Twitter Fights for User Rights

In this article by wired.com the author brings to our attention how Twitter responded to government pressure and court orders to reveal information on WikiLeaks and some of it's main personal.



And while many may not agree with how WikiLeaks did their release of classified information (I count my self in that group) we can all be proud of how Twitter stood up for the user rights of all of us who use Twitter.



For in this case as in most cases the government acquired their court order for the release of the information on these Twitter users through their normal rubber stamp channel and it contained the standard gag order they ask for in such cases as well.



This means that unless Twitter fights to have that order overturned they not only have to turn over the information requested they can't tell the user or anyone else it's been served with the order. So the user has no chance of even knowing that their information has been requested much less turned over to the agencies involved.



That goes against the whole principal of due process and the presumption of innocence as well as denies the right to protection against unwarranted search and seizure. People, except in the most damaging or dangerous of cases, including those involved in WikiLeaks deserve to know when and by whom they are being investigated. And they should have the right to appear and face those who accuse them in a court of law and in so doing have the right to demand their constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure.



Only then can a court order be said to have been obtained lawfully in such cases. And Twitter defended that principal by going to court and having the gag order overturned. Once that order was removed they then notified those named in the court order so as to allow them to both protect their information and to appear in court to fight their information being released.



For that Twitter deserves our respect and support. Taking on the government and protecting the rights of it's users from these kinds of stealth government fishing expeditions for information took courage and a stand for principal not often seen by companies today.



So thank you Twitter. You've shown remarkably great courage and strength of convection in taking on the fight for all of your users and I for one applaud you.



Now if we can just get other companies to quit rolling over and playing dead we can begin to have the privacy we are untitled to once again protected from those who seek to destroy it.

Amplify’d from www.wired.com

Twitter’s Response to WikiLeaks Subpoena Should Be the Industry Standard

Twitter beta-tested a spine.

On Friday, it emerged that the U.S. government recently got a court order demanding that Twitter turn over information about a number of people connected to WikiLeaks, including founder Julian Assange, accused leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, former WikiLeaks spokeswoman Birgitta Jonsdottir and WikiLeaks activist Jacob Appelbaum.

The request was approved by a magistrate judge in Alexandria, Virginia, where a federal grand jury is looking into charges against WikiLeaks related to its acquisition and publishing of U.S.-government classified information.

The court order came with a gag order that prevented Twitter from telling anyone, especially the targets, about the request’s existence.

To Twitter’s credit, the company didn’t just open up its database, find the information the feds were seeking (such as the IP and e-mail addresses used by the targets) and quietly continue on with building new features. Instead the company successfully challenged the gag order in court, and then told the targets their data was being requested, giving them time to try and quash the order themselves.

Twitter and other companies, notably Google, have a policy of notifying a user before responding to a subpoena, or a similar request for records. That gives the user a fair chance to go to court and try and quash the subpoena. That’s a great policy. But it has one fatal flaw. If the records request comes with a gag order, the company can’t notify anyone. And it’s quite routine for law enforcement to staple a gag order to a records request.

That’s what makes Twitter’s move so important. It briefly carried the torch for its users during that crucial period when, because of the gag order, its users couldn’t carry it themselves. The company’s action in asking for the gag order to be overturned sets a new precedent that we can only hope that other companies begin to follow.

The decision would be laudable in almost any situation, and may even be unprecendented by a massive tech firm. The only other gag orders I can think of that were challenged in court were those served on the Internet Archive, on a small library and on Nicholas Merrill, the president of the small New York City ISP Calyx Internet Access, who spent years resisting a National Security Letter order seeking information about one of his clients.

Even more remarkable, Twitter’s move comes as a litany of companies, including PayPal, Mastercard, VISA and Bank of America, follow the political winds away from the First Amendment, banning donations to WikiLeaks. And Amazon.com voluntarily threw the site off its hosting platform, even though there’s nothing illegal in publishing classified documents.

By standing up for its users, Twitter showed guts and principles. Much of it is likely attributable to Twitter’s general counsel Alexander Macgillivray. As security and privacy blogger Christopher Soghoian notes, Macgillivray was one of the first law students at Harvards’ Berkman internet law center and at in his previous job at Google “played a major role in getting the company to contribute takedown requests to chillingeffects.org.”

Of course, it’s not the first time tech companies have stood up to requests for user data. Google beat back a government order to turn over search logs in 2006, after AOL and Microsoft quietly acquiesced. We’ve seen ISPs stand up for their users when movie studios try to force ISPs turn over user information in mass peer-to-peer lawsuits. And just last year, Yahoo successfully resisted the Justice Department’s argument that it didn’t need a warrant to read a user’s e-mails once the user had read them.

