May 2010

James Ventriglia atttended and spoke at the DDIFO regional meeting held in Chicago. The topic of his talk was the new HIRE act and how it provided tax saving opportunities for Dunkin Donuts franchisees.

April 2010

MASSACHUSETTS TAX AMNESTY PROGRAM

The Massachusetts Commissioner of Revenue has established a 2-month amnesty period starting April 1, 2010 until June 1, 2010 applicable for tax periods ending on or before December 31, 2009 that is limited to sales-use taxes, withholding taxes, and certain business tax liabilities. ( Massachusetts Technical Information Release 10-5, 03/12/2010 .)

Eligible tax types. The amnesty program is limited to taxpayers with the following existing business tax liabilities: sales-use tax, sales tax on telecommunications services, meals tax, meals tax local option, materialman sales tax, withholding income, performer withholding, pass-through entity withholding, lottery annuity withholding, room occupancy excise, room occupancy excise local option, convention center financing fees on room occupancy in Boston, Cambridge, Chicopee, Springfield, West Springfield, and Worcester, convention center financing surcharge for sight-seeing tours, convention center financing surcharge on vehicle rentals in Boston, convention center financing surcharge on parking in Boston, Springfield, and Worcester, deeds excise, cigarette excise, cigars and smoking tobacco excise, club alcohol beverage excise, gasoline excise, special fuels excise, special fuels excise local option, and boat/recreational vehicles sales tax.

Eligibility. The program is open to taxpayers who have been issued a Tax Amnesty Notice and have an unpaid and previously self-assessed tax liability for an eligible tax type, or have been previously assessed a tax liability for an eligible tax type are properly disputing the unpaid liability, or are delinquent in paying the liability. Those who have entered into a payment agreement before the start of the amnesty period are eligible. Those with pending appeals qualify if they receive a Tax Amnesty Notice and timely pays all taxes and interest owed in full. Payment of the outstanding liability does not constitute a forfeiture of statutory rights of appeal or an admission of liability for the disputed assessment.

Not eligible. Taxpayers that are the subject of a tax-related criminal prosecution or investigation, prior to April 1, 2010, are not eligible. Those that have signed a settlement agreement are not eligible for amnesty for the tax periods covered by the settlement agreement including any settlement reached through the Department's Litigation Bureau, Office of Appeals or Offer-in-Settlement Unit. Those who have paid all tax and interest due relating to any outstanding assessment but who, at the start of the amnesty period, still owe or are properly disputing penalties regarding that assessment are not eligible.

Amnesty. If a taxpayer pays the full amount of tax and interest as shown on the Tax Amnesty Notice, the Commissioner is authorized to waive all unpaid penalties and the interest directly attributable to those penalties for those imposed for failure to timely file a return; failure to file a proper return; failure to timely pay a tax liability; failure to file, report or pay electronically; and failure to pay the proper amount of any estimated tax payment for such period. When an eligible taxpayer pays the full outstanding balance of tax and interest with respect to previously filed returns or assessments, the Commissioner will waive the unpaid penalties as to that taxpayer for those tax periods. Penalties that have been assessed or that could be assessed by the Commissioner against a taxpayer for liabilities relating to any other tax types are not eligible for waiver under the amnesty program.

Amnesty payment and penalty. Required payments must be received by 5:00 p.m. EDT, June 1, 2010. If a payment is delivered by U.S. mail or a recognized commercial delivery service, payment will be considered timely if the date of postmark is on or before June 1, 2010 even if the mail is delivered after such date. If an eligible taxpayer fails to make a full payment of all tax and interest due under the amnesty program for each tax period for which the taxpayer receives a bill, the Commissioner may impose an additional amnesty penalty of up to $500 per taxpayer, to be added to and become part of the outstanding balance due.

March 2010

The President recently signed into law the “Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010” (the HIRE Act, P. L. 111-47, 03/18/2010). The centerpiece of this Act is a payroll tax holiday and up-to-$1,000 tax credit for businesses that hire unemployed workers. In addition to these new hiring incentives, the HIRE Act also includes a one-year extension of the enhanced small business expensing option under Code Sec. 179 . Both of these provisions are extremely important to many businesses.

