Tax, Pension Changes Before Year-End?

Hang on: This tax season could get bumpy.

Business tax incentives and a host of pension provisions are in limbo.

Left unfinished are proposals to extend bonus depreciation and increased Code Sec. 179 expensing along with relief for pension plans and retirees. Leaders of the House and Senate have indicated that lawmakers may return to work during the week of December 8; however, it is unclear if the package of business and pension relief in the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act, will win enough support to move in the House and Senate before the end of 2008.

Also in December, the lame-duck Congress may revisit a bailout plan for the nation’s big three automakers, which could include limits on executive compensation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on November 21 that an auto bailout bill should include “accountability to taxpayers.” Pelosi specifically mentioned “no bonuses for people making over $200,000.”

Continued at Business Owner’s Toolkit: Lawmakers May Deliver Small Business Tax, Pension Relief Before Year-End.

New Wave of Foreclosures Threatens Smallest Businesses

Microbusiness vulnerable in credit crisis.

The National Association for the Self-Employed estimates that 3.8 million microbusiness owners hold an estimated 93% of so-called “toxic mortgages” that put them in immediate danger of foreclosure and homeless in the near future.

In fact, mortgage brokers evidently deliberately targeted micro-business borrowers who (by their nature) lacked access to traditional small business financing. 

“Small business is the job creation engine of our economy,” according to CPA Sam Bornstein, who conducted the study for the National Association of the Self-Employed. “Proactive efforts must be taken to provide small business owners with immediate and specific financial guidance, combined with other measures, to avoid default on mortgages and other debts in this critical and challenging financial crisis.

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