Death And Taxes

It’s been said there are two certainties: death and taxes.  Well I’m not dead (yet) but I do owe taxes this year  - again.  Maybe I should become an enrolled agent and go work for the IRS.  In any case, if you find yourself in a similar pickle, here’s what to do:

The first thing to do is fill out a tax return so you know exactly how much you owe. Once your accountant  (or you if you do it on your own) verifies the amount,  prepare your return and submit it.  Bear in mind that there are penalties and monthly interest charges monthly the IRS charges if you pay after the deadline. The longer you wait the higher your debt. Once you know your current balance, there are several payment options.

1. Full payment If you are within your means to pay the total of your debt, you will avoid most penalties and interest. You can do this in several ways: by sending a check or money order payable to the Internal Revenue Service at the address listed in the letter received, or by bank transfer from your bank account.  If you want to make your payment with a debit or credit card, you can use a third party site for that too – Official Payments Corporation at 888-872-9829, WorldPay, Inc. at 888-972-9829.These companies usually charge a fee for card payments.
2. Payment terms If you need more time to pay, the IRS gives you a period of 120 days to pay your debt without charge, but interest will continue to accrue until the balance is paid in full.
3. Installment Payment Agreement If you can not pay your entire debt immediately or within 120 days, you can make a payment agreement. You must determine the amount you can pay monthly. Once the agreement is made, payments can be sent in several ways: as a bank transfer from your bank account each month, automatic deduction from your paycheck, online payment or by telephone using your debit or credit card. You can also make your payment arrangement by calling the telephone number included on your bill.
4. Settlement If you feel your financial situation does not allow you to pay your total debt and you do not think that will change to allow so in the future, you have the option to make an offer to the IRS. This offer will allow you to decide how much you can pay the total of your debt. An offer in compromise does not automatically mean your debt is reduced to the amount offered. The IRS will review your offer and decide if it is approved or rejected. The fee for processing your offer is $ 150, which is not refundable.

So there you have it – your options if you owe the IRS.  Or  go take an enrolled agent course and go work for the IRS

The A List

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of infofree for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

No we are not talking about celebrities here, but a list of prospects or sales leads. One of the most important objectives of any online business should be to start building a prospect list as soon as possible. Building a list of people who are interested in what you have to offer is very powerful. Think about it – its your start to gaining customers and sales.

By having a mailing list of prospects, you can generate traffic when you want, present them with  new offers or promote other people’s products as an affiliate to them. How do you generate a mailing list? You can go the traditional route and create a campaign with Google Adwords and send traffic to a landing “squeeze” page and ask for their contact info in return for a free ebook. That takes time and money, especially when managing Adword campaigns.  Why  not buy a list instead? For instance, infofree 

The offer 50 different types of categories to find leads. And they don’t put artificial limits on your number of searches or downloads. You can geo-target by zip code, you can even target those over 65 years of age. All for way less expensive than running adwords ads: it’s only $39.95 a month with this special promo code: BLOG39

A constant stream of revenue requires a constant stream of prospects. Building a list is essential to achieving online success.  Leverage a quality lead gen company and reap the rewards of fresh, targeted easy sales leads to market too.

Don’t Just Watch TV

King Kong verses Godzilla – you know the scene. It aptly applies to two big monsters in the satellite TV space, namely Direct TV and DISH Network.  Which is better?  Many people often find themselves in a predicament because they are ready switch to Sat TV, but are unable to make the choice between the two, including me. When I bought my house last year, the only cable provider available was/is Bright House, and they are horrible.  So it’s off to shopping for a better offering. So which monster is the winner?

My advice is to have a close look at the programming packages both providers offer.  I found a website that compares the two for you: DX3. Although both have similar packages and technology, the difference lies in the program options. Both offer regional sports packages.  But are you a football fan? Well DirecTV is the exclusive provider of NFL Sunday Ticket. Both offer free HD  and music channels.   but it seems as if DirecTV offers more sports in HD, your local channels in HD and provides HD in 1080p.

