Treasury, IRS push back on small-business credit

“Many small businesses file their taxes in September or October,” Emily McMahon, the acting assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy, wrote in a post on the department’s blog. “That means that a substantial number of employers had not filed returns when this information was collected, and an even smaller percentage of shareholders and partners of those employers had filed.”

{mosads}In a statement of its own, the IRS added that: “Given the mid-year implementation of this new credit, some employers may not have been able to take full advantage of the credit in 2010 because health coverage choices for the year had already been made.”

In general, the businesses are eligible for the credit if they pay more than half of their employees’ insurance costs, have fewer than 25 employees and pay an average annual wage of less than $50,000.