Small-business Q&A: The status of tax credits for hiring the unemployed

Dear Karen: Is the tax credit for hiring formerly unemployed people going to stay in effect for 2011?

Answer: The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, or HIRE Act, was signed in March as part of President Obama’s $18-billion jobs bill, but it expires at the end of this year, said Brandon Edwards, chief executive of the Tax Credit Co. in Los Angeles.

The act provides businesses with an exemption from Social Security payroll taxes for every worker hired this year who had been unemployed for at least 60 days before the hiring. To qualify, companies are also allowed to hire workers who were formerly full-time students, contractors or self-employed, and to rehire workers who were laid off by the same company.

“There was bipartisan support in the Senate for extending the HIRE Act before the [midterm] election,” Edwards said. “Let’s hope that continues during the next session. It has been greatly beneficial to small business.”

• Guard against computer hackers

Dear Karen: Should I worry about my computer security?

Answer: Absolutely. There is a perfect storm brewing, what with the enormous growth of electronic data in multiple formats and ever-increasing sophistication of hackers around the globe, said Howard Reissner, chief executive of Planet Data Solutions Inc.

Cyber-criminals with the ability to steal information anonymously are proliferating. “Corporations should select professional personnel to be in charge of both physical security of information as well as the monitoring of the activities of employees,” Reissner said.

Small-business questions? E-mail Karen at smallbiz@latimes.com.