Fed keeps low rate to late 2014
The Federal Reserve pledged to hold interest rates low until late 2014. The Wednesday pledge is opening a new era of transparency,
The new commitment replaces the statement that economic conditions were likely to keep rates at the historic low range of 0% to 0.25% until at least mid-2013. The Fed made no policy steps, leaving the Fed’s key interest rate where it has been for three years.
In making the new projection, the central bank said the low rate of resource utilization and the subdued outlook for inflation over the medium term are likely to warrant the low rates for almost two more years.
IMF predicts gloomy global economy
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted Tuesday in a gloomy update of global conditions that the world economy is slowing sharply, and the euro region headed for recession this year.
In 2012 the world economy is expected to expand 3.25 percent, down from the 4 percent projected by the IMF in the fall.
That figure includes 8.2 percent growth in China, the world’s fastest expanding economy, and 7 percent in India. U.S. Growth is forecast at 1.8 percent, the same as the fund projected in the fall.
For the rest of the world, the IMF said growth was being crimped by what remains the world’s major economic risk, the ongoing financial crisis in the euro zone.
If a subcontractor refuses to provide form W-9
Form 1099-Misc is issued by your business to a subcontractor or anyone who provides services to you for $600 or more during a calendar year. You will skip the 1099 unless the provider of services is incorporated.
In order to know if the providers of services are incorporated, you should hand them a W-9 prior to paying for their services. The provider completes the W-9, by which they can be indicated if they’re a corporation and therefore not subject to receiving a 1099. The W-9 also gives you the tax ID number, without which you cannot file a 1099. This is why you ask for a completed W-9 prior to payment or prior to receiving services, to avoid the sort of conflicts wherein one party asks for the information in order to comply with the IRS regulations and the second party refuses to provide it, while they’ve already received their payment.
What do you do if a subcontractor refuses to provide a W-9 after receiving payment for a service? If they refuse to provide the W-9, you issue form 1099-Misc with writing “Refused” in the Tax ID box of the form and send it off to the IRS and the subcontractor as usual. It’s up to the IRS to deal with the subcontractor, but you’ve fulfilled your responsibility.
