The Federal Tax Credits Blog

Archive for January, 2010

Question: Will the credit for energy efficiency window purchase in 2008 be available when I do my 2008 tax return?

I purchase Energy Efficient windows in 2008, will the credit be available when I do my tax return?

Answer: Nope. This credit is skipping 2008. It will reappear in 2009.

Keep in mind, you were only talking a whopping $200.

Some firms beset by probes get stimulus funds

Large corporations working in California have reaped tens of millions of dollars in new federal stimulus funds despite previous pollution violations, criminal probes and allegations of fraud, a California Watch investigation has found. A major apartment owner…

Northern Virginia Windows – Vinyl-Lite Replacement Windows

Cameron: Children need ‘warm’ and committed’ parents (and it doesn’t matter how rich they are)

But the surprise appearance of Labour MP Frank Field alongside Mr Cameron will be sure to raise some eyebrows among members of the Labour party.

Personal Financial Planning Tips : How to Design a Savings Plan

Question: how much tax credit on child care expenses?

I am decided on which day care to send my kid and expense is one consideration. one costs 1100/month and the other is 800. i would like to know how much tax benefit i can get on child care expense? our family income falls above 100k/year. please help. can both me and husband claim my kid as a dependent with our payroll?

Answer: income in excess of $100K/yr? that will be the very lowest amount of credit on the 2441
considering child care, price should not be your object, the care and safety of the child should be your main concern

2009: The Year in Review

Story created Jan 05, 2010 – 14:30:53 CST. While 2009 will be a year to remember in terms of the national recession, the health care debate and the swearing-in of America’s first black president, things here in Mitchell County remained fairly stable over the last 12 months.

Barack Obama TOWN HALL MEETING in Fairless Hills, PA-Part 6

You set up a retail business, you advertise in your local newspaper, you get customers coming into your store, and you receive payment at the cash register. Create an online store, and…How do you get customers? How do you receive payment? The concept is the same, but the steps are different.

Step 1: Create your website

If you don’t have web design skills, you can hire a qualified web designer to create a website for you, or you can use an online site builder. Think of it as hiring an architect and an interior decorator compared to setting up shop in an existing store.

Using a web designer

With the services of a web designer, you can have a unique website template and website customized to your specific needs. A web development team can also add features such as Flash headers or any programming needed for your site. If your company image is critical, a custom-designed site that conveys the right professional image is a must.

Using an online site builder

An online site builder is the budget way to go. With site builder programs such as Site Studio, your website can be online within minutes. A step-by-step menu allows you to choose a layout and colors, and then add a site description, a logo, and content. Your template may not be unique, but your content will.

Step 2: Set up an e-commerce store

Your customers will browse at your website, select some items, and then pay for them. When you set up an e-commerce shopping cart, you’re providing a way for your customers to bring their purchases to the cash register. The program you choose will allow you to enter your products in the database and allow shoppers to choose products when they click on “Add to cart” or something similar.

Two well-known shopping carts, osCommerce and Miva Merchant, both allow you to do these tasks:

Add, edit, and delete product categories and other information

Set tax rates and charge tax

Receive payment via numerous online and offline payment processing methods

Bill customers

And much more

osCommerce

osCommerce is an open source program. Store owners can set up their online stores using osCommerce with no costs involved. For small stores, it has all the features you need for an online store. Drawbacks of osCommerce are that customization is not easy, and online stores using osCommerce tend to look similar.

Miva Merchant

While Miva Merchant carries a price tag of $995, some web hosts offer Miva Merchant licenses with their hosting plans. If you choose Miva as your shopping cart, be sure to host your site with a host that provides Miva support. Its learning curve is steep, and it requires the support of people who know how to work with it.

With the price and the steep learning curve, you get more features, and you can customize the program more. Add-in modules can be bought that perform a number of tasks. In addition, a strong support community is available in the Miva user group forums.

Step 3: Get a merchant account and payment gateway

When customers arrive at the checkout counter, you need a way for their payments to be transferred from their credit card accounts to your bank account. The method you choose may depend on your sales volume.

For high-volume sales, an e-commerce merchant account plus a payment gateway will meet your needs. A merchant account provider authorizes the transfer of payments to your account, and a payment gateway transfers the information from your customers’ financial institutions to yours.

Most merchant accounts have setup fees, transaction fees, monthly fees, and statement fees. The transaction fees are less than what you’d pay using a third party credit card processor such as PayPal. With all the fees, however, the overall cost is typically lower only if your monthly sales volume is over about a thousand dollars.

For medium and low volume sales, Pay Quake and PayPal are viable options.

Pay Quake

Pay Quake offers three merchant account types to choose from. Although they all require payment gateways, the two smaller plans have no monthly minimums. You can upgrade to a higher or lower plan if your needs change.

PayPal

PayPal has become a household name. Customers can send payment through PayPal via credit card or via money that they transfer into their PayPal account. While the fees per transaction are higher than with merchant accounts, there is no setup or monthly fees, and you don’t need a payment gateway. You pay only when you have financial transactions.

Fore more details about these options, see Website Source Hosting Solutions: E-Commerce.

Step 4: Create a secure payment environment

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate enables you to receive credit card information securely from your customers. When a payment page is using SSL data to encrypt data, a small image of a lock appears at the bottom right of the screen.

Some web hosts offer SSL certificates as part of their hosting packages. If your web host package doesn’t include SSL certificates, you can purchase one separately.

With PayPal, no SSL certificate is required.

Step 5: Generate traffic

Your products are on display in your newly designed store, your shopping cart is set up and ready to use, and you have everything in place to be able to receive payments securely. Now all you need are customers.

This is where marketing comes in.

Submit your site to search engines.

Advertise your site.

Keep your company name in front of your customers with a regular email newsletter.

Add more content to your website to keep it fresh.

Monitor your website traffic to see where it’s coming from and how you can increase traffic for key content areas.

First Cash Raises 2009 Continuing Ops Earnings Guidance by $0.05; Pays Off Credit Facility With Proceeds From Sale of …

ARLINGTON, Texas — First Cash Financial Services, Inc. today announced that it is raising fiscal 2009 guidance for earnings from continuing operations by $0.05 per share. The increase is the result of stronger than expected fourth quarter revenue and operating results from the Company’s pawn operations, both in the U.S. and Mexico.

The Chuck Slavin Show Logo

Question: If Obama wasn’t lying, does that mean he’ll veto any health bill without citizenship verification in it?

If Obama was telling us the truth that the health reform bill will not cover illegal immigrants, surely that means he supports the (defeated) amendment that would have required citizenship verification for tax-payer funded credits. And by extension, surely that means he will VETO any health bill that crosses his desk without such verification. Correct? Will Obama be truthful and veto HR3200?
I actually think we should treat an illegal (or anyone) who gets into a car accident. That’s not the point. The point is that Obama claimed that no healthcare reform will cover illegal immigrants on his watch. Really?

Answer: Sad thing is with this the people who are driving up the cost of health care will still be utilizing the ER as their personal doctor’s office. Does anyone else see a problem here, other than the loophole in the plan that will not totally prevent illegals from gaining access to insurance, or driving up costs because they do not have insurance and will continue to seek what they believe to be free medical care? There is no good fix on the table at this time, and it should not be an all or nothing plan, but rather congress should go after one problem at a time.

Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Probably Fell in November

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — The number of contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes probably fell in November for the first time in 10 months as Americans waited for a tax credit to be extended, economists said before a report today.

The BossBeat – Extension and Expansion