Senator Reid’s Senior Advisor on tax and business will be speaking along with Regional  Administrator  Daniel P. Hannaher for the Small Business Administration Region 8 out of Denver.

Topics to be covered include  incentives and programs such as the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.  Under the HIRE Act, enacted March 18, 2010, two new tax benefits are available to employers who hire certain previously unemployed workers.

WHEN:
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
10 a.m.

WHERE:
Cathexes Architecture
250 Bell Street
Reno, Nevada

Space at this event is limited.
Please RSVP to Senator Reid’s Reno office at 775-686-5750

Victor Hugo Mercado
Regional Representative
Office of United States Senator Harry Reid

by Tracy McKenzie, Esq.

Nevada state minimum wage is going up.  The Nevada Labor Commissioner issued a State of Nevada Minimum Wage Annual Bulletin on April 1, 2010, announcing the increased state minimum wage rates as follows:

• For employees to whom qualifying health benefits have been offered by their employer, the minimum wage rate is $7.25 per hour
• For all other employees, the minimum wage rate is $8.25 per hour

The increases in the state minimum wage rates become effective July 1, 2010.

The Nevada Labor Commissioner also issued a State of Nevada Daily Overtime Annual Bulletin the same day, announcing the hourly wage rate an employer must pay an employee to avoid the Nevada overtime pay requirements.  Effective as of July 1, 2010, the minimum hourly wage an employer must pay in order to be exempted from the payment of state overtime is as follows:

• For employees to whom qualifying health benefits have been offered by their employer, $10.875 or more
• For all other employees, $12.375 or more

The federal minimum wage rate is still $7.25 per hour and employers are required to pay overtime in accordance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Download the Minimum Wage Bulletin

Download the Daily Overtime Bulletin

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Tracy McKenzie at (775) 828-0800.

© 2010 Drinkwater Law Offices

• Understanding sales and use tax
• Modified business tax
• Live entertainment tax
• Business license requirements
• Sales tax permit fees
• Collection of tax
• Exemptions
• Resale certificates
• Petition/appeal rights
• Taxpayers’ bill of rights

As well as how to:

• Complete tax returns
• Amend/correct returns
• Prepare for an audit

Rod Jorgensen, Director of Counseling, had previously attended this workshop. He reported that it was highly informative with a lot of answers to everybody’s specific questions.

You can visit http://tax.state.nv.us/meetings.htm#advisors for more information or contact Molly at 775-688-1740 for additional questions or directions.

Post compiled by Dani Raffail & Brent Alexander

Since there are thousands of Nevada businesses using QuickBooks we thought we should pass on the email we received from them concerning the problems you may run into if you upgrade your Windows computer operating system to the new Windows Vista, or buy a new machine and hope to keep using your old installation of QuickBooks.

The email from QuickBooks:

From: QuickBooks Software
Subject: QuickBooks Service Notice: Important Information about Microsoft Windows Vista

Dear Bill,

You may have heard about the upcoming release of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista. Microsoft has made significant changes to how software runs on Windows Vista.

I’m sending you this important service alert because you are using a 2006 or earlier version of QuickBooks software.

Since QuickBooks 2006 and earlier versions were developed
and released before the introduction of Windows Vista,
these versions may be adversely affected when used on
a computer running Windows Vista.

This will impact Simple Start, Basic, Pro, Premier, Payroll and Point of Sale, as well as other QuickBooks products and services. We recognize that your QuickBooks software is an important business tool and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO STAY UP AND RUNNING ON QUICKBOOKS

No action is required. If you plan to stay with your existing Windows operating system (for example, Windows XP or Windows 2000), you can continue to use your current QuickBooks products.

We recommend that you use QuickBooks 2007 (and Point of Sale v6.0, if applicable). QuickBooks 2007 is the only version of the software built to run on the new windows operating system.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you would like to send us feedback on QuickBooks and Windows Vista, please visit our Windows Vista Resource Center at www.quickbooks.com/support/vista.

Thank you for making QuickBooks a part of your business.

Sincerely,

Brad Smith
Senior Vice President, QuickBooks

The new law, which is coming very rapidly into effect, established two separate tiers for minimum wages for the first time.

If employers are not providing “qualified health insurance benefits”, they must pay a minimum of $6.15 per hour beginning Tuesday, November 28. “Qualified health benefits” means health insurance that covers the employee and the employee’s dependents. The employee’s share of the premium cost cannot exceed 10% of the employee’s gross taxable income.

Employers who do provide this health insurance coverage will not see an immediate increase in their required minimum wage. The new state law for these employers fixes the minimum wage at $5.15 the same as the federal requirement, for now.

This whole issue will likely get more complex as time goes on. Under the new law, if the federal government raises its minimum wage, both of the new tiers of the Nevada minimum will be increased by the same dollar amount.

The new law also provides a mechanism that requires the minimum wage be reviewed each year and increased by a corresponding increase in the cost of living as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), although no CPI adjustment for any one-year period will be greater than 3%.

It is likely that these increases will be announced in April of each year and any increases will go into effect on the following July 1.

Nevada’s Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek and his staff have been working diligently to get the word out about these changes, but are concerned that many people won’t know about the change in time. They have put up some information on their website at www.taxcommissioner.com, including a list of FAQs, but since we were unable to reach the site when we checked several times this morning, we will reproduce them here:

• When does the law go into effect? The Constitutional amendment goes into effect on November 28, 2006.

• What is minimum wage? Nevada has a two-tiered minimum wage. The first tier is $5.15 per hour for employers who provide qualified health insurance benefits. The second tier is $6.15 per hour for employers who do not provide qualified health benefits. These rates will be adjusted annually to include increases in the federal minimum wage and a yearly cost of living adjustment.

• When does the annual adjustment become effective? The annual adjustments will be announced in April and become effective on July 1 of each year.

• If the federal minimum wage goes up, how much will the Nevada minimum wage go up? Each minimum wage tier will increase by the same dollar amount as the federal rate increase.

• Who is covered under the new minimum wage? The minimum wage applies to all employees in Nevada except employees who are under 18 and either employed by a non-profit organization in “after school” or summer jobs or are hired as “trainees” for the first ninety days of employment.

• Are there any other exceptions? No. The employees who were exempt under the provisions of Nevada’s minimum wage statute [NRS 608.250 (2)] are no longer exempt and must be paid the new minimum wage.

• Does the minimum age apply to part-time or temporary employees? Yes. The amendment does not make any distinction between whether an employee is full-time, part-time, or temporary.

• What is the pay rate for the exempt employees? Nevada does not set the pay rate for exempt employees. Employers must still comply with the federal minimum wage statute for those employees.

• What are the qualified health benefits? Qualified health benefits means health insurance that covers the employee and the employee’s dependents. The employee’s share of the premium cost cannot exceed 10% of the employee’s gross taxable income.

• Are tips included in the minimum wage? No. Tips and gratuities are not considered as part of the wages.

• Does the new minimum wage affect overtime? Yes. All non-exempt employees are entitled to be paid overtime any time they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. However, Nevada law also requires employers to pay overtime on a daily basis to employees who are paid less than one and a half times minimum wage. This daily overtime requirement has been the law for more than thirty years. As the minimum wage goes up, the upper limit for daily overtime goes up with it.

I must say, that given the speed and number of businesses likely to be affected by these changes, I was very surprised not to find a link to information on this topic on the State of Nevada Homepage.