“We’ve temporarily waived the income requirement for which form to use when applying for a CWA. Form 13930-A is currently unavailable. While the waiver is in effect, individuals with income below $10,000 can apply for a CWA using Form 13930, Instructions on How to Apply for a Central Withholding Agreement PDF. “
IRS will announce “Simplified Central Withholding Agreement.” More details soon.
June 17, 2019 by
The IRS will soon announce details regarding a much anticipated change in the Central Withholding Agreement Program. Today the IRS made the following announcement:
“The IRS Central Withholding Agreement (CWA) program will be offering a new simplified application process for applicants earning less than $10,000. There will be a simplified CWA application Form 13930-A that applicants will complete to apply for the simplified process. Under the new process, applicants earning less than $10,000 would be eligible to apply for a CWA. The Form 13930-A is scheduled to be released in draft form for public comment shortly.”
IMPORTANT: The $10,000 threshold still currently applies. No further details are currently available regarding the timeframe for implementing the new process. Further information will only be available when the IRS posts the draft Form 13930-A and instructions for public review and comment.
The CWA program allows for foreign performers to legally manage and often reduce the required 30% withholding on U.S. earnings. As of October 1, 2018 the IRS implemented a new policy under which nonresident performers would only qualify for a Central Withholding Agreement (CWA) if they individually earn $10,000 or more in gross income within the calendar year. This rule change has had a massive negative effect on independent artists, so last November, The League of American Orchestras, Tamizdat, and CWA Management prepared a proposal aimed at addressing the inequities of the new policy. The proposal was presented to the IRS with the endorsement of many major U.S. performing arts organizations. The IRS has responded favorably to our proposal.
Government Shutdown – Our Position
January 24, 2019 by
Today is day 34 of the U.S. partial government shutdown. Here is our position regarding the situation without addressing the silly politics.
There have been two other shutdowns in the most recent history of the CWA Dept. Both times, the IRS issued CWAs after the government reopened. However, this is the first time the CWA Dept. has been closed for this length of time.
We believe 100% of the CWA applications we have sent in to the IRS would have been approved and issued by the IRS.
We believe the IRS should retroactively honor those applications and allow the CWAs to be deemed as “in force.” The IRS could – and should – require stronger information at the end of the tours for those retroactive CWAs. There is no policy in the CWA Dept manual that prohibits retroactive CWAs in a situation like this.
We believe that if venues choose to withhold 30% – and we certainly hope they will not – the venues should NOT deposit those funds with the IRS. They should hold the funds until the IRS creates policy on the situation.
We hope the IRS will do the right thing and honor the CWAs with the artists/athletes/taxpayers. They have no reason to punish these artists/athletes/taxpayers. Additonally, they have no reason to punish the venues by requiring large amounts of paperwork that would be unnecessary if the CWAs were deemed “in force.”
Frank Page CPA, President/CEO
Cecile Glunt, EA, Director of Government Relations, Former IRS CWA Program Manager
CERTIFIED ACCEPTANCE AGENTS/ITINs
January 1, 2017 by
CWA Management is very excited to announce that our sister company, Business Development Partners Inc, has been appointed as a Certified Acceptance Agent by the IRS. Business Development Partners is a 29 year CPA firm based in Orlando. We strongly believe that foreign artists should get a US Social Security Number if possible. We consider it to be a superior number to an ITIN. However, there are times when getting an SSN is not possible. An ITIN may be the only solution to getting tax refunded. We can do this for you!
Here is a good article written by Daniel Hood from the website Accounting Today that goes into further detail about expiring ITINs for 2017.
Many ITINs due to expire, IRS warns
Many Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers will expire on Jan. 1, 2017, and ITIN holders hoping to avoid refund delays should renew now, the Internal Revenue Service is warning.
ITINs are used by anyone who has to pay or file U.S. taxes, but isn’t eligible for a Social Security number. Under a recent tax law change, ITINs that haven’t been used on a tax return in the last three years will expire at the beginning of next year.
Also set to expire are ITINs with 78 or 79 as the fourth and fifth digits (9NN-79-NNNN or 9NN-79-NNNN).
While those with expired ITINs can apply for renewal after January 1, the IRS is warning that the usual application period of as little as seven weeks is likely to be as much as four weeks longer for those who submit in January and February.
The service also noted that is seeing a number of common mistakes on renewal applications so far, primarily involving missing information and insufficient supporting information.
IRS sets five specific furlough dates
April 19, 2013 by
Here’s an interesting article in the Washington Post about the IRS furloughing employees beginning in May.
Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller said in a memo to agency employees that furloughs would take place on May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22 and August 30, with all “public-facing operations” closing on those dates, including toll-free operations and taxpayer-assistance centers.
The full story is here.
I don’t think this will hurt us, but it’s best you keep in contact and up to date with us just in case.
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