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Worker, Home Ownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009

September 09, 2019

Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which was signed by President Obama on November 6, 2009 provides assistance and advantages to Americans.

In summary, this Act provides the following:

1. Extension of Unemployment benefits up to 20 weeks and modernization grants under specific circumstances.
2. Medium and large business now will be able to carry back for five years their net operating losses incurred in 2008 and 2009. The Economic Recovery Act (ERA) passed earlier allowed this carry back to small businesses and for the losses incurred in 2008, only. ERA also made the first $2,400 of unemployment compensation nontaxable, as was reported earlier.
3. 0.2% Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) surcharge (new rate at 6.2%) created by Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009, for the employers that was to sunset at the end of 2009, now is extended through 2011. This surcharge is created to pay for the Emergency Unemployment Program (EUP).
4. Tax preparers that, in a given calendar year, are filing more than 10 individual tax returns are now mandated to file these returns electronically when filed after December 31, 2010.
5. The First Time Homebuyer Credit has been extended, and modifies to include taxpayers that currently own their home. The credit time is extended to May 1, 2010. The credit for the First time home buyers remains at the maximum amount of $8,000 and the new credit for those who already own a home is set at $6,500.

This Act also allows the taxpayers with higher modified Adjusted Gross Incomes (AGIs) to be eligible for the credit. Additional requirements exist. This section also makes available various fraud prevention measures and tools for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).