Money & Your Business

California May Influence IRS Tax Preparer Proposal

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman plans to recommend to the President and Treasury Secretary by the end of this year that income tax preparers need to be regulated by the federal government.

“Beauticians in most states have to be licensed, yet the majority of tax preparers nationwide, who handle one of the most important documents for consumers each year do not have to be educated or insured,” said Celeste Heritage, administrator for the California Tax Education Council (CTEC), which oversees a state requirement to register unlicensed tax preparers.

The IRS has been holding meetings with industry leaders, including CTEC and its enforcement partner, the Franchise Tax Board, for insight on establishing a federal standard. California, New York and Oregon are the only states that have set requirements for paid tax preparers; however, Maryland is also working to implement legislation it passed in 2008.

In California, anyone who prepares income tax returns for a fee and is not a licensed attorney, certified public accountant (CPA) or IRS enrolled agent (EA) is required by law to register with CTEC. Each CTEC-registered tax preparer (CRTP) has to complete an educational requirement on tax laws and obtain a surety bond to protect clients against fraud.

According to the IRS, federal oversight of tax preparers is necessary in order to reduce fraud, improve compliance and close the tax gap. It is a proposal that does not seem to have much opposition other than how to fund it; however, CTEC believes there is a solution.

“CTEC is a good model because it has tax professionals regulate their own industry at no cost to the state,” said Alan Shattuck, CPA and CTEC board member. Before CTEC was established in 1997, the California Department of Consumer Affairs managed the registration of tax preparers. To help save money without jeopardizing the protection of taxpayers, the state decided to privatize the program. Today CTEC is a nonprofit quasi-public benefit corporation that is run by a board of directors representing tax professionals, three staff members and is funded by CRTPs who pay an annual $25 registration fee.

“We have an extremely useful program that can be used nationally,” said Heritage. “The IRS should seriously look at CTEC and consider privatization.” Last year CTEC registered more than 44,000 tax preparers. CPAs and CRTPs are the two largest tax preparer groups in California. Please visit www.ctec.org or call (877) 850-2832.

Source: California Tax Education Council

Obama Refusing to Give Contracts to Small Businesses as Unemployment Continues to Rise, According to the American Small Business League

PETALUMA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The following is a statement by the American Small Business League:

According to the most recent data from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG), the Obama Administration is continuing to award billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to corporate giants.

The top recipient was Fortune 500 firm Textron, which received $775.7 million in federal small business contracts. In addition to Textron, Ssangyong Corporation, which is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea received over $254 million in small business contracts; and Finmeccanica SpA, which is headquartered in Italy with 73,000 employees, received over $283 million.

Other firms included in the Obama Administration's small business data were: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, AT&T, 3M Corporation, Xerox, Dell Computer, Booz Allen Hamilton, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Staples, Office Depot, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce and French firm Thales Communications.

In February of 2009, Bechtel Bettis Inc. received a $128 million small business contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Obama Administration. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf

Since 2003, more than 15 federal investigations have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to corporate giants. Report 5-15 from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General referred to the problem as, "One of the most important challenges facing the SBA and the entire federal government today." http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf

In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the problem when he stated, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php

To date, the Obama Administration has not adopted any policies or legislation to honor that campaign promise.

On Friday, October 2, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that unemployment hit 9.8 percent in the month of September. Moreover, DOL announced that when factoring in frustrated workers who have dropped out, taken part-time work or haven't looked recently; unemployment could be as high as 17 percent.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) believes unemployment is on the rise as a result of the Obama Administration's refusal to stop the diversion of billions of dollars a month in federal contracts earmarked for small businesses to corporate giants.

"It's hard not to question President Obama's sincerity about creating jobs when he is giving billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "Until we stop this problem, unemployment is going to continue to rise."

Ending Tax Deferral Would Unduly Penalize American Businesses
New Tax Foundation Special Report Examines Obama's Corporate Tax Reform Proposal,
Argues that Tax Competition Should Not Be Confused with Tax Evasion

Washington, DC- A new Tax Foundation report argues that the Obama Administration's proposal to end tax deferral for income earned abroad by American businesses is a step in the wrong direction.

