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STRATEGIC ISSUES...ONLINE 
For week of December 5, 2005, Issue #239
 
Featured Articles:
1.  IRS Announces 2006 Standard Mileage Rate
2.  Focus on Fraud: Corporate & Identity Theft, Part 7 - Notes
3.  Tech Tip Weekly: Changing the Cursor
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
 
1.  IRS Announces 2006 Standard Mileage Rate
 
The Internal Revenue Service issued the 2006 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
 
Beginning January 1, 2006, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:
 
- 44.5 cents per mile for business miles driven;
-18 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and
-14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations, other than activities related to Hurricane Katrina relief.
 
The new rate for business miles compares to a rate of 40.5 cents per mile for the first eight months of 2005.  In September, the IRS made a special one-time adjustment of the last four months of 2005, raising the rate for business miles to 48.5 cents per mile in response to a sharp increase in gas prices, which topped $3 a gallon.
 
For the first eight months of 2005, the standard rate for miles driven for medical or moving purposes was 15 cents per mile, and, except for special Hurricane Katrina rates, the standard rate for miles driven in service of a charitable organization was 14 cents per mile.
 
For the last four months of 2005, the agency raised the standard rate for miles driven for medical or moving purposes to 22 cents per mile.  The standard rate for charitable miles remained at 14 cents per mile - except for charitable miles relating to Hurricane Katrina.
 
Congress this year also approved special rates in connection with miles driven in service of charities providing Hurricane Katrina relief.
 
For the period August 25 to August 31, 2005, the rate for miles driven for charities providing Hurricane Katrina relief is 29 cents, for deduction purposes, and 40.5 cents, for reimbursement purposes.  For the months of September through December 2005, the special Katrina-related charitable rates will be 32 cents per mile for deduction purposes and 44.5 cents per mile for reimbursement purposes.
 
 
2.  Focus on Fraud - Corporate & Identity Theft, Part 7 - Notes
 
Identity Crimes Entrenched - Background
 
"Identity marketing" has become as prevalent as information technology, database management, etc.
 
Need for business standards of information security never been great.
 
We aggregate, consolidate and disseminate worldwide -
 
-Names
Addresses
SSNs
Other personal information of US citizens
 
From birth to beyond death, our SSN puts us in databases ad finitum. 
 
Many people share first, middle and last names, but everybody has own 9-digit SSN.
 
Small and large businesses use computerized systems to track everything based upon SSNs of employees and customers.
 
SSNs have become a financial commodity for many businesses.
 
Identity marketing explains why "opting out" of direct marketing lists is really only temporary.
 
Identity thieves sell marketing lists on the street over and over, which is a crime.
 
Part 8 - Notes...next week Identity Crime Entrenched - Databases
 
 
3.  Tech Tip Weekly:  Changing the Cursor
 
If you think the default cursor is boring (or difficult to see), MS Windows gives you the option of changing it.  Just be careful not to change it to another standard cursor (for example, changing the Normal Select cursor to the Busy hourglass cursor).  This could prove slightly confusing for you and completely baffling to anybody else who works on your computer.  If you make a choice and decide it was a mistake, click the Use Default button on the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box to return a selected cursor to its default choice.
 
To change the cursor:
 
1.  Choose Start, Control Panel and double-click the Mouse link.
2.  Click the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog box.  Whatever theme you have displayed in Windows is the one that will be selected here with its cursors displayed.  To change to cursors used in other themes, select a theme from the Scheme drop-down list.
3.  Click the Normal Select (or any other) cursor in the Customize list, and then click the Browse button.
4.  In the resulting Browse dialog box, click the views button and choose Thumbnails.
5.  Click a cursor file icon and then click Open.
6.  Click Apply to see whether you're happy with your cursor choice, and when you are, click Ok to exit.
 
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