Under pressure from retailers and Congress, the Internal Revenue Service confirmed on Feb. 9, 2012, it will not require merchants to reconcile actual gross transaction receipts reported on their 1099-K forms with the aggregate gross receipts they report on their taxes.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 requires merchants to report the gross amount of yearly transactions to the IRS on form 1099-K. The reporting requirement went into effect Jan. 1, 2012. In October 2011, the IRS added a line to business tax returns requiring merchants to reconcile actual gross receipts with the aggregate gross receipts on their 1099-K report.

NFIB objection

The National Federation of Independent Business said it strongly objected to the new reporting requirement because small businesses often don’t have the kind of sophistication in their accounting systems needed to reconcile the gross receipts reported on the 1099-K form with the actual gross sales.

As an example of the difficulties small merchants might encounter in reconciliation, the NFIB noted that merchants often give cash back to customers using a credit or debit card. Gross receipts in this case may be overstated by the difference between the actual sale and the cash back. In another example, merchants often give customers cash reimbursements for returned merchandise. The gross receipt would not account for the returned item and refund.

Congressional objection

Legislation introduced by Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., and Rep. Bobby Schilling, R-Ill., on Feb. 1, 2012, would prohibit the IRS from requiring merchant transaction reconciliation. Mirror legislation was introduced Feb. 9, 2012, in the Senate by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

“This is an unnecessary IRS requirement that will only lead to more accounting headaches for businesses,” Schock said. “My concern is that the IRS is asking for flawed information from small businesses by requiring them to reconcile their internal numbers with that of third-party entities.

“When you take into consideration of all of the types of merchant transactions that occur between a customer and a small business, all this adds up to unnecessary administrative costs, a new accounting burden and more time away from growing their business.”

Sen. Thune added, “The overreaching and unnecessary 1099-K tax reporting requirement will create a paperwork nightmare for small businesses already struggling in a weak economy.”

IRS backs down

Steven T. Miller, IRS Deputy for Services and Enforcement, responded to the concerns of the lawmakers and the NFIB on Feb. 9, 2012, in a letter to Susan Eckerly, NFIB Senior Vice President for Public Policy.

“There will be no reconciliation required on the 2012 form, nor do we intend to require reconciliation in future years,” Miller wrote. “Our intention is that the reporting of gross receipts and sales on the 2012 income tax forms will be modeled on the 2010 income tax forms. No other changes to these forms related to payment card reporting are contemplated.”

Continuing concern

After the IRS backed down, Steve Dutton, a spokesman for Rep. Schock, said, “Overall this is a step in the right direction, but we won’t know for sure until we see the 2012 draft forms that come out this summer. Businesses still need certainty that this issue won’t emerge again sometime in the future. The Schock/Schilling and Thune/Cantwell bills provide a legislative fix to prevent this from ever becoming a reality.”

NFIB CEO Dan Danner also commented. “This is a small, but important victory for small business, and we appreciate the IRS working to alleviate the concerns of small-business owners on this issue,” he said. “While NFIB was able to achieve this victory by working directly with the IRS, we were also closely working with the offices of senators Thune and Cantwell and congressmen Schock and Schilling to permanently remove this requirement.

“The legislation that has been introduced in each chamber will ensure that should the IRS choose to invoke this provision in the future, small businesses will remain protected from complying with this nuisance paperwork provision.”

The Check Isn’t in the Mail

When it comes to getting paid, it’s slow going for small businesses. Payments that were once “net 30″ — 30 days after an invoice date — have become net 60, net 90 and longer, as clients try to keep their cash longer in an uncertain economy.

Nearly 40% of firms surveyed by the National Federation of Independent Business said “receivables,” or money that customers owe, are coming in at a slower pace, new NFIB data show.

Mobile/Web Payments Supports

– Credit Card Payments
– eCheck Payments

For more information visit Planetauthorize.Net.

Planetauthorize eInvoice™ is the on-demand invoice management software solution that automates the process of collecting, submitting, tracking and paying of supplier invoices. Customers can pay invoices by Credit Card or Electronic Check/Cheque. Multi-Currency Supported. Planetauthorize is a fully-managed Electronic Invoice and Electronic Invoice Presentment service complete with Payment URLs and integrated CRM payment modules. With Planetauthorize eInvoice, you can automate key components of payment processing with other company sales processes. That’s why Planetauthorize is the industry leader in Electronic Invoicing, Invoice Presentment and Bill Payment.

Reduce Invoice Processing Costs

Nearly 80 percent of vendor and supplier invoice activity is paper-based. If your organization is like most, your A/P department is drowning in paper. A recent Aberdeen Group study found that companies who automate invoice processing observe:

For more information about the Planetauthorize eInvoice service visit http://www.planetauthorize.net/einvoice.html

Immunet has also partnered with Cloudmark to protect your inbox from spam, phishing and viruses with Cloudmark DesktopOne.