The report is Tax Foundation Special Report No. 167, "Bank Secrecy, Tax Havens and International Tax Competition," by senior research fellow Robert Carroll, Ph.D.

Carroll acknowledges the need to target tax evasion, as the proposal does, but he argues that ending tax deferral is unrelated to bank secrecy or tax evasion and would put U.S.-based companies at a competitive disadvantage in their competition with multinational firms based in other major trading nations.

"Clearly, the U.S. should demand that taxpayers follow the law and pay legally owed taxes," Carroll says. "But lawmakers need to be careful not to confuse tax evasion with global tax competition."

According to Carroll, the real problem the U.S. faces is a tax system is increasingly out-of-line internationally. The U.S. has made no major change to its corporate tax in over 20 years, while other nations have continually lowered their rates and reformed their tax rules. The U.S. now has the second highest corporate tax rate, and by every other comparative measure, the U.S. corporate tax system is less hospitable than the tax systems of most other nations.

Regarding true tax havens, Carroll recounts the 1996 launching of the OECD's Harmful Tax Practice initiative. This campaign targeted nations that combined several tax strategies: preferential tax regimes for non-residents, zero or very low tax rates, a lack of transparency, and poor information exchange with other tax authorities. Most of the nations on the OECD list have amended their policies.

Some analysts have erroneously applied the tax-haven label to every nation that enacts a low tax rate

"By no means is enactment of a low tax rate in itself a harmful tax practice," Carroll explains. "It is the low tax rate in combination with the other criteria – the lack of transparency, the lack of information exchange, and the presence of special tax regimes – that defines a tax haven. Normally, enacting a low tax rate is a legitimate way to expand a nation's tax base and increase the living standards of all residents."

Carroll cites Great Britain's experience. Many prominent businesses have left the U.K. for more friendly tax environments, and like the U.S., Great Britain has been imposing a worldwide tax system. But unlike the U.S., Great Britain's latest tax reform is competitive. The recently published government budget includes a dividend exemption for profits paid back to British multinational corporations from their foreign subsidiaries.

"Just as the U.K. is adapting to competitive pressures from abroad by reducing its corporate tax rate and making more generous the tax treatment of British foreign subsidiaries' profits, so the U.S. will hopefully realize that its multinationals will be better able to compete at home and abroad with similar changes," says Carroll.

Special Report No. 167 can be found a:t

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/24696.html

The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937.

New City Website Is Business Relocation & Job Growth Tool

“Prospector” is the name of a new City of Rancho Cordova on-line project. Economic Development staff members are not prospecting for gold but are using an innovative website to attract job growth and businesses to Rancho Cordova.

Located at www.RanchoCordovaProspector.com, the website is an interactive mapping tool that provides site selection information regarding available commercial, retail, and industrial properties plus economic statistics.

Users simply enter basic data such as their space needs and then with a click of a button, they are able to rapidly tailor maps and reports to suit their needs and access data that would normally take weeks to collect and thousands of dollars to obtain from specialty data researchers. Available reports include demographics, consumer expenditures, and business and workforce data.

The City has partnered with local commercial brokers to provide the most current and comprehensive data on local properties within City limits and along the Highway 50 corridor from Bradshaw Road to Hazel Avenue. Because Prospector uses Geographic Information System technology, it is more powerful than typical websites.

More than 200 local properties have been uploaded to the new site, about twice as much data as similar sites in the Sacramento region. And more than 1,200 postcards and emails have been sent to brokers, site selectors, and consultants to promote Prospector, both locally and nationally.

“By using Prospector, a business is able to analyze and evaluate the site-specific advantages and opportunities of each business location,” explained Micah Runner who headed up the Prospector project for the City.

Any commercial broker, property owner, developer, or similar realtors can list available commercial or industrial properties at no cost by calling (916) 851-8700 or emailing econdev@cityofranchocordova.org.

“Our goal is to simplify the process of working with City government when preparing for relocation and expansion decisions,” said Curt Haven, Economic Development director for the City of Rancho Cordova. “Prospector links interested parties with available sites and valuable data – quickly, easily, and free of charge.” Since its incorporation in 2003, more than $1.3 billion has been invested in the City from both public and private parties. Prospector is another tool to maintain and attract job growth inw Rancho Cordova.