But there’s not yet a culture of companies standing up for users when governments and companies come knocking with subpoenas looking for user data or to unmask an anonymous commenter who says mean things about a company or the local sheriff.

In the WikiLeaks probe, it’s not yet clear whether the feds dropped the same order on other companies.

Regardless, Twitter deserves recognition for its principled upholding of the spirit of the First Amendment. It’s a shame that PayPal, Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America and the U.S. government all failed — and continue to to fail — at their own versions of that test. Read more at www.wired.com

 

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How to Become More Intelligent - by Dumb Little Man

How to Become More Intelligent - by Dumb Little Man

In this article the writer points out some simple but basic thoughts on how to keep the mind sharp and stay abreast of events in the world.

And while none of it is earth-shattering or new he does remind us of those basics we need to think about to stay on top of our game.

I would only add that he's got caught up in detail and missed the important fact that it's staying mentally active that underlies all of these and other activities that we can find to keep us sharp.

For it's not so much if we spend our time reading, checking out things on line, or even as he says watching TV. It's that we keep our minds nimble and active by challenging them.

So while for some it's a good book for others it's a video game. And often just some time to reflect and consider the world around us with a moment of inter reflective though can bring the mind to grasp new thoughts and ideas. Remember thinkers like Einstein and Gandhi used only their own thoughts to expand not only their minds but the minds of the world.

That means we have to spend our day doing more than just killing time it means working at find things we like to do that expand and challenge who we are, what we know, and how we use that information in our daily lives.

So while this writer's topics are fine and thought provoking they are not inclusive enough to touch all the areas that we can find to stimulate our minds and our lives. But he's sure right that we need to make it a common practice and a daily goal to seek and find new ways to challenge ourselves.

For on any day we fail to learn something new we fail to expand our world and become just a little less than we could have been.

Surveying the Use of Technology and Social Media by Small Business

According to a Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute survey owners still trust and value business software and their company website(s) more than social media sites and services to operate their businesses more efficiently and acquire new customers.
Social media currently is an important tool primarily among women, millennials (under age 28), companies with 10 or more employees, and businesses that have experienced or expect to experience growth in revenue; the importance of social media drops with the age of the owners and businesses surveyed.

Important Small Business Tax Changes Under Affordable Care Act and Small Business Jobs Act of 2010

As most of you know the recent and last minute changes to the tax laws affecting small businesses were only part of the overall comprehensive change in tax laws, reporting requirements, and accounting procedures passed by our federal legislatures during this last year.

And good examples are both the Affordable Care Act and the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.

Both of these bill passed into law contain regulation covering many areas especially in regard to the issue of health care and its costs and reporting requirement for small business and the important area of deprecation deductions and allowances under 179 rules.

So it’s important to take the time to read and understand the issues that they both bring up for you and your business. And as always a good place to start is with the IRS and their guidance on these bills and how they are going to interpret and enforce them.

With that in mind I call your attention to the flowing IRS postings on these issues.

And while they are not complete in describing all the issues or areas of compliance that are raised by these new tax laws they do give good guidance on the subject in general and should help you to better understand what these laws effects are for both you and your business.

Amplify’d from www.irs.gov

Tax Changes for Small Businesses

During 2010, new laws, such as the Affordable Care Act and the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, created or expanded deductions and credits that small businesses and self-employed individuals should consider when completing their tax returns and making business decisions in 2011.

Health Insurance Deduction Reduces Self Employment Tax

With the enactment of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, self-employed taxpayers who pay their own health insurance costs can now reduce their net earnings from self-employment by these costs. Previously, the self-employed health insurance deduction was allowed only for income tax purposes. For tax year 2010, self-employed taxpayers can also reduce their net earnings from self employment subject to SE taxes on Schedule SE by the amount of self-employed health insurance deduction claimed on line 29 on Form 1040.

Taxpayers can claim the self-employed health insurance deduction if the insurance plan is established under their business and if any of the following are true:

• They were self-employed and had a net profit for the year,

• They used one of the optional methods to figure net earnings from self-employment on Schedule SE, or

• They received wages from an S corporation in which the taxpayer was a more-than-2-percent shareholder.

