TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Month's SBI Trivia Question Stumper:
Annual external advertising revenues for the digital signage industry in the U.S. is expected to reach what by 2009?
For the answer, scroll to the bottom of the newsletter.
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Industry News
[[HOT TOPIC]] THE TAXMAN COMETH !!!
Tips for Sign Shops at Tax Time
By Thomas D. Dolan
There is nothing more likely to send chills up your spine than receiving a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Of course, once you've ripped it open in a blind panic, you may find yourself giddy with relief when it contains a check for your accidental overpayment. More likely, however, your first intuition was accurate.
For any serious tax matter you should search out a good tax lawyer and/or accountant. Several books have been written on the subject, three of which have been drawn upon for this article: What The IRS Doesn't Want You To Know, by Martin S. Kaplan and Naomi Weiss; Stand Up To The IRS, by Frederick W. Daily; and How To Settle With The IRS, by Arnold S. Goldstein. Other primary resources drawn upon for this article includes the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which has been incorporated into the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA).
First of all, why not avoid the audit at the start? What follow, in somewhat edited form, are Kaplan's suggestions of the most effective measures for avoiding an audit or reducing its scope if you are selected.
1. Make sure that any third-party income and reports agree with your records. Verify that:
*W-2s from all employers match your declared salary.
*Interest and dividend reports from your banks and securities firms match the actual interest and dividends you have received and entered on your return.
*Mortgage interest statements from your bank or lender match your mortgage interest deduction.
*Income from 1099 forms matches the appropriate income items on your return.
*If you discover an error on any of these forms, contact the issuer and request the corrected information as quickly as possible. Get it to the IRS before it gets the incorrect version.
2. Make sure you select the right forms and schedules. Don't stretch the situation, but don't overlook credits whose forms you haven't included but could.
3. Make sure you record all payments. This is especially true if you make estimated payments throughout the year.
4. Keep track of bank deposits so all items are easy to trace. The first thing auditors request are your checking, savings, and investment accounts. They then proceed to do a total cash receipts analysis, comparing the total to the gross income shown on your tax return.
5. Keep your checking and savings accounts free of irregularities. Be sure you can explain big or unusual changes.
6. Keep business and personal bank accounts separate.
7. If you're going to take a business deduction, pay for it by check. It's always wise to pay for routine personal items such as bills for electricity, telephone, rent and clothing with a check or credit card.
If you have severe tax problems, you must quickly learn how to protect your assets from lien, seizure, or levy, says Goldstein. Your goal is to achieve "poverty on paper." What you don't have, the IRS can't seize. There are many legal ways to do this. (Hire an asset protection professional.)
Here are five of the most powerful asset protection strategies suggested by Goldstein:
1. Transfer your assets to family limited partnerships. This is one of the safest ways to protect assets from creditors and to save yourself taxes. As a general partner, you can still maintain complete control, while the majority of the interest in the partnership can be safety owned by other family members, corporations, or trusts as limited partners.
2. Transfer your assets to an Offshore Trust, a special trust established in a foreign country with strict laws. They will not cooperate with the IRS. Taxpayers with serious tax problems frequently sell or mortgage their assets and transfer their liquidated wealth to their Offshore Trust, often steps ahead of a tax lien. As with bankruptcy, all asset transfers must be legal and honestly disclosed to the IRS when it attempts enforced collection.
3. Encumber the equity of your property. Can you borrow another $50,000 on your home, $10,000 on your car or $100,000 on your business? When the IRS is after you, borrow heavily so the smallest possible equity remains exposed. Your goal is to encumber the equity in your assets until there is none left for the IRS to seize.
4. Liquidate your life insurance cash value, savings, CDs, IRAs, Keoghs, stocks, bonds, annuities, and other securities. These are sitting ducks for the IRS.
5. Solve your other financial problems. Collect what you are owed, even if you have to heavily discount. (The same with settling lawsuits, even at a bargain price.) Your claims against others lose all value once you are levied by the IRS.
6. Set up a corporation to hold your personal funds. From this account pay your personal debts. You may transfer money to the corporation as a loan and withdraw it as repayment without incurring a tax. But do keep good records to properly report all income at tax time. When the IRS finds out, do it again. It's legal.
7. Transfer your money to banks the IRS doesn't know about, especially to small banks outside your area. Since the IRS periodically makes you submit a new financial statement and disclose new bank accounts, you must do so. Then immediately open new accounts. This is legal.
8. If you own your own business, you can divert your income to your spouse or adult children who work in your business. They can then gift or loan the funds back to you. Make sure you can prove your spouse and children actually perform services.