Payroll tax holiday and up-to-$1,000 credit for employers who hire unemployed workers. To help stimulate the hiring of workers by the private sector, the new law exempts any private-sector employer that hires a worker who had been unemployed for at least 60 days from having to pay the employer's 6.2% share of the Social Security payroll tax on that employee for the remainder of 2010. A company could save a maximum of $6,621 if it hired an unemployed worker and paid that worker at least $106,800—the maximum amount of wages subject to Social Security taxes—by the end of the year. As an additional incentive, for any qualifying worker hired under this initiative that the employer keeps on payroll for a continuous 52 weeks, the employer is eligible for an additional non-refundable tax credit of up to $1,000 after the 52-week threshold is reached, to be taken on their 2011 tax return. In order to be eligible, the employee's pay in the second 26-week period must be at least 80% of the pay in the first 26-week period.

Workers hired after the date of introduction of the legislation (Feb. 3, 2010) are eligible for the payroll tax forgiveness and the retention bonus, but only wages paid after March 18 receive the exemption for payroll taxes. Some additional features of the new hiring incentive include:

• The tax benefit of the new incentive is immediate. It puts money into a business' cash flow immediately, since the tax is simply not collected in the first place.
• The tax benefit generally applies only to private-sector employment, including nonprofit organizations—public sector jobs are generally not eligible for either benefit. However, employment by a public higher education institution qualifies.
• There is no minimum weekly number of hours that the new employee must work for the employer to be eligible, and there is no limit on the dollar amount of payroll taxes per employer that may be forgiven.
• For workers that would otherwise be eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (i.e., another type of employment tax credit), the employer must select one benefit or the other for 2010. There is no double dipping.
• An employer can't claim the new tax breaks for hiring family members.
• A worker who replaces another employee who performed the same job for the employer isn't eligible for the benefit, unless the prior employee left the job voluntarily or for cause.
• For the hiring to qualify, the new hire must sign an affidavit, under penalties of perjury, stating that he or she hasn't been employed for more than 40 hours during the 60-day period ending on the date the employment begins.
• The incentive isn't biased towards either low-wage or high-wage workers. Under the measure, a business saves 6.2% on both a $40,000 worker and a $90,000 worker.
• The payroll tax holiday doesn't apply with respect to wages paid during the first calendar quarter of 2010, but the amount by which the Social Security payroll tax would have been reduced under the payroll tax holiday provision during the fist calendar quarter is applied against the tax imposed on the employer for the second calendar quarter of 2010.
• The Act creates a similar new set of rules allowing a payroll tax holiday for railroad retirement tax purposes.
• The credit for retaining qualifying new hires is the lesser of $1,000 or 6.2% of the wages paid by the taxpayer to the retained worker during the 52-consecutive-week period. Thus, the credit for a retained worker will be $1,000 if, disregarding rounding, the retained worker's wages during the 52-consecutive-week period exceed $16,129.03. However, the credit isn't available for pay not treated as wages under the Code (e.g., remuneration paid to domestic workers).

Extension of enhanced small business expensing. The new law gives a one-year lease on life to enhanced expensing rules, which allow qualifying businesses the option to currently deduct the cost of business machinery and equipment, instead of recovering it via depreciation over a number of years. For tax years beginning in 2010, the maximum amount that a business may expense is $250,000, and the expensing election begins to phase out when a business buys more than $800,000 of expensing-eligible assets. These dollar limits are the same as those that were in effect for 2008 and 2009. Had the HIRE Recovery Act not been passed and signed into law, these dollar limits would have dropped this year to $134,000 and $530,000 respectively.

Congratulations to Mariana Ambrosio for marking her 15th year with the firm.

November 2009

On Nov. 6, President Obama signed H.R. 3548, the ''Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009'' (the Act) into law . The signing came just one day after the House passed it and two days after the Senate did. This Special Study highlights the tax changes for individuals in the Act, namely changes extending and generally liberalizing the first time homebuyer tax credit (FTHTC).

Homebuyer Credit Extended and Liberalized

A refundable tax credit is available for qualifying first-time home purchases after Apr. 8, 2008, and before Dec. 1, 2009. For homes bought in 2009, the maximum first time homebuyer tax credit (FTHTC) is equal to the lesser of $8,000 ($4,000 for a married individual filing separately) or 10% of the principal residence's purchase price (for purchases before 2009, the dollar limits are $7,500 ($3,750 for marrieds filing separately). The FTHTC phases out for individual taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (AGI) between $75,000 and $95,000 ($150,000 and $170,000 for joint filers) for the year of purchase.

