IntraScope Accounting Solutions, LLC

December 2005 Edition

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2006 Mileage Rates

Beginning Jan. 1, 2006, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

Final Reminders for 2005

• Check your flexible spending account to make sure you are not forfeiting any contributions.
• Make any additional charitable contributions that you would like to deduct in 2005 by December 31st.
• If you have inventory, make sure to take a physical count on December 31st.
• Adjust your employee elective deferrals for retirement plans for 2006 so you can take advantage of the higher deferral limit of 15,000 (plus an additional 5000 if you are over 50) for 401(k) plans or $10,000 if you have a SIMPLE IRA.

Identity Theft Part 3

Here are some proactive things you can do to keep damage to a minimum if you are a victim of ID theft.

When you write check to make a payment on your credit cards, don't put the complete account number on your check. Just write the last 4 digits to reduce the number of people that have access to your credit card number

Copy your entire wallet - front and back. If your wallet is stolen not only will you have the account numbers but the customer service phone numbers on the back as well.

If your credit cards are stolen, in addition to canceling your credit cards, call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and social security number. This will prevent anyone who has your information to open new accounts over the internet, etc.

Medicaid Changes

Congress is moving toward tightening the rules on transferring assets to others to qualify for Medicaid benefits, i.e. nursing home costs. Gifts of individual assets that are made with 60 months (5 YEARS) will be ignored when determining whether the donor is eligible for Medicaid. The current look-back period is 36 months.

Colorado Health Insurance Changes

If you live in Colorado and have dependent children under the age of 25 that need health insurance there is good news. A new Colorado law allows unmarried dependent children under 25 years old to be eligible for your group health coverage. In the past, you had to prove that your child was a full time student - this no longer applies. Check with your insurance agent or HR department so see how the new law may benefit you.