NWOTCA
Meeting Date: 1/12/2010
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at the Oregon Municipal
building at 9:40 A.M.
Updates on legislation/OML seminar and news
Legislation
It was reported that a number of pieces of state legislation
including HB 378, SB 26, SB 198 were discussed. Some bills contained uniformity provisions,
or would open up ORC 718. HB 378
provides wording to eliminate municipalities from exempting taxation of stock
options. At this time, it looks like
none of the legislation is moving toward active
passage. Bills are currently being
watched for municipal impact and likely passage.
OML
The OML will not reduce the number of days for the July 2010
seminar. The dates will be July 14, 15,
and 16, and will be held at the Marriott Northwest in Dublin.
It is likely that the seminar will be reduced to two days starting in
2011.
News
Kroger was audited by the IRS
for fraudulent returns; cities could see amended returns.
Central Ohio municipalities
are reporting increased domicile issues.
Some bank income may be taxable (tangible vs. intangible)
according to a court of appeals decision.
Any one interested can contact Angie in Sylvania
or Theresa in Cincinnati
for more information.
Other
OML meetings are no longer scheduled for right before NWOTCA
meetings. Angie is concerned that discussed
information could get lost in the time lapse.
It remains open whether to change the NWOTCA meetings so they follow OML
meetings or keep the current schedule. A
guest is permitted to accompany Angie to OML meetings to assist in information
retention. Anyone interested in
accompanying Angie is welcome to contact her.
There will be an OML meeting in February and in March.
The group decided to again donate $300.00 to the OML seminar
for educational use.
New Business
Pat Wast (Oregon) and Sherry Layman (Bowling Green)
are both stepping down from their appointments as secretary and treasurer,
respectively. Angie proposed Diane Haas
(Ottawa Hills) be appointed as secretary and Christy Golis (Sylvania) be appointed as treasurer. All voted in favor. Sherry gave a final financial report. Note that a copy of today’s minutes
reflecting the new treasurer appointment is required for changing names on the
bank account. Jean
Hilt (Perrysburg) agreed to be also placed on the bank
account as a second person able to write checks, if needed. All agreed to Jean’s name added to the bank
account.
Fall Preparer Seminar
Discussions opened for the fall tax preparer seminar and
volunteers were requested for a committee to assist in decision making and
coordinating. Janet Schroder (Fremont),
Jean and Pat volunteered and Angie will ask Jeff Bugbee (Port
Clinton) to also work with the committee, though he was not
present to volunteer. Items requiring decisions
include: speakers, topics, location, and
etc.
The group discussed possible speakers but concern was
expressed with finding speakers who will address municipal tax issues from a
tax office point of view in a way that will not further distance preparers from
tax office staff. Suggestions to use an IRS or State speaker will be considered, but it
might be advantageous to choose a topic of focus and choose a speaker with the
topic in mind. Topics discussed
were: independent contractor vs.
employee criteria, 12 day rule for employees working in other cities,
non-resident refunds, business allocation formula, and proper payroll
allocations to work cities withholding for employees’ work.
Discussed Topics
City of Columbus’
treatment of non-resident entities with multiple rental properties in multiple
municipalities was discussed. Columbus has been using
the business allocation formula to apportion total net rental income/loss,
whereas cities in the NWOTCA usually simply take the net profit/loss from the
rentals actually located in their municipality, ignoring the non-resident
rentals. At issue is tax treatment for
rentals when Columbus
allocates one way and another city treats the rentals directly. No resolution at this time.
Also discussed is the issue of whether 1099-Gs are to
include both refunds and carryovers or just amounts actually refunded. Findlay and Bowling
Green have been issuing their
1099-Gs only on refund amounts. Some
administrators feel the IRS
instructions using the word “credits” as amounts to be included to mean that
carryovers need to be included. Others
view credits as referring to government granted tax credits and not to
overpayments carried over to other years.
Angie provided a preparer form Andrew sends out to Findlay area tax
preparers to remind them of forms required with city returns and to mention
issues commonly encountered. Many
expressed interest in having the NWOTCA website hosting a general tax preparer
document that would address issues common to all of us.
Information Exchange
Akron
is in the midst of difficulties including some EPA compliance. As a result, they are requiring employees to
take furlough days and reduced hours but are considering employees formerly
fulltime to remain fulltime even with reduced hours to avoid loss of
benefits. Akron has implemented open books on-line to
provide full disclosure on the capital budget, expense reports, tax
receipts/reports and the like.
Next Meeting
The next NWOTCA meeting will be in Whitehouse and Hal Burke
is scheduled to speak on collections issues.