An individual is treated as a first-time homebuyer if he (and his spouse, if married) had no ownership interest in a principal residence in the U.S. during the 3-year period before the purchase of the home. A taxpayer who buys a qualifying residence after Dec. 31, 2008, and before Dec. 1, 2009, may elect to be treated as having bought the home on Dec. 31, 2008, so that he may claim the credit on the 2008 income tax return. No District of Columbia first-time homebuyer credit may be claimed by any taxpayer for the purchase of a residence after Dec. 31, 2008, and before Dec. 1, 2009, if the national first-time homebuyer credit is allowable to the taxpayer (or his spouse) with respect to such purchase.

Recapture rules apply for homes bought on or before Dec. 31, 2008. In general, the FTHTC is recaptured ratably over fifteen years with no interest charge beginning in the second tax year after the tax year in which the home is purchased. For homes bought after Dec. 31, 2008, and before Dec. 1, 2009, the FTHTC is recaptured only if the taxpayer disposes of the home (or the home otherwise ceases to be the principal residence of the taxpayer) within 36 months from the date of purchase.

New law. The Act extends the FTHTC and liberalizes it by making it available to (1) higher-income taxpayers and (2) to existing homeowners who are qualifying “long-time residents” and who buy another principal residence. However, for the first time there will be a dollar cap on residences qualifying for the FTHTC.

FTHTC extended. Under the Act, the FTHTC is extended to apply to a principal residence purchased by the taxpayer before May 1, 2010. The FTHTC also applies to the purchase of a principal residence before July 1, 2010 by any taxpayer who enters into a written binding contract before May 1, 2010, to close on the purchase of a principal residence before July 1, 2010.

For purchases after Nov. 6, 2009 (the enactment date), the FTHTC phases out for individual taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (AGI) between $125,000 and $145,000 ($225,000 and $245,000 for joint filers) for the year of purchase.

FTHTC available for existing homeowners who are “long-time residents.” For purchases after Nov. 6, 2009, any individual (and, if married, the individual's spouse) who has maintained the same principal residence for any 5-consecutive year period during the 8-year period ending on the date of the purchase of a subsequent principal residence is treated for FTHTC purposes as a first-time homebuyer of that subsequent principal residence. The maximum allowable credit for such taxpayers is the lesser of: (1) $6,500 ($3,250 for a married individual filing separately); or (2) 10% of the purchase price of the subsequent principal residence.

Seotember 2009

This month marks 10 years Elizabeth Amaral has been with the firm.

August 2009

Sarah Carr has completed four years of service with the firm.

January 2009

W are pleased to announce that the firm has successfully completed another Peer Review and has received the highest report available ( a clean opinion with no modifications).

Welcome back to Stephanie B , who rejoins the firm after a 10 year abscence.

May 2008

The firm is beginning its 18th year of providing services to the franchisee community.

January 2008

Welcome to the HG Group of Dunkin Donut Companies as clients to the firm. The HG Group currently owns and operates 24 Dunkin Donuts Franchises in New England

August 2007

Welcome to Aurelia who has joined our firm to assist in many phases of data entry as well as general office duties.

May 2007

The firm is beginning its seventeenth year of providing services to the franchisee community.

April 2007

James P. Ventriglia addressed the DDIFO and gave the treasurers report at the meeting. Jim was stepping in for Robert Zweiner, the treasurer.

November 2006

Congratulations to DDIFO and their new web site at ddifo.org We are pleased that another client of the firm , Wickford Web Works, was able to assist DDIFO on their new site.

Congratulations to Joe D ( client for 15+ years) and Fatima ( client for 1 year) on their wedding. Wishes for many years of happiness.

September 2006

Congratulations to Al Capraro on his retirement. As a professional in the Dunkin Donuts Community I can appreciate his years of service as President of DDIFO.  Mark Dubinsky , a former multi unit franchisee, has been appointed President effective September 1st.

This month marks seven years Elizabeth Am aral has been with the firm. Thank you for the years of hard work.

August 2006

We are pleased to announce we assisted a client in obtaining approximately $ 2.5 million in financing to acquire real estate as well as consolidate debt.

May 2006

The firm is pleased to begin its sixteenth year of client service. A special Thank you to all clients and friends that have supported us over the years.

Congratulations to Sumner Steinberg upon his retirement. Sumner had been a Dunkin Donuts franchisee for in excess of 40 years.

January 2006

Welcome to MVD Donuts Inc a new client of the firm that operates several Dunkin' Donut franchises in New Hampshire.

Welcome also to tax clients Silviera Masonry and Better Homes Mortgage

August 2005

We are pleased to add the Vermont CPL to our client list. The Group of franchise owners will be constructing a kitchen to service 35 Dunkin Donut retail outlets.

