IRS Offers Small Business Tax Workshop on May 18
May 11, 2011
I have known for a while that the Internal Revenue Service is offering workshops for small business and I think these can be very useful. Today I was notified about an upcoming webinar (notice they are embracing new technology that we virtual assistants use regularly 
The free webinar is being held next Wednesday on May 18 at 11am pacific / 2pm eastern , entitled:
Small Business Advantage: Put Our Knowledge to Work for You
It will be presented by Phyllis Grimes, Director, Small Business/Self-Employed Communications. Sign-up is required through the IRS Webinar Registration portal. You can find out about more small business tax workshops and webinars in your state at the Internal Revenue Service site.
IRS Standard Mileage Rates for 2011
December 31, 2010
The IRS has published their new standard mileage rates for 2011. Thankfully, they have increased from last year, with the exception of the charitable mileage rate, which stayed the same. The IRS has combined the Medical and Relocation rate.
Business Mileage Rate * – $0.51/mile
Medical or Relocation Mileage Rate – $0.19/mile
Charitable Mileage Rate – $0.14/mile
Happy Driving!
* Can be used only if taxpayer owns/leases a passenger auto, van, pickup, or panel truck not for hire (e.g, as a taxi) that was not depreciated under ACRS, MACRS or Sec. 179 in earlier years.
What Exactly is an Offline Order in 1ShoppingCart?
November 8, 2010
1ShoppingCart has the ability to turn on the “process orders offline” feature in the order settings. I recommend turning this feature on and I’ll explain why. If there are any challenges with a customer’s order following entry of their checkout information, they will have the option to submit the order offline to send their order information in. This basically means the order has been received by the cart, but is not going to be processed by the payment gateway. Their order receipt will note this for reference as well as the cart’s internal order notification.
There are a variety of reasons why the gateway and the cart may not be ‘talking’ correctly. There could be a mismatch in an international address such as entering a Province vs. a State name, or a billing address or name may not match exactly, like a missing middle initial. The advantage of the offline order is that you have not lost the sale as a result of technical difficulties. The customer’s information is captured and many times, a simple log in to your gateway for manual order processing through the Virtual Terminal, sends the order right through.
It’s important to relay the situation to a customer, who may believe their order was good because they received the order notice; they may not have noticed the “order was processed offline” notation. They will receive their payment receipt when the order is actually processed through the gateway. A final step, is to change the cart’s order status to ‘manually approved’ in the cart, which correctly identifies the order as processed, for cart reporting.
The offline order processing feature also comes in handy for orders that may have been taken at an offsite live event, for example, and you processed payment onsite using the Virtual Terminal. How can the handful of paper orders be entered into the cart when a customer has already paid you? Use the product cart link and enter the customer’s checkout information, but enter a test credit card number such as all 4′s to force the order ‘offline’ message. Submit the order offline and mark it ‘manually approved inside the cart. Be sure to contact your client in advance to let them know you are your simply entering the order into your cart for reporting purposes, and NOT processing a payment.
Google Groups Will No Longer Support Pages and Files Features
October 16, 2010
Google announced last month that they will be discontinuing the page and file features currently supported with their Google Groups functionality. Apparently, their goal is to improve customer experience by utilizing their other services for sharing and storing files, like Google Docs or Google Sites.
Starting in January 2011, their groups won’t allow creating or editing any files or pages. You’ll want to export anything you are sharing within your Google Groups to another solution before February 2011 when they turn the features off. Luckily, they are allowing zip-download to make the process easier and faster. You’ll find the Google Groups original announcement here
IRS Standard Mileage Rates for 2010
January 8, 2010
The IRS has published their new standard mileage rates for 2010. They have dropped with the exception of the charitable mileage rate, which stayed the same.
Business Mileage Rate * – $0.50/mile
Relocation Mileage Rate – $0.165/mile
Medical Mileage Rate – $0.165/mile
Charitable Mileage Rate – $0.14/mile
I was a bit disappointed to see the rate drop, but it’s to be expected. Happy Driving!
* Can be used only if taxpayer owns/leases a passenger auto, van, pickup, or panel truck not for hire (e.g, as a taxi) that was not depreciated under ACRS, MACRS or Sec. 179 in earlier years.
