On November 6th, President Obama signed the “Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009” into law. This new Act created some changes to the First-Time Homebuyer Credit that could be very beneficial to several taxpayers.

The recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 offers an improvement to the Child Tax Credit. The enhancement will allow for many    low-income working families to qualify and possibly increase their tax credit received per child.

The new 2009 withholding tables issued April 1st, as a result of the ARRA’s Making Work Pay Credit Act, lowered the amount withheld from our paychecks.  For those claiming the married status on their W-4 form the decrease is up to $600.  A person claiming single status on the W-4 form, the decrease is up to $400.  The decrease begins to phase out as the combination of wages and withholding allowances imply a modified adjusted gross income of at least $75,000 for single individuals and $150,000 for joint filers and disappears completely at a modified AGI of Single $95,000, Married $190,000.  The decrease may be less for lower-paid workers.

During the 2009 session, the Kansas legislature enacted Senate Substitute for House Bill 2365 (HB 2365). The bill became law in late May 2009. A Section of this bill shortens the statute of limitations period for filing sales and use tax refund claims from three years to one year from the due date of the return. The one-year refund period applies to all sales and use tax refund claims that are filed on or after June 15, 2009.  Refund claims that were filed before June 15, 2009 are still subject to the original three-year statute of limitations.  Refund claims filed after expiration of the statute of limitations are time-barred and will not be processed.  We have provided a short description of four common scenarios to help you interrupt the law better.

It took eight years, but was there ever any doubt that Sarbanes/Oxley (SOX) would impact the insurance industry?  From early on, we heard insurance regulators’ theory of “inherent benefits” of Rule 404 if SOX was adopted.  Through heavily contested regulatory proposals, one fact remained constant – SOX was coming.  It has arrived.

The following is a summary of the most important tax developments that have occurred in the past three months that may affect you, your family, your investments, and your livelihood. Please call us for more information about any of these developments and what steps you should implement to take advantage of favorable developments and to minimize the impact of those that are unfavorable.