Small Business Taxes

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As many Americans hoped -- and expected -- President Obama made job growth the centerpiece of his first State of the Union address Wednesday: "Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010." He called for a host of tax breaks and incentives to stimulate jobs growth, especially for small businesses.

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Now that the IRS plans to raise the bar for tax preparers beginning in 2011, what can you as a small business owner do to protect yourself from being caught up in the IRS' new rules?

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Even if you've been following the health care hubbub in Congress, you may have easily missed the news that a 10% tax on indoor tanning services is being considered. Unless you're a regular indoor tanning customer or someone who works in the industry, the tax was probably an afterthought. But for small business owners in the industry, it's anything but an afterthought.

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Millions of small business owners have a chance to give their employees a no-cost gift for the holidays by simply suggesting they double-check their W-4 forms for accuracy. How so? More than 15 million taxpayers who received the Making Work Pay tax credit may have been withholding too little for much of 2009 and next April 15 could owe more taxes than they expected -- plus possible penalties and interest.

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Bad news first: With all you have to do between now and midnight December 31, you need to add one more item -- plan to reduce your business's tax burden for 2009. The good news is that, rather than costing money, as buying client gifts and hosting holiday parties do, this to-do is likely to save money.

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Thanks to new health-care legislation, small business owners would bear the brunt of new taxation. Some would have to pay an 8 percent of payroll penalty if they don't already offer health insurance. Click to see what you can expect from these new tax laws.

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Obama's $15 billion plan to loosen credit gets high marks from entrepreneurs.

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Are you a spare-bedroom merchant? Time to start reporting sales to the IRS.