund
claim for only its own share of the FICA tax
(Situation 3 above), interest will be calculated
at the regular corporate rate or the GATT rate if
applicable.
• If a corporate employer repays a FICA tax overpayment
to its employee and then files a claim for
refund (Situation 1 above), the overpayment is
generally considered to be “paid” by the employer.
Thus, interest on the overpayment is calculated
using either the regular corporate rate or the
GATT rate.
• Where the corporation files a claim on behalf of
an employee and the refund plus interest will
be paid over to the employee by the employer
(Situation 2 above), then the corporate interest
rates do not apply to the employee’s share of the
FICA overpayment; instead, the regular noncorporate
rate applies. This is because the employee
share is considered the employee’s refund and
failure to pay the correct interest to the employee
would underpay the employee. The interest on
the employer’s share of the overpayment is computed
using either the regular corporate rate or
the GATT rate.
Payroll Manager’s Letter 5

Meals and Lodging Help Meet Minimum
Wage Requirement—Maybe
For minimum wage purposes, the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA) does not require your company
to pay the required $7.25 per hour solely in
cash. In determining whether the minimum wage
requirement has been met, your company may
include the reasonable cost of furnished meals, lodging,
and the like. However, as a new case illustrates,
you cannot lump these items in with cash wages
after your company’s wage rate has been challenged
by a worker or the government; you must treat them
as part of a worker’s wage package right from the
get-go.
Under the FLSA, wages include “the reasonable
cost … to the employer of furnishing such employee
with board, lodging, or other facilities, if such board,
lodging or other facilities are customarily furnished
by such employer to his employees” [29 U.S.C.
§ 202(m)]. It is also essential that an employee’s
acceptance of these benefits be voluntary and
uncoerced [29 C.F.R. § 531.30].
Example. Bill Smith works 40 hours per week
for XYZ Inc. He is paid $200 a week cash wages.
In addition, Smith accepts lodging and meals from
XYZ as compensation for work he does. The reasonable
cost of the meals and lodging provided is
$120 a week. For minimum wage purposes, Smith’s
weekly earnings are $200.00 + $120.00 = $320.00.
Even though Smith receives only $5 per hour in cash
wages, the meals and lodging bring his wages up
to $8 per hour ($300/40 hours). So XYZ meets the
FLSA’s minimum wage requirements.
“Reasonable cost” cannot exceed the employer’s
actual cost for the meals, lodging, or other facilities.
This excludes any profit to the employer or to any
person affiliated with the employer. For example,
profits to an employer’s close relative, business
associate, or agent, or to a business closely connected
with an employer, will be excluded from the
computation of wages.
Calculation of the reasonable cost to the employer
may factor in the costs of operation and maintenance,
including adequate depreciation plus a
reasonable allowance for interest on the depreciated
amount of capital invested by the employer. In any
case, however, the maximum amount allowable as
reasonable cost to the employer will be the fair rental
value of the lodging and the fair price of the meals
or facilities offered for sale [29 C.F.R. § 531.3].
It makes no difference whether the cost of meals
and lodging is deducted from the amounts required
to be paid as wages, or whether the cost of such
facilities is added to the amount paid as wages
[29 C.F.R. § 531.36]. For example, the minimum
wage requirements can be satisfied either by paying
a wage at or above $7.25 per hour and deducting the
applicable cost of an apartment or by paying a cash
wage below $7.25 and adding the fair rental value
of the apartment to bring the wages over $7.25 per
hour.
“Other facilities” includes:
1. Meals furnished at company restaurants or cafeterias
or by hospitals, hotels, or restaurants to their
employees;
2. Meals, dormitory rooms, and tuition furnished by
a college to its student employees;
3. Housing furnished for dwelling purposes;
4. General merchandise furnished at company stores
and commissaries (including articles of food,
clothing, and household effects);
5. Fuel, electricity, water, and gas furnished for the
noncommercial personal use of the employee; and
6. Transportation furnished employees between
their homes and work where the travel time does
not constitute hours worked compensable under
the FLSA and the transportation is not an incident
of and necessary to the employment.
