Lamar Whitman Posts

The House Small Business Committee passed a series of small business contracting bills this morning, all by voice vote.  This legislation now will go to the full House of Representatives for action.  CompTIA supports this legislation, as well as six other contracting bills passed by the Committee on March 7, and will call on the full House to act on this legislation quickly.  Here is a brief summary: HR 3985- “Building Better Business Partnerships Act of 2012” – This bill would authorize the SBA ...

Last week, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly (390-23) to pass H.R. 3606 "Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.”  This legislation included six existing bills, four of which had passed the House already, and which have been supported by CompTIA as a means of infusing capital into small businesses.  Among the bills included in this package was crowdfunding, H.R. 2930, which had initially passed the House in November by an even larger margin of 407-17.  So at this point, the H ...

A series of bills have been introduced in the House during the last month that aim to increase and strengthen small business participation in government contracting – an important goal that CompTIA has always supported.  Development of this legislation follows over a year of hearings held by the Small Business Committee on various contracting issues.  This group of bills will help to direct more government contracting dollars to small businesses and should be enacted. Included in H.R. 3850, “Gov ...

We anticipate bi-partisan support for legislation aimed at easing access to equity capital for small businesses.  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced yesterday that the Republican majority would bring legislation to the floor next week that amalgamates six existing capital access bills, four of which have been passed by the House already.  Basically, this new bill, H.R. 3606 "Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011," is a “re-packaging” of exis ...

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced its final rule concerning size standards for “Computer Systems Design and Related Services,” on February 10th.   Generally, businesses classified under this category (NAICS 5415) will be considered a small business provided their annual receipts do not exceed $25.5 million, up from $25 million.  The SBA size standard is the main criteria for determining whether a business qualifies for SBA and other government programs and benefits.Types of busin ...

Introduced during the last week in the House, three bills aim to increase and strengthen small business participation in government contracting – a goal CompTIA has always supported.  We have reviewed this legislation and believe that a number of provisions would help to direct more government contracting dollars to small businesses.However, we need your input concerning this legislation.  Our goal is determine whether these provisions make sense for your business.  We are especially interested ...

Senators Landrieu and Snowe, chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, have introduced legislation (S. 2050, the Small Business Tax Extenders Act of 2012) that would extend certain expired small business tax provisions though 2012.  Some provisions in the bill include: Section 179 expensing limitation of $500,000:  Extended through 2012. Temporary exclusion of 100 percent of gain on small business stock:  Extended through 2012. Five-year carryback of general business credi ...

The IRS just released an update of its “tax gap” estimate, last revised in 2006 for the 2001 tax year.  This study found that in 2006 lost tax revenues amounted to $450 billion, up from $345 billion in 2001.  The “tax gap” is an important budget item as it represents the IRS’ estimate of the difference in tax that should be collected and that which is actually collected.   Of course, the causes of the tax gap are (i) nonfiling, (ii) underreporting and (iii) underpayment.The single largest compon ...

While the tax agenda for small businesses faces a number of challenges in 2012, there were two major successes in 2011.  Congress repealed two provisions that should never have been enacted in the first place: New Form 1099 filing requirements and 3% withholding on government contracts.Both of these provisions found their way into tax legislation without public notice, vetting or comment by the business community.  The underlying reason was seeking new sources of revenue; that is, both of thes ...

The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on December 1, to consider whether easing the procedures for raising equity capital would impact job growth.  CompTIA submitted testimony for this hearing urging Congress to increase the small issuer exemption and enact crowdfunding.Concerning the small issuer exemption, legislation that passed the House overwhelmingly on November 2 would increase the offering threshold from $5 million up to $50 million.  H.R. 1070, the “Small Company Capital Formation ...