Canada Working to Address Emissions from Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Canada's Environment Minister released a consultation paper on the development of proposed regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new on-road heavy-duty vehicles.

Canada and the United States are taking a common North American approach, and Canada intends to implement regulations with the 2014 model year in alignment with the United States. This week, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unveiled the first-ever fuel economy standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

"We are moving forward with our sector by sector approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in coordination with the United States," said Peter Kent, Canada's Environment Minister. "Building on our successful collaboration with the United States on the development of common North American standards for light-duty vehicles, we are also working together to do the same for heavy-duty vehicles."

This consultation paper is intended to provide another opportunity for interested parties to submit early comments prior to publishing proposed regulations. Proposed regulations are targeted for publication early in 2012 for a 60-day comment period.

The proposed regulations would seek to reduce emissions and improve the fuel efficiency of the whole range of new on-road heavy-duty vehicles, from full-size pick-up trucks to tractor-trailers, and include a wide variety of vocational vehicles such as freight, delivery, service, cement, garbage and dump trucks, as well as buses. The proposed regulations would also seek to promote the implementation of advanced technology vehicles such as hybrid and electric vehicles.

Reducing emissions in the transportation sector is a key component in the Government's plan to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.

In addition to the proposed heavy-duty regulations, the Canadian government has also finalized regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles and mandated a requirement for an average of 5% renewable content in gasoline, and 2% content for diesel and heating oil.

Greentax2290.com, an IRS certified e file provider to file heavy vehicle use tax form 2290 will keep you updated on the latest news and updates from the trucking industry. Meanwhile if you are a trucker/fleet owner/contractor/individual looking to e file form 2290 for 2011 or previous tax years, then greentax2290.com is the best place to be. Visit greentax2290.com to know more about its special features, lowest pricing, free services and more. 

 

 

 

Heavy vehicle use tax (HVUT) requirements for IRP registration

Before registering your heavy vehicles at 55000 pounds gross weight or higher, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service requires all states to verify proof of payment or exemption from the Federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax.  For Michigan-based vehicles, this verification is required for all vehicles registered at 60,000 pounds GVW or above. 

Moreover, heavy vehicle use tax can be due on old or newly purchased vehicles. In case you have purchased a new vehicle or a use one, it is your responsibility to contact IRS for further information on any amount due on heavy vehicle use tax. To register or renew your vehicle with Michigan IRP, proof of payment or exemption from Heavy Vehicle Use Tax must be submitted.  The proof can be of the following types:

       1.   A copy of your validated IRS Form 2290 Schedule 1 returned
            to you by the IRS (photocopies are acceptable), or

       2.   A copy of your validated IRS Form 2290 Schedule 1 printed
             from the IRS website.  Valid copies show an electronic
             watermark.

       Note:   Electronic Payment receipts from the EFTPS website or
      canceled checks from the IRS cannot be used as proof of
      HVUT payment.

Valid dates for proof of payment or exemption

The IRS Heavy Vehicle Use Tax period runs from July 1 to June 30 each year.  Although the new tax period begins July 1, however IRS has announced that the new form 2290 for the current year 2011-2012 will be delayed and not be issued until November 2011. Therefore, owners subject to HVUT will need to show their 2290 form from last year's tax period (July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011) during July, August, September, October, and November.

Please make a note that Your IRP application will not be processed without the required proof of payment or exemption from the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax.

Moreover, if you still haven’t got proof of payment (schedule 1) for last year or want to e-file your form 2290 with IRS in advance for year 2011-2012, then in that case, greentax2290.com is there to assist you or even efile your 2290 form. Greentax2290.com is an IRs certified e file provider to file your tax form 2290 online for current year as well as all previous years. Yes, we understand that IRS is not accepting form 2290 or any payments due till November but filing form 2290 in advance will not only save your time but also leave you carefree as greentax2290.com will ensure that you receive your proof of payment for 2011-2012 as soon as IRS begins accepting 2290 forms and payments.

 

What to do if you receive suspicious mails claiming to be from IRS.

Phishing scams are terrifying especially when they are claimed to be from internal revenue service (IRS). When we receive an e-mail from IRS, we open it, thinking that there is some important notification for us, oblivious that the mail could be some scam to steal our identity and even worse money. Although scamming has become common part of cyber world but for our own safety, it is vital to be aware of what to expect as we fish through our mails.

IRS updated its periodic alerts warning taxpayers about scams that deceptively use internal revenue services’ name, logo, or website. Though identity-theft scams may take place through e-mail, fax or phone, the recent IRS alert focuses on known e-mail schemes. “The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mail to taxpayers either about their tax accounts or requesting sensitive personal and financial information,” the agency said. They warned recipients not to open attachments or click on any link in e-mails that appear to be from the IRS.

