The form can also be scanned, which the IRS expects will reduce transcription errors.According to the IRS, 23 million Form 941s are filed annually by 6.6 million employers. Form 941 is used to report wages, tips and other compensation paid, as well as Social Security, Medicare and income taxes collected.JK Harris & Company, LLC (www.jkharris.com) is based in North Charleston, S.C. JK Harris & Company is the nation's largest tax resolution company with over 470 satellite offices in 45 states and has serviced over 130,000 clients since its founding in 1997 by John K. Harris. JK Harris also provides services for consumer and commercial debt, student loan debt, investment fraud, financial planning, small business services, mortgage services, tax return preparation, and assisting individuals who require support for an IRS audit..

Your debt income ratio is the percent of your monthly take-home pay that goes to paying debts.You calculate it by taking the amount needed to repay debts each month, including rent or mortgage, and divide by your take-home pay (your net pay after taxes). Remember, this is "Debt" ratio, so only include actual debt repayment in the calculation.Credit To Debt RatioJust because you pay off a credit card is no reason to close your account. One little known fact about the Credit to Debt Ratio is the reverse effect it has on your credit score. If you pay off a credit card, and close the account, you are actually negatively impacting your credit score.The reason for this negative effect is in the calculation of the Credit to Debt Ratio itself. This ratio is the relationship of your debt total vs.

your credit limit.You calculate it by dividing the total credit limit of all credit cards and loan accounts by the total of the actual debt (spent total). Now, if you pay off a credit card, you are reducing the actual debt, which is great, but, if you close the account, you are also dramatically reducing the credit limit you have, and usually by a higher percentage than the debt reduction.Pay Yourself FirstEssential to long-term financial success, and protecting your future, is paying yourself first. While this may seem easy to do, it happens to be the last thing most people do, instead of first. Debts and other financial obligations, money for entertainment, and other spending always seem to take a higher priority. All I can say is, STOP! Think about it, if you aren't worth being paid first, then who is? Always put something away in your savings, and leave it alone.

It doesn't matter if it's only $5 a week, just do it!Snowball The Credit CardsLast, but not least, is making extra payments, not just the minimum payments, on your credit cards. You have probably already seen this many times, but it just can't be stressed enough. Paying just $10 extra a month on a credit card, above the minimum required payment, can cut your repayment term in half, if not more! So, squeeze out that extra payment, however small, every month, and take advantage of the compounding effect of snowballing your debt away. The Power of Financial KnowledgeRemember, you don't have to be a financial whiz to understand what's going on with your credit and debt. Just a few simple calculations, and an eye on the future, will go a long way to help you succeed financially and keep your debt under control.

Be safe, be smart, do the math!.

The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) sets very strict limits on what debt collectors can and cannot do. Those limits include when they can call you, what they can say and what they can do to collect a debt. The FDCPA in a Nutshell The FDCPA applies to outside debt collection agencies, but not to creditors collecting their own debts. However, your state may have a law that applies to in-house debt collectors. Call your state attorney general's office to find out.

Among other things, the FDCPA says that debt collectors cannot:? Lie to you, use racial slurs or insults, or threaten you with violence. ? Call you repeatedly, or call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. ? Call you at work if you've told them you can't accept their calls on the job. ? Contact your employer about a debt unless the debt collector is trying to collect past due child support payments from you.? Tell others about your debt.? Garnish your wages without taking you to court first.? Make false statements, such as telling you they will ruin your credit "forever".

They can't. You have the right, within 60 days of first being contacted by a collector, to ask for written proof of the debt, and the debt collector must provide it. Be sure to ask for proof if there is any question that you owe a debt or if you need time to figure out how to pay a debt you know you owe. Keep careful notes regarding each conversation you have with a debt collector, and copies of all correspondence to and from the collector. These records will be helpful if you need to sue a debt collector.

You Can STOP Debt Collectors You can write to a debt collector to tell him not to contact you anymore. After he receives your letter, the FDCPA requires the collector to cease all contact with you other than to let you know about a specific action he is going to take -- sue you for example. The drawback of ceasing contact however, is you eliminate the option of negotiating a payment arrangement with the collector or settling your debt for less.However, if you believe you really don't owe a debt or if you truly can't afford to pay it, telling a debt collector to stop contacting you may make sense. Time and again I've seen collectors try to pressure consumers into paying them immediately by threatening to seize their assets, take money from their bank accounts, or garnish their wages. However, a debt collector cannot do any of these things without getting the court's permission first.

Furthermore, you will have plenty of notice from thecourt about what a debt collector wants to do so you can hire an attorney to stop him. What To Do If A Collector Violates The Law If you believe that a debt collector has violated your rights, or you need advice about the best way to deal with a collector, contact a consumer attorney (visit www.naca.net for a referral). You should also register a complaint about the collector with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. For much more information about dealing with debt collectors, visit my website at http://www.StopDebtCollectorsCold.com, or contact my Co-author, Gerri Detweiler, at gerri@ultimatecredit.com..