9. Take cash proceeds from a non-exempt asset and buy an exempt asset.
10. Pay "friendly" creditors. Do you owe your father for your college education? A brother for a past loan? If it's a bona fide debt, the IRS can't complain.
11. Prepay expenses. You can prepay your child's education, even years in advance, as well as alimony, child support, insurance, medical care and even the legal fees necessary to combat the IRS. Your lawyer will like that.
12. You can give a gift up to $10,000 per year per donee without a gift tax. It should go to family members, which is legitimate. A gift to hinder creditors is a fraudulent transfer.
The truth is you want to avoid the IRS at all costs. If you have to engage them, you're in for a battle. But, if you know your rights and are ready to fight for them, you have a better chance of coping now than ever before.
GELcore Changes Name to Lumination.
GE Consumer & Industrial has changed the name of its LED business from GELcore LLC to Lumination LLC as part of a drive to develop white LED products for general illumination.
This is GE's latest move in developing its former GELcore business, following last year's announcement by GE of an investment of $100 million and the formation of a strategic alliance with the Nichia Corporation, the world's largest LED manufacturer and a leader in phosphors and optoelectronics.
GE says that the new name "reflects the fast-growing business unit's vision of imagination with light, and embraces GE's heritage of innovation and optimism for the future." The company has grown more than 30 percent annually since it was founded as a joint venture between GE Lighting and Emcore.
"Our name change emphasizes an important element of our growth strategy," states David Elien, president of Lumination. "Our focus since our inception has been lighting applications that leverage the benefits of LEDs to drive real value for customers."
Elien says that Lumination will continue to deliver LED products for signage, architecture, transportation signals and retail display, while also setting its sights on the emerging general illumination market segment.
Beer Co. Challenge With Big Signage Trophy
The long-standing "battle of the beer cars" on NASCAR tracks could take on added significance during the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season if Anheuser-Busch is feeling confident about the performance of the #8 Budweiser team.
Miller Lite announced its 2007 NASCAR challenge to Budweiser, this time putting naming rights to Miller Park on the line for a weekend series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals. The challenge, introduced by Miller Lite last season, pits the #2 Miller Lite car against the #8 Budweiser car, with the season-long NASCAR points leader winning the "wager" for his sponsor.
If the Miller Lite car finishes ahead of the Budweiser car in the season standings, Busch Stadium will be renamed Miller Lite Stadium for a to-be-determined 2008 series in St. Louis between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers. If the Budweiser car finishes the season ahead of the Miller Lite car, Miller Park will be renamed Budweiser Park for a 2008 series in Milwaukee between the same two teams.
The winning sponsor will receive two primary signage locations surrounding the exterior of the stadium, three prominent signage locations around the field itself, and ten signs throughout the concourse. Temporary signage will be banners draped over the existing permanent signage. Mutually agreed-upon signage locations will be identified at both ballparks upon acceptance of the wager. The signs must match the winning sponsor's brand visual identity. Loser pays for the conversion, including production of the temporary signage.
NEC Display Solutions and Cisco to Offer Digital Signage System
Itasca, Ilinois-based LCD technology and research and development company NEC Display Solutions of America and Cisco Systems, a San Jose, California-based technology systems manufacturer, have partnered to create a digital signage solution. As part of the agreement, NEC will incorporate its MultiSync LCD displays with Cisco's Digital Signage system, which is designed for marketing, advertising, and training applications. Cisco's Digital Signage solution incorporates a digital media manager, a web-based control software application, and a digital media player, which controls playback of video, graphics, and text. The release date of the joint solution has not yet been determined.
New Appointments
Breathing Color, Inc., a designer and supplier of digital inkjet media and post-print protective coatings based in Orange, California, is pleased to announce the addition of Eric Lyons
to its sales and business development team. Eric joins BC from Bulldog Products and brings extensive experience in the fine art digital printing industry. He joins a dynamic and driven culture at Breathing Color that is based on providing its customers with leading products and prices.
Meetings and Events
MARCH
March 2 - 4: Graphics of the Americas 2007 will be held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. For additional information, call 305/558-4855.
March 7 - 9:
GlobalShop 2007, the largest retail design and in-store marketing event of the year, will be held in the Sands Expo Center at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information, check out www.globalshop.org/globalshop/index.jsp.
March 9 - 11: Fred's Letterheads will host the Sasekalahewata Oklahoma Letterheads meet at Fred's Sign Company, Inc., in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. For registering information, call 405/235-8696 or e-mail FREDSSIGNCO@aol.com.
March 14:
Electric Signs: Designing for Compliance to UL 48. Brea, California. Topics include general information about UL and the electric sign program, and requirements for all electric, fluorescent, incandescent, high intensity discharge, neon, and LED signs. Additional courses: May 22, Orlando, Florida; September 25, Northbrook, Illinois; and November 14, Dallas, Texas. Private on-site courses are also available. To view more details and register, visit www.uluniversity.com or call 888/503-5536.