According to the IRS, IRS-impersonators often e-mail taxpayers to ask for, “certain personal and financial information to process a tax return, tax payment or refund.” They may also claim that you are being audited. The purpose of such e-mails is to obtain enough information such as a name, social security number, and bank account or credit card number in order to steal your identity.

Few of the e-mail scams to look out for, as reported by the IRS are:

• Targeting Tax Professionals - An e-mail claims to come from the IRS Tax Forums requesting that recipients register for an event for tax professionals by using an attached registration form. In reality, the IRS does not send registration forms by e-mail but makes them available instead on the Nationwide Tax Forums Website.
  
  
• Inherited Funds / Lottery Winnings / Cash Consignment-An e-mail claims to come from the U.S. Department of the Treasury notifying the recipient that they will receive millions of dollars in recovered funds, lottery winnings or cash consignment if they provide certain personal information, including phone numbers, via return e-mail. The victim is later contacted by telephone or further e-mail and instructed to deposit taxes on the funds before they can receive any of it, or they may be sent a phony check of the funds or winnings and told to deposit it but pay ten percent in taxes or fees.
  
  
• Refund Scam - A tax refund form is e-mailed, supposedly from the Taxpayer Advocate Service (a genuine and independent organization within the IRS which assists taxpayers with unresolved problems), telling recipients that they are eligible for a tax refund of a specific amount. The form asks for name, address and phone number and a substantial amount of financial information, such as bank account number, credit card number and expiration date, ATM PIN number and more. It also asks for your mother's maiden name (frequently used by many people as an account security password). At the bottom is a phony name and signature, claiming to be that of the Taxpayer Advocate. The implication is that the taxpayer must fill in and submit the form to receive a tax refund. In reality, taxpayers claim their tax refunds through the filing of an annual tax return, not a separate application form.

What to do in case you suspect a scam mail from IRS imposters
The IRS does not initiate taxpayer contact via unsolicited e-mail or ask for personal identifying or financial information via e-mail. If you receive a suspicious e-mail claiming to come from the IRS, take the following steps:

• Do not open any attachments to the e-mail, in case they contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
• Do not click on any links, for the same reason. Also, be aware that the links often connect to a phony IRS Web site that appears authentic and then prompts the victim for personal identifiers, bank or credit card account numbers or PINs. The phony Web sites appear legitimate because the appearance and much of the content are directly copied from an actual page on the IRS Web site and then modified by the scammers for their own purposes.
• Contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine whether the IRS is trying to contact you.

Forward the suspicious e-mail or url address to the IRS mailbox phishing@irs.gov, then delete the e-mail from your inbox. In this way you are not only protecting yourself but also preventing others from being victimized from malicious mails as well.

The information has been provided by greentax2290.com, an IRS certified e file provider to e file form 2290 online. The information is provided to help prevent tax payers from falling prey to unwanted and malicious mails. For further information you can read the IRS document at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=211669,00.html

Expected Increase in heavy vehicle use tax fees for 2011-2012

Earlier, IRS announced that form 2290 will not be available for tax year 2011-2012 and that the heavy vehicle use tax will expire by end of September 2011. Later on they made an announcement saying that form 2290 due date has been extended by 90 days, making the due date Nov 30^th 2011, hence some relief for tax payers. Now, another speculation or in other words it is being predicted that as per the new rules and regulations, heavy vehicle use tax fees might go in for a hike. Hence in consideration to this we did our own research and based on the evidence we found, it sure does look that congress is considering raising the fees for heavy vehicle use taxes.

Below are the proposed rules under “Safe and Efficient Transportation Act of 2011”

Section 4 – safe and efficient vehicle charges

(a) In General- Subsection (a) of section 4481 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘In the case of the use of any highway motor vehicle described in section 127(i) of title 23, United States Code, in lieu of the rate in the table, the rate shall be equal to the lesser of-

(1) $100 per year, plus $22 for each 1,000 pounds (or function thereof) in excess of 55,000 pounds,

(2) $800 per year.

Now let us focus on the calculation of fee structure changes from previous year 2010-2011 to the current year 2011-2012.

According to the previous years tax calculations, any vehicle weighing 55000 pound pays $100 per year and anything in excess of 55000 would yield, $100+$22 for each 1000 pound in excess of 55000 pounds. A vehicle weighing above 75000+ would have to pay $550 annually.

Based on the proposed rules for HVUT form 2290 for the current year 2011-2012, the calculation for the fee structure would be: $100+ $22 for extra 1000 pounds over 55, 000. But for a 75000+ vehicle which previously paid $550, the current calculation would be: $100 for the first 55,000 lbs. $550 for the 25,000 extra pounds $650 total due for 75,000 lbs and above vehicle.

