From CNNMONEY

As the tax deadline draws near, the IRS wants you to beware of fraudulent tax preparers, hidden offshore bank accounts and offers that seem too good to be true.

In its “dirty dozen” list, released Tuesday, the IRS urged taxpayers to avoid falling prey to — or carrying out — a number of common tax schemes that will result in copious fines or put an offender in prison for years.

Taxpayers should be wary of anyone peddling scams that seem too good to be true,” said IRS commissioner Doug Shulman. “The IRS fights fraud by pursuing taxpayers who hide income abroad and by ensuring taxpayers get competent, ethical service from qualified professionals at home in the U.S.”

Among the scams to watch out for this year are preparers who offer refunds that don’t exist, promoters who encourage you to argue with the IRS about taxes you owe, and IRS impersonators who may even use Twitter to obtain your personal information.

The IRS will also be keeping a close eye on misbehaving tax filers, so think twice before filing a phony salary, lying about charitable donations or trying to claim a tax credit for the gas costs you incurred during that road trip you took last year.

Hiring a sketchy preparer: It’s easy for an accountant or tax preparer to take advantage of you, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the tax code or paperwork involved with filing a return.

There are many preparers out there who — to make an extra buck — will skim a portion of a client’s refunds, charge more than they should for services and lure taxpayers to their office by promising unattainable refunds.

It’s up to the taxpayer to be careful when selecting a preparer, but the IRS is also taking steps to help decrease the chances that a taxpayer will end up receiving “help” from a fraud.

In future filing seasons, all paid preparers will be required to register with IRS in order to receive a preparer tax identification number. Preparers must also take competency tests and participate in continuing professional education, unless they are attorneys, certified public accountants or enrolled agents.

Hiding your money offshore: The IRS is cracking down on hidden offshore accounts, and as part of its enforcement, the agency is targeting offenders and seeking out anyone else who helped to enable the scheme.

If you have an offshore bank account, brokerage account, credit card or even an offshore insurance plan, the IRS urges you to come forward now and admit to your crime voluntarily in order to limit the possibility of criminal prosecution.

Phishing for personal information: Be careful before replying to that e-mail from the IRS notifying you of the thousand dollar refund you’re eligible for this year.

“IRS impersonation schemes flourish during the filing season,” the agency said. “Criminals use the information they get to steal the victim’s identity, access bank accounts, run up credit card charges or apply for loans in the victim’s name.”

These scams can come in the form of e-mails, phone calls, faxes or even tweets. If you receive an e-mail from someone claiming to be from the IRS, don’t open any attachments or click on links included in the e-mail. Instead, forward the message to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.

Filing false or misleading forms: Scam artists are claiming refunds they don’t deserve by filing “false or misleading” returns, said the IRS.

Taxpayers are fabricating information returns and claiming made-up withholding credits in an attempt to make a little extra money from the IRS by way of a tax refund.

Some taxpayers carry out this scheme because they are under the belief that the federal government holds secret accounts for each of its citizens, said the IRS. These individuals believe that the funds in these hidden accounts can be accessed simply by issuing a Form 1099-Original Issue Discount, which is a phony information return.

Overvaluing your charitable donations: While giving to charity is a noble act, don’t reverse it by lying about the amount you donated.

It can be tempting to overvalue items you give away when reporting them on your return — especially for non-cash donations such as furniture or artwork — but the IRS is keeping an eye out for suspiciously high-valued donations this year.

Arguing with the IRS: Have a bone to pick with the IRS? Be careful.

Taxpayers are being convinced by scam artists to argue with the IRS in order to get back some of the taxes they owe to the agency.

“Promoters of frivolous schemes encourage people to make unreasonable and outlandish claims to avoid paying the taxes they owe,” the IRS said. “While taxpayers have the right to contest their tax liabilities in court, no one has the right to disobey the law or IRS guidance.”

The agency has a list of “frivolous” legal positions that have been “thrown out of court” and cannot be used against the IRS, so pick your fights carefully this tax season.