For more information visit http://www.immunet.com/free/index.html

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting private PCs. Their entry points are vulnerabilities (certain code errors or bugs) in popular third party (non-Microsoft) programs, which are exploited and used as a gateway to compromise PCs and access confidential data such as passwords, online profiles, and bank details. Attacks exploiting vulnerable programs and plug-ins are often not blocked by traditional anti-virus.

Timely patching is the only solution to these types of attacks. Patches are offered free of charge by most software vendors; however, finding all of these patches is tedious and time-consuming. The Secunia PSI removes the complexity of this task so that you can shop, bank, and socialise online, safely.

For more information visit http://www.secunia.com

Users should upgrade to the current version at http://www.oscommerce.com/downloads .  In addition, users should protect their osCommerce  Admin directory using .htaccess or other security measures.

Increase sales by offering multiple payment options. Accept and process electronic checks online, by telephone and fax.

The Planetauthorize eCheck service is a payment solution that enables online and traditional merchants to accept and process electronic check payments directly from their Web site’s storefront, through the Planetauthorize Virtual Terminal or via a free Planetauthorize payment module. By accepting electronic checks, merchants are able to expand the payment options available to their customers and increase sales. Merchants that utilize the PlanetAuthorize eCheck Service can take advantage of 24 hours per day, 7 days per week sales opportunities. With the innovation of electronic technology and the cooperation of ACH, an Internet vendor can accept a virtual check via the Internet at a fraction of the cost associated with a credit card, and also have funds available as quickly as a credit card transaction.

The PlanetAuthorize eCheck service is a payment solution that enables online and traditional merchants to accept and process electronic check payments directly from their Web site’s storefront or via any Internet connection using the PlanetAuthorize™ Virtual Terminal.

Benefits of the PlanetAuthorize.Net eCheck service

• Only $0.50 cents per transaction
• Recurring Billing included as a standard feature
• Lower Rates than Credit Cards, Google Checkout and PayPal
• Virtual Terminal Included
• Free Mobile Bill Payment Software
• Impulse sales captures
• Funds deposited directly into your business checking account
• About one-half the cost of a credit card
• Integrates with PlanetAuthorize.Net Payment Gateway *

Sign Up Now

To Get Started Apply for a Internet Ready Merchant Account:

Electronic Check Merchant Application

• Electronic Check Cover Page (PDF)
• Electronic Check Merchant Application (PDF)

1. Learn from the past

Reflecting on the past is important in identifying your marketing strengths and weaknesses. Determine whether your team has expended sufficient effort. Also, evaluate the effectiveness of the various marketing campaigns, programs and tactics you’ve been utilizing.

Figure out what from your marketing mix works and what doesn’t, and discover which tactics yield the best return for the time and dollars invested. Evaluate your marketing team for effectiveness, including employees, consultants and outside agencies.

2. Make a plan

An integrated marketing plan details the actions you believe are necessary to reach specific business goals and sales objectives. The plan identifies what to do and when and how to do it, with all activities and tactics working together in a consistent, repetitive approach.

Include efforts that have been successful in the past. Study the competition, and incorporate elements of their best marketing endeavors. And don’t forget to try something new, too.

Some up-to-date information from the 2012 Marketing Trends Survey, conducted by StrongMail and Zoomerang across a wide range of U.S. industries, should help guide your thinking about marketing activities to include in your plan.

The report indicates email marketing (60 percent) is the program most frequently cited for increases in marketing spending and effort. More survey respondents (55 percent) planned to increase their budgets for social media spending than for mobile marketing or search engine optimization/pay-per-click spending (both at 37 percent).

By contrast, few executives expect to increase spending on direct mail (18 percent), tradeshows and events (18 percent) or public relations (16 percent). The trend is clear: companies are ramping up electronic forms of marketing. So, your marketing plan should take this into account.

And don’t forget to make use in your plan of the Rule of Seven, which is based on the notion of repetition. The rule suggests that to get prospects to take action to become a buyer, you must reach and positively impact them at least seven times. You achieve this with as many campaigns, programs and tactics as possible to build awareness, credibility and your reputation.

I recommend that while you are taking all this into account, you make a list of the potential programs, campaigns and tactics you’d like to employ. Then pick those that you believe will give you the most bang for your buck, and include them in your plan.

3. Develop a calendar

Map out exactly what you will do during each month of 2012. Having a marketing calendar in place will help you stick to your plan and identify any potential bandwidth issues. Having a marketing calendar provides companywide visibility into objectives and schedules, which in turn creates transparency and accountability.