During tax year 2008, the most recent year for which data is available, the self-employed health insurance deduction was claimed on 3.6 million tax returns, reducing taxpayers’ adjusted gross incomes by $21 billion. Small Business Health Care Tax Credit

In general, the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit is available to small employers that pay at least half of the premiums for single health insurance coverage for their employees. It is specifically targeted to help small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that primarily employ moderate- and lower-income workers.

Small businesses can claim the credit for 2010 through 2013 and for any two years after that. For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small businesses and 25 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations. Beginning in 2014, the maximum tax credit will increase to 50 percent of premiums paid by eligible small business employers and 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations.

The maximum credit goes to smaller employers –– those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees –– paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less. The credit is completely phased out for employers that have 25 or more FTEs or that pay average wages of $50,000 or more per year. Because the eligibility rules are based in part on the number of FTEs, not the number of employees, employers that use part-time workers may qualify even if they employ more than 25 individuals.

Eligible small businesses will first use Form 8941 to figure the credit and then include the amount of the credit as part of the general business credit on its income tax return.

The IRS has developed a page on IRS.gov devoted to this credit with answers to frequently asked questions and with explanations of the credit through various tax scenarios.

General Business Credit for Employers

The general business credits of eligible small businesses in 2010 are not subject to alternative minimum tax The new law allows general business credits to offset both regular income tax and alternative minimum tax of eligible small businesses as described in Section 2012 of the Small Business Jobs Act. The provision is effective for any general business credits determined in the first taxable year beginning after December 31, 2009, and to any carryback of such credits. For a list of the general business credits, see Form 3800.

Small Businesses Can Benefit from Higher Expensing / Depreciation Limits

For tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011, small businesses can expense up to $500,000 of the first $2 million of certain business property placed in service during the year.

In general, businesses can choose to treat the cost of certain property as an expense and deduct it in the year the property is placed in service instead of depreciating it over several years. This property is frequently referred to as section 179 property, after the relevant section in the Internal Revenue Code.

Section 179 property is property that you acquire by purchase for use in the active conduct of your trade or business, including:

• Tangible personal property.

• Other tangible property (except buildings and their structural components) used as:

1. An integral part of manufacturing, production, or extraction or of furnishing transportation, communications, electricity, gas, water, or sewage disposal services; 2. A research facility used in connection with any of the activities in (1) above; or 3. A facility used in connection with any of the activities in (1) above for the bulk storage of fungible commodities.

• Single purpose agricultural (livestock) or horticultural structures.

• Storage facilities (except buildings and their structural components) used in connection with distributing petroleum or any primary product of petroleum.

• Off-the-shelf computer software.

Section 179 property generally does not include land, investment property (section 212 property), property used mainly outside the United States, property used mainly to furnish lodging and air conditioning or heating units.

The Small Business Jobs Act (SBJA) of  2010 increases the section 179 limitations on expensing of depreciable business assets for tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011 and expands temporarily the definition of section 179 property, for tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011, to include certain qualified real property a taxpayer elects to treat as section 179 property. Qualified real property means qualified leasehold improvement property, qualified restaurant property, and qualified retail improvement property.

The $500,000 amount provided under the new law is reduced, but not below zero, if the cost of all section 179 property placed in service by the taxpayer during the tax year exceeds $2 million.

For tax years beginning in 2012, the maximum amount is $125,000; before enactment of the 2010 tax relief legislation, it was set at $25,000. Read more at www.irs.gov

 

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Impact of Estate Tax Changes on Small Business Owners

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 again raises the issue of estate tax planning as it reinstates the estate tax and sets it's rate at 35% for estates of decedents dying in 2010 (for estates not electing old rules), 2011, and 2012.

And even though each decedent has an exemption amount of $5 million many small businesses will find that they still will have estate taxes due.

According to an American Family Business Foundation study 67% of all taxable estates will include small business interests. That means up to 22,000 farms, 14,000 real estate partnerships, and 29,000 privately-held corporations will be potentially liable for estate taxes in 2011.

So with these changes it's important that all business owners have their estate plans reviewed now by their tax advisers. Other wise it's quite possible that if the unforeseen happens there may be an unexpected visit by the tax collector that could have been reduced or avoided.

As always to be forewarned is to be prepared!

Does this New California Law Help or Hurt the Internet

With a law set to go into effect in California staring Today (Jan 1, 2011) making it a misdemeanor to impersonate someone on the internet the question is does this help or effect personal safety on the internet?



And it's raising some heated arguments that show just how hard it is to find ways to both protect people on the internet and still allow for people to seek anonymity on line.



