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TAX TIPS AND FACTS
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ROGER A. KAHAN Certified Public Accountant and Advisor Serving the tax and financial needs of individuals and small to medium sized businesses 11 Jeanne Road, Randolph, MA 02368 TEL: (781) 963-RAK-1 (963-7251) E-mail: kahan@rak-1.com Copyright © 1997 Roger A. Kahan, CPA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
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You are the person to access this issue!
Back issues on-line
WE ARE NOW AREA CODE 781!!! |
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| CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CLIENT | |
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Congratulations to Steve Schwartz and the staff at Schwartz Communications, Inc. as company #203 in the
1997 INC500 annual listing.
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Taxes, business, funds and management;
rise and fall. If you have a question, give us a call. No matter how big or how small, we can handle it all. |
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| SOCIAL SECURITY RECORDS NOT CORRECT | |
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When was the last time you checked on your Social Security earnings records? Did you know that Social
Security Administration records are not correct? Over the years, millions of dollars have not made it to
the right accounts. It seems that the IRS and the Social Security Administration do not have
corresponding records. Do you know if your account is correct? We recommend checking records at least
every three years. To check your file and obtain a summary of your earnings, call the local Social
Security office or 1-800-772-1213 and request Form 7004-SM, Request for Earnings and Benefit Estimate
Statement. We have some in our office. Call (781)963-RAK-1 and ask for one or two.
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| Many accountants view their goal as minimizing their clients' taxes. NOT ME! I like to see my clients pay more taxes - because their earnings and profits are increasing dramatically. I can make a major difference in achieving those profits. Talk to me and find out more. | |
| BUILDING A GOOD WORD OF MOUTH | |
Referrals and person recommendations are among the most cost-effective forms of marketing. Some pointers
to help you are:
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| WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT | |
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If you like our work, recommend us to a friend. If you are not happy with our work, please call me and
let's talk about it. We will both appreciate it.
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Remember, "It's not what you make that counts, it's what you keep."
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| AIRLINE EXCISE TAX | |
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No one is rushing to tell you about this, but if you bought airline tickets anytime during 1995 for
travel in 1996, you paid a tax that died. The 10% airline ticket tax lapsed in late 1995, but airlines
charged the tax on prepaid tickets until that lapse.
Some corporate and very few individual travelers have received refunds of the erroneously collected tax. Someone has estimated that travelers are due some $170million plus! If you think you qualify, call the IRS and ask for Form 8849. File a claim for refund. It's your money anyway.
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| INTERNET ACCESS | |
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We are officially kahan@rak-1.com (that is a "one" and not a small
"L") and an active user of the INTERNET. You can E-mail us from any service connected to the NET. Our
Internet provider is the Xensei Corporation of Quincy. Because of
the information that is available, a subscription to a site on the Internet can be far more valuable than
any individual on-line service. For more information about Xensei and a reasonably priced and easy to
use unlimited-time local internet access, call me or E-mail
info@xensei.com.
This issue of TAX TIPS AND FACTS will appear on our own World Wide Web (WWW) page, making it available to the rest of the WORLD. You can find us at (our URL is) http://www.rak-1.com/. Last month, our Web site had 11,328 "hits" from as many as 31 different countries. The busiest time was on Tuesdays from 10 to 11 in the morning.
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| ONE PERSON LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES | |
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A Boston Bar Association Tax Force has drafted legislation to allow ONE PERSON Limited Liability
Companies. The potential to this form of entity will be far-ranging because of all of the practitioners
(such as attorneys, CPA's doctors, and other professionals) and solo businesspersons in the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts. Some states have this provision, but Massachusetts still limits LLC participation to
two or more people.
Our thanks to Attorney J. Patrick Dowdall of Dowdall & Associates, P.C. in Boston for drafting the new legislation. Pat, the Task Force Co-chairperson, said this would make it a "Simpler mode of operation" which will provide limited liability as well as tax benefits to the practitioner. If you think you fit into the solo practitioner category and can benefit from an LLC entity for you, call your state Representative and state Senator and tell him/her of your support for this important legislation. Quoted with permission of J. Partick Dowdall, Esq.
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| No one is required to pay more in taxes than the law demands. If you pay too much, you have less resources to meet your other financial goals. We can help find tax deductions and credits, and help you plan so your taxes will be as low as possible, year after year. And we can also assist you with business and estate tax planning. | |
| CHARITABLE DEDUCTIONS | |
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Some CPA's are warning clients to verify whether a charity is qualified as a tax-exempt organization as a
501(c)(3) entity. To make sure your deduction is valid, we suggest you check an organization's status on
the IRS's WEB site at <www.irs.usstreas.gov>. The "<>"
allows Internet users to link to the IRS WEB site by clicking the mouse on the Internet address.
