OLYMPIA — The Washington Department of Revenue recently released a new online tool that lets businesses amend previously filed state excise tax returns electronically.
The new service has already proved popular with taxpayers, who filed more than 1,100 amended returns in its first two weeks of availability.
“We are continuously working to make doing business with the state easier for taxpayers,” department director Carol K. Nelson said. “We are pleased to make this new tool available, and delighted that it is already being so widely used.”
Taxpayers have been able to file their returns online through Revenue’s eFile system since 1998, but amended returns still had to be filed on paper. read more »
Business Examiner
Washington became the fifth state this year to sign into law protections of social media passwords at the workplace and job interviews.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, bars employers from asking for Facebook, Twitter or other social media personal passwords during a job interview or at the workplace.
“We don’t have to sacrifice our privacy for advances in technology,” Hobbs said. “As the social media technology advances, people are afraid about their privacy, so it’s good to be ahead on this one.” read more »
Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney, acknowledging that “I’m sounding like Darth Vader here,” touted plans this week to reduce costs by squeezing suppliers hard and cutting jobs across the company.
Suppliers that don’t agree to cut their prices as contracts are renewed will find themselves on the outside, he made clear.
“We have no-fly lists across the company,” McNerney said May 22. “If a certain group is not working with us … they’ll be on a no-fly list. They’ll not be allowed to bid on new programs with Boeing.”
Speaking during the company’s annual investors conference, held at Kiawah Island Golf Resort near Charleston, S.C., McNerney made no attempt to sugarcoat his focus on the financial bottom line. read more »
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) introduced legislation this week that will help the Department of Defense and private industry by strengthening lines of communication. The Information Technology Exchange Program (ITEP) Act of 2013, a bipartisan bill sponsored with Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), would continue a program that allows employees from the private sector or academia to temporarily work for the Department of Defense, and Defense employees to work in the private sector. This will help the DOD to modernize and protect the nation’s information technology infrastructure and will help benefit private industry and academic institutions when developing tools and products to make lasting and significant contributions to the national defense. read more »
SUQUAMISH — Fans of 1950s hot rod culture and memorabilia won’t want to miss Rockit Roost’s fifth annual Kustom Kulture Festival, a celebration of iconic Americana that will be held for the first time at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort on June 1.
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. for a full day of outdoor fun featuring performances by 10 rockabilly bands, a Pinup Pageant, a classic car show, vendor booths, a kids’ zone, food and a beer garden. At 9 p.m. the party moves to the casino’s Beach Rock Lounge for live performances by Levi Dexter and Deke Dickerson. read more »
WASHINGTON — Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook strongly defended the company’s tax practices at a Senate hearing on May 21 highlighting the technology giant’s use of Irish subsidiaries to shelter billions of dollars in income from U.S. taxes.
“We pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar,” Cook told the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“We not only comply with the laws but we comply with the spirit of the laws,” he said. “We don’t depend on tax gimmicks.”
Cook said the tax code “has not kept up with the digital age” and restricts the free movement of capital in comparison with the codes of other countries. He called for a “dramatic simplification of the corporate tax code,” including lower tax rates and a “reasonable tax on foreign earnings.” read more »
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the SBA Veteran Pledge Initiative, a commitment by its top national, regional and community lenders to collectively increase their lending activity to veterans by 5 percent per year for the next five years.
Oftentimes, veterans face challenges in raising capital or have trouble receiving a conventional loan. With the support of SBA’s top 20 national lending partners, and approximately 100 additional regional and community lending partners across the United States, SBA expects to assist an additional 2,000 veterans in obtaining loans to start or expand small businesses by increasing lending by $475 million over the next five years. This equals a 5 percent increase above historic veteran lending activity by the SBA. read more »
WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Retail Federation urged retailers this week to reject a settlement with major credit card companies over alleged fee-fixing, ahead of a court deadline next week.
Visa, MasterCard and other card companies agreed in July to settle a lawsuit brought by retailers that claimed card issuers conspired to fix the fees they charge stores for accepting credit cards.
The National Retail Federation, representing more than 9,000 retailers across the country, has rejected the settlement, in part, because it includes a provision barring retailers from filing future lawsuits over swipe fees. Retailers have also argued that the $7.2 billion settlement was far less than what retailers deserved and might have won at trial.
Visa called the settlement a “fair and reasonable compromise.” read more »
Olympic Cinemas has joined the “Digital Cinema” age with the installation of four all-new digital cinema and Dolby Surround systems at the theater located at 1520 NE Riddell Road, in the Redwood Plaza Shopping Center in East Bremerton.
With the introduction of this state-of-the-art equipment, the theater will no longer present traditional “film” movies. All presentations will now be via NEC projectors that are essentially large computer/projectors coupled with new sound processors.
Digital cinema is being introduced in movie theaters around the world and features a clear, brighter image without many of the issues of film, which in the past included scratches, fading and occasional film breaks and jams in older 35mm projectors. read more »
