Get Ready for Tax Time

In today’s economic climate it pays to be smart and could mean the difference between an okie dokie tax refund and a real nice fat one.

Tax

Lots of people have taken jobs where they get tips: waitress, waiter, delivery person, etc… You’ll want to keep track of those tips. Not only are you supposed to claim them, but  it could make you thousands of dollars. The figures vary every year, so I won’t bore you with the numbers but in order to qualify for the earned income credit, you have earned income. Right?

Well, up to a certain point, the more you make, the more earned income credit you get. So, claiming that extra $5,000 in tips could net you a tidy sum when it comes to tax time.  Every little bit helps. I’ll tell you another secret.

We keep all our  receipts, that way when we do our taxes some things that we didn’t think were tax  deductible  were actually deductible. I just put them in a folder marked business or personal, but I always check back through the personal stuff, just in case I missed something.

If you find a mistake, you can go back and amend a return for three years.

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What Candidate?

Non-newsworthy 2008 election candidates and their issues.

Watching the network news channels, specifically Fox News and CNN, a viewer would be led to believe there are only two candidates running in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election: Some black guy named Obama that no ones ever heard of and the infamous Hillary Clinton, feminist champion in the flesh.

On a side-note, why is it that so called “feminist” supporters tend to look so masculine. After all, I can’t think of a soul that would make the mistake of calling Hillary feminine. She will never achieve the imperial air of the illustrious matriarchal figure, Barbara Bush. Now she has the look of a great woman, even if her sons both deserved a few more trips to the woodshed in their earlier years.

At any rate…

Congressman Ron Paul announced his candidacy several weeks ago.

Now this is a guy you can get excited about. He is honest and isn’t afraid to stand-alone as he’s shown it in the past. Patriots across the country were pulling for him last year, when he introduced a bill intent on abolishing the income tax.

Talk about a guy with no fear…just try taking on the IRS sometime.

It’s like David and Goliath, kind of a one-sided battle. Of course David does manage to come out on top once in while, but who wants to be David – and have to fight the battle in the first place?

My point is not that Congressman Ron Paul is in the race but that there are at least 16 other campaigns, which have been announced as of this writing, why aren’t we hearing about them? Is it not news in this country when a man decides to seek public office, let alone the highest office in the country?

When a man — a sitting Congressman isn’t considered news worthy or relevant to this election, voters can assume one of two things: Either certain candidates are subsidizing the news, namely organizations backing women or minorities, or the station is biased toward certain candidates.

If the major news networks want to be seen as “fair and balanced,” they must start telling voters the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Stop making up ignorant news stories about “Hillary” and start reporting real news.

Who knows? Maybe 2008 will be the year that voters finally make up their minds to vote their hearts and minds, instead of voting for “the lesser of two evils.” Evil will always be evil, no matter how you dress it up.

America was never intended to be the two-party system the Congress has created. We, as voters, have a duty and obligation to vote for the best “person,” not the best “party.”

Who’s reaching out to the young people? Have you encouraged a young person or even a senior citizen to get out there and vote? Sometimes they just need a ride or someone to remind them.

Parents, are you discussing politics with your children? Do they understand the voting process? Don’t leave it up to schools or others to educate your child on not only the mechanics of voting but also on discuss your own views and listen to theirs. Take a part in the process. It’s a huge opportunity to talk to friends, family members, neighbors and co-workers.

Some crazy person started a rumor that it is impolite to discuss religion and politics. How will you ever expand your thinking? How will you gain a real education, unless you can calmly and rationally discuss your views?

If you think you can really gain an understanding of the important issues (however they are defined) by reading/watching or listening to the major news outlets, you are missing the boat. You are accepting the lies being told and having all the issues framed for you.

For a true understanding of the process and the issues you must actively participate.

  • Attend a local speaking event. Your local college, community organization, or local lobbying groups often host local forums. Call your legislators’ local office and ask for a listing of scheduled events. Many even have weekly roundtable meetings.
  • Volunteer for your local candidate by stuffing envelopes, manning the phones, walking a beat or handing out fliers. There are a great many positions that need to be filled in any candidacy.
  • Host a political blog, website or e-mail newsletter.
  • Contact your candidate; make an appointment to meet with him/her or send an e-mail with your questions and concerns.