According to statistics, DirecTV has been No. 1 in consumer satisfaction and on average provides about 30% more channels over Dish. And I must admit, I’m a sucker for DirectTV’s commercial and new tag line: Don’t just watch TV, DirecTV.

If you want the best entertainment experience for your money, you won’t get it from DISH or cable. I guess I need DX3 DIRECT TV.

 

Nichey Niche

A niche by any other name, is a niche…

We get a lot of inquiries on niche marketing.  So lets review: A niche market is quite simply a segment of a more general market that you can offer a product or a service to. For instance, a subset of  the literal mailbox market could be cluster mailboxes or cbu mailboxes, for residential, industrial and commercial use.  Since these are specific type of mailboxes, a company selling these has chosen a unique niche.

The question usually follows is: Do I have to choose a niche market?  The answers is – it’s highly recommended, mainly for three reasons.

1. All virtual businesses should focus on servicing a particular market niche. If you don’t focus on one or two things, you run the risk of trying to many things and none of them well.

2. The second reason is communication.  With your online business, you will be communicating across the web to a specific market that you have solutions to their specific problems. That communication must be accurate so they can understand what you are offering and feel your product or service will provide the needed solution. If your communication is very generic and/or not relevant, it will be hard for your prospecta to trust your offerings.

3. Finally, another reason why you should choose a niche market is  that doing so can pave the way to expanding your offerings and grow your business.  As an example, you discover a niche, say approved cluster mailboxes,  you begin to study that niche and when you know it’s inherent problems, you begin to find or create multiple solutions for these problems.

The internet as a whole is not a mass market. It needs to be broken down into chunks or segments for the small marketer to tackle (unless you have millions of dollars to create a universal brand).  Your virtual business will be built on the desires and solutions that a select group of people have. You need to speak to your prospect as if he were right in front of you, concise and direct, and the only way to do that effectively is by choosing a niche.

Hungry, Hungry HIPAA

Congratulations!  Your one man operation has grown into a multi-employee business.  You even offer benefits (albeit small one). However, there some big guidelines you will need to comply with, especially when it comes down to insurance.

In recent years, the federal government has developed standards to ensure safety and efficiency of transmission of information related to health care and to protect privacy in the use and disclosure, pursuant to a statute commonly known as HIPAA, the law of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. It’s two main objectives are to protect health insurance for workers if they change jobs and to protect your private health information, while at work. If thats the case, employers need to set up some security measures to ensure the confidentiality of employee records.  Some of this must be learned.  I did a HIPAA training search and here are some of the things gleaned:

High Level Overview

HIPAA requires employers to maintain employee health information secure and confidential. Personal Health Information (PHI) regulations apply mainly to providers of health care, but in certain circumstances, could be applied to employers. For example, if an employee has a disability, employers can access their PHI to make reasonable accommodations for him. Employers must notify employees in writing of the circumstances in which third parties will have access to and what they will do with the PHI they receive.

Group Health Insurance

If an employer decides to offer health insurance, be aware of HIPAA regulations on privacy and health insurance. View HIPAA health insurance providers as separate from the company. With any health plan a company offers, employers must follow the privacy rules, such as not disclosing patient PHI without consent.

Exceptions

Are small businesses exempt from complying with HIPAA? No. There are no “small employer” exceptions under HIPAA. HIPAA’s definition of  covered healthcare plans  have either a) 50 or more eligible participants or b) have a third party administrator. This would mean that the only exception to the privacy rules is for small, self-administered group health plans. Since most small group health plans are not self-administered, most small business employers are subject to HIPAA privacy rules, even if they have less than 50 employees.

Penalties

If an employer violates any aspect of HIPAA, the employer may be subject to federal penalties. The federal government may impose a fine up to $100 per person per year to a max of $25,000 per year. Therefore, if an employer has 50 employees and gives access to each persons info once PHI without written authorization, the employer can be fined $ 500 for these violations, up to $25K.

Complying with HIPAA’s can be both expensive and complex. Noncompliance, however, can result in significant monetary sanctions. It behooves any employer then to thoroughly review its health plan practices and become educated on the practical requirements of the regulations.

Recipe For Success