“With Prospector, we are now open and ready for business on-line,” said Haven. For additional information about Prospector, please contact Runner at (916) 851-8700 or at mrunner@cityofranchocordova.org.

By Helen Brewer, Public Information Office, City of Rancho Cordova

Growth Potential in Q3 and Special Report:
What ‘Perks’ Do HR Managers Really Want?
IR-2008-77, June 6, 2008

Hiring Trends Third Quarter 2008
Sacramento companies are expecting to hire more in the 3rd Quarter. Pacific Staffing has learned that fifty-nine percent (59%) of Sacramento’s top companies plan to hire in this Quarter. Twenty-two percent (22%) percent attribute their motivation for hiring to expand their workforce in July, August and September. In direct phone polls of 100 top regional companies, human resource contacts report plans to hire more added workers in Q3 2008 than were hired in the previous quarter (16%), or at this same time last year (14%). Most Third Quarter is still motivated by the need for replacements, forty-one percent (41%) are hiring for expected attrition while eighteen percent (18%) seek workers for seasonal needs.

The expected number of companies planning to reduce their workforce in the upcoming quarter has also fallen since the last Employment Trends Survey in April. Eight percent (8%) of companies polled in June say they will reduce their workforce. Seven percent (7%) say it’s slow business prompting the expected layoffs.

Workforce Challenge?
Thirteen percent (13%) of those polled say helping employees cope and reducing company costs for gasoline is their primary headache in the near future.

100 Sacramento Regional Top Companies By Industry: 35% are Service, 37% are Manufacturers, 19% are Construction and 9% are Retail

Who? What? When? Where?
Sacramento employers are seeking qualified technical skills, sales, customer service, manufacturing, warehouse and shipping experience in Third Quarter.

For more information & previous workplace hiring surveys go to ww.pacificstaffing.com.

Make a Wish: What ‘perks’ do Sacramento Human Resource managers want?
When offered the choice of bonus money, more vacation, a larger office, more staff, a company car or something they might suggest, what did they choose most often?

When asked to ‘make a wish’ about incentives on the job, HR pros in Sacramento wanted more paid time off! Vacation was selected by twenty-nine percent (29)% of those polled, while another twenty-eight percent (28%) went for bonus money. No one wanted a larger office, but eight percent (8%) of the human resource managers asked for more staff. Three percent (3%) chose the company car.

Most interesting were suggestions offered by those polled. The ability to manage their own work through flextime came up frequently in all industry sectors. Others suggested job security, better recognition for work done well, medical benefits for dependents, 401 K employer matching, and one just wanted a gas card!

IRS Adds Functions to Online Payment Agreement Application
IR-2008-77, June 6, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today introduced several new features to the interactive Online Payment Agreement application , which will make it easier for taxpayers and their authorized representatives to make changes to existing installment agreements.The system will now permit:· Individuals to revise their payment due dates and/or amounts on existing agreement

• Individuals to revise existing extensions to regular installment agreements and direct debit installment agreements.
• Individuals to revise existing regular installment agreements to a payroll deduction installment agreement or a direct debit installment agreement.
• Practitioners with valid authorizations to use the signature date found on their approved Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, or the caller ID as an alternate way to authenticate when requesting agreements for clients.

More than 75 percent of those eligible for an installment agreement can establish one using the online application, according to the IRS. Since launching in October 2006, more than 30,000 taxpayers have successfully used it to set up a payment agreement.Eligible taxpayers who owe $25,000 or less in combined tax, penalties and interest can self-qualify, apply and receive immediate notification of approval for installment agreements – including pre-assessed agreements on tax year 2007 Form 1040 liabilities and paperless direct debit agreements.Paying taxes on time and in full avoids unnecessary penalties and interest. However, taxpayers who cannot pay in full may request a payment agreement. To be eligible, a taxpayer must first file all required tax returns and be current with estimated tax payments, if applicable.

El Dorado Savings Bank Celebrates 50 Years in Business!

