New York Employment Is Up

Submitted by rkoreto on Mon, 05/20/2013 - 09:00
The New York state economy added 23,800 private sector jobs in April 2013, according to a New York State Labor Department release. The state has now reached an all-time high private sector job count of 7,452,100 as of April 2013. The release also noted that between March and April 2013, the state's unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent, its lowest level since March 2009.
 
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Cure for the Summertime (Tax) Blues

Submitted by rkoreto on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 16:22
In the old Eddie Cochran rockabilly song, Summertime Blues, a teenager sings about how much he hates having to work during summer vacation. The IRS is showing a little sympathy, with some advice in a recent Tax Tip that makes summertime employment taxes easier to understand and manage for newbie employees. CPAs whose clients have teenagers should feel free to share the guidance.
 
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State Pension Fund Hits All-Time High

Submitted by rkoreto on Thu, 05/16/2013 - 15:37
The New York state pension fund earned an estimated 10.38 percent rate of return on its investments for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, according to a release from the state comptroller's office. This drove the fund to a record height of $160.4 billion.
 
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Someone Had to Leave the IRS

Submitted by rkoreto on Thu, 05/16/2013 - 08:44
Scandals in Washington are nothing new, and the need to have someone to blame isn't new either. But just who is going to take the heat for the accusations that the IRS gave inappropriately intense scrutiny to conservative groups? You can't fire the commissioner, because the IRS hasn't had an appointed commissioner since Doug Shulman resigned last November. No problem: you can always ask the acting commissioner to leave.
 
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Colleges Flunk IRS Compliance

Submitted by Chris Gaetano on Fri, 05/10/2013 - 15:31

After an exhaustive investigation into college and universities' compliance with regulations governing nonprofit entities, the IRS has released its final report, showing that many institutions of higher learning had done things such as reporting certain losses as connected to unrelated business activities when they were not, making errors in net operating loss calculations, and in apprpriately misclassifying certain activities as exempt or otherwise non reportable on the Form 990.

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Wikipedia May Be Linked to Stock Price

Submitted by Chris Gaetano on Fri, 05/10/2013 - 12:07

A study in Scientific Reports has shown that sudden spikes in Wikipedia search volume on a particular company correlates with drops in that company's stock value, according to Wired.

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State E-filing Hits All-Time High

Submitted by rkoreto on Thu, 05/09/2013 - 16:32
More than 7.9 million taxpayers e-filed their New York state personal income tax returns by the deadline this year, a 200,000 increase over last year and a record high, according to a tax department release. By the end of April, 87 percent of taxpayers had e-filed their personal returns.
 
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Skilling May Get 10 Year Deal on Sentence

Submitted by Chris Gaetano on Thu, 05/09/2013 - 12:10

Jeff Skilling, the former CEO of Enron who is currently sitting in federal prison for overseeing one of the largest and most notorious financial frauds in history, could be out of jail by 2018, according to Reuters, provided he stop appealing his conviction. The deal would end a long, multiyear legal process launched by Skilling since his 2006 conviction on charges of conspiracy, insider trading, making false statements to auditors and securities fraud.

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NYC Council OK's Sick Time Compromise

Submitted by rkoreto on Thu, 05/09/2013 - 10:57
The much-discussed and controversial bill that would mandate a certain amount of sick leave for New York City businesses passed in the City Council on May 8.
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State Investigates 'Pension Advances'

Submitted by rkoreto on Wed, 05/08/2013 - 10:50
Retirees living on a pension can sign away part of their regular income in exchange for an immediate lump-sum payment. It's called a "pension advance," and according to a recent release from the New York State Department of Financial Services, the effective annual interest rates on these advances can exceed 100 percent. Clearly displeased with these schemes, the DFS has sent subpoenas to 10 companies engaging in pension advances.
 
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