To qualify as wages, the facilities must have been
furnished for the benefit of the employee and not the
employer. Housing on company premises furnished
to employees has been ruled to constitute part of
wages, despite arguments that such housing is
provided primarily for the benefit of the employer.
Documentation Is a Must
The FLSA, and many state wage-hour laws as
well, requires that records be kept detailing the cost
or value of the lodging and meals provided. Failure
to keep these records can prevent an employer from
including the meals and lodging in wages.
New case in point. Nedra Jones worked for an
assisted living facility in Maryland. She filed a lawsuit
against her employer for, among other things,
its failure to pay her the required minimum wage
under the FLSA and Maryland law. The employer
argued that Jones was adequately paid through cash
and benefits, including room and board provided
to her. The employer said that, on top of her cash
wages, Jones received $654 per month in room and
board that should be counted to make up the total
wages paid to her.
6 Payroll Manager’s Letter

A federal district court ruled against the employer.
The employer acknowledged that it did not provide
Jones with any documentation showing the amount
of any deductions for room or board taken from her
wages.
Because of the lack of documentation, the court
said that any room and board provided for Jones
could not be counted under either Maryland or the
FLSA. FLSA regulations require an employer who
deducts board, lodging, and other facilities from an
employee’s wages to maintain and preserve records
substantiating these costs on a workweek basis
[29 C.F.R. § 516.27(a) and (b)]. Jones’s employer
maintained no such records.
In addition, Maryland law requires that if an
employer plans to include board and lodging as part
of a wage plan for an employee, the employer may
not do so unless it receives written authorization by
the employee [Md. Code. Ann., Lab. & Empl., § 3-503].
Jones’s employer never received this authorization.
According to the court, the failure to substantiate
the cost of the room and board, the failure to obtain
written authorization from Jones, and the failure to
provide her with documentation of the amount of
room and board all precluded the employer from
counting room and board as wages paid to Jones
[Jones v. Way of Hope, Inc, Civ. No. L-08-1517
(Md., 11-6-09)].
Payroll Puzzler
Q. Is a signing bonus paid to a nonexempt
new hire included in the regular rate of pay for
computing overtime?
A. Yes. A bonus is excluded from an
employee’s regular rate of pay if it is “discretionary,”
but a signing bonus does not qualify as a
discretionary bonus. Under Department of Labor
regulations, a bonus is discretionary only if it is
determined by the employer without prior promise
or agreement. The employee must have no
contract right, express or implied, to any amount.
If the employer promises in advance to pay a
bonus, the employer has abandoned its discretion
with regard to the bonus [29 C.F.R. § 778.211].
Thus, any bonus promised to an individual upon
acceptance of a job offer would not be considered
discretionary.
Q. My company reimbursed the travel
expenses of several job applicants. Are these
reimbursements taxable to the applicants if
we received the required documentation to
substantiate their expenses? Does it make
any difference whether the individuals were
actually hired or not?
A. The IRS addressed this question in a ruling
issued way back in 1963 [Rev. Rul. 63-77, 1963-
1 C.B. 177]. The IRS said that reimbursements
for transportation, meals, and lodging paid to
prospective employees for traveling to a job
interview site were not included in taxable wages
because the individuals were not yet employees.
The IRS also stated that the reimbursements need
not be included in the individuals’ gross income
as long as the reimbursements did not exceed the
individuals’ expenses. Thus, the reimbursements
were not subject to employment taxes and
did not have to be reported on a Form W-2 or
Form 1099.
However, because of subsequent developments,
a little question mark may hang over this
ruling. In 1984, Congress enacted detailed rules
governing fringe benefits, including “working
condition” fringe benefits. Under these rules,
expense reimbursements are excluded from an
individual’s income if he or she would be entitled
to deduct the expenses as business expenses
[Reg. § 1.132-5(a)(1)]. An individual is entitled to
deduct job search expenses so reimbursements for
these expenses meet the general working condition
fringe benefit requirement. However, here’s
the catch: The working condition fringe benefit
exclusion applies only to a company’s current
employees and independent contractors. It does
not cover prospective employees, especially if
they are never actually hired.
