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Operations and Washington DC

When Is a Tip Just a Tip?                                                                                    Tipping in the hospitality industry is considered the normal course of business.  However, the IRS considers tipping, in certain situations, to be taxed differently through payroll.  Employers in this industry now need to be diligent in their recordkeeping.  ...
By J.D. Harrison , Washington Post, Capital BusinessSeptember 17, 2012Washington’s food truck owners will soon operate under an improved tax system, but they are still waiting for the city to approve additional changes to long-standing regulations they say were meant for old-fashioned ice cream trucks and make life unnecessarily complicated for today’s mobile vendors.Starting next month, food trucks will charge and file the same 10 percent sales tax as their brick-and-mortar counterparts, a popular alternative to the current system, by which licensed vendors on every truck pay a...
Comment period onvending regulations ends: Businesses, including restaurants, raise serious andsubstantive concerns about proposed regulations WASHINGTON, DC (March 1,2012) – Today marked the end of a nearly 6 week period during which theDepartment of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) accepted commentsconcerning proposed regulations to govern vending, including food trucks, inthe District of Columbia. Over 70 restaurant operators employing over 6,500area residents expressed concerns about the proposed regulations, principallyabout a provision that allows food trucks to operate...
Food Trucks In Other CitiesFebruary 8, 2012 Below are interesting pieces from other cities. Thearticle from Austin is particularly interesting in that, even with restrictionsagainst trucks in CBDs and elsewhere, they were looking to have over 1,600trucks by the end of 2011. Austin is a little bigger than DC but not by much,so the continued and growing popularity of the trucks says a lot about sensiblepublic space management not hampering their business. CURRENT FOOD TRUCK VENDING REGULATIONS Baltimore1.)  No food truckvending is allowed within the "downtown area,...
2011 DC Sales Tax law change notices effective October 1, 2011 Please click links below for important tax law changes: Security Services • Cigarettes • Parking • Alcoholic Beverages    
New Disorderly Conduct Law Includes Noise Violation The new disorderly conduct law passed by the DC Council in December became effective citywide at midnight on February 1, 2011.  This includes the new "Noise at Night" violation that has been mentioned in the media.  While MPD will continue to work with individuals and communities to appropriately balance the rights of each, the new law makes it clear that a person who makes an unreasonably loud noise between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. that is likely to annoy or disturb one or more other persons in their residences is...
 RAMW General Counsel Andrew Kline testifies in front of the DC Committee on Public Service and Consumer Affairs, supporting the Vending Regulation Act of 2009 but voicing concerns over certain components.Date: June 2009.  Issue Status: The Act was approved by the DC City Council in July 2009.  PDF File
 RAMW President Lynne Breaux testifies in front of the DC Committee on Health about the positives and negatives of smoking bans, and how the restaurant market is already solving the problem through certain restaurants voluntarily going smoke-free.Date: Sep 2005.  Issue Status: Effective January 2007, smoking is banned in all bars/restaurants places in DC (excepting outdoor areas).  PDF File  Former RAMW Chair Ron Hallagan testifies about the over-regulation of restaurants that smoking bans add to, and how such bans consistently hurt small businesses.Date: June 2005....
The Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act (ASSLA) became effective November 13, 2008. The act requires all employers to provide paid sick leave to eligible employees working in the District for absences related to physical or mental illness, preventive medical care or family care, and for absences associated with domestic violence or sexual abuse.Employers must provide the following sick days to their full-time employees: 7 days of paid leave a year from an employer with 100 or more employees 5 days of paid leave a year from an employer with 25 to 99 employees 3 days of paid leave a year from an...
 We are pleased to inform you that District of Columbia Enterprise Zone (DCEZ) Tax Incentives are available once again to private for-profit businesses located in, or doing business within, the DCEZ. Last week, President Bush signed into law legislation that, among other things, extends the DCEZ designation through December 31, 2009.  The narrowing of opportunities within the capital and debt markets today make these incentives more important than ever before.  For example:If your pending or planned capital project is situated within the zone, you seriously should consider...

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