Finance

The House passed the Senate version of the unemployment extension on Thursday, sending the bill to President Obama for his signature.

Hoping to get the Small Business Jobs Act passed before the August recess, Senate Democrats have modified the legislation in an effort to avoid another filibuster battle.

The Senate approved an extension on employment benefits on Wednesday evening, with the House poised to pass the extension on Thursday.

President Obama has signed the sweeping financial regulatory reform bill into law after a year of pushing the legislation through Congress.

Senate Democrats achieved their goal of reaching 60 votes to invoke cloture on a bill to extend unemployment benefits through the end of November, ending a Republican filibuster.

President Obama called for an up-or-down vote in the Senate on extending unemployment benefits.

Washington, D.C.

Railing at Accounting Today for engaging in "politics" in an editorial critical of some tax and economic policies of the Obama administration (June 7-20, 2010, page 9), Harry Bose engages in some politics of his own in attempting to make his case. His response is more amusing than informative.

Goldman Sachs will pay a record penalty of $550 million and reform its business practices to settle SEC charges that the bank misled its investors in marketing a subprime mortgage product just as the U.S. housing market was starting to collapse.

Senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has proposed extending the HIRE Act tax credit for employers who hire out-of-work employees.

The Senate passed a sweeping financial regulatory reform bill on Thursday by a 60-39 margin after three Republicans joined all but one Democrat in supporting the Wall Street overhaul.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to hold a procedural vote on extending unemployment benefits next Tuesday and a vote on the financial reform bill this Thursday.

Senators Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., have introduced a proposal to reform the federal estate tax, which temporarily expired this year but is slated to increase to up to 55 percent next year for estates over $1 million.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Wednesday to discuss the soon-to-expire 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and how to extend any of them without increasing the budget deficit or hurting economic growth.

A group of Democratic senators has written to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman expressing concerns about new requirements for expanded 1099 reporting.

Businesses will be able to claim up to $8.5 billion in tax exemptions and credits for 4.5 million recently hired employees under the HIRE Act, according to a new Treasury Department report.

A group of small businesses has written an open letter to the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee requesting changes in the expanded 1099 reporting requirements in the health care reform law.

Before departing on its holiday break, the Senate left a number of important issues unresolved, including the fate of the unemployment extension and tax extenders legislation, not to mention the financial reform bill.

Eligible taxpayers who contracted to buy a home, qualifying for the First-Time Homebuyer Credit before the end of April, now have until Sept. 30, 2010 to close the deal, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

The House has passed legislation to extend unemployment benefits through the end of November.