One lady just gushed on CNN, “I’m so excited I have so many choices.” Who is she kidding? If CNN doesn’t cover it, it didn’t happen. While they are busy peddling Hillary to us with a shovel, other worthy 2008 candidates are left begging for money so they can purchase enough air time get a foot in the race.

There is something seriously wrong with our system. This is still America isn’t it? Home of the free, land of the brave! Some how that is not the image we are seeing.

I’ll leave you with one word:

VOTE!

Related Articles

U.S. Tax Returns, Identity Theft and H&R Block

by: Shawn K. Hall and Annette M. Hall
Updated: April 1, 2011

What you don’t know could hurt you

You simply can’t be too careful these days, so you do your best to protect your personal data.

  • You purchased a crosscut shredder and never put anything with your name, address, phone number or social security number in the trash until it’s been through chewy.
  • You update your computer software regularly.
  • Regularly run virus and spyware protection software on your computer.
  • You don’t sign the back of your credit cards but instead you write “See ID.”
  • You have a credit report ran at least once a year as recommended by credit experts.

So, you’re safe right?

Despite your best efforts to protect your family members from identity theft, the entire situation could be well out of your hands and the situation is sure to get worse before it gets better.

55 Million Americans at Risk for ID Theft

According to a USA Today report made last week, last year was the worst ever for computer security breaches. At least 130 security breaches put more than 55 million Americans at risk for ID theft last year.

The Arizona Daily Star reports: “Big companies suffered significant data losses last month that could have a big impact on individuals. Last week, the time-share unit of Marriott broke the news to 206,000 employees and customers that key personal data, such as Social Security numbers and credit card numbers, went missing after backup computer tapes disappeared from an Orlando office.”

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg. In the past couple of years the situation has spiraled out of control. Only a handful of states even have mandatory notification laws requiring companies who have suffered a lost of data to notify their customers. This means that if your local dentists office has their computer stolen, with all of your medical and personal records on it, you may or may not be told of the breach.

According a story in The Journal News: In March 2005, ChoicePoint, a Georgia-based information broker, revealed that the personal data of hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states had been compromised. The revelation came only because a California law required customer notification of data theft.

We can expect the situation to continue to worsen due not only to computer theft and dishonest employee’s but also, due to the increased amount of personal information being outsourced to foreign countries like India.

Your Personal Tax Return

According to Kansas City Business Journal – H&R Block has about 25 percent of its work force in Kansas City and about 1,000 employees in India. Block claims that its work force in India is better educated than its work force in the United States. Block’s India operation scores better than its equivalent U.S. operations on measures of efficiency and customer satisfaction, Ernst said, and the company’s workers in India do their jobs for about one-fifth the amount its U.S. workers get paid.

In another USA Today article published in February of 2004, we learn “tax experts say Indian chartered accountants – the subcontinent’s version of certified public accountants (CPAs) – will prepare 150,000 to 200,000 returns this year (2004), up from about 20,000 in 2003.”

Folks, when you have someone prepare your tax return, you are putting a great deal of faith in that individual or company. They will have access to not only your income and expenses but your address, social security number, phone number and even your children’s names and date of birth.

Speaking Social Security Numbers, the following letter went out last week from H&R Block, Kansas headquarters to select clients. Apparently, someone made a huge mistake. So far this blunder has somehow been kept out of the news. The company is claiming there is nothing to worry about but… well I’ll let you be the judge.

Dear Customer,
Recently we mailed you a free copy of our TaxCut software. We believe that this complimentary software will meet your 2006 tax preparation needs, based on our prior experience with you as an H&R Block client. We hope that you will try TaxCut and find it to be a great solution for filing your next tax return.