It will be very interesting to see how this plays out and how California addresses the fact that most users of the internet, much less FaceBook, don't live in California. And like many laws that sound good it's going to be hard for that and other reasons to even enforce this law much less make it have any real effect in stopping internet impersonators.



So any thoughts on this and how it might change things. Does it even do more than cloud up the issue?

Amplify’d from www.allfacebook.com

Facebook Fakes Become Misdemeanors Starting 2011

Pretending to be someone else on Facebook, or anywhere else online, becomes a crime in California as of this Saturday.

The law specifically prohibits impersonating anyone online with the objective of harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding. Such acts become misdemeanors punishable by a fine up up to $1000 and a year in jail.

The author of the law, California Democratic state Senator Joe Simitian, represents the part of the state where Facebook has its headquarters. An article in the San Jose Mercury News quoted him saying:

As a Silicon Valley legislator, I’m nothing but enthusiastic about technology. But the question is, is the technology used wisely and appropriately? This is one area where some constraint appeared necessary… The goal here really is to try to change behavior…

This new law draws on the same framework used in California’s ban on forging documents.

An early draft of the legislation had upset free speech advocates who worried that that the measure would stifle free speech. So the law effective Saturday qualifies that the person who is impersonated has to be real and credible.

That makes it still legal to have profiles that are obvious parodies or fictional characters.

We’re wondering whether a California law would enable Facebook to prosecute impersonators based outside of the state, or the country for the matter. Presumably the location of the social network’s headquarters is what matters here.

How will this law help social media and Facebook in particular? Read more at www.allfacebook.com

 

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For a Good Laugh Check out these Flash Animation's

URL:  http://www.magicpen.net/Animation.html

I've got a friend I've known since high school that's a wonderful graphics artist and has a great time playing around with flash videos and cartoons as well. So if you want a chuckle for the day check out his flash cartoons on his site www.magicpen.net. And he's also available for any graphics or flash work you might be needing as well.

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/k5za

Great article and I've got nothing to add beyond re posting this article.



If you want to find a way to create an effective schedule for Tweeting www.flowtown.com have provided a great example of how one company crafts their schedule.



They have also shared some great tips and scenarios on using Twitter and how to make the most of this fabulous little marketing tool for you and your business too!

Amplify’d from www.flowtown.com

Put Your Best Tweet Forward: How to Schedule Tweets for Maximum Exposure

Twitter can be an amazing marketing tool. Some would say that strictly from a marketing perspective you get more bang for your (time) buck than you do out of Facebook. Those who find the most success with Twitter know something that others don’t: not all Tweets are created equal. Normally, it’s timing that has the most dramatic effect on success. On Twitter, timing is everything.

Understand The Timing

All of the tips below will go into specifics about techniques you should employ in your Twitter campaigns. They work, but only if you understand some basic Twitter time-etiquette. First, remember the Goldilocks Rule of Twitter Timing: “Don’t Tweet too much. Don’t Tweet too little. Tweet just right.”

People often ask, “How often should I Tweet?” The answer (and it’s not a cop-out) is, “As often as you need while respecting the rules of etiquette.”

An active Twitter account has many advantages. If you have an account with tens of thousands of quality followers, you will want to be in regular communication with them throughout the day. As most business owners check their emails several times during the day, so too should they check their Twitter.

There are three kinds of Tweets you’ll want to use. Replying to people who address you directly is a must and is arguably unlimited in scope. If eight people ask you something or say anything directly at you, replying to them is acceptable and necessary. People like to use Twitter as a communication tool and you won’t make people too upset if you’re popular. Replying to others means you’re active, so you won’t be breaking the Goldilocks Rule.

If you receive several communications per day, you can group them. If a couple of different people give you similar compliments, replying to them both in a single Tweet is fine. If you are not being Tweeted at a lot, you shouldn’t group the ones you get; reply individually.

The second kind of Tweet is conversational:

Searching for Tweets about your niche and starting or joining in on conversations is a good way for smaller accounts to get noticed and to get attached to the right hashtags.

The third, the “money Tweets”, are you marketing messages:

The Goldilocks Rule applies– some will go with one message a day. Others will go with several. It goes back to “as often as you need”. Overtweeting your messages will dilute them and may make some of your followers stop following you.

There is no magic number. It all depends on you, your audience, and circumstances surround the “now” of your messages. More on that at the end of this article.

Know Your Followers

Now that you know a little bit of Twittequette, having an understanding of who is getting the message is a key to knowing when to send the message. If you have a local business, it’s easy. People normally check Twitter in the early morning, before and after lunch, and at night before going to sleep.

