Most people will not be affected by the current estate taxes because their estates don't fall into the range where their estate will be taxed. The Middle Class Tax Relief Act that went into law on 12/17/10 is as follows:
2010 - Exemption $5,000,000 or $0 -- Tax Rate 35% or 0%
2011 - Exemption $5,000,000 -- Tax Rate 35%
2012 - Exemption $5,000,000 -- Tax Rate 35%
2013 - Exemption $1,000,000 -- Tax Rate 55%
Of course, all of this is subject to law changes but basically what it means it, you pay -0- estate taxes if your estate is below $5,000,000 which quite frankly is the vast majority of taxpayers. The laws are quite complicated and I will be glad to discuss your specific situation with you.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Change in Withholding effective 1/1/11
Effective 1/1/11 the withholding rates for social security (FICA) is decreasing from 6.2% to 4.2% on the first $100,000 of wages ... Please contact me if you have any questions on this. You can get the actual tables from Notice 1036 on the IRS's website which is www.irs.gov.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
IMPORTANT! Another Scam out There on Annual Corporate Reports
I pulled this right off of Sunbiz.org so you know it is a scam. I knew it was the moment I saw it...and hopefully the Attorney General will stop this one before it does too much damage.....NEVER fall for an email asking you for personal information. I am trying to figure out how they got the email addresses....
CONSUMER ALERT! Arvitas, LLC is a private company sending e-mails to businesses in Florida offering to file annual reports. ARVITAS IS NOT AN AGENT OR REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE FLORIDA DEPT. OF STATE, DIVISION OF CORPORATIONS. Arvitas is acting on its own to solicit business for its own company. It is offering to file annual reports for business entities in Florida at an inflated fee. They do not offer any additional service than what is available to the public on sunbiz.org. The Attorney General´s Office, on behalf of the Dept. of State, is currently legally pursuing Arvitas´ activities.
CONSUMER ALERT! Arvitas, LLC is a private company sending e-mails to businesses in Florida offering to file annual reports. ARVITAS IS NOT AN AGENT OR REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE FLORIDA DEPT. OF STATE, DIVISION OF CORPORATIONS. Arvitas is acting on its own to solicit business for its own company. It is offering to file annual reports for business entities in Florida at an inflated fee. They do not offer any additional service than what is available to the public on sunbiz.org. The Attorney General´s Office, on behalf of the Dept. of State, is currently legally pursuing Arvitas´ activities.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Credit Counseling
You can't drive down the street, turn on the radio or TV without hearing someone say call us and we will cut your credit card debt in half or cut your payments in half or some similar drivel. The problem with almost every single one of these companies is they are scamsters. Basically you end up paying them a fee and rarely do they help you. In my opinion, IF you need credit counseling or assistance with budgeting your current bills, there is only one legitimate place to go. You should contact NFCC.org and they will refer you to a free or low cost counselor in your area.
Refinancing At Today's Low Mortgage Rates
In Florida a huge number of people have lost their homes to foreclosures, short sales or have no equity because of the downfall in the real estate market. But there are still a few people who have 5, 6 or 7% mortgages and have equity in their homes. IF you are one of those, this is a great time to refinance. Refinancing homes and pulling cash out was one of the big mistakes people made when the market was going up up up in value. I NEVER recommend refinancing your house and taking out cash for ANY reason because I believe EVERYONE should try to become debt free. That being said, if you can take your current mortgage at 6% and get a 3.9% interest rate for very little cost, then you should definitely consider doing this. There are several great places to refinance right now including places like your credit union, some online loan companies and even banks. I will be glad to analyze your situation to help you determine if this makes sense for you.
Links In Emails from Friends
We all have to be getting these. An email from a friend with no text but just a link to click on. Or else some text like "This is the best website to buy electronics. I just bought an iPhone.....etc etc etc and then a link to click on"...
We should all know that our friends are NOT trying to sell us electronics. We should all know that our friends would not send us an email with a link to click on without any explanation. We should all know that these links are probably viruses or spyware. Why take a chance? If you get something suspicious, it is probably not safe.
We should all know that our friends are NOT trying to sell us electronics. We should all know that our friends would not send us an email with a link to click on without any explanation. We should all know that these links are probably viruses or spyware. Why take a chance? If you get something suspicious, it is probably not safe.
Estate Taxes
This is a complicated issue and I am not going to explain every possibility here, but in general, my projection is that most people who have an estate below $3,000,000 don't need to worry too much about estate taxes. As many of you have heard, the cuts on estate taxes will expire December 31st meaning that estates worth more than $1 million could be taxed but I believe Congress will not touch estates up to $3 million (I have been wrong more than once so keep on top of the news).....
That being said, IF your estate exceeds these amounts, then you should consider making annual tax-free gifts of $13,000 per person to reduce your estate now....
That being said, IF your estate exceeds these amounts, then you should consider making annual tax-free gifts of $13,000 per person to reduce your estate now....
