Virginia officials have recently announced tax breaks for companies who set up remote work systems for their employees. The law will give companies $1,200 in tax credits per employee for expenses related to telecommuting, up to $50,000. Expenses concern needed equipment, such as modems, computers, internet connections and remote working systems such as remote desktop solutions or web collaboration tools.

These benefits will be offered to Virginia companies who implement telecommuting starting the 1^st January 2012.   With this new law, state officials expect to reduce Virginia’s transportation problems by encouraging companies to keep their employees at home.

According to Fairfaz County Supervisor Jeff McKay, D-Lee, “it’s a lot more inexpensive to deal with our transportation problem than it is to just keep building roads.”

But it’s about more than just roads, it’s also about making employees happy and helping the environment.

“I have seen personally the benefits of telecommuting, and I think we should replicate that throughout Northern Virginia,” stated Del. Mark Keam, D-Vienna, who is backing the law.

“It’s had a tremendous benefit to us personally, because the fact that my wife doesn’t have to travel to Alexandria every day means she can be here when the kids get home from school,” he added.

These tax breaks make of Virginia one of the few states in the U.S. that actively supports and encourages remote working.

“Virginia’s been ahead of the game since Tim Kaine was governor, because he really was behind telework,” stated Chuck Wilsker, president of the Telework Coalition.

In the Washington area there are 600,000 that work remotely on occasion, with an extra 500,000 ready to start if their companies implement real-time collaboration systems and solutions which allow them to work from their homes.

With today’s technologies, remote work can be seamlessly implemented allowing employees to work from their homes as if they were in their offices. Web conferencing tools allow them to collaborate on the same project and remote access solutions allow them to access their office computers and networks from their home computers, granting them access to everything they might need to perform their work at the best of their capabilities.

Remote working solutions, such as RHUB 6-in-1 web conferencing and remote support appliance, give companies all they need to implement telecommuting and start taking advantage of the tax break their state offers them. These solutions have remote desktop and web meeting tools in the same package as well as integrated video conferencing and audio conferencing services which make communication much easier and clearer.  RHUB is named a Best Product of 2011 by Government Computer News (GCN) because of its “excellent price, ease of setup and the fact that it fills a specific need.”