Where does this leave travel reimbursements
to prospective employees? Given the fact that the
IRS has not specifically addressed this issue since
the fringe benefit rules were enacted and that it
has never revoked the 1963 ruling, you are probably
on safe ground treating the reimbursements
as tax-free.
Payroll Manager’s Letter 7

Payroll News and Views
E-Verify. The U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced
plans to conduct an Internet and telephone
survey on the federal government’s E-Verify
program [F.R. Doc. E9–31423, 1-5-10]. E-Verify is
the Web-based program operated by USCIS and
the Social Security Administration that allows
participating employers to electronically verify
the employment eligibility of their newly hired
employees. The survey will be used to “evaluate
how the E-Verify program is working nationally
and among a specific group of employers,
to determine whether employers are using the
program as intended and to evaluate positive and
negative impacts of the program in a mandatory
environment,” said USCIS.
Job outlook for 2010. While employers
continue to closely monitor the progress of recovery
for the U.S. economy, they are beginning to
consider hiring strategies designed to preserve
the health and growth of their businesses for the
future, according to CareerBuilder’s 2010 Job
Forecast. Twenty percent of employers plan to
increase their number of full-time, permanent
employees in 2010, up from 14% in 2009. Nine
percent say they plan to decrease headcount in
2010, down sharply from 16% in 2009. Sixty-one
percent don’t plan to change staff levels, while
10% say they are unsure. Comparing selected
industries, hiring is expected to increase in information
technology, manufacturing, financial
services, professional and business services, and
sales in the coming year.
Pay outlook for 2010. Having struggled with
cost-containment challenges during the past
18 months, which resulted in workforce reductions
and salary freezes, more organizations are
planning to grant pay increases in 2010 as the
economy begins to show signs of improvement,
according to Mercer’s 2009/2010 U.S. Compensation
Planning Survey Update. In fact, the HR
consulting and financing firm’s update revealed
that the number of organizations freezing salaries
has declined compared to last year. While
challenging economic conditions drove 30% of
employers to freeze salaries across the board
in 2009, just 14% are planning across-the-board
freezes in 2010. Of those employers granting base
pay increases, the average increase is expected to
be 2.7% in 2010.
White-collar exemption. An equipment rental
dispatcher fell within the administrative exemption
from overtime in the Fair Labor Standards
Act (FLSA), but not the executive exemption, a
federal district court in Florida has ruled. The
dispatcher’s primary duty was managerial, as
he was the only dispatcher, directed work, and
picked the type of equipment that would be used
to fill orders. He also regularly directed the work
of crane operators. But the court determined that
the dispatcher did not have hiring and firing
authority and, thus, was not an exempt employee
under the executive exemption. On the other
hand, the dispatcher’s maintenance of the schedule
put him in charge of one of the company’s
most important tasks. Thus, his primary duties
were directly related to the company’s general
business operations. Moreover, in performing
those duties, the dispatcher had to exercise discretion
and independent judgment. Thus, the
court found that he qualified for the administrative
exemption [Rock v. Sunbelt Cranes, 8:08-cv-
00838-T-17-EAK-EAJ (M.D. Fla., 10-26-09)].
Tax amnesties in New York and Pennsylvania.
A recently enacted law authorizes the Penalty and
Interest Discount (PAID) program in New York
[L. 2009, Ch. 501 (A.B. 21)]. The program began
on January 15, 2010, and requires all payments
to be made by the program’s expiration date on
March 15, 2010. Under the program, taxpayers
are liable for 80% of accrued penalty and interest
on unpaid bills that were issued on or before
December 31, 2003, or 50% of accrued penalty
and interest on unpaid bills that were issued after
December 31, 2003, and on or before December
31, 2006. Next door in Pennsylvania, the Department
of Revenue has issued guidelines for a
2010 tax amnesty program. The program period
will begin on April 26, 2010, and end on June 18,
2010. To participate, taxpayers will need to file
an online amnesty return, file all delinquent tax
returns, and make the required payment within
the Amnesty Period. All penalties and one half of
the interest due will be waived [2010 Tax Amnesty
Program Guidelines, Pennsylvania Department of
Revenue, 12-5-09].
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February 7, 2010/9900525344