Source: http://myrtlebeach.thedigitel.com/politics/city-myrtle-beach-looking-making-sales-tax-permane-36091-0516

With increased regulation, a heavy state and local tax burden, and election uncertainty, CFOs need to better understand tax risks in order to sign their financial statements with confidence. Better communication between internal tax executives and CFOs can also help a corporation’s bottom line.   This has been achieved through stronger tax planning and adding more time for value-added analytics during closes.

In our recent Data Management Podcast series, Linda Peoples, CPA tax manager, Tax Accounting and Reporting at AstraZeneca explains how her tax department is gaining senior-level attention as a result of accomplishing a 20 hour reduction in calculating the provision on their 7-day close.

“Taking away 20 hours from a week is an awful, awful lot,” says Peoples. These types of results are helping to save her team from working overtime. In addition to time-saving benefits, Peoples’ team is receiving kudos from management for the efficiencies they’ve gained. Now their UK counterparts are considering ONESOURCE to help increase efficiencies and reduce risk in their department.

Tax process improvements are also helping to gain exposure for other senior executives making an impact on the bottom line. Freeing up 10,000 hours has saved Bayer Corporation close to $2 million dollars according to the tax director, Rich Heller.  They were able to accomplish this with the support of management to invest in the web-based capabilities of ONESOURCE DataFlow and are now on track to free up more time for value-added work. Listen to how Bayer is seeing these results.

To hear what other progressive tax departments are doing, read the entire article “CFOs Warm to More Frequent Tax Talk.”

Date: Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Location:

KPMG LLP – Nashville Office
401 Commerce Street
Nashville, TN 37219

Time:        
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Registration
1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Share Forum
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Reception

Topics:

• What are the current global trends in indirect tax (SUT & VAT)?
• Why are indirect taxes significant to your business?
• What can be done to reduce uncertainty?
• How can automation improve your indirect tax processes?
• Indirect Tax Determination, Compliance & Reporting Automation
• Automation Project Life Cycle – Implementation Methodology
• Customer Roundtable – Q&A

Click Here to RSVP

Session Information:
Title: Combine VAT Determination and Tax Compliance to Achive Global Tax Support
Wednesday May 23, 2012
3:00pm – 4:15pm
Walt Disney World Resort
Orlando, Florida

Speakers: 
Theresa Pardee, Tax Technology Manager, GE
Carl Davis, Senior Product Manger, Thomson Reuters

This session will discuss GE’s best practices around managing the complexities of VAT determination and compliance and what tax professionals should consider when implementing a global tax engine.

We hope to see you there!

Source: https://taxact.site-ym.com/?2012ConferenceSess

The first task for employers is to determine which foreign national employees are resident aliens (who are taxed like U.S. citizens) and which are nonresident aliens (who are taxed under special rules). Resident aliens include foreign national employees who are green-card holders and nonimmigrants (and illegal aliens) who are substantially present in the U.S. as defined by §7701(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).

Substantial Presence

Nonimmigrants are resident aliens if they are present for at least 31 days in the current calendar year and their U.S. days over three calendar years equal or exceed 183 days based on a 183-day substantial presence formula. Nonimmigrants whose presence in the U.S. fails to satisfy the 183-day substantial presence test are nonresident aliens.

The 183-day substantial presence formula considers:

• All of the countable U.S. days in the current calendar year
• Plus 1/3 of the countable U.S. days in the prior year
• Plus 1/6 of the countable U.S. days in the year before the prior year

Partial U.S. days do count, but not all U.S. days count for substantial presence purposes. For example, days commuting from a residence in Canada or Mexico to work in the U.S. (provided they satisfy the regulatory definition of commuting days) and days spent as an exempt (from counting days) individual do not count.

Exempt Individuals

Exempt (from counting days) individuals do not count U.S. days for specified periods varying by immigration status. Foreign-government Related Employees (A-status Diplomats and G-status International Organization Employees) do not count their U.S. days without limitation. Unmarried dependents who are 21 or older and no longer living in the primary visaholder’s residence must count U.S. days. Students do not count their U.S. days for five calendar years, which can include exempt-from-counting calendar years since 1985 regardless of the number of years in between. Teachers and Trainees do not count U.S. days for two out of the current seven calendar years (four out of seven if all of their remuneration is paid by a foreign employer).

Teachers and Trainees include J exchange visitors in any of the exchange visitor categories except Student (collectively called Nonstudents) and Student Intern, and Q-1 Cultural Visitors, but do not include H-1B or H-3 status individuals who are teachers or trainees based on their respective immigration documents.

