Gccofc's Blog

A New Income Tax In NH

gccofc — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:55:53 +0000

Do you own an LLC or Partnerships in NH? If so this may be a call to action for you. On Monday, January 11th, I attended a seminar coordinated by Don Gobin of The Grantham Chamber of Commerce. He brought in Andy Sanborn, owner of The Draft, in Concord to speak about The LLC Tax. Have you heard about “The LLC tax?” Since there were no public hearings before the law was passed you might not have. The LLC Tax is a new income tax for businesses. Currently businesses must pay an 8.5% Business Profits Tax (BPT) among many other taxes. What the state has done is add an additional 5% tax for a total of 13.5% tax. They have also changed the rules. You may have paid yourself 50,000 or 75,000 in personal income through your business last year. What this law allows for is The Department of Revenue Administration to audit you and say that the compensation you paid yourself last year was more then what they deem as reasonable. They can then make you reclassify the amount over what they deemed fair and reasonable as a business distribution. This income would than be taxed as interest and dividends on top of business profits. Effectively it would total 13.5 % additional tax which must be paid by you! We now have a new income tax in NH.
The state projects that they will increase their revenues by 30 million dollars in 2010 because of this tax.

For more information and to sign a petition against this tax and its new rules please go to www.stopthellctax.com

Also go to our doc box just added to the right of your screen for a list of the state representatives you can call along with news articles posted about this issue. Wherever you stand on the issue call to voice your opinions!

Continue to watch our blog for updates on key legislative issue that may affect you and your business.

The Greater Claremont Chamber Advocacy Committee is a service of your Chamber.
We are here for you!

Donald W. LaPlume
Advocacy Chair

City Commercial Code & Building Maintenance

gccofc — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:30:28 +0000

The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce is hosting a presentation and panel discussion for its members and the Claremont, NH community.

We invite you to:

City Commercial Code and Building Maintenance

Presentation & Panel Discussion

August 25th, 2009

Beginning at Noon

Location is CCTV on South Street in Claremont, NH behind The Sugar River Technical Center

All questions must be in general format. Specific questions will not be answered at the Panel Discussion.

Can’t attend? – Log on to Claremontnhchamber.org

e-mail Claremontchamber@myfairpoint.org to submit your questions.

Hope to see you all there!

Advocacy Committee Chair

Donald W. LaPlume Jr.

Business and Industry Association Brief for July 15th

gccofc — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:59:10 +0000

JULY 15, 2009

Survey: what issues are important to your business?
BIA is currently conducting the 2009 Policy Development Survey. This 10-minute, confidential, online survey is the second step in BIA’s policy development process. Please take a moment to tell us about your top business challenges and help establish BIA’s proactive business agenda for 2010. Take the survey

Governor debuts health plan for small businesses [NASHUA TELEGRAPH]
Gov. John Lynch announced last week that state regulators had approved a health insurance plan with wellness incentives for small businesses at 20 percent below market prices. Learn more

Roche clarifies party affiliation
Responding to erroneous information in the July edition of Politics magazine about his party affiliation, BIA President Jim Roche said today: As flattering as it is to be considered a leading influencer in New Hampshire politics, the fact of the matter is that I am neither a Republican, as the magazine asserts, nor a Democrat.

Stressing that the BIA is non-partisan and works with elected officials of both parties to protect business interests, Roche went on to say, The BIA is absolutely non-partisan. The organization is fiscally conservative and pro-business. My personal politics on fiscal matters happen to be the same. Being pro-business and fiscally conservative is a point of view, not a party.

65th anniversary of Bretton Woods Conference coming soon
The Mount Washington Resort, with support from the BIA, will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Bretton Woods Conference, which culminated in the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In honor of the occasion, the resort will host a dinner and forum on July 25. Learn more

Senate eyes 25-employee threshold for health mandate [ORLANDO BUSINESS JOURNAL]
Businesses with 25 employees or more would be required to offer health insurance or pay $750 a year per full-time worker to the federal government under health care reform legislation being considered in the U.S. Senate. Learn more

Nominations sought for Business Excellence Awards
New Hampshire Business Review is accepting nominations for the 7th annual Business Excellence Awards – awards that recognize the imagination, industriousness, innovation, achievements and dedication to the larger community of people who often don’t get the kind of public recognition they deserve: small-business owners and operators. Nominations are due August 28. Learn more

BIA seeks nominations for Lifetime Achievement, NH Advantage awards
Now is your chance to nominate an outstanding individual, business or organization for special awards presented at the BIA’s annual dinner to be held November 4. Nominations are due by 5 PM on August 7.

