Ashlee Vance reports in today’s NYTimes that one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like “abc123,” “iloveyou” or even “password” to protect their data. Read More
Lent is Coming-Consider a Financial Fast
Michelle Singletary writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column, “The Color of Money,” which appears in The Post on Thursday and Sunday. Her award-winning column is also carried in more than 120 newspapers. Her third book, “The Power To Prosper,” is scheduled to be released in January 2010. In her spare time, Singletary is the director of a ministry she founded at her church, in which women and men volunteer to mentor others who are having financial challenges. She was recently selected to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from The Johns Hopkins University.
See her column on a financial fast. Good words here.
Dodged a Bullet
From WEBCPA: Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman has decided against coming up with rules on the taxation of employer-provided cell phones and said the IRS would instead wait for congressional legislation.
Savings Opportunities for 2009 from Tax Law Changes
IRS Fact Sheet FS 2010-4 provides a summary of new and expanded deductions and credits available for the 2009 filing season. Here are some topics that are covered:
- American Opportunity Credit helps pay for the first four years of college.
- Many energy improvements qualify for expanded tax credits.
- New vehicle purchase incentives.
- Tax credits for low and moderate income workers.
- Standard deduction increases for most taxpayers.
Read the full text at the link provided above.
Google’s New Phone
Debit or Credit?
How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market
By ANDREW MARTIN
Visa says it does not care how consumers use their debit card, as long as it is a Visa. But for now at least, the company says the only way to ensure that a purchase is routed over the Visa network is to sign.
“When you use your Visa card, you have a chance to win a trip to the Olympic Winter Games,” a new Visa commercial promises.
The commercial does not explain the rules, but the fine print on Visa’s Web site does: nearly all Visa purchases are eligible — as long as the cardholder does not enter a PIN.
Read the whole article from the New York Times, January 5, 2010.
Extended Business Carryback Period
IRS Rev. Proc. 2009-52 provides guidance under Section 13 of the Worker, Homeownership, And Business Assistance Act 2009. Section 13 allows taxpayers to elect to carry back an applicable NOL for a period o 3, 4, or 5 years, to offset taxable income in those preceding taxable years. It applies to NOLs for a taxable year ending after December 31, 2007, and beginning before January 1, 2010. An election must be attached to the appropriate carryback form. Here is sample language from the IRS website:
ABC Company is electing to apply Section 172(b)(1)(H) under Rev. Proc. 2009-52. ABC Company is not a TARP recipient and was not an affiliate of a TARP recipient during 2008 or 2009. We are electing a 4 year carryback period.
The Post Office Closes at 5
This is the last day to pay those real property taxes, charitable contributions, and other deductible expenses in order to have the opportunity to apply them toward income earned in 2009. The general rule, accelerate expenses and defer income, should hold true today.
If possible, review stock positions and take capital losses and gains so that they balance each other. Remember that the general rule is that $3000 of capital losses may be deducted in excess of capital gains.
IRA or Roth IRA contributions for 2009 may be made until April 15, 2010. Consider making your 2010 contributions next Monday! Profit sharing and employer matches for employee 401k contributions may be made until the due date of the related tax return plus extensions.
If you use your automobile for business, make a note of your odometer reading today.
For a recap of other great year end lists, check out Don’t Mess with Taxes, a great blog by Texas journalist, Kay Bell.
Who’s up to date on your Facebook updates?
From American Public Media, Future Tense:
Facebook is about to change. Oh, you’ll still get surprising friend requests from obscure 3rd grade classmates but the site dedicate to public sharing is about to get more private thanks to new privacy settings that will allow you to decide, update by update, who gets to see what you’re doing.
It’s a valuable tool in managing your privacy, at least to a certain degree. At the same time, however, Facebook still has access to all your data and it pays its bills by tailoring advertising to you based on the information you provide. And if you install a third party app to play a game or something, those outside developers have access to your information as well.
Guest: Michael Zimmer, University of Wisconsin
What’s up with IRS Form 944?
IRS Form 944 is an employer’s annual payroll tax return that was designed to reduce the burden of on small employers whose payroll liabilities are $1000 or less annually.
Procedures to opt out of the use of this form and continue using Form 941 were released by the IRS on October 26 (Rev. Proc. 2009-51, I.R.B. 2009-45, October 26, 2009.)
Employers who have previously filed Forms 941 or Form 944 and who want to call to request to opt in or out of filing Form 944 for the current tax year must call the IRS on or before April 1st of the current tax year (e.g., April 1, 2010, for tax year 2010 returns). Employers who want to write to request to opt in or out of filing Form 944 for the current tax year must have their written correspondence postmarked on or before March 15th of the current tax year (e.g., March 15, 2010, for returns for tax year 2010).