APRIL
April 12 - 14: ISA International Sign Expo 2007. Las Vegas, Nevada. For additional details, call 703/836-4012 or log on to www.signexpo.com
Sponsored Links
M2 Lighting Solutions, LLC -- NEW epoxy-encapsulated UL recognized LED channel letter lighting system that will stay bright even in your most challenging conditions.
www.M2Lighting.com
Elliott Equipment Corporation -- Award-winning HiReach & BoomTruck aerial-workplatforms and cranes. Elliott products increase your productivity, and give you the highest ROI available. Do more with Elliott. www.elliottequip.com
This Month's Trivia Answer:
$857 million
(According to market research firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures)
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For in-depth coverage of these topics and other sign industry topics, check out
www.signshop.com
ATTENTION ADVERTISERS and SUBSCRIBERS:
Coming up in the March 2007 issue of
Sign Builder Illustrated,
feature articles on:
ADA Architectural Signage
Awning Installations
Dimensional CNC Routing
LED Lighting
Design Software
Vinyl for Vehicle Graphics
ATTENTION ADVERTISERS and SUBSCRIBERS:
Coming up in the April 2007 ISA Show issue of
Sign Builder Illustrated,
feature articles on:
Acrylic Fabrication
Digital Printing Hardware
Dimensional Sign Blanks
LED Channel Letters and Sign Cabinets
LED Displays
Dimensional Paints
Panel Saws
Large Format Vinyl
Contact your ad sales representative to reserve your space today.
As we shape SBI Update into the premier
e-newsletter for the sign industry, we encourage our readers to send us feedback on what you like, what you'd like to see, and any other comments you might have. To do so, send an e-mail to Managing Editor Chris Ytuarte at cytuarte@sbpub.com.
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ATG Electronics, Inc.A Leading LED Signage Products manufacturer! Product range: LED standard flex strip, SMD flex strip, ribbon flex strip, 3LEDs, 4LEDs & 6LEDs waterproof modules. Color range: red, yellow, blue, green, white, pink, purple, amber, jade, RGB.
Toll Free: 800-495-8630.
Email: sales@atgelectronics.com www.atgelectronics.com
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Tetra Ultra LED System
Improves Light OutputWith 88% more brightness than traditional white LEDs, Tetra Ultra LED Lighting System features a rugged, flexible, low-voltage design that simplifies installation and reduces maintenance hassles. Designed to fit medium size channel letters, it provides outstanding light and color uniformity that offers sign OEMs a perfect match of affordability and performance. For more info, visit:
Lumination
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Mimaki USAMimaki USA has stood at the forefront of technology with its large-format plotters and cutters. Headquartered in Suwanee, Georgia with branch offices in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles, key strengths include large-scale printing and cutting solutions, smaller, affordable plotters, and breakthroughs in printing for UV curable ink jet systems. For more info, click on:
Mimaki USA
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SloanLED Great White 2This new, improved version of SloanLED's high-output white channel letter LEDs features Constant Current Technology, parallel or series wiring, complete compatibility with all SloanLED 12-Volt DC products, and a 4-year limited warranty. Great White 2 provides lower power consumption, a smaller footprint, more uniform lighting and better value. For more info, click on:
Great White 2 Info
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Steel Art Company
"Exclusively to the Sign Trade.."
Letters and Logo's Waterjet cut or Channel Style. All metals. Standard and Custom Finishing. LED's, Raster Braille in Metal, Etching. Most solid cut ship in 10 days, most Channel in 15.
....at the start..consider the finish..STEEL ART COMPANY
www.steelartco.com | |
Sign Builder Illustrated
Buyer's Guide 2007
Published twice per year in March and September, the Buyer's Guide lists manufacturers, distributors, and sign companies that comprise the industry in the U.S. and Canada. For information on advertising and free company listings, call 212-620-7233 or e-mail Sales Representative | |
Sign Builder Illustrated
Goes DigitalWith live hyperlinks to video clips, advertiser information, and other features, SBI Digital offers the newest online technology with the familiar layout of a hardcopy issue. To view an example, click on:
SBI Digital Magazine
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Sign Builder Illustrated:
The How-To Book Vol. 1Learn secrets to fabricating neon, illuminating with LED, sandblasting signs, applying paints, cutting and printing vinyl, and more in this 288-page, full-color reprinting of Sign Builder Illustrated's trademark How-To articles. To visit the How-to Book Web site, click on:
SBI How-To Book
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GELcore Gets New Name