Lifetime Achievement Award – recognizes a business leader who demonstrates a commitment to leadership in his or her profession, community and New Hampshire. Download nomination form
New Hampshire Advantage Award – honors individuals, businesses or organizations for their extraordinary work on a specific initiative, event or project that helps preserve New Hampshires special character and quality of life. Download nomination form

Looking for Public boat access to Lake Sunapee

gccofc — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:01:19 +0000

Take Our PollThe Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce has been asked to endorse a proposal to provide public boat access for the general public to Lake Sunapee. This access has been denied the past 19 years. The opportunity for public boat access would mean that tourists coming to our region would have access to Lake Sunapee along with all residents of The State of NH. The funding for this public boat access is already in place through a dedicated fund and matching federal funds. This would not affect The State of NH general fund.

I am attaching the Resolution supported unanimously by The Claremont City Council. Dated June 10th, 2009.

What we are asking all of our members is if you would vote yes that The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce write and sign a similar resolution in support of this prject.

Please vote in our poll and add comments that you have in support or opposition prior to Monday June 22nd, at Noon. We will make our decision based on your votes and comments and plan to sign a resolution or not, Monday the 22nd in the afternoon. This will allow time for the resoultion in support to get to Concord in time to meet the public comment deadline, on the 26th, if we support this proposal.

Please see all attached supporting documents to date.

Resolution in Support from The City of Claremont

BIA News Brief

gccofc — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:55:56 +0000

	JUNE 17, 2009 New Hampshire legislative conference committee wrapping up budget talks There are just two days left for House and Senate budget negotiators to finish work on the next two-year state budget. House and Senate versions of the budget contain numerous and differing tax proposals, several of which could directly or indirectly impact your business. BIA is urging members to contact legislators from the conference committee to express how the following tax proposals would affect your operations. Learn more Revenue chief airs tax ideas [CONCORD MONITOR] With days to go before lawmakers are supposed to finish the state budget, New Hampshire Revenue Commissioner Kevin Clougherty on Monday presented lawmakers with a smorgasbord of tax ideas that could help close a $150 million budget gap. Learn more Business groups have different priorities in tax fight [NH BUSINESS REVIEW] As a House and Senate conference committee decides on proposed business-related taxes to fill at least a $250 billion budget hole, different business groups have focused on what they see as most important to their membership. Learn more The economy in crisis: whats next? Joseph Quinlan, managing director and chief market strategist of the Investment Strategies Group, Global Wealth and Investment Management at Bank of America, will discuss the current state of the economy and whether recovery from recession is in sight at the BIAs annual Economy at Midyear event on June 24. Register now Managing Layoffs: Strategic Decision-Making for Employers Reducing Their Workforce Having to lay off employees raises a number of real or imagined dangers. And, in these unprecedented times, the legal, personal and organizational liabilities of layoffs increase. Attend this free seminar next Tuesday and learn how to best accomplish a layoff and transform the survivors into a high-performance team. Register now Call for nominations! Now is your chance to nominate an outstanding individual, business or organization for special awards presented at the BIA’s annual dinner to be held November 4. Nominations are due by 5 PM on August 7. Lifetime Achievement Award – recognizes a business leader who demonstrates a commitment to leadership in his or her profession, community and New Hampshire. Download nomination form New Hampshire Advantage Award – honors individuals, businesses or organizations for their extraordinary work on a specific initiative, event or project that helps preserve New Hampshires special character and quality of life. Download nomination form Policy development roundtables conclude next week BIA will host business roundtables in Rochester, Portsmouth, Laconia, Lincoln, Berlin and North Conway next week. The roundtables are free and open to the public. This is an opportunity for business leaders to talk about their top challenges and concerns and help shape the BIAs legislative and regulatory agenda for the 2010 legislative session. View roundtable dates and locations


COMMITTEE NEWS

Time Sensitive NH Legislative News Alert

gccofc — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:33:59 +0000

The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce is a member of The Business and Industry Association -The State of New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce. The BIA assists us in many areas but of importantce to this blog many legislative issues. An alert from BIA came out yesterday and is below.