Fishy retirement plans: The IRS is on the hunt for taxpayers who abuse their retirement plan arrangements, including individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

Taxpayers who enter transactions that allow them to exceed the contribution limit of an IRA are wanted by the IRS, as are those people who fail to properly report early distributions.

Claiming gas costs: Trying to claim the money you spend on your hour-long commute to work each day? This could cost you a $5,000 fine from the IRS.

While taxpayers such as farmers who use fuel off highways as a means of carrying on their trade or business may qualify for the fuel tax credit, you can only claim the credit if it meets specific IRS requirements.

Disguising your company: It’s time to fess up to that business you own. The IRS is currently working with state authorities to identify corporations and other entities that disguise the ownership of a business.

These entities are often disguised through using a third party to request an employer identification number, and the businesses or financial services can be used for the underreporting of income, fictitious deductions, money laundering, financial crimes and even terrorist financing.

Giving yourself a pay cut: In an attempt to lower the amount of taxes owed, some taxpayers are filing phony wage-related information returns instead of the required returns.

“Taxpayers should resist any temptation to participate in any of the variations of this scheme,” said the IRS, adding that false filings could result in a $5,000 fine.

Abusing trusts: An increasing number of people are misusing private annuity trusts and foreign trusts to transfer income and deduct personal expenses.

“Some promoted transactions promise reduction of income subject to tax, deductions for personal expenses and reduced estate or gift taxes,” said the IRS. “Such trusts rarely deliver the tax benefits promised and are used primarily as a means to avoid income tax liability and to hide assets from creditors, including the IRS.”

Inflating your withholding credit: You could be fined $5,000 this year if you exaggerate your withholding when reporting nontaxable Social Security benefits, which would result in your falsely report zero income to the IRS.

Tell the IRS: If you notice anything fishy, report suspected tax fraud to the IRS using Form 3949-A.

From the Numbers News
Alice in Wonderland comfortably held top spot at the box office this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. In these days of 60% drops for big releases, its decline of 47% can be considered a victory for Disney and earned it an impressive $62 million in its second outing. Its total cume to date passed $200 million, and the movie is already Tim Burton’s second-highest grossing movie after 1989’s Batman.

New releases all struggled individually, but collectively earned over $40 million, indicating that the high level of competition was their biggest problem. Green Zone topped the list with $14.5 million, well down from previous Matt Damon/Paul Greengrass collaborations. She’s Out of My League picked up $9.6 million for Paramount, also below expectations but not terrible.

Remember Me scored $8.3 million for Summit. Again, that’s lower than pre-weekend projections, and something of a disappointment given Robert Pattinson’s fan base. However, it’s hardly a disaster considering the likely budget of the movie and the time of year.

Our Family Wedding was the final new wide release, and it actually did a little better than expected with $7.6 million. Its Per Theater Average was comparable with Green Zone’s, making it a fairly successful niche play for Searchlight.

Even if they are well paid in 2009, a couple of french athlete should envy the salary of 3 of the most  paid athlete in the world for 2009.

A french publication L’équipe Magazine put up that Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and David Beckham are way more richer then the French atlhete.

Tiger Woods won in 2009 73 millions or euros or 102 millions $. Another golfer Phil Mickelson show a gain of 54,4 millions $.

Star soccer player David Beckham on his side stacked 46,4 millions $.

So French athlete are far behind even if we look at the top 5.

Thierry Henry who play for the FC Barcelone won 26, 3 millions $, Tony Sparker from the San Antonio Spurs got 15, 5 millions $.

Karim Benzema from the Real Madrid have been paid 12,3 millions $. Sebastien Loeb the famous Rally racer won 11,9 millions $ and last but not least Franck Ribéry from the FC Bayern Munich got a check of 8,2 millions $.