For national or global businesses, it becomes more important to spread out your Tweets at different times. Most businesses that operate on a national level can let their Twitter account “sleep”. Even though it’s easy to schedule a Tweet at 3:00 am, your audience will be lower and having an un-manned Twitter account can lead to mistakes. For example, if you Tweet out a special or message at 2:30 am and someone replies, nobody will be there to answer them until much later that morning. However, for a global business, timing is dependent on exposure. Once you’ve sent out enough Tweets you will be able to put the data together and understand the best times to get your message across.

Tweet It Again, Sam

Scenario #1

You have the right message. You’ve molded it into the right piece of content. You have your shortened, tracked URL ready to go.

You’ve crafted the right mix of 110 characters (leaving 30 available for Retweets, of course). You Tweet it and…

… nothing happens.

Nobody clicks. Something went wrong. All of that work wasted. Time to start again with a new message, a new piece of… WAIT!

Don’t give up so easily. You can Tweet it again. And again. And…

Scenario #2

You just had the most successful Twitter post of your life. You Tweeted it in the morning and by mid-afternoon you had hundreds of Retweets and thousands of clicks. It’s time to put that one on the mantle and pat yourself on the back, but only for a brief moment before starting on the next super-amazing message…

WAIT! Just because you had success doesn’t mean you can’t have more success. You can Tweet it again. And again. And…

Depending on how often you have new content to Tweet and how time-sensitive your content is, you may be able to Tweet and Retweet content continuously. There are times when stories get very little posted in the morning but more when reposted in the afternoon. Sometimes, a story never takes off on Twitter, then reposted a week later yields opposite results. Strong content that’s still relevant can often be reposted weeks, even months later for a repeat of the same results.

Twitter will not allow you to post the exact same message over and over again, but you can change up hashtags to repost. All it takes is one different character for Tweets to pass through the duplication filter on Twitter.

Don’t get stuck repeating yourself over and over again, but as a general rule 5 or 6 Tweets in between makes reposting acceptable.

Creating A Scheduling Matrix

One thing that makes Twitter fun is discovery. People use it to learn the latest trends, hear the latest news, and share the latest content. Unless you’re a news organization, chances are you don’t have enough content to keep people engaged constantly. This is where a proper “Twitter Scheduling Matrix” comes into play. Spread your Tweets and reposts properly so that you can stick to a routine that fits both The Goldilocks Rule as well as the personality of your business. If you are Tweeting 5 “money Tweets” per day successfully and you’re only producing 5 pieces of content per week, you will have challenges keeping your Tweets relevant without the matrix.

We’ll use a local business as our example but the same principles can be expanded to fit whatever your business is doing. You have a blog that’s updated twice a week, daily specials, and a new video once per week. In your repository of old but relevant content, you have 30 blog posts and 15 videos. Below is an example of a scheduling matrix you can apply in this situation. This is an actual schedule for a local business in Southern California. The names of the blog posts and videos have been replaced with generic terms. Let’s take a look at the thought process day by day to understand why this matrix works for them:

Daily Special

Every day the special changes. They have one special and announce it at 7:00 am every morning, scheduled well in advance and posting like clockwork. They have a large number of “Twitter regulars” who look at this and often retweet it.

You will notice that Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday they post a different piece of content shortly after their daily specials. Because of the traffic they get on weekdays from their Daily Specials and retweets, they want to take advantage of people visiting their Twitter account. Wednesdays is the exception as the manager who monitors Twitter is making purchases that day.

Based upon “best times” they discovered through monitoring clicks on Su.pr (or other analytics programs) they plan the rest of their days accordingly.

Monday

Perhaps the world moves a little slower on Mondays as we start our work week. Regardless of the reason, the peaks in traffic occur about an hour later than other weekdays. Still, it’s a good day for fresh blog traffic, so one of their two new blog posts of the week launches that morning. At noon, an older video is posted, followed by the repost (with slightly different wording) of their morning blog post. In the early evening, they select a blog post that was very successful for them in the past and repost it before their 10pm “overnight” post declaring that they have Daily Specials at 7am every morning. Monday is the only day they have 6 “money Tweets”.

Tuesday and Friday

These two days have proven to be very similar. No new content goes out since the latest blog post went out the day before. Tuesdays are normally heavy “news” days so there is more competition for eyeballs. Fridays are “bury the news” days when many people are just waiting for the week to end.

Wednesdays

Everything gets moved up a bit because of what is happening in real life as the manager in charge is off making purchases. In the morning they shoot their weekly video and post it around lunch time.

