By Maria Valdez Haubrich
Are you thinking about hiring? With the economy showing signs of recovery, many small business owners are. If you’re one of them, it’s a good idea to get moving before the end of 2010. Why? Because through January 2010, you can still take advantage of tax breaks associated with the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.
The HIRE Act gives employers tax incentives to hire workers who have been unemployed for 60 days or longer. If a company hires such workers, wages paid to them are exempted from the employer’s 6.2 percent share of Social Security payroll taxes for the rest of this year. Employers can also claim a tax credit of up to $1,000 for each qualified worker they hire who is retained for one year.
As of August 2010, U.S. businesses have hired an estimated 8.1 million new workers eligible under the HIRE act, and have gotten billions in the tax exemptions and credits. The program can be especially helpful to companies in states with big pools of qualified unemployed workers, such as California.
You don’t have to have previously laid employees off to be eligible for the exemptions, and there is no minimum age requirements or minimum hours worked for qualified new hires. To get more information about the restrictions and details of the program, as well as the forms you’ll need to claim the tax credits and exemptions, visit the IRS website.
Image by Flickr user Andrew Magill (Creative Commons)
DISCLAIMER: The information posted in this blog is provided for informational purposes. Legal information is not the same as legal advice — the application of law to an individual’s specific circumstances. The information presented here is not to be construed as legal or tax advice. Network Solutions recommends that you consult an attorney or tax consultant if you want professional assurance that the information posted, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular business.
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