Also it is mentioned in section 4 that:

EFFECTIVE DATE.—the amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable periods beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.

What we have mentioned in the article are the proposed changes by the congress which may or may not happen. However, if you have any question or want to learn more about the transformations in heavy vehicle use taxes, please contact IRS authorized e file provider greentax2290.com  at 800-578-2290.

Find out the simplest way to e file tax form 2290

For those in the trucking and transportation industry, filing 2290 can be quite a tedious job and it may get even more confusing as internal revenue service has announced that heavy vehicle use tax laws will expire end of sep 2011 and that the deadline has been extended to Nov 30th 2011, thus making the whole process even more complicated. So what can be done in such a situation? How will truck tax filers pay their heavy vehicle use taxes for year 2011-2012?

One of the methods which tax payers normally prefer is mailing their form 2290 to IRS. In such case, the tax payers will go to the IRS office, get form 2290 and fill it right there and pay their taxes, or form 2290 will be mailed to them by IRS, they will fill it up and mail the form 2290 along with their cheque payment back to IRS office. But IRS has now stopped mailing form 2290 to truck tax payers in order to promote electronic filing. Hence, Individuals are downloading form 2290 and mailing it to the IRS office. Although such steps may seem convenient to most tax payers but they do carry many disadvantages such as:

1. If the tax payer wants to go to the IRS office to file form 2290, the office may be many miles away and the truck tax payer will need to spend hours in travelling and waiting in line to file his heavy vehicle use tax.
2. 
   If the trucker is posting form 2290 by mail, then it can take several weeks from IRS side to review his form 2290 and once accepted it can again take few more days for the trucker to get his stamped schedule 1. This may result in delay in getting the vehicle registered with DMV, hence causing stress and anxiety for the trucker.

 

However, considering the current scenario where the future of heavy vehicle use tax is still uncertain, truckers who want to get their tags renewed or want to register their vehicle with DMV for July-Oct 2011, they can do so by showing their 2010-2011 proof of payment. For individuals who want to register their newly acquired vehicle and who don’t have any proof of payment can get their vehicles registered also by showing copy of bill of sale to DMV.

 

Moving ahead, although internal revenue service has announced that individuals should not mail in form 2290 or payment towards heavy vehicle use tax before Nov 1st 2011, but it does not mean, individuals cannot file their form 2290 for 2011-2012 tax year. In fact electronic filing makes it easier for owner operators to file 2290 form for the current tax year. An IRS certified e-file provider greentax2290.com, who is most updated with the changes happening in heavy vehicle use tax form 2290 can certainly help you to file form 2290 for 2011-2012. To file form 2290 for 2011-2012, all you need is your EIN, business information and VINs for which you are filing HVUT form 2290. Although IRS says that you should not file form 2290 before Nov 1st, but it is always beneficial to file 2290 form in advance. In this way, you would be absolutely free from your HVUT because then it would be greentax2290’s responsibility to provide you accepted schedule 1 for 2011-2012tax year.

 

Once you have submitted your completed 2011 form 2290 on the greentax2290.com site, your returns will get transmitted once IRS begins accepting 2290 forms and greentax2290.com will provide you accepted schedule 1 immediately once your return has been accepted. It hardly takes minutes to get schedule 1 from submitting your return unlike in case of paper filing where you have to wait for weeks to get schedule 1.

 

Hence, it is highly recommended that you file form 2290 electronically and that too from an IRS authorized e file provider such as greentax2290.com. On the other hand, greentax2290.com along with IRS is working day and night to make sure you are updated with the latest news about the changes happening in heavy vehicle use tax laws.

Did you know paper costs your business time and money?

Yes it is true, paper production and its consumption not only hurts the environment, but also your businesses time and money.

Did you know paper increases the cost of running your business….takes 60% of your time….accounts for 40% of stress related issues and more. Here are few more facts that you must know about paper filing and its effect on businesses.

-         - Businesses spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on business mail.

-        -  An estimated 55% of office waste is paper – much of it printed on only one side.

-        -  One multi-office audit found employees used an average of 39 reams each – that’s 19,500 sheets of paper per employee.

-         - If employees printed double-sided on just half of that paper, it would save $60 per employee or $600 for an office with ten people.

-        -  Printing, copying, packing, posting, storing, filing, finding, recycling and disposing of paper can cost businesses up to 31 times as much as the price to buy the paper.

-         - The average photocopier uses $1500 worth of electricity, $24,000 worth of paper and $15,000 worth of toner over 7 years.

Paper costs businesses millions in wasted time:

1. Research indicates that it costs up to $120 in labor to find a mislaid document.
2. On average, staff spends 9.6 hours a week searching for information.
3. A company of 1000 workers wastes $7 million in staff time looking for information.