Saturday and Sunday

No new posts, just rehashing from the week and in past weeks. The account is not monitored over the weekend but the Daily Special for Monday is posted late Sunday night for the loyal “early birds” to see when they get up and around to start their week.

Overnight posts

Even though we do not have them post anything overnight, we have a different piece of “overnight content” posted at 10pm so that nightowls and early risers have something different every time.

Craft Your Schedule

Terms like “matrix” can make it seem more challenging than it really is. The overall key to success is having a plan based upon real data that you collect and having the right tools to make scheduling your Tweets as easy as possible.

Address your fans as an audience but never try to seem more important than your business really is to them. This is Twitter. The vast majority will not hang on your every word. Penetration and exposure on Twitter becomes more challenging as the site grows and people’s feeds become more loaded. Scheduling properly is everything. Remember, your audience knows what they’re getting into when they follow you. As long as you deliver consistently and without abusing the system, your strategy will flow properly and Twitter can easily become your best social media marketing tool. Read more at www.flowtown.com

 

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End to Federal Tax Deposit Coupons Starts Jan 1st,2011

Starting January 1, 2011, banks will no longer accept federal tax deposit coupons. Instead, deposits will have to be made using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). EFTPS business users can schedule payments up to 120 days in advance of the desired payment date and make their payments by computer or telephone.



Are you keeping up with the ever-changing tax laws and regulations? Need help? If so sign up for our monthly tax news letter or post any questions to any of our blogs or comments. http://www.proservicesks.com

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It's Time for Many Taxpayers to Prepare for Delays and You Can Thank Your Congressman

While Congress and the Senate were patting themselves on the back for their work on the tax bill they were setting in motion changes that came so late that the IRS won't be able to reprogram their computers or make all the changes to the necessary forms until the middle of February at the earliest.



So by waiting and playing politics until the last minute the politicians have again created ciaos and made both the IRS and the American Taxpayer the losers in this game of brinkmanship.



I can only hope that the American Taxpayer will create an outcry that will make it clear that they are tired of this yearly circus. It's time that tax law reform be made in a timely manor and put a stop to the total confusion that such last minute changes make for our citizens and businesses.



The hidden costs and delays such reckless disregard for the American Taxpayer causes is just not acceptable.

Amplify’d from www.taxgirl.com

Tax Season To Start Late This Year for Many Filers, Thanks to Congress

So now that members of Congress (and President Obama) are patting themselves on the back after their 11th hour tax deal, the real work begins: the IRS and tax professionals get to explain for the next month and a half why they can’t actually start processing your taxes on time. That’s because even though they had ten years to straighten the tax mess out, Congress approved a tax deal (with some bits retroactive for 2010 filers) at the last.possible.minute.

The idea that the IRS could just throw together some last minute changes on some forms in a couple of weeks is laughable. We knew it. Congress knew it. IRS Commissioner Shulman knew it.

But now we’re all pretending it’s okay because, you know, we have a tax deal.

However, Congress’ delay in getting its collective act together means that tax season will not start on time for many taxpayers. Officially, tax season kicks off on January 14, 2011: that’s when e-file opens and when Free File becomes available. However, taxpayers who itemize deductions on their federal form 1040 Schedule A or who intend to claim the state and local sales tax deduction, higher education tuition and fees deduction or educator expenses deduction will have to wait until mid to late February to file.

The majority of taxpayers will be able to fill out their tax returns and file them as they normally do. We will do everything we can to minimize the impact of recent tax law changes on other taxpayers. The IRS will work through the holidays and into the New Year to get our systems reprogrammed and ensure taxpayers have a smooth tax season.

About one-third of all filers itemize (that works out to about 50 million taxpayers) and several million more are expected to claim those non-itemized deductions which were reinstated.

If you’re affected by the change, you can begin working on your tax return as soon as you receive your forms 1099, W-2 and the like. You just cannot submit them to the IRS for processing until IRS issues the “all clear” for those returns. The delay will affect returns filed by paper and electronically.

Expect a few bounced returns. The IRS is gonna love that. As are paid preparers. You’ve been warned.

My advice? If you’re one of those taxpayers who files early, plan on exercising a little patience this year. Don’t yell at your tax preparers. And don’t shriek at the IRS. They had nothing to do with the delays and they’re working as hard as they can to get through tax season, just like you. Deep breaths.