• Consulting Companies Consolidation ? this process is pretty much over in the USA and is almost completed in Europe.

  Now it is on the way in Latin America. It is partially related to recession and economy slow down. Small consulting companies have to merge with large multi-directional service firms (usually we see auditing, tax services, assets management) who are willing to purchase small technology consulting businesses and have them work for their clientele.

• Consulting Rates Increase ? well, this is indirect effect of market consolidation, larger companies are willing to deal with larger clients and move consulting rates up. And as number of small consulting firms shrinks ? there are no balancing forces to push rates down.

  This is a little bit paradoxical, because Microsoft Business Solutions products historically were targeted to middle market and even small companies

• Hold on for new implementation - stick to existing legacy accounting system, do not plan Great Plains modification, integration and tune up. This is usual way for recession time
• Cross-national remote support ? we see the trend of going nation-wide and cross-nations for MBS Partners in large business metros such as Sao Paulo, Brazil. Plus MBS itself is encouraging cross-national partners to establish small presence in smaller business metros in Mexico and Central America

Its called the No Money Down Mortgage, at least that's what its called where I live, maybe its called Zero Money Down where you live but you get the idea. Now here is what is needed :There are specific qualifications....and yes they are pretty much in this order.Read on MacDuff....1. An A Plus Credit History.No recent history of any bad debt of any kind, which also includes all payments for your credit cards or shopping cards etc, etc. must be paid on time in most recent months.2. Limited liabilities.This means something like "Sign here....don't move while we look into your ENTIRE credit history, but disclosure is not a bad thing, if your credit is good it will certainly work in your favour.

This is done to make sure you can carry the extra debt. 3. At least 3 years of stable employment.This needs to be verified on paper by your employer preferably or some form of financial statements. The employer is much better in most cases.Finally. You must be able to carry large monthly payments.Without a down payment, obviously lenders and the bank want to make sure you can handle the obligation of larger payments, The monthly payments may increase from a few to several hundred more a month but you can buy several styles of home.This is the program in detail it is widely known and used by almost all banking institutions for greater details or understanding I highly suggest you go to your local bank and have a sit down with your financial advisor, someone you know and trust.So in a nutshell, if the down payment is the current problem, it may no longer be with this program.

You no longer need to pay your landlords mortgage, you can immediately get into a home with this program if you qualify. And again, sorry to repeat myself but go and make an appointment to review this option with your realtor or banker or both. It's worth taking a look at.And always ask about mortgage leads...this will get the ball moving a little faster.Now go get that house.

Imagine you lose your job. You still have bills to pay. So you max out your main credit card buying those little luxuries like food, and mortgage payments. The next month, you still have no job, so you apply for another card, and max that out too. The third month, however, to your horror, you discover that not only do you still not have a job, but the credit card companies won't advance you any more money, as they are aware of your previous credit binge, and the fact that those debts are still outstanding.

You have become a 'bad risk'.So what do you do? Go bankrupt? What choice is there? If you have no income, and have no source of borrowing, yet still have outgoings, you are bust. Period. In fact, even if you do find a new job, it must now pay MORE than your old job, because you now also have the interest payments on your new debt to support.For 'You' read 'America'. For 'bankrupt' read 'recession'. The US, and most other Western states have relied to an incredible degree on cheap credit, happily supplied in the main from the Far East.

This situation just changed, with the Chinese 'warning shot' across the bows of the dollar, and the smart money is already exiting greenback positions, even though relative to the other main currencies, it should in theory be an attractive home for cash.The resolution of the current credit bubble may take another year or so to truly unwind, but when it goes, the bust will be BIG. What should you do? Go to cash, and in more than one currency!For the technically minded, the reason why the coming recession is inevitable, and may even be a 'depression', is simply that countries relying on credit to sustain themselves incur 'carry costs' of those debts. The more they borrow, the bigger the regular payments become to support just the interest on the debt. There are only 2 ways to pay that off - devalue your currency so the debt becomes worthless, or inflate your economy so your GDP rises at MORE than the growth in carry costs on the debt.The US cannot devalue the currency deliberately, without obvious severe socio-economic results that will be punishing painful to the American citizen and industry. Politically, of course, this would be suicide for the incumbent US Leader.The alternative is to spark increased internal economic growth, and this is usually what credit binges are used for - to create new industries, employment etc.

In the case if the US, however, the unprecedented sums borrowed from Chine and Japan have been spent on... you guessed it, Chinese Plasma TVs and Japanese game consoles. Oops.The carry cost has been rising at a rate almost 4 times as fast as the internal US growth for some time now, and has already passed the point where any conceivable US growth schedule can comfortably cope with it. As the Far East just decided the Dollar isn't so great anymore, there really only is one way out now. Down.

Don't say you weren't warned!.

