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STRATEGIC
ISSUES...ONLINE
For week of February 21, 2005,
Issue #200
Featured Articles:
1. Make Life Easier By
Organizing Your Tax Records
2. Internet Fraud and Identity
Theft
3. Tech Tip Weekly: Previewing
Your Pictures
4. Compliance Calendar
1. Make Life Easier By
Organizing Your Tax Records
Did you spend hours pulling together your tax records in preparation for
filing your 2004 tax return? It doesn't have to be that way. Avoid the
problem next year by taking a few simple steps now.
-First, decide what records you need to keep. For the current year,
you'll need records of income items and deductible expenses. Use last
year's tax return as a guide.
-You'll also need to keep some items for longer periods. For example, you
may need purchase records for your house and other investments years later
to calculate your capital gains.
-Set up a filing place for each category. Use folders or plastic pouches
for paper records, such as charitable receipts, property tax payments, and
mortgage reports.
-If you manage your banking and finances online, open up a series of
folders on your hard drive. Save copies of electronic statements or
transaction receipts in the relevant folder. Remember to make regular
data backups.
-Then stay current with your records as you go through the year. It's
easier to spend a few minutes each month than to waste hours
reconstructing everything at the end of twelve months.
-At the end of each month, highlight income and deduction items in your
check register. Use one color for charitable contributions, another for
work expenses, and so on. You can do this whether you keep your register
on paper or on a computer. Make sure any associated receipts are filed
away correctly.
-At year-end, you should know exactly what falls into each category and
where the records are.
Remember, the better your recordkeeping, the better your chances of
maximizing tax breaks.
2. Internet Fraud & Identity
Theft
Don't become a victim. In recent months, there has been a proliferation
of e-mails that appear to be from legitimate banks, but are designed to
trick you into revealing private information. This scam is called "phishing,"
and the number of victims is on the rise. You don't have to be one of
them.
Appearances are meant to be deceiving. If you didn't know better, you
could be fooled. The fraudulent e-mail can look convincingly like the
e-mail banks would send online customers of new product launches. Some
appear to show exact replicas of the banks' web page.
Legitimate banks should never:
-Send e-mail that requires you to enter personal information directly into
the e-mail.
-Send e-mail threatening to close your account if you do not take the
immediate action providing personal information.
-Send e-mail asking you to reply by sending personal information.
-Send e-mail asking you to enter your User ID, password or account numbers
into the e-mail or non-secure webpage.
3. Tech Tip Weekly:
Previewing Your Pictures
MS Windows XP make it easy to peek inside your graphics files. Instead of
displaying a folder full of bland icons, MS Windows XP transform each icon
into a thumbnail-sized preview of the file's contents.
That makes it a lot easier to find the picture of Kitty eating the bamboo
leaves after you dump 63 cat pictures into the same folder.
To turn on the previews, open the folder with the pictures, click View
from its menu, and choose Thumbnails from the drop-down menu. MS Windows
immediately replaces the icons with previews of your graphics and photos.
4. Compliance Calendar
February 24
-Employers deposit Social Security, Medicare and withheld income tax for
payments on February 16, 17, and 18.
February 25
-Employers deposit Social Security, Medicare and withheld income tax for
payments on February 19, 20, 21, and 22.
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Marks, LLP for our clients and other interested persons. The
information presented may or may not apply to your facts and
circumstances and should not be acted upon without professional
advice.
Prangley Marks, LLP
Accountants and
Consultants
"The Way We Figure,
We Are The Only CPA Firm You
Will Ever Need"
333 Bridge Street,
NW, 11th Floor Bridgewater
Place, Grand Rapids, MI
49504-5356
Phone#:
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616-774-9081