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Recently I blogged about a client who had received a threatening letter from the IRS.  She had me investigate, and it turns out it was a mistake.

I have also known the North Carolina Department of Revenue to make errors and cause undue delay.  I’m experiencing this personally right now – I filed an amended 2009 corporate return in January and have not received the refund.  I had to call DOR several times, and was told by several different people that they weren’t sure of the status of the return.  When I called today, I was told that the return had not yet been accepted in the system.  The gentleman I spoke with said that he accepted the return and approved the refund, but that he had no idea when I would actually get my check.  So, I calendared another call to NCDOR in a couple of months.  Hopefully I will get my $825 and the call won’t be necessary.

In another instance, I filed a client’s Offer in Compromise with NCDOR and didn’t hear from them for a year.  They then told me they had lost the forms and wanted to see if I could send another copy.  That was about three months ago and I’m still waiting for a response. 

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If you are having a problem managing your debt then it may be time to seriously consider a debt management plan. Consumer debt in America is at an all-time high, with the most alarming rise in credit card indebtedness. The Consumer Federation of America reports that 55-60 million households carry credit card balances, and that these balances average more than $7000.

You may be in those numbers and need serious help. More and more people are turning to debt counseling to help relieve the debt burden. Whether it’s medical bills or too much credit card debt, a debt counseling program can help you get back on track. With collection agency complaints up in 2010 with the FTC, people are in serious financial straights. A

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Women are more savvy networkers in the ranching industry. Men are more savvy networkers in the cosmetics industry. Wait, what? That was exactly our reaction when we saw the initial results for our latest data insights blog post on the differences in social networking behavior between men and women.

The overall result in the US is that men are overall more savvy networkers than women, but the real insights start to surface when you start slicing and dicing by industry and company. Check out the infographic below highlighting some main insights, followed by more details and discussion below.

Men are more savvy networkers globally, but the data show that men and women exhibit differences in their online professional networking behaviors.

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The legislation, supported by the Obama administration and a broad range of business groups and high tech companies, aims to ease the lengthy backlog in patent applications, clean up some of the procedures that can lead to costly litigation and put the United States under the same filing system as the rest of the industrialized world.

The Senate passed a similar bill last March on a 95-5 vote. If the bill makes it to the White House, it could be one of the first congressional actions this year to have a concrete effect on business after months of the GOP-led House voting on bills that head straight for the political graveyard of the Democratic-controlled and slow-moving Senate.

A final vote is expected this week.

The first major overhaul of the patent system since 1952 has faced resistance.

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Most active businesses today are positioned to cater to a wide variety of customer needs. Payment processing is no exception. Wireless processing is a unique form of payment acceptance that means your business can accept payments anytime, anywhere, in practically any non-cash form. Shatter the limits of traditional commerce by adopting a wireless payment system. It’s so easy, and the benefits inherent in its extreme flexibility will bolster your business’s bottom line, guaranteed.

If you’ve ever conducted business in the field, you know the value of being able to accept secure payments anywhere. Customers will appreciate the convenience of being able to make their transactions on the spot, without waiting days or even weeks for mail order transactions. Moder

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If you find yourself buried deep in an ongoing cycle of debt, rest assured – all hope is not lost. Here are 5 ways of dealing with your debt problem.

1. Do not be an ostrich

While it is tempting to stick your head in the sand and hope that it’ll be ok, this is the absolute worst thing you can do when faced with a lots of debt. Debt is cumulative, which means that the more you ignore the problem, the bigger the problem will become. While it can be scary to face your debt problem head on, the sooner you do this, the sooner you will start to some sense of relief.

2. Draw up a budget, and start sticking to it

While drawing up a budget may seem to be “too little too late”, this will prevent you from falling further into debt. Ensure th

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