Standing at the crossroads of tax and employment law, the perennial problem of whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor has been among the most important and common unemployment insurance tax issues. This problem is particularly complex in the trucking industry, due to the special conditions present in that industry’s working environment. In fact, it became so complicated that Minnesota legislators found it necessary to deal with it specifically in Minnesota Statute 268.035. In this article, I will rely on my own experience to explain the requirements of this legislation as it pertains to independent contractors in the trucking industry, and offer practical guidelines in certain common situations in that industry.

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On August 19, 2010, the IRS announced that interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning October 1, 2010, will remain the same as follows: 1. Individual underpayment and overpayment: 4%; 2. Corporate overpayment: 3% 3. Large corporate underpayment: 6% 4. Portion of corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000: 1.5% The interest rate is determined on a quarterly [...]

If you are getting married this year, this may have a significant impact on your tax returns for the year 2010. While you are likely to deal with most of these changes when you will be filing your tax return for the tax year 2010, there are some basic administrative actions that you should be [...]

On July 26, 2010, the IRS instituted a one-time relief program under which that small nonprofit organizations at risk of losing their tax exempt status because they failed to file required returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009 can preserve their status by filing returns by October 15, 2010. The IRS also posted on its website [...]

In this article, I will discuss five most important issues that you need to know before you sign a fee agreement with tax lawyers in St. Paul. 1. How is the lawyer’s fee paid? There are three main models of payment that lawyers use: hourly fee, contingency fee, and flat fee. The hourly fee is [...]

Over the past fifteen to twenty years, the franchise agreements have grown tremendously in complexity and size.  They also tend to be more and more favorable toward the franchisor.  Therefore, if you are a potential franchisee, you must read the franchise agreement very carefully to make sure that you fully understand what the agreement is [...]

While its definition varies, most attorneys would agree that “business litigation” is a complex area of law which includes a variety of contractual and tort claims.  Examples of such claims include but not limited to: breach of contract, fraud, tortious interference with contract, breach of fiduciary duty, infringement of intellectual property rights, and unfair competition. [...]

The statute of limitations limits the time for the IRS tax collection activities. Generally, there is a ten-year statute of limitations for the IRS collection of owed taxes. Thus, for assessments of tax or levy made after November 5, 1990, the IRS cannot collect or levy any tax ten years after the date of assessment [...]