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STRATEGIC ISSUES...ONLINE
For week
of November 28, 2005, Issue #238
1. Rules to
Let You Tap Into Your Retirement Savings
2. Focus on
Fraud: Corporate & Identity Theft, Part 6 - Notes
3. Tech Tip
Weekly: Checking a Hard Disk for Errors
4. Compliance
Calendar
If you would
like to have further information on any of these
articles, let us know. We would appreciate receiving
your comments and/or suggestions, anytime!
acarroll@pmcpa.com
acarroll@pmcpa.com
1. Rules to
Let You Tap Into Your Retirement Savings
IRAs and 401(k) plans offer
tax-favored ways to set aside money for your retirement.
But what if you need to tap into your savings before you
reach retirement? At a minimum, there's usually a penalty
if you withdraw funds before you reach age 59 1/2.
There are situations in which
you can access your savings without penalty, however. The
recent Hurricane Katrina legislation allows victims to
make penalty-free withdrawals from their retirement
accounts. And there are special circumstances in which
anybody can tap into their IRA or 401(k) accounts without
penalty.
First, though, a word of
caution. Your money is in these accounts to grow tax-free
and to provide for you in later years. You should
withdraw funds from these accounts only as a last resort.
Katrina victims
Obviously Katrina victims may
need immediate funds to begin rebuilding their lives.
They can spread the income taxes on the withdrawals over
three years. They can also re-contribute the money back
into their retirement plan within three years and those
taxes will be refunded. In effect, they can have three
years of penalty-free access to their retirement savings.
Others
Even if you're not a Katrina
victim, you can still get early access to your retirement
savings for certain hardship needs. These include paying
medical bills or insurance, higher education expenses, and
first-time homebuyer expenses, among others. Special
restrictions apply to most of these situations.
Leave your retirement savings
untouched if at all possible. But know that there may be
ways to access your money if you really need to. Please
contact our office if you would like more information.
2. Focus on
Fraud: Corporate & Identity Theft, Part 6 - Notes
Identity Theft:
Effects on Victims
Effects on
businesses -
Suffer from ---
-Financial institutions,
retail and service providers bear costs of fraudulently
purchased merchandise, services, etc.
-Business own identity used to
fraudulently purchase goods, services from other
businesses
-Criminals commonly use
business identities as MO to obtain identities of people
Examples ---
-Phishing expeditions to
fraudulently obtain customer SSNs, bank and credit card
numbers using bogus/legitimate websites
-Impersonation of business,
e.g. customer service telephoning to fraudulently update
addresses, phone numbers SSNs, bank account numbers, etc.
Business identity examples:
Company credit card, bank
account numbers
Payroll information on
employees
Passwords, access codes
for buildings and offices where financial records dept for
computers, etc.
Other effects ---
-Financial loss of
merchandise, other costs from business credit card and
bank account number thefts
-Lost customers learning of
lost personal identities stolen
-Lost employee time from
resolving issues of BIT
-Negative word-of-mouth
advertising
Media typically reports losses
as "estimates" however total losses very difficult to
gauge, therefore largely unknown.
Consequently, business
identity thefts and identity crimes negatively impact
managers, employees, the work environment, all levels.
Part 7 - Notes...next week
Identity Crime Entrenched
3. Tech Tip
Weekly: Checking a Hard Disk for Errors
Today's hard drives rarely
have errors, so you probably don't need to check for any.
But if you think your hard drive's acting strangely, and
defragmenting it doesn't fix the problem, tell MS Windows
XP to check it for errors. Open My Computer, right-click
on your hard drive, and choose Properties. Click the
Tools tab and click the Check Now button. (Leave the two
options blank.)
Click the Start button, and
you hear your drive whirring away as MS Windows probes it
for problems. If it finds any, follow the Windows
instructions for making repair attempts. Also start
saving your cash and backing up your data -- repeated
errors mean your hard drive may be on its last legs.
4. Compliance
Calendar
November 30
-Employers deposit Social
Security, Medicare and withheld income tax for payments
November 23, 24, and 25.
December 2
-Employers deposit Social
Security, Medicare and withheld income tax for payments
November 26, 27, 28, and 29.
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