Covering the week’s most noteworthy business news impacting the Filipino-American and Global Filipino community.
THE name of the game is keeping a low audit profile. It means getting lost in the crowd. It reduces the risk of an audit. Here are 12 tips to keep the IRS from auditing your tax returns: 1. Make sure that social security numbers and names that you use on your income tax match…
IMAGINE you won the new Prius in your church lottery. Instead of keeping the car, you sold it for $25,000. You use the $25,000 to pay down the mortgage on your house. After six months, you decide to file for Chapter 7 relief because you owe $100,000 of credit card debt of which $40,000 is…
One of the most dangerous survival tests for family businesses is their succession. It is no surprise therefore that many successors and heirs feel relief and complacency once the transition period is completed. However, the handing down of power and money is not an end point, but a new beginning of an ongoing process —with…
A LOT of people end up filing bankruptcy when they get to the point of feeling hopeless about their financial problems. Despite what others may think, there is no shame in needing a second chance to secure your financial future. Bad things can happen to good people as the saying goes. Sometimes, people simply make…
IN 2008, the California State Controller’s office led a multi-state audit of the practices of 21 national insurance companies, to determine these companies’ compliance with state unclaimed property laws. California’s unclaimed property program generally provides that businesses must send lost or abandoned financial accounts to the State after three years of inactivity in order to…
ADVANTAGES of home sales for 2013 is that there will be fewer short sales and hopefully more regular listing coming back on the market. Lenders have pulled together finally and decided to streamline the short sale process, meaning they are setting time limits as short as 30 days to get a short sale approval. Now…
YOU are still upset from losing an IRS audit. You have two choices: pay or fight. If you choose to fight, go to appeals. Let me give you 10 tips on how to prepare for the appeals conference: 1. Request access to your case files. Take a look at any dossier they have on you….
YOU know what a stockbroker is and what he does for a living, right? A stockbroker recommends what stocks to buy and sell to his client, and he makes a commission on each purchase and sale of stock. They make a lot of money doing what they do because they get paid high salaries. But…
IF this Halloween proves to be too much candy for your children’s teeth, then come join us at Millbrae Smile Center on November 2nd for a Sweet Swap Post-Halloween party and have the opportunity in supporting our troops. At our Sweet Swap event, we’ll be giving children the chance to trade leftover candies for other…
CONTRARY to what others may think, the majority of people who file for bankruptcy are honest, hard working people who simply need to get a fresh financial start. Because life is not perfect, there are times when we are so way in over our heads in debt that filing for debt relief becomes unavoidable. Filing…
Q: AS an employee for a service provider company, I am paid an hourly rate and an additional piece rate if I respond to customer calls after hours. I often work more than 8 hours per day and on weekends. I am paid overtime based only on my hourly rate. Since I’m also receiving a…
FROM my article last week, I got a few more homeowners calling about the same scenario, I thought of researching more of how you can research and find out if you can qualify. As part of Bank of America’s ongoing efforts to help customers in need of mortgage assistance, this company is in the process…
SCHEDULE J of the bankruptcy petition shows the actual monthly expenses of the debtor. This is different from the means test which specifies the allowable deductions of debtor using IRS guidelines to determine if there is a presumption of abuse. What is a reasonable rent expense for a single person who files for bankruptcy? According…
CHAPTER 13 debtors are able to “strip” junior liens on their residences if there is no equity supporting the lien. To illustrate, debtor owes $100,000 of credit card debt, owns a house that he thinks is valued at $400,000. He has a home equity line of credit of $200,000. The balance of the first mortgage…
IF YOU have serious debt problems, you may feel depressed and alone. It may seem like the end of the world. Your self-esteem may have suffered. You may feel angry, depressed, guilty- or a combination of all three. You may consider yourself a failure, perhaps feeling angry with yourself for certain decisions you have made…
IN 2006, Filipino nurses at the Delano Regional Medical Center in Delano, California were called to a meeting and told they were not allowed to use their native language at “any time in the hospital.” During the meeting, the hospital’s former chief executive said he would install surveillance cameras in nursing stations, and that whoever…
I TOLD you I would always keep my eyes and ears widely observant for potential homeowners getting any kind of mortgage debt balance reduction. I also mentioned that I felt that initially the banks would not reduce loan balances but maybe would ease up towards the later part of the problem. Well, I finally got…
WHILE IRS audits decreased from the mid-90s, the Service reorganized, retrenched, and retrained its personnel during years of inactivity. They are back. I have personally handled more audit defense cases in the last year than in the previous five years. This new activity has been dominated by audits of Schedule C for taxpayers who conduct…
PREGNANCY and its related hormonal changes exaggerate the effects from plaque irritants. And as you know, the acids in plaque can lead to tooth decay, gum tissue inflammation and, if neglected, eventual tooth loss. A healthy diet, daily tooth brushing and flossing, and a continued – even increased – schedule of regular dental hygiene visits…
ROBERT Collins had applied for an officer’s position with the Maryland Department of Public Safety. Collins narrated that during the job interview, the human resources personnel interviewing him asked for his Facebook username and password. He was told that it was being done to verify that Collins, who was applying to be a state trooper,…
EVERYONE knows that the mortgage rates are really at its Historic Lows, we are talking about 3.25%- 3.5% for your 30 years fixed rate mortgages. I noticed that these are really helping homeowners who already had 4% six to eight months ago, now able to refinance again to a 3.25% – 3.5% rates with absolutely…
LET’S say that you’re a man who loves women and you own a business distributing lingerie. You require all your women employees to wear the company’s products in the office. Every time a female employee enters your office, you do not have sex with them the way Pres. Clinton did. Last week, all of your…
ARE you being harassed by your creditors day and night due to unpaid bills? If you are, you know that this is a pretty unpleasant experience. You may feel scared, angry or embarrassed about your situation. The prospect of debt relief through bankruptcy may sound appealing to you but you are not quite sure if…
A FEDERAL jury in Los Angeles recently awarded a former supervisor of the United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) more than $18 million in damages after he was fired for filing a claim for unpaid wages against UPS. It all began when Marlo filed a class action wage-and-hour lawsuit in 2003. However, after years of litigation,…
A client of mine said he never saw it coming. Everything he ever wanted in life, he always purchased on credit. The “pre-approved” credit cards just kept coming in the mail and he never said NO to any of them. Buy now and pay later, why not? As long as they allow you to pay…
OBVIOUSLY, the easiest way in stopping the IRS from seizing your property or rights to property is by paying the taxes you owe. In today’s economy, however, it is not surprising if taxpayers could not afford to fully pay outstanding tax liabilities. In its notices, the IRS aggressively demands that taxes owed are paid in…
IF YOU’VE ever been in a situation in your life where you had to file bankruptcy as a last resort in order to get out of debt, you know exactly what I am talking about. After having counseled thousands of people with debt problems over the years, I have learned that unresolved debt problems can…
Q: I HEARD that the Supreme Court recently decided a case about the employer’s obligation to provide lunch breaks. Some say the employers won the case. But others say the decision favored employees. Can you clarify this issue? A: The case you may be referring to is Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court. It was…
WHEN Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his appointments to the Senate in Canada, no one was more surprised than Filipino Canadian Tobias Enverga Jr. Enverga, a long-time bank executive, was one of the five people chosen by the Prime Minister to be a senator in Canada’s Federal Parliament earlier this month. “My first reaction…
IF YOU are like a lot of people who have old, unpaid debts, collection accounts and judgments from their past that they don’t even remember, you may feel that it is too late to get a fresh start and rebuild your credit. Over the years, I have met a lot of people in this situation….