4. Create a budget

Figure out how much your marketing plan is really going to cost. Your budget should take into account both in-house and outsourced personnel resources, advertising and events fees, printing and postage costs, travel, and more. Only then will you know exactly what you’ll need financially to make your plan a reality.

Map your spending against your marketing calendar to have a clear picture of cash flow so that funds are available when needed.

A rule of thumb for marketing budgets at small to midsized businesses is 8 to 10 percent of company revenue, with approximately half of the funds committed to generating leads and the other half to building awareness.

5. Secure financial and personnel resources

No plan – no matter how good it is – can be successful without allocating adequate financial and personnel resources. Rather than shoot from the hip day to day or month to month, get executive approval for your plan and secure the funding; then make sure adequate personnel resources are in place.

6. Polish your brand

Make sure your company has a professional corporate identity (logo mark and color scheme) that is visible in every prospect and client interaction you have. Business stationery, electronic templates, marketing materials and your website should present a coordinated, consistent look and feel.

Develop concise, compelling corporate and product messaging that articulates who you are, what you do, what you stand for, the value you deliver and how you’re different from the competition.

7. Prepare supporting marketing materials

These include brochures, presentations, sales letters, emails, website landing pages, banner ads, tradeshow booths and so on. These materials don’t make the sale. But they are fundamental to helping make sales by educating potential buyers while building brand recognition, credibility and reputation. Make sure you have the materials ready to properly support your sales team and the tactics in your marketing plan.

8. Execute, execute, execute

Don’t let fear and laziness – or the excuses that you lack time, effort, knowledge, discipline or persistence – hold you back. Make sure to stick to your plan, your calendar and your budget, and line up proper resources if you want to achieve success.

9. Measure results

Describe what success looks like for every tactic in your marketing plan, and then set metrics. This must be done before you can begin measuring any kind of meaningful results or calculating return on investment.

10. Review and adjust

Systematically review your plan and tactics, perhaps quarterly, and make adjustments based on successes, failures, the competition, business and market conditions. Fortify tactics that work; shelve the ones that don’t. Don’t be afraid to interject something new mid-year. But make sure you think it all the way through before executing.

I hope my top 10 marketing tips for 2012 will help put your company on the path to marketing success. I wish you all the best and expect that you will have a fantastic year.

Have you ever been in a retail store that only accepted credit cards for payment? No cash or debit payments? That would be bizarre. But when you go online, you’ll find thousands of sites that are still only accepting credit cards for payment, including those for the majority of the direct marketing industry.

The Internet has been traditionally very credit card oriented since the early days, but things are changing fast, and while e-commerce has been a very positive experience for most direct marketers, they often face unforeseen payment and fraud costs when they expand internationally.

Looking to the gaming industry

When we look at the e-commerce payments strategy followed by the online gaming industry, we can see that their sites ensure their customers can fund their accounts with credit cards and a wide variety of other alternatives.

Today, many of the payment companies that became well-known in gaming have also become the leaders in global e-commerce payment processing.

Savvy direct marketers realize that accepting more forms of payment is the easiest and fastest way to boost online sales and profit. Plus it offers a competitive advantage. If you can’t accept the form of payment your customers want to use online, they’ll either go to the more expensive offline channel or to your competition.

Recognizing the danger of this, the majority of online businesses are now implementing comprehensive, global payment strategies that include accepting more forms of payment than just credit cards.

Offering multiple forms of payment

You might be thinking that accepting payments can’t be that difficult, since most consumers have credit cards to make purchases, but research actually shows that 30 to 40 percent of consumers don’t have a major credit card and others don’t want to use theirs online. Also, credit cards are not as popular outside of North America, so if you have international customers, you need to offer them the payment methods they have in their local country. A web merchant can’t make the sale online unless the merchant can accept the payment.

PartyPoker.com (which does not accept U.S. players) is a prime example of a company offering multiple payment options to its customers; every online business could learn from the company’s payments strategy and increase sales globally.  Remember, by offering your customers more online payment options you increase the odds of making that sale online.

Save Money with Planetauthorize™

Google Checkout and PayPal have a sliding scale of charges while Planetauthorize comes with just one competitive fee.  To view comparison chart visit http://planetauthorize.net/assets/us-comparetopaypalandgoogle.pdf.

Our MobileAuthorize™ service provides a free payment application for your smart phone. Now you can accept all major credit cards anywhere you can use your cellular device.

• Free iPhone payment application
• Free BlackBerry payment application
• Free Windows Mobile payment application
• Free Google Android payment application

Get Started Today!
APPLY FOR A US MERCHANT ACCOUNT AT: http://planetauthorize.net/assets/sm_application.pdf