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Volume 5, Issue 6, June 2007

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Reducing Credit Card Processing Fees

If you are a business owner who accepts credit and debit cards from your customers, you are likely very familiar with the fees charged to you by the credit card issuers for providing that payment option.

Those fees vary but are usually 1% - 3% of the transaction. Some credit cards incur a higher charge than others, and the process used to determine the fee is rather complicated. The bottom line, however, is that a merchant must either absorb those costs or pass them on through higher prices to customers, just to allow the convenience of using credit and debit cards for purchasing products and services.

What options are there for businesses to reduce the impact of these processing fees?

Intuit is now offering the QuickBooks Merchant Services Program to businesses. Some of the features of this program include:

Downloading credit card transactions, fees and adjustments directly into QuickBooks

Reduced data entry

Faster, easier reconciliation

Greater accuracy of accounts

Reduced card processing fees

There are additional benefits for your business from the QuickBooks Merchant Services Program. The friendly QuickBooks Pro Advisors at Kemper CPA Group LLP can assist you with your QuickBooks implementation and all of your business accounting needs. Contact us today!

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Hybrid Vehicles Still Qualify for Tax Credit

As gas prices continue to rise, demand for hybrid vehicles is stronger than ever, and obtaining the Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit is still a viable option. The credit, made available by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, varies, depending upon the make, model, and year of the hybrid vehicle.

If you are contemplating the purchase of a hybrid vehicle, consider the following:

A variety of hybrid vehicle models qualify for the credit – from compact cars and luxury sedans to SUVs and pickup trucks.

Only the first purchaser of a new, qualifying hybrid vehicle may claim the credit.

Because the credit is deducted directly from your federal tax bill, it can reduce the amount of taxes you owe.

The IRS conducts quarterly reviews of the number of hybrid vehicles sold by each manufacturer; beginning after the sale of a manufacturer’s 60,000th vehicle, the amount of the tax credit available begins to phase out.

The IRS maintains a list of hybrid vehicles that qualify for the tax credit on its website. Click here to view the complete list of qualifying vehicles.

The certified public accountants at Kemper CPA Group LLP can help you evaluate the impact of the hybrid vehicle tax credit on your tax situation. Contact us today.

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Help! I Received a Letter from the IRS About
My Return!

The IRS is in the process of sending approximately three million letters to taxpayers regarding their 2006 federal returns, which were filed in April, 2007. These letters will be delivered during the months of May and June.

If you receive one of the letters about your return, don’t panic! Carefully read the letter to ensure you fully understand why the IRS has contacted you and what further action you must take.

Often, a phone call to the IRS can resolve the issue; however, be certain to keep a record of the time and date of your phone call to the IRS, and the name and employee number of the representative to whom you spoke. This could prove helpful should you need to call more than once.

Also currently being sent out by the IRS are over three million CP-2000 Notice of Underreported Income forms. This notice is sent when the income and deduction information on your 2005 tax return does not match the associated information-return forms such as W-2, 1099, etc.

If you have received a notice from the IRS about your return, the friendly, knowledgeable professionals at your local Kemper CPA Group LLP office can help. Contact us today.

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New E-mail Scam Targets Taxpayers

The IRS warns that an agency-related e-mail scam is currently circulating and is intended to trick taxpayers into thinking that they are being investigated by the agency.

According to the IRS, the e-mail, allegedly from the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division, falsely claims that the taxpayer is being investigated for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Tax Board. The message contains an attachment or a link, which, if opened by an individual, infects his or her computer with a Trojan horse, capable of hijacking the user’s hard drive and providing the scam artist with remote access to the computer.

A variation of this e-mail suggests that the taxpayer has filed a complaint against a company, and that the IRS can help by acting as an arbitrator. The message is targeting both individual and business taxpayers.

The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mail messages or request personal financial information via e-mail. If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from the IRS, do not open any attachments or click on any links; forward the message to the IRS’s phishing address.

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Loose Change

The May/June 2007 issue of the “Loose Change” Newsletter includes the following articles:

Contact Kemper Capital Management LLC for all of your investing needs.

Investment advisory services offered by KCPAG Financial Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor. Securities officered through Securities America, Inc., a registered broker/dealer. Member NASD/SIPC. Thomas A. Moore, John D. Porter, Shawna D. Horne, Jeffery C. Holt, CA insurance Lic. #0E38034, Jessica Daugherty, Joseph M. Mendes, CA Insurance Lic. #0C62535, Gregory Meador, Marcia Elder, Registered Representatives. Insurance services offered through KCPAG Insurance Services LLC. Kemper Capital Management LLC and its subsidiaries are not affiliated with Securities America.

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Kemper Technology Consulting Offers Hands-On
Software Training

This summer, Kemper Technology Consulting is once again offering hands-on software training seminars at the Evansville, Indiana office.

Our certified instructors offer one-day workshops featuring QuickBooks Pro Accounting software. In our “QuickBooks Fundamentals” seminar, hands-on instruction covers everything from getting started with QuickBooks to setting up inventory, entering and paying bills, paying sales tax, doing payroll, using online banking, and more!

For more advanced users, our “QuickBooks Intermediate” seminar teaches you tips on handling tricky transactions, how to perform month-end and year-end processing, and how to understand the general ledger and important financial reports. Our professionals can help you take your QuickBooks accounting to the next level!

Also available this summer is a series of workshops on Microsoft Dynamics GP, covering the areas of General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, FRx Reporting, and Fixed Assets.

Click here to view our full 2007 training schedule, including registration information. For more details about these valuable software workshops, contact Kemper Technology Consulting today.

Kemper Technology Consulting
Robinson, IL
618-546-5633
www.kempertc.com

Evansville, IN  •  Indianapolis, IN  •  Paducah, KY  •  Effingham, IL

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Please be advised that, based upon current Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules and standards, the advice herein is not intended to be used, nor can it be used, as the sole basis for decisions. Additional issues may exist that could affect the treatment of the individual transactions, and this narrative does not provide a conclusion with respect to all such issues.

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