Chamber Blog

The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act Employee Affidavit Form is now available!

Also, I wanted to update you on the New Hire Tax Credit. Please feel free to share this information with colleagues and business groups.

See: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=220745,00.html for FAQ’s “Under the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, enacted March 18, 2010, two new tax benefits are available to employers who hire certain previously unemployed workers (“qualified employees”). The first, referred to as the payroll tax exemption, provides employers with an exemption from the employer’s 6.2 percent share of social security tax on wages paid to qualifying employees, effective or wages paid from March 19, 2010 through December 31, 2010.
In addition, for each qualified employee retained for at least 52 consecutive weeks, businesses will also be eligible for a general business tax credit, referred to as the new hire retention credit, of 6.2 percent of wages paid to the qualified employee over the 52 week period, up to a maximum credit of $1,000.

How does the employer claim the payroll tax exemption for wages paid to qualified employees?

A: The payroll tax exemption is claimed on Form 941, Employer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, beginning with the second quarter of 2010.


Cindy Brey
Business Service Specialist
MN Dept. of Employment & Economic Development
Brainerd WorkForce Center
204 Laurel Street, Suite 21
Brainerd, MN 56401
Phone: 218-825-6783
Cell: 218-296-2210
FAX: 218-828-6194
E-mail: Cindy.Brey@state.mn.us

All members of the community are invited to participate in Mississippi River Revitalization Community Workshops on Monday, April 26 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. and again repeated from 6-7 p.m. at the Central Lakes College Cafeteria in Brainerd.

The purpose of this workshop is to gather input from all members of the community on the opportunities and ideas for enhancing the importance and visibility of the Mississippi River in our community.

If you are unable to attend the community workshops, but would like to provide feedback, please fill out the online survey at the link below.

The Mississippi River is a unique natural, transportation and recreational resource for the communities of Brainerd and Baxter, MN. Over the years the river’s role has evolved and its importance has ebbed and flowed much like the river itself. Recently, the 2009 Brainerd Class of the Blandin Leadership program identified the “Revitalization of the Mississippi River’s role within the community” as a focus project. Working with other interested stakeholders and area citizens, the group embarked on a six-month process to envision a revitalized future for area’s river front.

Funding for the visioning process is being provided by the Blandin Foundation. Facilitation and planning is being provided by the consulting firm, Short, Elliott, Hendrickson, Inc. Planning and Urban Design Director, Bob Kost is serving as the lead facilitator for the visioning and planning process.

More information on the project can be found at http://www.sehinc.com/online/brainerd/

Brainerd-Baxter Mississippi River Vision
The Brainerd-Baxter Area Mississippi River corridor should be a place where residents and visitors can easily access and enjoy year-round natural scenery along with a variety of passive and active recreational opportunities in harmony with a healthy river environment.
• Facilities (public or private) within the river corridor should be in character and scale with the places in which the river passes; natural, agricultural, residential and urban.
• Design and construction of facilities within the river corridor should employ state of the art environmental practices to meet or exceed national, state and local rules and regulations.
• Local, state and federal agencies should cooperate with area non-profit groups to manage and maintain the river corridor as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Jeff Baana has an ambition. He recently left his job to start his own business. He hopes to manufacture log beds and complete other remodeling jobs.

Not surprising, he has plenty of basic questions about how to get his business off the ground. And he faces the specific challenge of being short $2,000 for supplies.

Enter BusinessConnection. This service, free to all Minnesota businesses, is intended to be a single-entry point to help businesses connect with private and public resources to solve everyday business problems, particularly those related to state and local government. This project of Grow Minnesota! was developed jointly and is co-sponsored with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Grow Minnesota! is the private-sector business retention and economic development initiative of the Minnesota of Commerce, the state’s largest business advocacy organization.

The resource is available online via http://www.mnbizconnect.com/ and at (888) MINN-BIZ.

As for Baana, we did not directly have the $2,000 he needs. But we were familiar with “The Guide to Starting a Businesses in Minnesota,” a great resource produced by the Department of Employment and Economic Development. We identified potential funding sources, then forwarded contact information for the Small Business Administration, Urban Initiative Program and other organizations.

And, of course, Baana knows we’re a resource for other everyday business problems that he encounters. We’re only a telephone call or keystroke away.

Bill Blazar
Senior Vice-President
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce
bblazar@mnchamber.com
(651) 292-4658

The LEADERCAST scheduled for May 7th at the Lodge in Baxter is actually a “live” simulcast event. The world class speaker line-up will be live in Atlanta and then sent out across the country via the internet and satellite. Wes Hughes from Hughes Technologies, The Lodge and myself have already completed one site/technology test and our second test will be this Thursday. The tests are run to assure that we have a problem free event and that you can clearly see and hear the speakers. With 2 large screens set up it will be a great experience for all.

Don’t let this event pass you by. We are all so busy working IN our businesses that we often forget to take the time to work ON ourselves and our businesses. Don’t miss out. Come and be inspired, motivated, recharged and ready to make 2010 the best year you have ever had. The Leadercast Event is getting close, mark your calendar and register on-line for your ticket today. Go to: www.performanceimpactcoaching.com/event.html and register for this ground breaking event in the Lakes Area.

Here is the latest. Please feel free to pass along to your business colleagues and contacts.

All the information on the HIRE (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment) ACT, which was enacted into law on 3/18/10 will be on the IRS.gov site: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=220326,00.html

Here is what it says about forms:
“Employers claim the payroll tax benefit on the federal employment tax return they file, usually quarterly, with the IRS. Eligible employers will be able to claim the new tax incentive on their revised employment tax form for the second quarter of 2010. Revised forms and further details on these two new tax provisions will be posted on the IRS.gov during the next few weeks”.

Regarding the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), apparently a business cannot take both a HIRE and WOTC credit on the same employee, so you will have to check out which results in a better tax credit.(If you need more information on WOTC, please contact me)

I can see where if someone isn’t eligible under WOTC, then HIRE would work. “Employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers after March 18, 2010. Plus for each worker retained for at least a year, businesses may claim an additional general business tax credit, up to $1,000 per worker, when they file their 2011 income tax returns.

The two tax benefits under HIRE are especially helpful to employers who are adding positions to their payrolls. New hires filling existing positions also qualify but only if the workers they are replacing left voluntarily or for cause.

Please watch the IRS site for revised forms and other details under HIRE

Feel free to contact me with questions.

Cindy Brey
Business Service Specialist
MN Dept. of Employment & Economic Development
Brainerd WorkForce Center
204 Laurel Street, Suite 21
Brainerd, MN 56401
Phone: 218-825-6783
Cell: 218-296-2210
FAX: 218-828-6194
E-mail: Cindy.Brey@state.mn.us