They were elated that their years of saving were about to finally payoff.But, they ran into a big problem when they went shopping for a mortgage. Even though they had enough income to make mortgage payments and enough money saved to afford the down payment, they had no credit history. Lenders had no FICO score to evaluate their creditworthiness in order to offer them a loan. Fair Isaacs Co. established a credit scoring system in the 1980's and since then FICO scores have been used to determine if someone will qualify for a mortgage and the interest rate they would pay.Over 50 million U.S.

adults fall into the same category - they have either too little credit history or no credit history at all. But now thanks to a new FICO formula, called FICO Expansion Score, lenders will now have opportunities to extend credit to consumers based on non-traditional credit data that are excluded from credit bureau reports.FICO Expansion will consider a wide range of financial transactions including payment activities such as rental payments, deposit accounts, payday loans, book or CD club payment plans, and retail lay-away plans. Who stands to benefit from this new scoring model? Anyone who makes little use of banks, credit cards, or checking accounts. The "credit underserved" claims Fair Isaac Co, which includes young adults, low-income consumers, widows or divorcees, and immigrants. And while those in the credit card and mortgage industry see this new scoring model as a potential benefit, those in the credit counseling sector foresee potential problems.

Fair Isaac CEO Tom Grudnowski is excited about his company's new credit-scoring resource. "This extension of the FICO score gives lenders and other businesses another powerful tool ..., while expanding service options for consumers who have missed out on opportunities simply because they lack a traditional credit history."The opposition, namely debt and credit counselors, see both the good and the bad. Some consumers will benefit by qualifying for less costly credit arrangements. However, others could fall prey to becoming overextended unless they also receive some basic credit and debt education.Tom Hicks, a credit counselor in Chicago, worries that "with the average American household owing $8,000.00 in credit debt, this could open the door to others finding themselves unable to handle credit properly. Ultimately the burden lies with the consumer," he says.

Fair Isaac Co. estimates that at least half of those without traditional credit profiles will benefit from this new scoring method..

Let me use some examples :You are looking to start selling DVD's and need ?1,000 to start up with and you are planning to use either a bank loan or your overdraft to provide the funding. Using either of these methods will incur interest payments every month ranging from 5% to 21% and as you can imagine this will eat quite heavily into your profit and hence any working capital that you have.Another option would be to use a 0% credit card that offers the option to do an ABT, what would then happen is you would apply for the 0% credit card and then transfer ?1,000 into your bank account and then this debt would be spread over the 0% offer period (usually 6-9 months) and as such not incur any interest payments thus giving you a little bit more of an edge when you are starting out.Another example that can be used is that you owe your suppliers ?2,000 but your cash flow is tied up elsewhere for the moment and your supplier will not supply you with anymore stock until the bill is paid. You can either wait until your cash flow is back to normal which may be weeks and your business could suffer long term damage or you could use a credit card ABT to transfer the money into your bank account so you can settle your bill and then when your cash flow is corrected pay off the credit card debt as it will not have gone up as the credit card rate is 0%.It is important to note that you need to find a credit card that will offer the option of an ABT as not all do because they just offer the opportunity to transfer existing debt. There are a number of credit card companies that offer this service but what you will find, which is a slight drawback, is that the majority charge a fee for doing the balance transfer from the credit card to your bank account. This is usually 1-2% of the transferred balance which is still far less than you would be paying on a loan or overdraft.The best way to determine if the credit card offers the opportunity of an ABT is to ask them, it is imperative that you do this as an ABT is not the same as a cash withdrawel.

The majority of credit cards offer this and it is at a high interest rate and is something that you should avoid. The key to this is to always ask the question, ring up if you are unsure and the double check before you sign up, this will ensure that you are able to take adavantage of the method described above..

Careful comparison is the key One of the most important things when looking for a secured homeowner loan is to make sure that you don't rush into a loan agreement without exploring all of your options. Take the time to get quotes for a secured homeowner loan from several banks and finance companies? these quotes will let you compare the interest rates and other lending terms that the different banks and finance companies are offering you so that you can determine which one will serve you and your loan needs the best. The extra time that you spend shopping for your loan in this manner will likely result in both a lower interest rate and more flexible repayment terms than what you would have gotten by taking the first loan offer that you received. The money that you stand to save makes the extra time more than worth it. --You may freely reprint this article provided the following author's biography (including the live URL link) remains intact:.

The contest is daily visited by thousands of users from all over the world who will give their votes for houses and descriptions they liked. Each of the houses gets rated thereafter. The results of the contest will only depend on the users' voting that will determine the ratings of the houses. My House is the Best will grant winners in four nominations - Best House of 2004, Second Best House of 2004, Third Best House of 2004 and Consolidation Award. The final contest's results will be released on February 20, 2005, though current leaders can be viewed for the duration of the contest by referring to Leaders.

To follow basic rules of the contest, please refer to Terms and Conditions before you start ( http://www.realestategates.com/favorite-house.html ). C O M E and W I N!Author