INTERNET SALES TAX

Once again, the United States Senate has demonstrated that it comes from another planet.

They have no concept of what it takes to run a business and the havoc that their so-called “good intentions” will bring.

Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder if it is just “good intentions” or if there is some underlying benefit to a political contributor that drives them?

PRIVACY AND THE IRS

Americans have come to believe that their expectations of privacy are a constitutional right.

Unfortunately, the Internal Revenue Service does not believe that.

And in some cases, the IRS is correct. When you post something on Facebook, Twitter or the like, you are allowing anyone who wants to look to see that posting. In these instances, you do not have an expectation of privacy because you have, de facto, waived it.

Verizon Wireless’ Worthless Class Action

At the end of March 2013, my wife received a letter from VERIZON WIRELESS AMERICA’S CHOICE II LITIGATION announcing that they had won a class action.

And what did she win? A very “valuable” 40 units of long distance calling.

With Voice over Internet, Vonage, and my cell phone service, I have no phones on which I would pay for long distance calls in the USA. So what did they give us? Ice in the Winter.

OBAMACARE

At the end of January, both the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services issued two sets of proposed regulations related to the individual mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

And here is what jumps off the pages at me.

If two government bureaucracies have written regulations on the same material, who reviewed it to be sure that there are no conflicts?

If there are conflicts, whose version overrides the other?

Credit Card Surcharge

I received the below in an email from BLOOMBERG. If a merchant wanted to add this to my bill, I would walk away from the transaction. Let’s see how much they like to lose a sale.

BLOOMBERG

Starting Sunday 1/27/2013, retailers may add a surcharge of up to 4 percent of your bill if you want to pay with a credit card.

The good news is that even though it’s legal, it’s not expected to become a widespread practice. And retailers have to disclose if they’re adding a fee.

What else you need to know about this change:

TO SERVE & PROTECT – Part 2

I’m continuing with historical situations that have occurred in which we discovered that our clients were going to be taken advantage of.

This is a very strange story and those of our readers who have a mortgage and escrow their real estate taxes should be aware of what can go wrong.

One day, our client receives a letter from the people who are servicing his mortgage. The letter tells him that there is a shortage in the escrow account and that he needs to make it up immediately ($6,000) and that the next 12 months of escrow will increase by $500 per month. At this point, what would you have done? Would you have paid it?

TO SERVE & PROTECT

“To Protect & To Serve” Originally the motto of the Los Angeles Police Department (1963), its meaning was to “serve the community by protecting their constitutional rights.”

To Serve & Protect: I like to think of it as the goals of Progressive Management Inc. but with a different context.

To Serve our clients everyday by being available for their problems and their needs, in addition to taking care of the basic functions for which we were hired: The administration of the day-to-day financial aspect of their businesses and their personal lives.

To Protect their assets and identity against the modern threats of cyber-attacks and identity theft, as well as preventing fraud and governmental bullying against them.

To Protect them from themselves. This is one of the examples I intend to share:

SOUTH CAROLINA’S DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE HACKED

South Carolina’s Department of Revenue has been hacked. It has been reported that the hacker had access to 3.6 million social security numbers and 387,000 credit/debit card numbers and/or bank account numbers with the associated bank routing numbers.

For years, I have warned my clients:

1.        Do not give banking information on your tax return.

‘Tis the Season for Scamming

I’ve been receiving email scams on a regular basis these last few weeks. See an example below. I received this one a few weeks ago. It may look like a serious inquiry but it is a scam.

Don’t Fall for Phony IRS Websites

This is reprinted from the IRS’ own website

Don’t Fall for Phony IRS Websites

The Internal Revenue Service is issuing a warning about a new tax scam that uses a website that mimics the IRS e-Services online registration page.

The actual IRS e-Services page offers web-based products for tax preparers and payers, not the general public. The phony web page looks almost identical to the real one.