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| FEATURES WANTED | |
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We want to feature our clients in future editions of TAX TIPS AND FACTS. If you would like to have a
FREE spot to sell us on your company, its products or services, simply send us a brief story about your
company, an overview of your company's products and future plans. We may edit the information and
include it in a future edition. Send the information to Roger A. Kahan, CPA via mail,
E-mail or FAX it.
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| TAX TIP OF THE WEEK | |
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I am now writing a TAX TIP OF THE WEEK that is distributed over the Internet to a select list of people
each week. Some items will appear in the printed monthly version. If you would like to be included in
the weekly electronic distribution, just send me your E-mail address by E-mail, snail-mail, telephone or
fax.
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| NEW WAYS TO GET TAX INFORMATION | |
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Now you are no longer limited to calling, writing, or visiting the IRS to get information about taxes.
The IRS is providing several electronic ways to get what you need.
Internet
WWW: http://www.irs.ustreas.gov FTP: ftp.irs.ustreas.gov Telenet: iris.irs.ustreas.gov IRS Electronic Bulletin Board (IRIS): (703) 321-8020 IRS Tax Fax provides 100 of the most frequently requested tax forms as well as other information. From your fax machine dial (703) 487-4160. Follow the voice prompts and key in your response. Select up to three items during a single call. These items are immediately faxed back.
CD-ROM of Tax Forms
TeleTax: 1-800-829-4477
Recorded Tax Information has about 140 recorded topics that provide basic tax information. You can listen to up to three topics on each call you make. This touch-tone service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Select, by number, the topic you want to hear. For the directory of topics, listen to topic 123. Have paper and pencil handy to take notes. Tax Forms and Publications: 1-800-829-3676 Tax Assistance: 1-800-829-1040
IRS Small Business Affairs Office
To contact the Small Business Affairs Office write to: Other agencies that may provide information for your business:
Social Security Administration
Department of Labor
Department of Commerce
Small Business Administration 1-800-8-ASK-SBA
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| SURGE PROTECTION IS NEEDED | |
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Providers of electric power keep threatening to selectively lower power to certain areas of coverage as a
means of making sure everyone has some electricity. This is very important to all of us during times of
high power use. Did you suffer a "brown-out" this summer? We did several times and had to completely
shut down our computer operation because of one long-term power shortage. Fortunately, our supplier
(Mass Electric) realized there wasn't enough power coming down the line to our end of the street and
installed a new transformer (or some such thing) to push the power further.
Although surge protection technology may not be much different than it was 20 years ago, that is not stopping manufacturers of computer, audio and video systems from pointing out that power conditioning products are needed now more than ever to protect the thousands of dollars consumers and businesses have invested in those systems. Manufacturers of surge protection and Uninteruptable Power Systems are now educating sales associates and their customers on the merits and the needs of power protection. Think about it. What would it cost you to replace your computer system? What would it cost to replace all of your data? How long would your company be WITHOUT the computer support? What would that do to your business? By the way, we have been using UPS (uniteruptable power systems) on each computer (and some audio systems) for several years. This allows us to efficiently (and without panic) shut down our systems without a "crash."
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| ALL IN THE FAMILY | |
Family businesses should be wary when choosing business advisors (such as: CPA, Attorney, Broker,
Insurance Consultant). Because family businesses are such a diverse group, we suggest that the chosen
experts should bring to the relationship the following characteristics:
Thanks to Accounting Today for this information.
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| A MARK GLADSTONE JOKE | |
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A Job Interview:
Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked the young MBA fresh out of MIT, "And what starting salary were you looking for?" The candidate said, "In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package." The HR Person said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years - say, a red Corvette?" The Engineer sat up straight and said, "Wow!!! Are you kidding?" And the HR Person said, "Certainly, ...but you started it."
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TAX TIPS AND FACTS is published periodically by Roger A. Kahan, CPA. Subscription is free to clients,
prospective clients and friends of Roger A. Kahan, CPA. If you know of someone interested in a
subscription to TAX TIPS AND FACTS allowing him or her to obtain valuable comments on national,
Massachusetts or local tax issues, call (781) 963-RAK-1.
The information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources I believe to be reliable at the time of writing, but I do not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation by me of the purchase or sale of any securities or other investment. This material, or any portions thereof, may not reproduced without prior written permission of Roger A. Kahan, CPA. |
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