Exempt individuals must identify calendar years during prior visits in F, J, M or Q status when they were exempt to determine if they have exceeded the calendar-years limitation based on their current status. These residency status determinations can be complicated since some prior calendar years in F, J, M or Q status might have been as resident aliens and other years might have been as nonresident aliens because of the application of the substantial presence rules during the prior visits.

Substantial Presence Exceptions

There are substantial presence test exceptions under the Code such as the “closer connection exception,” which can allow eligible individuals to remain nonresident aliens longer. Procedures for these exceptions for tax return (but not withholding) purposes are described in IRS Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

There is also an exception that allows resident alien employees who have remained tax resident in a treaty country (called dual residents) to claim nonresidency status under a treaty residency tiebreaker rule. This claim must be supported by facts on Form 8833. This exception would work only for individuals who spend substantial periods of time in both countries because of the conditions the individual must meet.

Some nonresident employees may be eligible to elect to be treated as resident aliens for tax return and wage withholding purposes. Nonresidents married to a U.S. citizen or resident spouse may elect with their spouse to be treated as resident aliens. Students and business apprentices from Barbados, Jamaica and Hungary may elect under the Student/Trainee Article of the applicable treaty to be treated as resident aliens. (The new treaty with Hungary will eliminate this exception when it becomes effective.)

Residency Start and End Dates

An individual’s residency start date is retroactive to his or her first countable U.S. day in the calendar year that he or she becomes a resident alien. An individual’s residency end date is deemed to be December 31 of his or her last year of residency. For tax return purposes, departing individuals may choose an earlier end date (typically the last day of physical presence) under the closer connection exception described in Publication 519. No procedures have been provided for this exception for withholding purposes.

Dual residents might be able to use a tax treaty tiebreaker rule to choose a later residency start date or an earlier residency end date, documenting the facts supporting the claim on Form 8833 for tax return purposes (no form or procedures are specified for withholding purposes).

Source: http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/virginia/va-sales-tax-holiday-begins-may-25

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/harvard/newsnow/x596779430/House-rejects-meals-tax-holiday

When the US tax department of AstraZeneca was under the microscope of new management, they knew that incorporating software into their tax processses would help to gain effiencies around data managment and reporting out globally.

In our recent Data Management Podcast series, Linda Peoples, CPA tax manager, Tax Accounting and Reporting, shares how tax data management is on management’s radar and how they are in favor of using software to gain efficiencies wherever possible. In her podcast, Peoples provides insights into her company’s experience, so that others facing similar challenges can gain a new perspective on data management strategies.

Peoples shares how her 24-person tax team is seeing the benefits of automating their calculations and moving towards a paperless provision. They are currently gathering all of their data for their book-tax adjustments for provision and return and are bringing it all into a database using ONESOURCE DataFlow.  As a result of easier collection and computation of adjustments, the global biopharmaceutical company’s tax team has been able to automatically compute about 75% of their book tax adjustments, which is a huge change from years prior with manual data entry.

Peoples estimates about 20 hours of time saved during the one week they take to calculate their provision. “This change helped my group so they don’t need to work overtime.” Peoples expects the same type of time savings during the compliance process since there are so many more adjustments that the group needs to prepare. Next year, the team expects to save more time by automatically calculating  adjustments for their M&E accounts.

 With this type of progress, her team’s efficiencies are not going unnoticed. They’ve been receiving kudos from upper management and gaining attention from the UK team, which is also evaluating ONESOURCE as well. 

Have your own best practices to share on data management? Submit your story today.

At one time, only major multinational corporations and institutions of higher education had to concern themselves with the special tax rules and procedures for paying foreign employees. That time is long gone. Even small and medium-sized companies pay foreign nationals for services both in the U.S. and abroad. In the new IRS initiatives, all employers need to comply with the tax rules and procedures for paying foreign employees.

Foreign national employees can include immigrants (popularly known as green-card holders) and nonimmigrants who are sponsored employees of the organization, such as:

• H-1B Specialty Workers
• H-2A Agricultural Workers
• H-2B Seasonal Workers
• H-3 Trainees
• E-3 Specialty Workers from Australia
• L-1 Intra-company Transferees
• O-1 Persons of Extraordinary Ability
• R-1 Religious Workers
• TN Treaty NAFTA Workers from Canada or Mexico

Foreign national employees can also include program-specific aliens such as F-1 and M-1 Students, J-1 Exchange Visitors (EVs) and Q-1 Cultural Workers who can work for their sponsoring (or designated) organization or for other organizations if they have employment authorization evidenced by an employment authorization document (EAD) such as for practical training or hardship in the case of students. J-1 Summer Work/Travel Exchange Visitors may work for any employer.

Over the course of this blog series you will learn the items that must be considered before paying foreign national employees working in the U.S.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2012/05/14/texans-to-get-reprieve-on-paying-sales.html