The following are proposed tax changes for 2011.

If tere are questions about any of these items, Please call to determine relevence for your company.

Tax proposals for business include:

• A tax credit of up to $5,000 for new workers added in 2010, plus a reimbursement for payroll taxes on wage increases.
• For 2010, permitting a maximum of $250,000 to be expensed under Code Sec. 179 , with the investment-based phaseout level set at $800,000.
• Extending bonus first-year depreciation to apply to property placed in service in 2010.
• Allotting an additional $5 billion in tax credits for investment in advanced energy manufacturing projects.
• A zero percent capital gains tax on qualified small business stock held for at least five years, effective for stock acquired after Feb. 17, 2009.
• Making permanent the research credit (which under current rules went off the books at the end of 2009).
• Making permanent the Build America Bonds program.
• Removing company provided cell phones from the listed property category, effective for tax years ending after the enactment date.
• Repealing the lower-of-cost-or-market inventory accounting method, effective for tax years beginning after twelve months from the enactment date.
• Repealing the LIFO accounting method for inventories. Those currently using the LIFO method would be required to write up their beginning LIFO inventory to its FIFO value in the first tax year beginning after 2011. However, this one-time increase in gross income would be taken into account ratably over ten years, beginning with the first tax year beginning after 2011.
• Eliminating tax preferences (e.g., expensing of intangible drilling costs, enhanced oil recovery credit, percentage depletion) for oil, gas and coal companies.
• Extending through Dec. 31, 2011 the Subpart F “active financing” and “look-through” exceptions, the exclusion from unrelated business income of certain payments to controlling exempt organizations, the modified recovery period for qualified leasehold improvements and qualified restaurant property, and incentives for empowerment and community renewal zones.
• Making permanent the 0.2% unemployment insurance surtax.
• Subjecting highly leveraged Wall Street firms to a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee to cover TARP expenses (i.e., the cost of the federal government's financial institution bailout). The Fee would be levied on the liabilities, net of deposits and certain insurance policy reserves, of qualified firms with more than $50 billion in assets. It would remain in place for at least 10 years, or longer if necessary to fully pay back TARP. The Fee would be effective as of July 1, 2010, and would be reported on the annual federal income tax return.
• Requiring a corporation that enters into a forward contract to issue its stock to treat a portion of the payment on the forward issuance as a payment of interest, effective for forward contracts entered into after 2011.
• Requiring dealers in commodities, commodities derivatives dealers, dealers in securities, and dealers in options to treat the income from their day-to-day dealer activities in section 1256 contracts as ordinary in character, not capital, effective for tax years beginning after the enactment date.
• Amending the definition of “control” in Code Sec. 249(b)(2) to incorporate indirect control relationships of the nature described in Code Sec. 1563(a) , effective on the enactment date.
• A ten-year reinstatement of the three Superfund excise taxes, and the corporate environmental income tax, to begin after 2010.