Don’t Forget the New HIRE Credit!
Most farmers are on a calendar year basis for reporting their income taxes and one of the items that came about back in early 2010 is not available until they file their income tax returns for 2011. This credit is called the “HIRE” credit and is available to any taxpayer who meets the following requirements:
- Hired a new employee after February 3, 2010 and before January 1, 2011,
- The employee was employed for at least 52 consecutive weeks,
- The employee’s wages in the last half of that period was at least 80% of the wages in the first half,
- The employee certified on form W-11 or an equivalent that they were not employed for more than 40 hours in the 60 days before being hired,
- The employee hired was not a replacement of another employee unless they voluntarily left, and
- The employee is not related to you.
If you meet all of these requirements, then you qualify for an additional $1,000 income tax credit that may offset your income tax on a dollar for dollar basis.
Now is a good time to review your employee’s records to see if you qualify for this credit.
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
or is this the second half of that credit?