Policy News -March 26, 2019

Policy News -March 26, 2019
March 26, 2019

The Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy released the March 2019 Small Business Facts, highlighting women-owned employer businesses. The Census Bureau’s latest Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs revealed that in the United States, there are currently 1,118,863 women-owned businesses.99.9 percent of these woman-owned firms represent the small business community, employing eight workers on average and reaching $1.3 million in annual sales.View more on detailed SBA report here.
Last week, the Department of Labor released the Federal Register’s publishing of the Department’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. This rule would increase the number of American workers eligible for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by more than a million individuals. Interested members of the public are encouraged to submit comments about the proposed rule electronically at www.regulations.gov, comments must be received by May 21, 2019 to be considered.
In other relevant EIW news, taxpayers are receiving penalty relief, as a result of the Department of the Treasury lowering the withholding underpayment threshold to 80 percent. This modification affects taxpayers whose total withholding and estimated 2018 tax payments are equal to or greater than 80 percent of their taxes owed. On average, the usual threshold to avoid a penalty is 90 percent. Taxpayers are encouraged to check their withholding at IRS.gov/withholding to ensure they are properly withheld for 2019 and are receiving the full benefits of the new tax law.