In light of the credit legislation that recently went into effect, card issuers have come up with new ways to make up revenue. Watch out ! Your card may suddenly sting you …

BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT SPENDING ENOUGH : 30 $ TO 90 $

Annual fee for some Citibank cardholders who spend less than 2 400 $ a year.

BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT SWIPPING ENOUGH : 19 $

Charge for Fifth Third Bank cardholders who do not use their card within one year.

JUST BECAUSE :  29 $ TO 99 $

Annual fee beign tested by Bank of America on a variety of new and existing cards.

What MBAs Can Learn from Wall Street

A former investment banker argues that MBAs can learn a thing or two from Wall Street, including the futility of circling the wagons in the face of populist rage

By Alex Chu from buisnessweek

Watching the financial crisis unfold over the last year, I was struck by how utterly tone-deaf the financial-services industry has become to the sentiments of an enraged public. Junior analysts and senior managing directors alike seem to be genuinely perplexed by why their industry is being ambushed about their compensation, lending practices, and political lobbying. However, Wall Street’s obliviousness serves as a cautionary tale for MBA applicants, students, and even alumni.

As a former investment banker, I experienced firsthand how an insular and self-referential culture could lead to a warped sense of reality.

Take the yearend bonuses as an example. To many bankers, the bonus isn’t just a dollar figure, but a symbol of their entire self-worth. Simply put, it is their sole way of keeping score vs. their finance peers. As such, from the fresh-faced Ivy League graduates to the managing directors and partners, it is unacceptable to tell anyone within the firm (or anyone else save your family) that you are “satisfied” with your bonus.

As a result, the crestfallen banker does not feel strange for complaining about his $1.1 million bonus because a less-deserving colleague received $1.11 million. And when an enraged public attacks them for taking gigantic bonuses as layoffs ravage the middle class, they fail to understand why. After all, that banker has spent virtually every waking hour benchmarking himself against other finance professionals. They fashion themselves as Masters of the Universe without realizing that they’ve turned into Marie Antoinettes.

Lack of Empathy

The Wall Street culture becomes so self-referential that investment bankers assume everyone else shares the same level of hypercompetitiveness, nihilism, and preoccupation with money as they do. This insularity makes it very difficult for many in the industry to truly empathize because they genuinely see themselves as aristocrats to a plebeian mass simply because they make more money. That sense of oblivious elitism and earnest belief in their capital “I” importance is what feeds the public anger—not jealousy.

So now the public wants blood. “Off with their heads,” they say, with taxes, fees, fines, regulation, and even imprisonment being the modern equivalent of the guillotine. The attacks only serve to feed the “poor me” syndrome on Wall Street, which in turn further infuriates the public.

Business schools are experiencing a similar (albeit less hostile) reproach—with countless articles lambasting the degree program, making some students and administrators feel ambushed and confused.

When responding to fair or unfair criticism from others, the worst thing MBA students and administrators can do is to follow Wall Street’s example by circling the wagons. Instead, taking the temperature down on both sides starts with a willingness to understand, on an emotional and subjective level, why someone would feel that way. Without having true empathy or compassion for others from different socioeconomic backgrounds, no amount of rational explanation or justification will be heard.

Simply put, MBAs need to be fully aware that not everyone shares the same values, priorities, or points of view. Everyone wants higher pay, a more prestigious job, and a cushy standard of living—but not everyone values these things to the same degree that many MBA students do. That does not make the premium that MBAs place on these values better or worse, wrong or right—just different from the value assigned to them by people in other professions.

B-Schools’ Illusion of Diversity

This blind spot stems from a false sense of diversity within the MBA classroom—the McKinsey consultant in Kenya and the American P&G (PG) brand manager have more in common than either of them do to the autoworker at a Ford (F) assembly plant or the goat herder in rural Namibia. Like the Marie Antoinettes on Wall Street, MBAs are more prone to developing a huge blind spot when it comes to feeling true kinship with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Students may even volunteer at local charities, but some may still develop contempt for those they see as beneath them. It’s more a question of attitude, not merely exposure.