There are just two days left for House and Senate budget negotiators to finish work on the next two-year state budget. It is astonishing that, at a time when businesses across the state are cutting expenses and making painful lay-off decisions in response to the worst economic malaise since the Great Depression, state policy leaders are poised to make matters worse. Listed below are various tax proposals still being considered that will directly or indirectly impact New Hampshire businesses.New Hampshires business community is already doing more than its fair share to support state government. The business community is already the largest source of tax revenue to the state and nationally ranks seventh in terms of its proportion of tax contributions to state and local government. Now it not the time to cripple further employers struggling to stay afloat and discourage future economic growth.Please take the time today to call members of the budget conference committee. Urge them to fight against taxes on business and business investment. Here is what is under consideration:

One-year suspension of the BET credit against the BPT (possibly the first step towards a total repeal of the credit)
Increasing the BET tax rate from .75 percent to 1 percent
Lowering the thresholds for reporting BET
Weakening New Hampshires net operating loss provisions (already the most restrictive in the country)
Taxing investment distributions from LLCs as dividends under New Hampshire interest and dividends tax
Taxing capital gains
Taxing estates valued at more than $2 million
Freezing a planned reduction in New Hampshires insurance premium tax
Taxing real estate refinancing

All of these proposals are under serious consideration by budget writers. Many have had NO public hearing or dialogue until yesterday. It is URGENT that you contact House and Senate conferees. If the business communitys voice is not heard now, we will pay the price with higher business taxes. The House and Senate budget conferees are listed below. Please call them now.

Senate and House conferees:

Rep. Marjorie Smith, chair 271-3165
Rep. Sharon Nordgren 643-5068
Rep. Dan Eaton 446-3535
Rep. Susan Almy 271-3529
Rep. Neal Kurk 529-7253
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro 271-2600
Sen. Maggie Hassan 271-2106
Sen. Kathy Sgambati 271-3704
Sen. John Gallus 271-3077
Sen. Harold Janeway 271-3041

Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2008

gccofc — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:53:41 +0000

Well, here is the first item on our plates. Some of us are small service businesses and would probably not be affected by this bill. However, some of us will be.

I am attaching a summary of the bill below so that you can read it. I will also attach reports pertaining to this bill from The SBA. Please let us know what you think of this bill and if you would like The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce to endorse this bill or not. I am attaching a poll that you may complete to register your vote. Please answer with a yes or no.

Since anyone on the web can vote in this poll when they find our blog, I will only be totaling comments yeah or Nay from our members. Please be sure to add your comment if you believe we should endorse this bill or not endorse this bill.

Thank you all for your participation and support.

Sincerely,

Donald W. LaPlume Jr.

Chairman of Your Advocacy Committee

Take Our Poll

Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2008

Background:

The SBA Inspector General has found that companies such as Bechtel and Hewlett Packard have been awarded small business contracts by government agencies and subsequently, those contracts have been counted toward the respective agencies’ small business contracting goals.

The last small business classification report completed by SBA in 2002 found 44 out of the top 1,000 contractors were not small businesses. The SBA IG lists this issue of small business contracting as the number one management challenge for the agency.

Definition of a Small Business: (Sections 2-4)

The purpose of this bill is to modify the definition of a small business as stated in the Small Business Act by including the additional requirement that no publicly traded business concern be qualified as a small business. This means that any publicly traded business concern, subsidiary of a publicly traded business concern, foreign owned business concern, or subsidiary of a foreign owned business concern can no longer be counted as a small business for the purpose of government contracting and subcontracting, including for procurement goals.

Notification Requirements and Enforcement (Sections 5-8)

The bill strengthens enforcement – requiring timely action on complaints and at least a five-year debarment for any firm that falsely claims to be a small business. It also allows any person to file a complaint with SBA and the affected Federal agency if the person feels a small business contract was improperly awarded and have that complaint acted upon in a timely manner. The bill requires SBA to submit to Congress an annual report detailing the nature of the complaints and their resolution.

Notification and reporting requirements included in the legislation:

Notification for government agencies and contractors of the changes in this bill
Requires SBA to make public which companies are receiving small business contracts
Requires each Federal agency to report on their website a list of the companies receiving small business contracts from that agency; and
Requires that the agency responsible for maintaining the database of all Federal contractors provide an adequate warning about the penalties for misrepresenting the status of a business concern or person in order to obtain certain contracts with the Federal government.

Welcome To Your Advocacy Committee Blog

gccofc — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:32:29 +0000

Hello Members of The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce,

This blog has been established to provide updated information on legislative issues which may affect your business. They could be local issues from the towns we serve, state or national issues. We hope that you will not only check back often but also comment and feed this blog. The topics posted here will be issues that have been brought to our attention. However, it is not possible to know every issue which could help or hinder everyone of our members. Therefore, if their is a legislative issue that affects you please post it here.

The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce is your Advocate and we want to help grow your business along with remove obstacles that may hinder it.

Since the Chamber is over 200 members strong, and growing, it is important that we get your thoughts on these topics. We hope to see your comments soon.

Sincerely,

Donald W. LaPlume Jr.

Chair of Your Advocacy Committee