Free Advertising for Your Business
Wow! What a great Win! Win! these websites are. Groupon.com and LivingSocial.com are 2 websites I highly recommend for both the end user and the business who wants to advertise for basically free. I am not going to give you all of the details here, but if you want more information, please let me know. I have been going on things like Paddleboarding, Segways, etc. all from coupons on the above websites as a customer. When I did the Segway ride I spoke extensively with my "Captain" and learned all about how these companies work. In a nutshell, the website gets like 20% of the "proceeds" from the coupon and you as the buyer gets either cupcakes, movie tickets, dance lessons, massages or whatever the business of the day is offering at a super price, and the business gets more business than they know what to do with. My Segway company received almost 500 new customers from the 1 day coupon and they are a brand new business so this was phenomenal for them. And even though they sold the Segway ride at half price AND gave Groupon.com 20% of the proceeds, they get to keep 100% of the "upsells" such as the DVD I of course had to buy, etc. etc. A cupcake company sold 2,000 coupons which was their limit and they reached this limit after about 6 hours......Anyway...as I said, this is Win! Win! Win! If you have a business that wants to grow....talk to me about this...
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Fake Emails from the IRS
Since they wrote it best, I actually copied all of this right off the IRS website. Many people are getting "fake" emails supposedly from the IRS....please read below on what to do if you get one of these:
How to Report and Identify Phishing, E-mail Scams and Bogus IRS Web Sites | |
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Monday, September 6, 2010
Where To Invest
Everyday someone asks me where to invest their money. This would be a great topic to open up to everyone and see what suggestions others have. We all know the stock market has been more than volatile the past few years with finally a great comeback in 2009 but tumbling up and down in 2010 again. You can't even keep up with inflation if you have your money in CD's or money market accounts at your bank....but at least your funds are basically safe. As many of you know, I invest in real estate but the market conditions are very tenuous right now and you must be so very careful in what you buy. I am successfully flipping houses right now....but it is not for the faint of heart in this market. So then, what should a person do who wants to make a reasonable return on their money? My suggestion is find out what you love and try to figure out a way to make money doing that....find your passion and turn it into a business...
From Sunbiz.org website
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! The Division of Corporations no longer has authority to waive the $400 late fee for annual reports filed after May 1st. The provision for waiver in s. 607.193(2)(b),F.S. was repealed during the 2010 Legislative Session. All business entities except non-profit corporations must pay the late fee if the annual report is filed after May 1st.
CONSUMER ALERT! Please be aware that notices are being sent by two entities that are not associated with the Division of Corporations. Compliance Services is requesting "Annual Minutes" and a fee of $125.00. "Annual Minutes" are not required to be filed with any state agency. Florida Online Corporate Annual Report Filings is sending e-mail messages "inviting" businesses to file the annual report from their website. Do not be misled by these messages. Make sure you are on the Department of State, Division of Corporations official website (www.sunbiz.org) when you file the 2010 annual report.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Compliance Services or Similar company
There is no legal reason for you to pay Compliance Services, Inc. or any similar companies to prepare minutes for your corporation. Basically this company is just taking advantage of unsuspecting people by sending them what looks like a legal document from a governmental agency...but the whole idea is for you to write them a check for $150.00 or some other amount ... for something you do NOT need for them to do. If you have any questions regarding anything you receive in the mail asking for your personal or corporate information and then asking for a check, ask me first....DON'T JUST SEND IT.
Credits For Hiring New Positions In Your Company
IF your business hires a new employee after 2/3/2010 and before 1/1/2011, you can get a credit of 6.2% of their salary for a "qualified employee" defined as:
New employee must certify (form W-11 is perfect for this) that they have not been employed for more than 40 hours during the 60 day period prior to you hiring them.
The employee cannot be replacing another employee (in other words it must be a new position) unless the prior employee left voluntarily or for cause (which can include downsizing)....pretty wide open here.
The employee cannot be related to you.
That's it....if you want to take advantage of this credit, contact me and I will make sure you know what to do.
New employee must certify (form W-11 is perfect for this) that they have not been employed for more than 40 hours during the 60 day period prior to you hiring them.
The employee cannot be replacing another employee (in other words it must be a new position) unless the prior employee left voluntarily or for cause (which can include downsizing)....pretty wide open here.
The employee cannot be related to you.
That's it....if you want to take advantage of this credit, contact me and I will make sure you know what to do.
New 1099 Reporting Requirements-All Businesses Beware
This will be an accounting nightmare. Under current law, you only have to file a 1099 on an individual who provides you services that you pay $600.00 or more to per year. Under the new 1099 law that is scheduled to go into effect starting in the tax year 2012, the law expands 1099 coverage to tangible goods and services. Just to give you an idea on how disastrous that can be, imagine you are a freelancer who purchases a computer from Target. If the computer costs more than $600.00, you will have to send Target a 1099 at the end of the year. This will mean you will need the Federal ID number and address of Target and keep track of your purchases to send 1099's at the end of the year. I am sure you are getting what a logistical nightmare this can be. For the companies we currently do books for, we will be requiring you to get your vendors to sign a W-9 so we have the information necessary to complete all required 1099's.
Recycle Your Electronics
Here is a great website to recycle your old electronics:
Nextworth.com
They will give you a Target gift card or PayPal credit if you recycle something with value. IF it does not have value, they will provide you with free shipping and recycle the item for you so it is win-win!!!
I am open to other suggestions for recycling....Go Green!!
Another Great Place to Save Money
Many of you may already know about this but here is a link to a great place to get daily specials for your city or any other city......click on the link and try it....IT'S FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu5576755
It's called groupon and in no time you will see that it Can Be A Great Place to save money and have fun!!!
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu5576755
It's called groupon and in no time you will see that it Can Be A Great Place to save money and have fun!!!
Sorry....had to change Blog Address
There were some problems with my former blog (I never kept up much with it anyway)....so I started a new one. Hope you join me....give me ideas on what information you want me to include...and ask questions or post answers....Thanks....let's blog
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