And if you really, really want to scream at someone, try your Congressperson… Read more at www.taxgirl.com

 

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RALs Causality of Government Reporting Changes

Finally the IRS has taken a stand that is stopping many if not most RAL's. And while the IRS has always taken a dim view on Refund Anticipation Loans there recent action on stopping the debt indicator has driven a wooden stake into the heart of the beast.

Even companies like H&R Block are having problems securing a backer for their RAL products and that will potentially put millions of tax payers out on the streets looking for those companies that still can offer them. Right now it looks like Jackson-Hewitt is still going to be offering them but that remains to be seen.

So love them or hate them RAL's will be tough to find this year. But at least the IRS is under pressure to keep refunds flowing at an ever faster pace and tax payers can expect refunds in days anyway so RAL's not being there isn't the problem it would have been only a few years ago.

Amplify’d from www.taxgirl.com

H&R Block Announces Glitch in RALs for 2011

If you’re hoping to take advantage of Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) and related products during this tax season, you’re going to have to look pretty hard. Many third party preparers will not be offering those products this year, citing financial difficulties with underwriters.

Some of the financial difficulties stem from the economy. RALs (and similar products) are essentially loans secured by the promise of a tax refund. Fees for tax preparation products and tax preparation services are generally subtracted from the refund amount and the balance issued to the consumer in some form (check, debit card, direct deposit, etc.) in advance of the taxpayer’s actual refund less interest and loan fees.

In a tough economy, banks and other lenders are growing wary of offering consumer loans. Complicating factors, the IRS is sticking to their guns in a statement made back in August to no longer provide tax preparers, banks and lenders with the “debt indicator” that lenders use to determine eligibility for RALs. The debt indicator is an electronic acknowledgment to tax preparers advising whether any part of a taxpayer’s refund has been earmarked for offset due to outstanding tax debts or priority obligations such as unpaid child support or delinquent student loans. In previous years, the IRS provided this information, free of charge, to third party preparers, who then made the decision to offer a variety of loan products depending on the answer. Beginning in 2011, that information will no longer be provided to third parties, prompting many lenders to pull out of the business altogether.

One such lender, HSBC, pulled out of a deal to provide loans to H&R Block, the nation’s leading tax provider. In response, H&R Block took the lender to court and the two eventually reached a settlement for the upcoming tax season where the tax prep service agreed to cover any defaults on loans made by HSBC.

Since then, HSBC has changed its mind. Over the Christmas holiday, HSBC’s banking supervisory agency, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, advised HSBC to stop offering these loan products to H&R Block. HSBC promptly put an immediate end to their contract with H&R Block.

H&R Block has since expressed disappointment at HSBC’s actions but indicated that they have “several other financial products available and under development.” There’s no word yet on what those products will be.

Jackson-Hewitt, the nation’s number two tax preparer, has indicated that it will make RALs and related products available to taxpayers in 2011. The tax prep company relies on Republic Bank & Trust Co. to fund those loans. Read more at www.taxgirl.com

 

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It's Not All the Internet When It Comes to Newspaper Decline

Conventional wisdom blames the internet for the newspapers decline in the US and Brittan. But as this poll and some thought show there's much more involved than just free internet content that's behind the problem.



Newspapers in the US have just depended on advertisement sales for way to much of their income. And as advertising as moved to the internet newspapers (and magazines) have lost their primary source of revenue. That loss coupled together with the resulting decline in the quality and quantity of newspapers news coverage is what has spelled their huge losses in readership.



In those areas where newspapers receive more of their income from subscribers and other sources they have fared much better. And with more stable incomes they have kept the quality news reporting that is required to engage subscribers beyond what the free content of the internet can.



So the market changes in advertising and the resulting loss of income are much more the US newspapers underlying problem than the internet. Newspapers in the US (and Brittan) must find ways to address the changing markets not seek to place the blame on the internet.

Amplify’d from econsultancy.com

Ads, not internet, to blame for newspaper woes: study

It's common wisdom that the long, painful decline of newspaper business models began as the internet blossomed.

The internet is blamed for just about everything, from declining print subscription revenue to freefalling classified ad revenue. But is the common wisdom about the internet and newspapers wrong?

According to a study conducted by Oxford's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, British and American newspapers aren't struggling because of the internet. Instead, they're struggling because they've been too dependent on advertising revenue.

In looking at Scandinavia and Germany, for instance, the study's authors noted that online activity is high, but newspapers in these regions are still doing quite alright. So how do newspapers in Scandinavia and Germany compare to their British and American counterparts? There's one difference that stands out: the former generate on average 50% of their revenue from ads, whereas the latter generate closer to 80% of their revenue from ads.