We are pleased to announce that Sarah Carr has joined the firm to assist in the Franchise work as well as administratively.

James P. Ventriglia has been appointed treasurer of the Cranston Chamber of Commerce effective

its.

July 2005

Our client, the Ocean State CPL has officially opened and is serving an initial round of 44 Dunkin nut locations. Over the next few months they will be adding locations until they service the entire 126 locations participating.

Welcome to F&C Donuts Inc, a new client of the firm.

May 2005

The firm has successfully completed its Peer Review and received the best report possible with NO suggestions for improvement. FYI a Peer Review is when another CPA selects several engagements and reviews the related financial statements for to insure they comply with current ounting and disclosure requirements. They also review selected work papers to make sure an appropriate amount of work was done on the engagement.We are proud of this achievement.

April 2005

We are pleased to announce that on April 28th we will be having a representative of Radiant Systems here to give a demonstration of their new register product. Please email us at imv@jpvcpa.com if you would like to attend this seminar.

The firm was pleased to be selected to oversee the enrollment of the new members to the Ocean State CPL In a two day period we had over 40 Dunkin Donuts join the CPL.

Welcome to the DDIFO ( Dunkin' Donuts Independent Franchise Owners Organization) who has become a client of the firm.

March 2005

We are beginning to plan for our next franchisee seminar in the late May or early June timeframe. In the event that you have any topics you would like to have addressed feel free to  send your e-mail to me ( jimv@jpvcpa.com) and we will do our best to arrange the appropriate speakers.

Due Date for Corporate Income tax returns is March 15th  Be aware that the State of Rhode Island has changed the way that they treat the taxation of out of state owners of LLC's , Partnerships and S-Corporations. Beginning with the 2004 Returns the entities are required to make the tax payments on behalf of their out of state partners/ shareholder/ member. This computation must be made on an entity by entity basis and there are currently no provisions allowing the netting of entities with a loss against those with a profit.

Welcome to the firm to new clients Attorney Stephen Germani, Mardovar Networking and Dr. Launer. We will strive to exceed your expectations.

February 2005

We would like to thank the group from Infotrove ( a Massachusetts business technology company) for speaking at our first Franchisee Information Seminar .

We look forward to presenting additional topics that are of interest to the franchisees at large.

January 1, 2005

We would like to welcome the following NEW clients to the firm :

• Mystic Foods , a multi unit franchisee
• The Tetreault Group - a multi unit Dunkin Donuts Operator
• The Ocean State CPL - A central production facility of Dunkin Donuts designed to service 150 units located in the state of Rhode Island. The Center is expected to Open in May of 2005

December 2004

Special thanks to the group at ADJ Donuts Inc. for assembling a special "Dunkin' Donuts Care package" for Cpt. Stephen Fabiano when he took command of the Delta Company 701st Main Support Battalion in Iraq. All 225 soldiers enjoyed that great Dunkin coffee. Hopefully they all will be home soon to enjoy the Dunkin Donuts coffee on a regular basis...We at JPV CPA were happy to assist in this project...THANK YOU ADJ !!!!

November 2004

We are pleased to announce that growth has caused us to acquire the entire second floor of our building, in effect doubling our office space . We are in the process of adding new personnel to meet this growth.

October 2004

In October two pieces of tax legislation were passed by Congress and signed by the President. They were the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 and the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. Summaries of the major items of each bill follows. This is not intended to be a full explanation of the bills. We encourage you to call your tax advisor with any questions on how these bills effect you.

Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004

• Relief to Individual Alternative Minimum Tax
• Child Tax Credit of $ 1,000 retained
• Teaches expense deduction for out of pocket expenses retained

American Jobs Creation Act of 2004

• S Corporation rules eased- Increases numbers of shareholders to 100, certain family members treated as one shareholder
• Charitable deductions tightened up for contributions of a car, boat or airplane made after December 31,2004. After that date you may no longer use the "Blue Book" to determine the value of the gift. The charity must prepare and the taxpayer must attach to their return a statement identifying the vehicle and the amount for which it was sold.
• Sales tax deduction available instead of deducting state income taxes
• Expensing of SUV's with a gross vehicle weight of less than 6,000 pounds reduced to $ 25,000 for acquisitions made after October 22,2004.
• 15 year depreciation created for qualified leasehold improvements of a qualified restaurant property
• Certain Start Up expenses incurred after October 22,2004 can be immediately written off, up to $ 5,000 instead of expensing over a five year period.