August Picnic
Mary Cathcart and her committee of Lynn Poltere, Roxanne Russell, and Holly Adamscheck are to be thanked for a wonderful, fun picnic at Tucker’s Grove on August 21. Fresco Café catered the good food and the little kids enjoyed the surprises in their lunches. Door prizes were won by Mary Jurgensen, Bonnie Pender, Ricky Gaspar, Lynn Poltere, and [help-we couldn’t remember the fifth name]. Please forgive a senior moment. A good time was had by all!

Welcome, welcome to our recent new members:

Denys W. Camargo Pereira
Sara G. Rudeen
Amy Creich
Lorraine Ozab

Regrettably, Lisa Corbett has decided that this is not the right time for her to take on the role of SBBA President. She has two preschool daughters at home and it is totally understandable that her main focus right now is on her family. Hopefully she will consider the role again sometime in the future.

As we had no other members express a willingness in serving as President (except Ken Jurgensen—who agreed to be Treasurer instead), Vicki St. Martin and Caron Garliepp have agreed to share the responsibility for one year. At the end of that term we hope that someone else will step up to fill the spot. Ideally, one of this year’s new officers will move up to President and someone else will fill the vacated spot.

We have not yet worked out the details of the shared responsibilities…but be assured that you may address your concerns, questions, comments to either Vicki or Caron (or any of the other Board members) at ANY time.

The slate of officers to be voted on at the September meeting is:

Co-Presidents--Vicki St. Martin & Caron Garliepp

Vice President--Carola Nicholson

Treasurer--Ken Jurgensen

Secretary--Holly Adamscheck

Please come to the September meeting to cast your vote!  Thank you.

The SBBA Board of Directors and Officers

Enclosed with your newsletter is a personalized letter from our Treasurer, Roxanne Russell, letting you know your dues status and your information on file. PLEASE take the time to review the insert. If you have any changes, please return this sheet with your changes noted and your dues payment if required. You may bring the information to the September meeting or return the sheet to Roxanne at her home mailing address if submitted prior to 9/30/2001. After that date, the information should be mailed to our nominated new Treasurer, Ken Jurgensen, at his address as listed on the bottom of your personalized letter.

Submitted by Roxanne Russell

"Accountants should be thanking President Bush and Congress for the ‘Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.’ Your gratitude should not be for the $1.35 trillion tax cut itself, but rather for its complexity. This law should reinforce for your clients just how much they need your expertise.""

Howard W. Wolosky, Editor of Practical Accounting August, 2001.

One of the table topics we talked about at the June meeting was insurance. OK, it wasn’t the original topic, but it was where our table ended up. I wanted to remind everyone about Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (DEIC). It is disability insurance for the self-employed provided by the Employee Development Department. It is low cost based on your income—you send EDD a copy of your schedule SE once a year. The benefits are the same as those received by employees under the State Disability Insurance program. For more information, you may call EDD, 1-888-745-3886 or visit their website, www.edd.ca.gov. You may download an application from the website.

The State Board of Equalization’s Tax Information Bulletin of June, 2001, announced a new e-filing option. Businesses may e-file if they conduct business at a single location and file a BOE-401-EZ or BOE-401-A and use only Schedule A. More information is available at their website, www.boe.ca.gov and click on electronic services.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Friday, September 7, 2001, the Internal Revenue Service "which has been testing an Internet-based payment system with corporate taxpayers since January, said it will now open the Web-based system to the general public." The Electronic Federal Tax Payment (EFTPS) will be web-based. You may be familiar with EFTPS by phone for business payroll tax payments. The IRS hopes that the new internet-based system will "appeal to the 10 million self-employed people…who have to make quarterly estimated tax payments each year."

Individuals will not be able to file their tax returns electronically directly; they must still go through an intermediary, such as a tax preparer or software company. But they may use EFTPS via the Internet to pay their taxes. "To use…EFTPS via the Internet , taxpayers go to www.eftps.gov where they’ll sign up for an account and receive a personal identification number. The IRS will then mail a confirmation kit, a PIN and information about how to set up an Internet password." The taxpayer may schedule payments as much as a year in advance "or as late as one day before the tax is due. Scheduled payments can be canceled up to two days before the date they’re supposed to be made."

A couple of things to remember about the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001:

The rate reduction credit for 2001 of 5% (that is the difference between the 15% rate and the new 10% rate) will be computed on the taxpayer’s 2001 tax return and then reduced by the amount of cash actually received from the Internal Revenue Service during this year.

The Act has a sunset provision which provides that all provisions of, and amendments made by the Act will not apply after December 31, 2010. "The estate tax is phased out through 2009, repealed in 2010, and reinstated in 2011 if Congress takes no further action." (Howard W. Wolosky Practical Accountant August, 2001.) That is rather mind-boggling. There will be a great need for estate planners for the next 10 years, it seems to me.

Have you read about "Nigerian" scams in Barney Brantingham’s column in the News Press? Formerly, the victim received a phone call asking for their help in transferring money from Nigeria to the United States. That was the "old" method. The new method is via the Internet.

I received an e-mail in early August from ugabi2001@yahoo.com. The subject line was "Business Proposal." Interestingly enough, the "problem" described involved a supposed fraud perpetuated against the Nigerian government and Mr. Ugabi wanted to park the extra cash in my bank account. So the appeal is to one’s baser instincts. The e-mail says in part "For providing the account where we shall remit this money, you will be entitled to 25% of the entire funds." Of course, the funds will not be deposited in one’s account; the account number is what they’re after.

The Secret Service is in charge of investigating these "Nigerian 419" (the Nigerian penal code number) frauds, according to the Los Angeles Times of August 26, 2001. If you receive an e-mail of this sort, mail a copy to U.S. Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20001.

I never thought I’d be sending something to the Secret Service!