During the week of June 16-20 El Dorado Savings Bank will be celebrating 50 years in business at all 35 branches in Northern California and Northern Nevada. El Dorado Savings Bank opened its first branch in Placerville at 448 Main Street on January 3, 1958. In the following 50 years El Dorado has expanded to 32 branches in Northern California and three in Northern Nevada. The bank now employees 350, has a local call center, Internet banking, assets of over $1.5 billion and has been awarded a 5 star rating from BauerFinanial every year since 1993. El Dorado is also the largest locally owned bank in the greater Sacramento area.

“We offer all the services of a large bank with the friendly, personal service of a neighborhood bank,” stated Tom Meuser, Chairman of the Board and CEO. “Many of our customers and employees have been with us over 20 years”, he added. “We’d like to thank them all for making our first 50 years so successful and we hope they continue on with us for the next 50”.

The celebration will include refreshments Monday, June 16th through Friday, June 20th, with lunch being served on Thursday, June 19th from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A drawing for a $500 savings bond will be held at each branch on Friday afternoon, June 20th. Entry blanks will be available at all 35 branches throughout the week.

Ormand Named VP of IT at Heald College

Roseville, CA, May 12, 2008 – Heald College today announced Matt Ormond, Citrus Heights resident, has been named Vice President of Information Technology (IT). In this role, Ormond will be responsible for overseeing Heald’s engineering efforts, including campus IT operations, network services and application support.

Ormond has worked in Heald’s IT Department for 10 years. He started with Heald in 1998 as an adjunct faculty member preparing students for advanced certification in Microsoft Windows technology. In 1999, he became the network administrator for Heald’s Sacramento campus. Ormond has also worked as the regional IT manager, overseeing six campuses; as the IT manager, overseeing all 11 of Heald’s campuses; and most recently as the director of IT.

“Matt’s commitment and contributions to the success of our students and the College are exemplary examples of what Heald College is all about,” said Nolan A. Miura, president and CEO. “Matt’s management and IT experience, as well as being a Heald graduate, make him a perfect fit for this position. I am looking forward to additional contributions from Matt as he moves Heald’s IT Department forward.”

Ormond graduated from the Sacramento Heald Institute of Technology in 1994 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in electronics technology and received an Associate of Applied Science degree in networking technology from Heald in 1996. Ormond received his Bachelor of Science degree in management from the University of Phoenix and is currently pursuing his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Maryland.

About Heald College
Founded in 1863, Heald College is a private career college, with 11 campuses in the western United States. Its mission is to provide career-focused programs in healthcare, technology and business that prepare students for workplace success in the shortest practical time – generally 18 months or less. Heald College offers associate degrees, short-term diplomas, and certification training programs, and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). For more information, please call 1-800-88-HEALD or visit www.heald.edu.

The Future of Telephone Technology
New Internet Calling Opportunity - Great for Stay-at-Home Moms

(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado) - It wasn't long ago that rotary phones were in fashion. These days, the internet is a growing means of telephone communication. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) companies, which offer internet telecommunications services are growing rapidly.

One company, called VIPConnectz!, offers these international internet-based telephone services for individuals and small businesses. The company uses a flat-rate fee for all international calls, taking the guess-work out of global calling.

"VOIP is a billion dollar industry," said Leon Gillis, who is affiliated with VOIP company VIPConnectz!." Some analyst seem to think that in the future all telephone calls will be made over the internet because of the low cost."

In a recent corporate call, Gillis discussed just how many multi-millionaires will be created by this new technology and how those who are involved early will have the greatest earning potential.

"Imagine calling across the world by using the power of the internet and knowing exactly how much it will cost," said Gillis. "There is a reason this new technology is growing rapidly - we are connecting the world."

The company uses affiliate marketing to spread the word, which also allows individuals to tap into this growing phenomenon, while earning extra income.

"Stay at home moms in particular are very excited about this opportunity," said Gillis. "Anyone who could use extra income will be enthusiastic when they hear the details."

Affiliates receive a monthly residual income for direct sales. They also receive income from independent sales representatives and managers. A compensation plan, and several bonuses - including for signing up - are exciting for affiliates.

"This is a way we share this new technology with those who want more than the average work day - for people whose dreams are bigger than that," said Gillis.

Contact Leon Gillis by calling 719-574-4005 or go to his web site www.vipconnectz.com.