Another way for students to avoid becoming cocooned is to make a concerted effort to seek out and participate in activities where there are virtually no other MBAs. There is a tremendous amount of herd mentality in business school. One of the most negative by-products of a collaborative and team-oriented environment is the tremendous peer pressure to conform—what classes to take, what career choices to value, where to live, and so forth.

Why is all of this so important? Because chances are, most if not all working professionals will have to start over in a completely new career at least a few times in their lives (once every 10 to 20 years), whether they are MBAs or former Wall Streeters. The more cocooned one is, the harder it will be to make those nonlinear transitions beyond the business or corporate world.

Fifteen Ways to Slash Spending in Retirement

Retirees must adjust to new economic realities. Here, based on suggestions from financial advisers, are strategies to cut costs

By Ben Steverman from Businessweek

Workers approaching retirement are often told by experts that they will need only about 80% of their income after they stop working to maintain the same lifestyle.

After all, expenses fall when retirees don’t need to dry-clean their work wardrobe and commute every day. And they have more time to shop for deals and handle house and yard work themselves. Presumably, the children are out of the nest or have their own financial flight plan.

The problem is that many retirees soon discover the 80% rule of thumb doesn’t work. “I’m finding that to be unrealistic with today’s retirees,” says James R. Miller, president of Woodward Financial Advisors in Chapel Hill, N.C. “It is more like 100%.”

Expenses associated with work might fall, but early retirees face temptations everywhere, whether in the form of travel, golf, club memberships, or more socializing.

A regular paycheck—and the obligation to save much of it each month—often constrains budgets. By contrast, the newly retired can dip into a nest egg for the first time, and “for some, it’s akin to winning the lottery,” says Ken Eaton, a principal at financial planning firm Stepp & Rothwell in Overland Park, Kan. Without the “artificial boundary” of a paycheck, “they can easily spend a lot more than their portfolio can sustain,” he says.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek received tips from more than two dozen financial advisers on how to spend less in retirement.

1. Adjust your health insurance

Through the length of a retirement, out-of-pocket health-care expenses can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, health care can be the toughest kind of spending to do without.

Because most health-care spending happens later in retirement, one option is to start out with a cheaper health policy. “Healthy people can choose lower-premium comprehensive—but still reasonably good—coverage in their early years, saving health-care dollars for later years,” says David Armes of Dover Financial Planning in Long Beach, Calif.

Retirees should look at insurance options very carefully. Depending on your health problems and the medications you take, one policy could be much less expensive than the others, says Eve Kaplan, chief executive of Kaplan Financial Advisors in Berkeley Heights, N.J.

2. Flexible travel

Retirees have more time and a greater inclination to take trips. But they also can travel in the off-season or at odd times. “Flexibility might allow retirees to take advantage of more off-season specials or last-minute deals,” says Brenda Knox of Financial Elements in Rolling Meadows, Ill.

3. Cut the purse strings

Several financial planners noted how often their clients use precious retirement savings to help adult children. Without a paycheck coming in to their parents, sons and daughters may need to fend for themselves.

Kaplan advises charging adult children reasonable rent or board expenses if they’re living with you.

4. Curb your cars

Can your household manage sharing one automobile? One fewer car in the garage would slash payouts for insurance, car payments, and maintenance.

Without a daily commute, you’re likely to put less strain on your cars. So consider waiting longer before you buy a new set of wheels.

5. Use cash

Financial planners offer many tips for essentially tricking yourself into spending less. They include waiting periods for major purchases and automatically putting parts of your portfolio off limits for purchases. The idea is that, by artificially constraining your buying abilities, you are forced to spend only on your true priorities.

Another popular trick, planners say, is to use cash whenever possible. Buying with a credit card or debit card can often be too easy, says Paul A. LaViola of RTD Financial Advisors in Philadelphia. “It feels more real—even painful—when you use cash,” LaViola says.

6. Watch those investment fees

Investing is one area where customers get less by paying more.