That’s not all; now let’s shed light on the consumption and manufacturing of paper and its effect now and in future.

§  Recent US Department of Commerce figures indicate that paper and printing purchases represent between 5% and 15% of all corporate expenditures exclusive of labor.

§  The average US office worker uses over 10,000 sheets of printing and copying paper per year.

§  The average US office worker generates 2 lbs. of paper waste per day.

§  Per capita consumption of paper in the US is currently over 748lbs.

§  Paper consumption has increased six-fold over the past 50 years.

§  Each person in the United States uses approximately 750 pounds of paper each year.  This equals approximately 187 billion pounds per year.

§  4 billion trees are cut down each year just to satisfy the world’s paper needs.

§  The world consumes approximately 300 million tons of paper each year.

§  The world consumes five times more paper now than in 1950

§  Most of the world’s paper supply, about 71 percent, is not made from timber harvested at tree farms but from forest-harvested timber, from regions with ecologically valuable, biologically diverse habitat.

§  Global production in the pulp, paper and publishing sector is expected to increase by 77% from 1995 to 2020.

§  Industrialized nations, with 20 percent of the world’s population, consume 87 percent of the world’s printing and writing papers

§  The paper industry is the largest consumer of forests in the Southern US, currently logging an estimated 5 million acres of forests (an area the size of New Jersey) each year.

§  More than 40 percent of logged trees is used for paper.

§  All recycled papers now account for less than 10 percent of the paper market.

Hence, considering the above facts, it is clear how badly paper manufacturing and its consumption is degrading our once healthy and green environment and it is our responsibility as citizens to protect our world from future harm, in fact we should work towards generating our world back to its health and green self.

As we said earlier, greentax2290.com has taken a step forward in promoting good health of the environment by providing electronic filing form 2290 services. Now its upon individuals, to take a step ahead and join us in our efforts by using the services of greentax2290.com to e file tax form 2290.

This is a copyrighted© article written by Diva who is associates with www.greentax2290.com. No permission is granted for commercial use. You may reproduce this article with written consent from the TRS Holdings, Inc, parent company of greentax2290.com by emailing to support@greentax2290.comor by calling at 800-578-2290

Gogreen - importance of electronic filing form 2290

In today’s generation it is vital to realize the importance of conserving energy, protecting the environment and curtailing emissions.  Corporate and citizens also have realized their responsibility towards making the environment greener and healthier to live in. hence, this carries our focus on the vast felling of trees and deforestation. The fact is that paper and pulp alone is the largest industrial consumer of forests. Paper is produced by cutting trees; and the resultant deterioration of greenery impacts the environment adversely.

If you consider the amount of chemical process used for pulp production, the bleaching process to whiten the pulp, and lastly, the pollution created through the disposal of paper in landfills, office paper consumption is anything but "green".  Paper consumption not only results in deforestation but dampen down the environment immeasurably.

Research predicts that office paper consumption increases by 20% per year. Not only does this wastage have an environmental impact, but major costs can be attributed to both the purchasing and disposal of paper and not to forget the business inefficiencies associated with paper-dependent processes. This paper dependency brings with it high storage costs and reduced productivity associated with filing and retrieving documents. It is our responsibility to reduce paper consumption through effective utilization of the internet technology to improve business efficiency and save costs, and respond to the environmental concerns associated with paper consumption.

That’s, the reason greentax2290.com has brought the benefit of electronic filing of heavy vehicle use tax. Tax payers prefer to download form 2290 and mail it to the IRS office, but with greentax2290.com, latest technological and easy to use tax software you get the benefit to file form 2290 online. You file your tax form 2290 online, transmit your return online and get IRS stamped 2290 schedule 1 online and that too in few minutes. Hence, greentax2290.com gives you a complete electronic and paperless filing formula to file heavy vehicle use tax, absolutely secure

Greentax2290.com supports a greener and safer world, enabling easy, convenient, and secure end-to-end fulfillment through online filing and processing that is legally binding. In addition to online filing of form 2290, greentax2290.com supports many other features such as; assist you in tax audits, re-filing your rejected returns, free VIN corrections, accurate calculation of your heavy vehicle use taxes, providing IRS digitally stamped 2290 schedule 1 in few minutes, tax expertise customer support and more.

You can file your form 2290 return using greentax2290’s e filing services. Bottom line: electronic filing leads to cost-time saving along with healthy greener environment. Hence, it sure is a Win-Win situation.

This is a copyrighted© article written by Diva who is associates with www.greentax2290.com. No permission is granted for commercial use. You may reproduce this article with written consent from the TRS Holdings, Inc, parent company of greentax2290.com by emailing to wecare@greentax2290.com or by calling at 800-578-2290