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Alpha-Mail 
The Tax Professional's Guide to Georgia Tax Credits, Courtesy of Alpharesults
Vol. VI No. 1 January 2012
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Hello!
Welcome to Alpha-Mail, the monthly newsletter about Georgia tax credits for Georgia tax professionals.
This month, we want to remind you not to forget to review tax credits with your clients this tax season. Also, find out how the Georgia Competitiveness Initiative Final Report turned out. And last but not least, see the latest results for the Federal Meaningful Use healthcare incentives. We hope you can use this information to strengthen your client relationships! Thank you for reading Alpha-Mail -- please click reply to tell us what you think. All the best, 
Dale Stapler Jim Tinsley
Alpharesults, LLC |
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Don't Forget Tax Credit Reviews During Tax Season!
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This Tax season is getting started with the annual goat rodeo of collecting and reviewing client data. You have probably already mailed, emailed, called, and reminded your clients that "it's that time again." Well, so that you won't sound like a dentist (as in, "this won't hurt too much"), make this a more cheerful experience by asking your clients about their activities that may qualify for tax credits (click here for the Alpharesults Tax Credit Summary). |
Georgia Competitiveness Initiative Final Report
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The GCI Final Report is out (get the report here). It is pretty much a broad-brush policy document -- sounds good, but nothing specific. What does that mean for your clients?
It means we have to wait a little while longer to find out what gets translated into legislation. As we said last month, that's what they call making sausage!
Here's a summary of tax credit policy items in the report -
- Modify existing incentive and tax credit programs in a way that encourages existing business growth, provides additional incentives for investment in rural communities, and allows flexibility. Also includes generic language about modernizing and expanding incentive programs.
- Extend the existing Angel Investor Tax Credit by five years to 2018
- Allow for the use of federal grant funds to directly assist small businesses seeking to export goods
- Expand Opportunity Zone program to make it more useful in rural areas
- Improve the existing tourism development incentive to encourage increased travel, retail, and hospitality investment in Georgia
We will keep you updated throughout the 2012 Session!
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Healthcare -- Meaningful Use Results So Far
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We have been asked many times if the Meaningful Use (MU) incentive is real, and what are the results? Well, we finally have some hard numbers.
According to a report submitted to the HIT Policy Committee on Jan. 10, 2012, the total registrations during 2011 were 124,089 Eligible Professionals (EPs) for Medicare, 39,503 EPs for Medicaid, and 2,834 hospitals for both programs. Medicaid's 9,614 EP registrations in December eclipsed Medicare's 8,996, reflecting that 43 states now have launched their Medicaid meaningful use programs, and 33 have already paid incentives.
Through 2011, Medicare made $1.384 billion in Meaningful Use payments, and Medicaid paid $1.149 billion, bringing the total to nearly $2.534 billion. About 33,595 EPs had attested under the Medicare program with 99 percent successful. During 2011, 842 hospitals attested and all were successful (click here for the government report).
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About Us------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alpharesults has assembled a team with the specialized knowledge and approach required to obtain Georgia income tax credits. We are not a public accounting firm. Rather, our services complement those of public accounting firms and do not create conflicted loyalties, because our professionals do not perform attestation work or other external audit functions. We focus on small to medium-sized businesses and work exclusively in Georgia with a wide variety of in-state and out-of-state accounting firms. For more information on our services, follow this link. |
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