A free Webinar will address this important issue on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. Jolleen E. Biesecker, CPA, MSTax, Stambaugh Ness Tax Director, will speak about "Tax Benefits for Companies that Export Goods and Services" from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.

According to a recently published report from The Manufacturing Institute, "smaller manufacturing firms are gaining traction in global markets." The report also states that US exports have increased by 60% between 2000 and 2008.

The Institute predicts that, "As the world emerges from an historic financial and economic crisis, pro-growth trade policy in the form of low trade barriers, as well as competitive tax and regulatory costs, will be important to the future of the U.S. manufacturing sector in the emerging international economic order."

In a conflicting action, The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 dealt a significant blow to U.S. exporters by phasing out the tax benefits available through the "extraterritorial income exclusion" (EIE). Fortunately, however, there may be a way to offset the loss of the EIE with a tax device called the Interest Charge Domestic International Sales Corporation --or IC-DISC.

The IC-DISC allows exporters to defer income tax from profits on export sales and potentially pay qualified dividends to owners at a 15% tax rate. Prior to the phase-out of the EIE, the IC-DISC received scant attention in the business world. But it's once again in the spotlight.