The Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service recently released final regulations for employer responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that will delay parts of the employer mandate that require businesses with more than 50 employees working 30 hours or more per week to provide affordable health insurance coverage to workers. The final regulations are designed to allow a gradual phase-in of certain responsibility provisions that will assist employers in complying with and providing coverage during the transitional year of 2015.Specifically ...

QUESTION: I have been a receiver for quite some time and know how the system works. I have a case without much money currently in it. Instead of hiring counsel, can I file pleadings in the bankruptcy court or the district court, on behalf of the receivership estate, or do I need to employ counsel to do so?

ANSWER: A new appellate decision calls into question the ability of a receiver, and, in fact a bankruptcy trustee, to file pleadings and represent the estate (receivership or bankruptcy) in federal court. The case holds that only attorneys can appear and sign pleadings on behalf of the ...

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in United States v. Quality Stores which held that severance payments to involuntarily terminated employees were supplemental unemployment compensation benefit payments, rather than wages, that were not subject to FICA tax. The Supreme Court is not expected to issue its decision on this matter until this summer.

Employers who paid FICA tax on severance pay on an employment tax return for 2010 or later should consider filing protective refund claims in order to ensure that they receive a refund of the ...

When it’s a service charge. On June 25, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Revenue Ruling 2012-34 which provides guidance to employers and employees on the difference between tips and service charges as well as on certain reporting requirements. The ruling states, among other things, that service charges paid to employees are taxable as regular wages and not as tips. Although the IRS delayed enforcement of Revenue Ruling 2012-34 to allow businesses time to make adjustments to comport with the new guidelines, the IRS will begin enforcement of classifying service ...

QUESTION: I just received notice that the lender to one of my clients is seeking to have a receiver appointed over my client’s shopping center. I think the proposed receiver is in the lender’s pocket and will not be neutral. The lender has used her many times, and in negotiations to restructure my client’s debt, comments were made that if an agreement could not be reached the lender would have “its receiver” take over and run the property. Is there anything I can do to prevent the lender’s receiver from being appointed if I cannot defeat the receivership’s motion?

ANSWER: