In brief
DRS sets new deadline for state taxes
Responding to the ice storm, the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services set a new Nov. 15 deadline for state taxes due beginning Oct. 30 and extending into early November and encouraged taxpayers having any difficulties to contact the department.
Applicable taxes under the extension include:
- personal income filed under form CT-1040;
- corporation income filed under form CT-1120;
- monthly and quarterly sales and use;
- alcoholic beverage sales;
- admissions and dues;
- weekly and quarterly income withholding; and
- gift and estate.
DRS Commissioner Kevin Sullivan said the extension applies to all Connecticut-based taxpayers, as well as those in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Sullivan added he will revisit any possible further extension in light of any Internal Revenue Services action following a federal disaster declaration for the state.
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CID issues nor”™easter bulletins
The October nor”™easter reportedly will result in at least $500 million in insurance claims in Connecticut.
The Connecticut Insurance Department notified carriers they should promptly establish contact with any claimants and provide immediate payment for any temporary repair or living needs claimed by policyholders, as well as grant extension periods on premium payments. The department also instructed health insurance carriers to cover any care by out-of-network doctors at the same rate they would cover bills generated within their provider network.
Total economic losses from business interruption and other factors will likely escalate total damage estimates far higher than the initial $500 million minimum figure cited by a Connecticut Insurance Department spokeswoman quoted by the Hartford Courant.
Malloy begs bank leniency
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy urged banks and other financial institutions to waive any late fees incurred as a result of Connecticut residents”™ impacted by widespread power outages across the state, impacting both Internet access and branch hours.
“We”™ve been trying to address deadline and other issues that have come up as a result of a sustained loss of power and widespread damage across the state,” Malloy said, in a written statement. “Legally, I cannot compel businesses to waive late fees, but I would hope that at a time like this, banks and other financial institutions would agree not to profit from customers”™ inability to access online or in-person their financial services.”
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WSTC, WNLK sold to Sacred Heart station
WSHU Public Radio Group acquired the talk radio stations WSTC (1400 AM) and WNLK (1350 AM) from Cox Media Group, with the Norwalk Hour reporting 10 staff members are being let go.
Cox is retaining its classic rock station WFOX (95.9 FM), the newspaper reported.
WSTC and WNLK hosts include John LaBarca in the morning drive time and Lisa Wexler for the evening commute. This year, the stations also have run the Fairfield County Business Minute in partnership with the Fairfield County Business Journal.
WSHU broadcasts from Sacred Heart University, with its programming including news from National Public Radio and classical music.
“As a public radio station, we consider ourselves to be a community resource and we always look for ways to increase the service we provide our community,” said George Lombardi, WSHU”™s general manager, in a prepared statement. “We are thrilled about this new opportunity, as we can now serve Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich with an expanded, more reliable broadcast signal than we ever had before and by bringing our award-winning local reporting, insightful news and talk, and programs. WSHU has been deeply rooted in Fairfield County for 30 years, and we look forward to expanding our services in lower Fairfield County.”
Report: IBG in MF negotiations
Interactive Brokers Group Inc. reportedly has negotiated to acquire some assets of MF Global Holdings, the financier led by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine that filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring.
Greenwich-based Interactive Brokers runs online trading platforms both for institutions and individuals. In the third quarter, the company earned $202 million on $386 million in revenue.
The Wall Street Journal reported that MF is contemplating selling off some assets to Interactive Brokers or possibly other bidders as part of the bankruptcy process.
GE delivers holiday bonus for retirees
General Electric Co. will make a one-time payment to some 130,000 retirees in December, equal to one month”™s basic pension benefit.
The special payment will go to those who retired directly from Fairfield-based GE on or before June 1, 2007. Also eligible are pensioners who left GE before retirement with 25 or more years of pension-qualifying service, and who started their pension by that date. Surviving spouses of deceased eligible pensioners will also receive the payment. Retired GE executives are not eligible.
Greenwich company shops in Fairfield
Greenwich-based Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. bought the Fairfield Centre retail plaza for $17 million.
Located on the Post Road, the Fairfield shopping center is fully leased to Office Max, Marshall”™s and CVS. Fairfield Centre was built in 1995 and totals more than 60,000 square feet of space.
Urstadt Biddle is scouting other deals, according to Willing Biddle, president of the real estate investment trust.
Bunge jumps in Fairfield
A subsidiary of White Plains, N.Y.-based Bunge Ltd. is relocating within Fairfield to 46 Miller St., where it is leasing 1,500 square feet of space.
Bunge Global Markets Inc. trades on crop futures and other financial instruments, with its Fairfield office previously located at 501 Kings Highway E. The company was represented by Westport-based Vidal/Wettenstein in its lease transaction.
Leonardi named to federal insurance panel
Connecticut”™s rookie insurance Commissioner Thomas Leonardi was named to a new Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance, as the U.S. Treasury takes up regulatory oversight of some elements of the insurance industry.
In February, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named Leonardi commissioner of the Connecticut Insurance Department, with Leonardi previously having led Northington Partners Inc., a venture capital company in Avon.
The committee will advise the Treasury Department”™s new Federal Insurance Office created under the Dodd-Frank financial reform act. The committee also includes Benjamin Lawsky, New York”™s superintendent of financial services.
Power center in more ways than one
Even as Fairfield County buzzed over a winning $254 million Powerball lottery ticket, a new study showed lower Fairfield County has the third-highest percentage of millionaires of any population center in the nation, according to a Phoenix Marketing International study cited by Kiplinger.
Rhinebeck, N.Y.-based PMI counted more than 29,700 millionaire households in lower Fairfield County, for an 8.8 percent percentage of the population.
Los Alamos, N.M., led the nation in millionaire households with an 11.7 percent rate, followed by Naples, Fla., at 9.1 percent. Washington, D.C., and San Jose, Calif., rounded out the top five.