That, the study authors believe, is a big part of the problem. "Countries like the US, Germany and Finland all have about the same proportion of internet users," they write. "However, the American newspaper industry, which has generated more than 80% of its income from advertisements, is today in a much more serious crisis than its counterparts in Germany and Finland, where advertising typically constitutes about 50% of total revenues."

While it's nice to see increasing recognition that there's a lot more to the woes of the British and American newspaper industries than the internet, to pin the blame solely on where revenue has traditionally come from might be a little bit too simple. The British and American newspaper markets have many differences with the Scandinavian and German markets. The numbers make that abundantly clear: of the top newspapers globally, as measured by circulation, only one is German and none are Scandinavian. On the other hand, six of the world's most widely circulated newspapers are in the U.K. and eight are in the U.S. Bottom line: comparing the newspaper markets in different countries to each other is often little more than an apples to oranges comparison.

In reality, British and American newspapers shouldn't 'blame' the internet. And they shouldn't 'blame' advertising either. Blame is pointless. Markets change. The companies that succeed aren't necessarily the ones that are best positioned for the precise changes that occur; they're the ones that respond most ably to it. Read more at econsultancy.com

 

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Here's to the Crazy Ones

As the new year approaches I wanted to share a post that Apple put out some time ago. I think about it once in a while especially when I'm working on a project or idea that everyone tells me is silly, crazy, or impossible.



And as I read it I remember that most of the worlds greatest accomplishments have been done by those the world thought crazy.



So with that in mind here's Apples toast "to the crazy ones". I'm glad to consider my self in their numbers.



Here's to the crazy ones.



The misfits.



The rebels.



The trouble-makers.



The round heads in the square holes.



The ones who see things differently.



They're not fond of rules.



And they have no respect for the status-quo.



You can quote them.



Disagree with them.



Glorify, or vilify them.



But the only thing you can't do is ignore them.



Because they change things.



They push the human race forward.



And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.



Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world

Are the ones who do.  Quote attributed to  Apple

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FaceBook Passing Google in UK Traffic Count

For the first time FaceBook may have passed Google in traffic on Christmas day in the UK. Hitwise reports that over half the traffic came from FaceBook during the holidays and when the final numbers are counted up FaceBook may have generated more traffic than even Google on Christmas day.

That's an amazing number when you consider that it means that FaceBook is now pushing the combined traffic of not only Google search but YouTube and all it's video content plus all the traffic Google has for it's online apps and it's Gmail traffic into second place.

Of course I'm sure that those FaceBook traffic numbers include a lot of YouTube video content that is watched as embedded video content on FaceBook. But still it's amazing to think that one site could be the center of the web when it comes to traffic generated and yet it produces none of it's own content.

That is the real power of FaceBook when it comes to being a site to envy. It produces those numbers based on your pictures, your contacts with friends and family, your posts and comments on other FaceBook pages, and of course those games like Farmville.

Anyway you get the picture. FaceBook is on top as a destination site and controls much of the traffic on the web yet produces nothing beyond providing a meeting and exchange place. They have the best of both worlds traffic and no cost to create it.

It will be interesting to see how they manage to hold on to number one and continue to grow when they are so high on the mountain. My guess is that they will as least slow down on numbers growth soon and it remains to be seen what effect such a slow down will have on the public's perception of their worth.

Amplify’d from www.webpronews.com

Hitwise Finds Visits To Social Networks Surging

Out of a desire to say "hi" to old friends, reconnect with family members, or perhaps get a moment away from visiting relatives, it looks like lots of people are signing into social networks this month.  Indeed, Hitwise relayed some UK-specific stats today, and the increase has been sharp enough that Facebook might top Google in traffic on Christmas. We'll head straight into the data so that you can head straight back to poking acquaintances.  Robin Goad reported, "As we get closer to Christmas Day visits to social networking sites have reached a new peak for the year, accounting for nearly 13.5% of all UK Internet visits.  In the last week alone there has been a huge uplift in traffic, with visits increasing by 9.7% from 14 to 21 December." Next, Goad noted, "More than half of the traffic is being driven by Facebook.  The biggest social site in the world accounted for 57% of all visits to the social networking category in the UK last week and over the Christmas period could create history if it overtakes Google in overall market share online." That scenario isn't at all far-fetched, by the way; here's a graph of what occurred last year:

It should be interesting to see how the situation turns out in 2010.  Advertisers are sure to keep a close eye on things. Read more at www.webpronews.com

 

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