Foley Hoag LLP

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Until now, most small tax-exempt organizations, defined as those with gross receipts of $25,000 or less per year, have not been required to file an annual information return with the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”). 

However, small tax-exempt organizations must now file an annual electronic information return – the Form 990-N, also known as the e-Postcard. This requirement covers all tax periods beginning after December 31, 2006. The e-Postcard must be filed no later than the 15th day of the 5th month following the end of the organization’s tax year. For example, an organization whose tax year ends December 31 must submit the e-Postcard by the following May 15.

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Engagements Include:

• Litigation and Arbitration between Sovereign States
• Arbitration between Sovereign States and Investors
• International Commercial Arbitration
• Litigation before the United States Courts

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• Litigios y Arbitrajes entre Estados Soberanos
• Arbitrajes entre Estados
• Soberanos e Inversionistas
• Arbitrajes Internacionales Comerciales
• Litigios ante las Cortes de los Estados Unidos

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On November 7, 2007, USICS issued a revised I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form. The primary change to the revised Form I-9 is the elimination of five documents which were previously listed on List A as acceptable for proof of both identity and employment eligibility:

• Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-570)
• Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570)
• Alien Registration Receipt card (Form I-151 - please note that the current I-551 Permanent Resident Card remains on List A)
• Reentry Permit (Form I-327)
• Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)

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Foley Hoag's 10th Annual Seminar provided an update on the following topics:

• Overview: Developments in Labor and Employment
  William Koffel
• Massachusetts Health Care Reform Law
  Robert Fisher
• Avoiding Claims of Unlawful Retaliation
  Barbara Hamelburg
• Wage and Hour Enforcement Issues
  James Bucking
• Immigration Law
  Kevin Fitzgerald/George Lester
• Lawful Screening Strategies for Applicants and Employees
  Kimberly Jones

This year's half-day program included an update from two newly-appointed leaders in the administration of Attorney General Martha Coakley:

• Kevin Conroy, Bureau Chief
  Massachusetts Business & Labor Bureau
• Joanne Goldstein, Division Chief
  Massachusetts Business & Labor Bureau/Fair Labor Division

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This is an important update on the status of legislation in the U.S. Congress to provide relief from the H-1B cap and backlogged immigrant visa quotas.

When we last sent you an alert the Senate had just begun consideration of the proposal as part of a budget reconciliation bill, S. 1932. Thanks to an outpouring of support from businesses, academic institutions, non-profit organizations and others, on November 3 the Senate passed S. 1932 with all of the favorable immigration provisions intact, voting 85-14 on the Senate floor to keep the provision in the legislation.

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• Recapture of approximately 300,000 unused H-1B visas dating back to 1991, with a annual recapture limit of 30,000/year.
• Immediate recapture of an estimated 90,000-100,000 unused employment based-visas from prior years.
• Exemption of spouses and minor children from counting against the annual employmentbased immigrant preference category numerical limits. Estimates are that this would increase the available employment-based immigrant visas by 80,000-90,000/year.
• Permit individuals to file applications for adjustment of status before an immigrant visa is actually available to them. Among other things, this would eliminate the need to apply for continuing H-1B extensions, permit immediate family members to obtain employment authorization, and help to address the issue of children “aging out”.
• In exchange for these benefits, the proposal would add certain new filing fees, including a $500 fee on employment-based preference petitions, a $500 fee on petitions for one of the “recaptured” H-1B visas, and a $750 fee on L-1 petitions.