Accounting
Small business employment and wage growth slackened in 2024
Job growth and hourly earnings growth moderated in the latter part of 2024, according to the payroll processor Paychex.
The
“The pace of job growth among U.S. small businesses downshifted slightly as 2024 progressed, yet small businesses remained resilient throughout the year.” said Paychex president and CEO John Gibson in a statement. “As we head into 2025, small business owners continue to face some challenges such as access to growth capital, rising health care costs, and ability to hire qualified talent. In spite of this, optimism and hiring intentions improved to close the year — both trends that will be worth watching as we begin 2025.”
Weekly earnings growth (2.54%) slowed to a four-year low in December, and weekly hours worked growth (-0.43%) remained in negative territory year-over-year for the 21st consecutive month, hitting its lowest level since July 2022. Three-month annualized hourly earnings growth (3.02%) was above 3% for the first month since April. Tampa (4.56%) topped the rankings among metropolitan areas for hourly earnings growth for the second month in a row.
The national small business jobs index averaged 100.22 in 2024, representing modest employment growth. However, the national jobs index slowed 1.32 percentage points from 101.21 in December 2023 to 99.89 in December 2024.
The Midwest ranked as the top region for small business employment growth for the seventh month in a row, at 100.20 in December. Wisconsin, at 100.77, led the way among Midwestern states and ranked in second place among all states for job growth in December, marking its best rank since March 2020.
For the second month in a row, Dallas (101.73) and Houston (101.16) ranked in first and second place, respectively, among metropolitan areas for job growth in December.
Taxpayers have an extra day, until Friday, Jan. 10, to file any return or pay tax originally due on Thursday, Jan. 9.
The IRS granted the time for the Jan. 9 National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. president. He was the longest-lived president in history, dying December 29 at the age of 100.
The one-day extension also applies to any federal income, payroll or excise tax deposit due on Jan. 9, including those required to be made through the Treasury Department’s Electronic Federal Tax Payment System.
IRS Free File Guided Tax Software will be available this Friday for taxpayers ahead of the start of tax season later this month.
Starting Jan. 10, IRS Free File will begin accepting individual returns. Providers will generally allow taxpayers to prepare and file returns now and hold them for e-filing when the season starts.
Taxpayers can access free software tools at
“Taxpayers have multiple filing choices,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, in a statement, “including trusted tax professionals, tax software, Free File, Direct File or free preparation services through IRS partners.”
IRS Free File is entering its 23rd filing season and is delivered through a partnership between the IRS and Free File Inc. (formerly the Free File Alliance). Eight private-sector partners will provide online guided tax software products for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $84,000 or less in 2024. Taxpayers with an AGI above $84,000 can use the Free File Fillable Forms starting Jan. 27.
For 2025, the partners participating in IRS Free File are 1040Now, Drake (1040.com), ezTaxReturn.com (also in Spanish), FileYourTaxes.com, On-Line Taxes,TaxAct, TaxHawk (FreeTaxUSA) and TaxSlayer.
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Local governments and municipalities have been
In the Tax Foundation’s
The most competitive states are ranked from one to 10 according to their scores, one being the most competitive within the group and 10 being the least. For the states at the tail end of the spectrum, which are the least competitive in terms of sales and excise taxes, rankings are from 50 for the least competitive to 40 for the state with the highest comparative score.
Read on to see which states were the most — and least — competitive when it comes to these tax areas.
10 states with the most and least competitive sales and excise taxes in 2025
10 most competitive
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Extra tax filing time granted for Carter remembrance
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IRS Free File starts Jan. 10
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