However, since we sent you this CD, we have become aware of a mail production situation that has affected a small percentage of recipients, including you. Due to human error in developing the mailing list, the digits of your social security number (SSN) were used as part of your mailing label’s source code, a string of more than 40 numbers and characters. Fortunately, these digits were embedded in the middle of the string, and they were not formatted in any manner that would identify them as an SSN.

Nevertheless, we sincerely apologize for this inadvertent error, which is completely inconsistent with out strict policies to protect our clients’ privacy. Our internal policies limit the use of client SSNs for purposes other than tax preparation. Furthermore, our internal procedures require that mailing source codes are formulated in a manner that excludes use of any sensitive or confidential information. Please know that we have conducted a thorough internal review of this matter, and are taking actions to ensure this does not re-occur.

Again, please understand that the digits of your SSN were embedded in the middle of a lengthy source code, and they were not formatted in a manner that identifies them as an SSN. As a result, we believe that exposure of your SSN digits was limited to you alone, since you are the only person who would recognize their significance. Nonetheless, we suggest that you destroy the wrapper and mailing label of the free TaxCut CD we sent you. If you would like more information about this incident, please visit www.taxcut.com/answers, a special Website that contains additional details and an e-mail link for contacting us with your questions.

On behalf of more than 100,000 associates of H&R Block, allow me to apologize for this unfortunate situation. Through 50 tax seasons, H&R Block has earned a reputation as a valued, trustworthy ally to our clients, and we sincerely hope that you will find the free TaxCut CD and our information packed taxcut.com Website to be helpful tools for the 2006 tax filing season.

Sincerely,

Tom Allanson
Senior Vice President & General Manager
H&R Block Digital Tax Solutions
4400 Main Street Kansas City, MO 64111
www.taxcut.com

I wonder if anyone is going to inform Mr. Allanson that this “lengthy” source code is only 40 digits, and an SSN is nine digits. All it would take is one person to figure out where their own SSN was placed within this “lengthy” string and then they can abuse the data for every other string they see (perhaps that is why many of the disks were never received?) Coincidence? I think not.

I also wonder if Mr. Allanson is aware that Social Security Numbers meet certain numerical pattern methods that would facilitate extrapolating the SSN even if the attacker did not know where the number began within this “lengthy” string.

But I guess I expect too much from the guy selected to write the corporate spin.

It’s a moot point.

Of course it’s bad press to be caught exposing this information about your customers to anyone who wants to look at your mail. It’s bad form to have this information available in plain sight. That’s a given. And we should be outraged. But in the long run, this is small potatoes from a company that is known to offshore this same information to locations in India where the information is collected and processed by foreigners with no relationship with our government. They can’t even be punished if they choose to collect and abuse the information for themselves.

That’s a horrible thought, isn’t it? All of your business, residential, major expenses and income details being sent to someone who is paid far less than what a 16 year old in the US would make flipping burgers. What is tying these people to the ethical standards we hold our own citizens to? Oh, don’t forget that the institutions “training” these staff have repeatedly been called for assisting or enabling students to cheat their way through college exams. Sure, that’s ethical.

But it’s not like they’d actually exploit or sell this information, is it? Well, actually, yes. It is. If a call center worker in India can collect and sell details on a thousand bank accounts, where the information would be far more limited than what a tax consulting agency would provide, no lack of potential for abuse exists.

That’s okay. You can excuse yourself from the whole situation by just not using H&R Block, TaxCut and other services that offshore your data, right? Not exactly.

The problem is grossly exacerbated by the fact that US Government-related organizations, like the RNC, have elected to offshore their data as well, including everything from donations to affiliation. And the government (as you can see with the Truth in Taxation hearings) doesn’t believe it needs to answer to We The People. That makes it even harder to enforce data collection and sharing laws imposed on corporations like H&R Block.

I guess it still boils down to the same simple solution from generations ago. Our nations founders believed that the further away from you the authority was placed, the less it could provide any local value. If you’re willing to let anyone – H&R Block, TaxCut, the RNC, or even Uncle Sam, collect information about you, our finances or your habits, you are giving them the opportunity to exploit you. And they will.