The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in late November that it received enough H-1B petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2012 to reach the H1-B statutory cap of 65,000.

November 22, 2011, was the final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in FY 2012. Any H-1B petitions filed after that date will be rejected. USCIS looks at the date the petition was actually physically received by USCIS, not the date of the postmark.

This announcement only affects petitions that are subject to the annual cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

California employers may be paying higher taxes starting January 1, 2012. The tax increase would amount to $21 per year for any employee who makes $7,000 or more in 2012. California employers pay UI taxes on the first $7,000 of wages per employee.

California has not repaid money it borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Due to California’s outstanding loan balances, the U.S. Department of Labor notified the Internal Revenue Service and the California Employment Development Department (EDD) that the state is a “credit reduction state.”

Employers subject to unemployment tax laws of a credit reduction state must pay additional federal unemployment tax when filing a Form 940, according to the IRS website.

See CalChamber’s coverage of the potential increase to UI taxes for the complete story.

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The EDD is advising employers with questions on the FUTA credit reduction, Form 940 or Publication 15 (2011) (Circular E) Employer’s Tax Guide to contact the IRS.

The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2012 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business purposes.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be 55.5 cents per mile for business miles driven. The rate for business miles driven is unchanged from the mid-year adjustment that took effect on July 1, 2011.

The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile, conducted by Runzheimer International.

Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates.

A taxpayer may not use the business standard mileage rate for a vehicle after using any depreciation method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) or after claiming a Section 179 deduction for that vehicle. In addition, the business standard mileage rate cannot be used for more than four vehicles used simultaneously.

These and other requirements for a taxpayer to use a standard mileage rate to calculate the amount of a deductible business, moving, medical or charitable expense are in Rev. Proc. 2010-51.

Notice 2012-01 contains the standard mileage rates, the amount a taxpayer must use in calculating reductions to basis for depreciation taken under the business standard mileage rate, and the maximum standard automobile cost that a taxpayer may use in computing the allowance under a fixed and variable rate plan.

Internal Revenue Service 

Federal and state laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of military status. Recently, a California court addressed for the first time whether supervisors could be held personally liable for military service discrimination under state law.

In a recent decision, the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an employee’s claim for disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The employee was unable to show that she was a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA because the employee failed to satisfy an essential job function — attendance. Colón-Fontánez v. Municipality of San Juan, 660 F.3d 17 (1st Cir. 2011).

Offering comprehensive benefits to employees can help you attract, hire, and retain the best workers. Yet many small-business owners believe that health care insurance is a luxury they can’t afford. The good news: Thanks to new incentives, tax credits, industry reform, and nontraditional plans, health care insurance may be within reach.

Seasonal employees can help keep your small business humming along during some of the busiest days of the year. But seasonal and full-time staffers don’t always integrate seamlessly. According to Deb Spicer,author of Power Teams: The New Square Root Model That Changes Everything, bringing in new people for the holidays can lead to some negative workplace dynamics, such as cliques or competing factions.

A new California law has added to the growing government arsenal of weapons targeting misclassification of workers. Senate Bill 459 provides for fines of between $5,000 and $25,000 on employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors.

Neuroscience has good news for small businesses: Employees care more about “interesting work” than financial compensation, says David Rock, co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute and author of Your Brain at Work. Rock’s latest research paper, published in 2008, and still relevant for managers, argues that motivation is hard-wired into our brains, and he sorts those inner drives into five categories: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.