High fund expenses and investment fees can eat into portfolios, but there is no evidence that higher costs translate into better performance.

Consider a typical managed mutual fund with an expense ratio of 1.4%, and compare it to an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, with an expense ratio of 0.09%, says Kevin Brosious, president of Wealth Management in Allentown, Pa. A $500,000 investment would save $6,550 per year in the lower-cost option.

7. Put food spending on a diet

There is a reason early-bird specials at restaurants are so popular with retirees: An early dinner can be a lot cheaper. Other strategies recommended for saving money on food include cooking at home more and going to nice restaurants for lunch rather than dinner.

8. Seek out freebies and discounts

Discounts for seniors abound, including reduced prices on club memberships and a variety of offers through organizations like AARP. Retirement may also allow more time for coupon-clipping. Public libraries are a good alternative to buying books or movies. In the Western U.S., national parks remain a cheap vacation option.

9. Adjust your insurance

Insurance needs can change dramatically for people moving from the workforce to retirement. For example, planners suggest renegotiating for lower car insurance rates if you’re driving much less without a daily commute.

Many retirees no longer need to pay for disability insurance, which is designed to replace income lost if you were to be injured. It might also make sense to reduce your life insurance coverage. The death of a major breadwinner won’t have the same impact when you’re retired. Also, “if life insurance is sufficient, then restructure your policy so that dividends pay future premiums,” says Grant W. Moore of Savant Capital Management in Rockford, Ill.

10. Downsize your home

Housing expenses are the largest item in most families’ budgets. So, moving to a smaller, cheaper home is a frequent suggestion for cutting costs.

Many clients who have mortgage debt do so because they own more than one home, says Michael Kalscheur of Castle Wealth Advisors in Indianapolis. “We encourage them to take a hard look at where they will actually spend the majority of their time,” he says. Retirees can sell one home and choose to rent or use time-shares in that location.

11. Move to a cheaper locale

Certain parts of the country are much less expensive than others. Relocating can lower both your cost of living and your tax bill, financial advisers say. If you’re splitting time between two states, consider switching your primary residence to the state where taxes are lower.

12. Refinance your mortgage

Many retirement experts suggest reducing your debt load as much as possible while you’re still working. But, if you’ve retired and you still hold a mortgage, it might make sense to refinance it, especially with interest rates remaining near historic lows. By pushing your home debt out over a longer loan, you can lower your monthly payment. “This will decrease your cash outflow during your lifetime,” Moore says. “After all, what’s the point in paying off your house just in time to die?”

13. Don’t wait to sell your house

Many retirees are choosing to wait out the downturn in the housing market. Rather than downsizing or moving now, they’re hoping to wait a few years and sell when home prices bounce back.

That might be a costly mistake. There is no guarantee the housing market will bounce back quickly. In the meantime, retirees often must pay higher maintenance and property taxes on their existing homes. Finally, don’t forget that you can also take advantage of the depressed market when you buy your next home.

“If you are a buyer, your new home will also be less expensive,” says Tom Fredrickson, of Altfest Personal Wealth Management in New York. “And the overhead of the more expensive home will continue every year, even as the real estate market may take years to mend while you wait for a ‘better’ time to sell.”

14. Do a dry run on your new spending plan

A new monthly budget can take a while to adjust to, so several financial advisers tell their clients to adopt a new spending regimen as soon as possible.

David H. Lamp, of BBJS Financial Advisors in Seattle, tells clients to live on their “hypothetical retirement spending plan” for a year before retiring. “If they can’t live on the plan while earning a living, what makes them think they can live on it with no income?” he says. If clients can’t adjust, they may need to delay retirement in order to save more.

15. Get a handle on monthly expenses

If you’re trying to save money, it’s important to carefully track your monthly expenses. You may be surprised by where the money is going: Oft-cited cash guzzlers include cell-phone plans, cable and Internet bills, club memberships, and landscaping and cleaning costs. All can be adjusted if necessary.