Sunday, March 07, 2010Last Update: 3:30 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The flat-tailed horned lizard finally may get protection under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reintroduced a 1993 proposal to list the lizard under the act. In 1993, the agency concluded that the tiny sand colored reptile faced potential extinction due to destruction of its habitat by human encroachment, but the proposal was pulled. The agency has proposed and withdrawn the proposal two more times.
     Each time, legal action by the Tucson Herpetological Society, the Horned Lizard Conservation Society, the Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity forced the agency to reinstate its proposal. The most recent action was in 2009 when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the agency's determination that flat-tailed horned lizard populations were stable and viable throughout most of the species' current range was not supported by the administrative record.
     The flat-tailed horned lizard has a flat body and sandy coloration that allows it to disappear into the desert floor when a predator threatens. The species is put at risk by habitat loss from development, specifically, U.S. Border Patrol construction of roads and the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, the Arizona Fish and Game Department notes on its Web site.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration is requesting information for implementation of statutory provisions that allow investment advice by a fiduciary advisor when computer modeling or fee leveling is used.
     The provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Internal Revenue Code the agency is implementing relate to advising participants and beneficiaries in individual account plans, such as 401(k) plans, and beneficiaries of individual retirement accounts (and certain similar plans).
     The agency seeks information on investment theories, historical data and criteria that may be used for computer modeling.
     Click on the document icon for this regulation and others.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Small business owners and the self-employed no longer will have to base their quarterly tax payments for annual estimated tax on the full amount of their previous year's tax.
           As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 the Internal Revenue Service will allow quarterly tax payments to be based on 90 percent of the previous year's tax due.
           To qualify for the reduced estimated tax payments, individual tax payers must have income of less than $500,000, and more than 50 percent of that income must come from a small business.
           Tax payers will have to file an IRS Form 2210 "Underpayment of Estimated Tax By Individuals, Estates, and Trusts" at the beginning of each tax year to qualify for the reduced tax payments.