Susan Spitz, Certified Coach

Had lunch this week with Susan Spitz of Focal Point. Focal Point is Powered by world-reknowned Brian Tracy, FocalPoint is the only Brian Tracy certified coaching program in the metro area. Mid-sized or small business owners and executives can double their productivity and profits while increasing their time off. Individual or group coaching, or combination thereof. Average ROI for exec coaching is 500%! Other offerings include speaking, training and consulting in these areas: sales, multi-cultural diversity, multiple generations in the workforce, personal productivity, strategic planning, goal-setting, and time management.

Susan's specialites are effective questioning, listening and motivating. Speaker, meeting facilitator, workshop designer, creation of multi-cultural direct response ads, hiring and testing, training, fluency in French, conversant in Spanish.

To contact Susan for more information check out her website at www.focalpointcoaching.com or email her at sspitz@focalpointccoaching.com

Just had a great meeting with Debi Enders with Commerce Bank. She has a great remote deposit product for companies that take checks but are spending a lot of time driving to the bank everyday. She also has several great bank products for small businesses. If you would like to learn more about remote deposit or the other products Commerce Bank has to offer email Debi at debi.enders@commercebank.com or call her at (636) 949-8407. Learn more at Favazza CPA St. Louis

IRS Warning Taxpayers About New Email Scams

If you have an email account, you know about all the scam emails you get. Scammers are getting braver and using the IRS name in their new tactics.

IRS Warning Taxpayers About New Email Scams

The IRS has begun warning taxpayers that it is seeing a surge in tax scam emails. Many of the emails even have the hubris to use the IRS name! Brave souls, indeed. Regardless, the scams seem to fall in the area of identity theft through phishing tactics.

First and foremost, you should understand that the IRS does NOT send emails to taxpayers. Never, never, never! If you get an email from the IRS, it is a fake. Unconditionally! Do not respond to it under any circumstances. Do not click links in the body of the email. Take one action and one action only delete it!

Since the turn of the year, the IRS has identified 99 new email scams targeted at taxpayers. All of the scams are aimed at bilking you out of your private information. Most try to do this by claiming your must provide information or your will not receive your tax refund. In some cases, the fake emails threaten you with an audit. Again, this is all false information.

Many people fall victim to the IRS scam emails because they click through to the site linked in the email. There, they find a site that appears for all intensive purposes to be the one published by the IRS. Make no mistake this means nothing. Anyone can copy and republish a site. Yes, even the site of the IRS. It is pretty scary when you think about it. Best Buy, in fact, had major problems with this for some time.

So, where are these scammers? It should come as no surprise that few in the boundaries of the United States would have the nerve to try this. Instead, the IRS has tracked most of the scamming emails to other countries, but not necessarily the usual suspects. The countries include England, Italy, Japan, Germany, Australia and Singapore. Usual suspects include China, Aruba, Mexico, Indonesia and Argentina. Surprisingly, only a few have originated from the scam mecca of Nigeria.

The best way to beat scammers is to know the facts. The IRS does not communicate in any way with taxpayers by email. If you get an email purportedly from the IRS, it is a fake. If you have a nagging doubt, call the agency to find out if anything is up. Otherwise, delete that email!

Important Tax Deadline Coming the 15th

What went through your head when you read this email's subject line? Something like "wait a minute, April 15 was six weeks ago?"

It's true that the April 15 tax filing deadline has passed. But the sad truth is that taxes are due every day you earn income. And if you make quarterly estimated tax payments, the next one is due on -- you guessed it -- June 15th. So this email's subject line holds true, even though April 15 has passed.

Tax deadlines are even worse if you get a paycheck. If that's the case, April 15 comes 12, 24, or 26 times a year! And withholding is the dirty little secret to making today's tax system work. That's because when your employer withholds tax, you don't actually write the checks for the tax you pay. Withholding saves time, eliminates paperwork, collects taxes regularly and timely, and verifies that you report all your wages. But it also takes the sting out of writing that tax check yourself!

What can you do? The best advice is to review your withholding and estimated tax payments any time your tax picture changes. (Employers have to make new W-4s effective by the start of the first payroll period ending on or after the 30th day after you submit your form.) Do this as soon as possible if:

You get married or divorced
You have a baby (or adopt a child)
You or your spouse takes a new job (or one of you loses a job)
You or your spouse gets a raise
You buy or sell a house
You sell appreciated property

If you own your own business, here's a trick you can consider for deferring payment until as late as possible. Withheld taxes are treated as paid equally throughout the year, while estimated taxes are credited when they're actually paid. If you operate your business as a corporation, you can draw income through the year in the form of loans, then convert it into income (and withhold the resulting tax) in a single lump sum at the end of the year.

As always, call us with any questions or concerns. You don't have to wait until April 15th to save taxes. In fact, April 15th is usually too late. So call us now for the proactive planning that gives you the savings you really want!