Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act

HIRE Act Public Law 111–147(pdf) HIRE Act of 2010

Regulatory

U.S.

U.S. Internal Revenue Service

The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act of 2010 provides payroll tax breaks and incentives for businesses to hire unemployed workers. Employers are eligible for a payroll tax credit when the employer hires certain new employees. Employers do not pay the employer portion of social security tax, which is 6.2 percent, on wages paid to eligible new hires. In addition, employers receive a general business income tax break of up to $1,000 per employee hired if the employer continues to employ the new hire for at least 52 weeks.

Ostensibly to offset the costs of the Act, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires foreign banks to find any American account holders and disclose their balances, receipts, and withdrawals to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or be subject to a 30-percent withholding tax on income from U.S. financial assets held by the banks. Owners of these foreign-held assets must report them on U.S. tax returns if they are worth more than $50,000 and those who do not are subject to a 30-percent penalty on the balance of the account in question. FATCA also closes a tax loophole that investors had used to avoid paying any taxes on dividends by converting them into dividend equivalents.

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/HIRE-Act:--Questions-and-Answers-for-Employers
HIRE ACT on Wikipedia