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May Week 3
Sales in the third week of the month were flat, edging slightly downward. Independent grocers reported that their same store sales were down 0.15 percent compared to the same period in 2016. Next week’s Pulse report will cover the final week of May and the month overall.
Tomorrow the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its unemployment report for the month of May.
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| Same Store Sales
% Change from last year
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| Same Store Sales – Previous Months
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FMS Webinar Series: Family Medical Leave Act – What You Need to Know
When: Thursday, June 8, 2017, 2:00PM – 3:00PM EDT
Chris Cooley of MyHRConcierge returns to host another FMS Webinar. This session will cover the Family Medical Leave act and how your company can stay compliant with this law.
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BGBC Partners, LLP Tax Update: Employer-Based Tax Incentives: The Work Opportunity Tax Credit The federal and state governments will often draft legislation to incentivize people and businesses toward certain actions or trends. For example, you are probably familiar with the charitable deduction which helps motivate individuals to donate to qualified charities. In this Tax Update, we are going to discuss a tax credit which congress enacted to incentivize employers to hire people from certain target groups. It’s named “The Work Opportunity Tax Credit”.
FMS has partnered with HR Screening to offer a custom program for supermarkets to secure these credit monies. For additional information on how FMS can assist you in generating this credit please visit FMS’s website at http://www.fmssolutions.com.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a credit that is available to employers who hire individuals from certain target groups that Congress believes may have faced significant employment barriers. The amount of the credit depends on the target group of the individual hired, the wages paid to that individual in the first year of employment, and the number of hours worked by that individual. Employers may be eligible to reduce the amount of their federal income tax liability by as much as $9,600 per employee hired. The WOTC is a one-time tax credit for each new hire, but there is not a limit to the number of new hires who can qualify for a particular employer.
The WOTC’s specific target groups are short-term welfare recipients, veterans and youth on food stamps, vocational rehabilitation participants, supplemental security income recipients, ex-felons, 18-24 year olds living in a Renewal Community, Empowerment Zone, or Enterprise Community (RC/EZ/EC), and summer hired youth living in a RC, EZ, or EC. The new hire needs to meet just one of the above criteria for the employer to be eligible.
How to Apply to get this Credit
1. Complete IRS Form 8850, Pre-Screening and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Credit, to pre-screen employees and make a written request to their State Workforce Agency (SWA) to certify the new hire as a member of a WOTC target group.- Page one of IRS Form 8850 – The job applicant gives information to the employer on or before the day a job offer is made.
- Page two of IRS Form 8850 – Based on the applicant’s information, the employer determines whether he or she believes the applicant is a member of one of the target groups. If so, the employer completes page two.
- Both the job applicant and the employer, or an authorized employer representative, must sign and date the form before submitting the form to the SWA
2. Complete ETA Form 9061, the Individual Characteristics Form.
3. Submit the completed forms to your state workforce agency within 28 calendar days after the employee’s start date for it to be considered “timely” filed. You can do this by mail or electronically. In addition to the two forms listed above, don’t forget to provide the documentation of target group eligibility as described in the instructions to ETA Form 9061.
4. Receive Final Determination from the SWA. Additional information or documentation may be required before the final determination is made.
5. File for the credit with the IRS after receiving a certification from the SWA. Generally, an employer elects to take the credit by filing IRS Form 5884, Work Opportunity Credit. An employee must work for 120 hours in the first year of employment before the employer can file and qualify for the tax credit.
If you believe this credit might be a strategic fit for your business, contact FMS and an experienced CPA to help you sort through the rules and requirements. After all, you may end up getting a great employee partly on Uncle Sam’s tab!
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| BGBC Partners, LLP is a full service certified public accounting and business consulting practice.
For more information, contact Brad Bell, CPA or Steve Reed, CPA/ABV/CFF at BGBC Partners, LLP (317-633-4700).
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| For More Information,
Contact Mark Ehleben
877-435-9400 x1402
marke@fmssolutions.com
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