Welcome to the 21st century.
Later on this month we will be enrolling all of the clients who we haven’t previously enrolled, in the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System or EFTS. Starting January 2011, banks will no longer will accept the tax deposit coupons. All payments made for you and your employee federal and FICA withholding will have to be made electronically. In addition, all submissions of you and your employees W2 forms will be submitted by us electronically in February 2011. The state of Illinois will continue to process mailed in check payments.
Later this month my colleague Lori will be calling you to gather the information needed to enroll in EFTS. Specifically we will need your bank routing number and account number. After we process your enrollment you will be mailed a pin number by IRS. Please forward us the pin number mailing after you receive it.
After we enroll you this month, we will mail a quick guide about what the changes mean to you and how we will handle the new payments for you. But for now please remember that with the exception of scheduling a debit from your checking account...no more trips to rushing to your bank to make the deadline...nothing has changed.
One of the ideas I picked up in August at the IRS Nationwide tax form was the importance of meeting with you in December rather than next April What a brilliant idea. Go belly to belly with the clients in December, when we still have a chance to save money.
Tax planning made easy. Lori will call you in late November to schedule a meeting.
S corporation compliance. We talked earlier about the importance of keeping minutes and enclosed is a boiler plate standard by law form that is necessary to meet virtually of the compliance requirements for small business corporations. Fill in the blanks, sign it, and file it away. That is all you need to do.
I had to call a client who works at Springfield based auto dealer today. No one answers the phone. I mean no one. An automated message says that you have reached the dealership, and the receptionist, I mean the receptionist cannot answer your call. The message then instructs you to hold until the receptionist is free to answer your call. I waited on hold five minutes to talk to the receptionist only to be transferred to my client’s voice mail. Interesting way to handle incoming telephone calls.
In fact if there was a competition for worst use of an automated telephone attendant ever, they have to be in the running for the top prize.
This phone call inspired me to write about the wrong and right ways to handle your business telephone calls as well as announcing our about to be upgraded telephone system. As it turns out the automated telephone attendant has permeated business is considered acceptable. Even though it is universally hated. The live person answering the phone is very much what our customers want. So do your customers. Despite what the experts say, it really doesn’t matter how you answer the phone today.
We once ventured into the dark side for our Planet Travel Agency. The automated telephone attendant proved to be frustrating for our customers as well as for ourselves. Rather than increase customer contacts it did nothing but cause more hang ups. Never again.
However, we have recognized that we have outgrown our existing telephone system. So pardon our dust as we install a new system next month. One still features a real live person answering the call during business hours.
Lame duck sessions produce interesting results. Stay tuned to find out whether your 2011 tax liability will sky rocket or remain the same. It is our understanding that gridlock means taxes are going up. Will see if the experts predictions come true.
Di you know for many years, Nordstrom's employee handbook consisted of a single 5"×8" card that had only 75 words on it:
“Welcome to Nordstrom. We're glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.
Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.
Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.” Stunningly beautiful in its simplicity and efficacy. ‘
Our office will be closed Thursday, November 11, 2010 for Veteran’s Day, Thursday, November 25, 2010 and will be open for payroll only on Black Friday .
No comments:
Post a Comment