Internal Revenue Service

These three words will bring you to an immediate halt, but hold on a minute.  Every once in a while, I wander around www.IRS.gov just for ‘fun.’  Sort of like paging through my old fifteen pound copy of Webster’s Unabridged for a few minutes…the truth is you might learn something or remember something you could use today.

Take a few minutes to log into the IRS website.  When I did this recently, I went to “Don’t Fall Prey to the 2011 Dirty Dozen Tax Scams” and looked through them quickly, especially the stuff on Identity Theft.  This was especially interesting to me, since one of my family members has been hit recently.

On the left menu is a Newsroom Topic on 2011 Tax Tips.  Under that topic are tax tips posted for each month of the year of 2011.  Glancing through this list for January, I found one entitled “Tax Tips for Small Business and Self Employed.”  Some interesting facts are that the IRS offers both a Video Portal and Virtual Small Business Tax Workshops for help to business owners.

In February, the first subject is “Four Ways to Find Free Tax Help.”  One of the links under this subject is Small Business/Self Employed. 

Under the March menu I found “Walk-In:  Eight Reasons to Visit an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center.”  Do you have any idea where your local IRS Center is should you need it?

April tips are mostly about filing individual forms, but there are lots of tips about timing and extensions as well as tips on managing your records.

May has one line only and gives the dates and places for 2011 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums.  That is Forums not forms.  These are three day events offering up-to-date information on federal and state tax issues.  There are sign-up information, YouTube Videos, relevant links in English and Spanish, and, believe it or not, Twitter @IRStaxpros for the latest news. 

Also, on the left side menu is a list of IRS Resources for which includes the NewsRoom which I found more informative than watching the news on TV. 

I guess I would have to say the Internal Revenue Service is getting more involved in the Social Media than some of us.  I have to tell you that while spending a few minutes studying this site may seem minor, I jotted down notes for further investigation later. 

Contact us at ManApp1.com for questions or issues on taxes or how taxes are affecting your business.  Leave your contact information and we will help you resolve your issues.

See you next week.

Looking for Service Providers when entering “The Cloud”

While the largest number of business are small to medium in size, we should look for the same features and services no matter what size of business we have or service.

So I have been researching what the large/enterprise/government organizations are demanding as they enter into the cloud environment. Here are a couple of interesting findings…

More and more companies are merging leaving them with systems that are not similar or matching. This is a perfect opportunity for them to merge data into a cloud-based system. The merger gives the new company growth potential on the horizon that were not even considered in their recent past. The fact is that professional planning of this magnitude is imperative and absolutely necessary to maintain success.

Small to medium sized business probably do not have on-site IT departments equal to the task of managing or servicing the cloud based deployment or ensuring the newly merged company on the scalability it needs now and in the future. Again, call on the pro’s.

I came across a white paper during my research from a company on the East Coast called Cox Business Virginia (coxbusinessva.com) and this paragraph is worth quoting for you.

“As more cloud and hosted applications are adopted to run business operations, you will need a network partner that can ensure the security and performance required to manage you IT resources – and scale as your organization and applications grow.”

They go on to list that continuity, scalability, speed and mobility as well as help when the unexpected occurs are all of utmost importance when looking for a service provider.

The truth is that “the cloud” is part of our everyday life. Give us a call to filter out the facts and the mystery for your company (size does not matter): http://www.manapp1.com

Is It Real?

So are you wondering if this cloud thing is just a fad, or will it really take hold? If you think about it, there’s already evidence that it’ll be around for a while. I’ve been reading a book that discusses this: The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr. Carr compares the introduction and adoption of electricity as a utility to the information systems we’ve all grown to love.

Consider that prior to Edison’s invention of the power plant, power for most manufacturing was derived from waterwheels and plants had to be located to flowing water to take advantage of it. Edison’s invention allowed plants to be located anywhere but, initially, it was still only the large companies that could afford to buy and operate their own electrical power plant.  The next step was centralized power that was shared by smaller concerns, all close together. More efficient, perhaps, but not enough to convince the big dogs to give up their private power.

Enter Samuel Insull. A clerk for Edison, Insull saw the opportunity that lay ahead in truly centralized power. He developed the concept of a utility service that could provide electricity cheaper than the big companies could produce it for themselves. A new industry was born!

Compare this to the information age. From Hollerith’s card reading machines to the mainframes found only in the largest concerns, to the concept of shared computer time for those smaller entities, the development of the information world closely mirrors that of electrical power. With the internet, we can access data (“electricity”) from a central station, but still need to own considerable infrastructure for our working lives. The cloud is that final step: all the infrastructure (hardware, software, data) will be outside of our walls where we don’t have to worry about maintenance, obsolescence, or replacement. If we can believe what happened to electrical power, it’s inevitable.

If you’re interested in reading Carr’s book, you can find it here at Amazon. By the way, I’m reading it on my smart phone, not as a printed book. One more step into the cloud!

Stuart Nottingham
Management Applications Inc. of Raleigh
http://www.manapp1.com