NOAH & THE ARK TODAY

If you ever wondered if Noah could build the Ark today, wonder no longer. Check out the web site below. Unfortunately there is more truth than comedy in this: Noah & The Ark Today.

NEBRASKA ECONOMY NOT FEELING AS MUCH PAIN

'State economy not doing all that bad, Fed economist says'

(Norfolk Daily News) -- Compared to the national economy, Nebraska's economy is doing well. Jason Henderson, Federal Reserve Bank vice president in Omaha, said Monday evening that the Nebraska economy is doing well in many areas, but the farm areas are "putting us over the top." Housing, construction and job growth are some of the areas in which Nebraska's economy has been outperforming the national economy, Henderson said. Part of it has been because Nebraska has been fiscally conservative, he said. Henderson said Nebraska is enjoying a surge in manufacturing exports, specifically food and machinery.

'Nebraska Chamber Shares Economic Status of State'

(KTPH TV, Sioux City, IA) -- While the U.S. economy is in turmoil, the state of Nebraska's economy is holding steady. The Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry presented its annual Legislative Forum to the South Sioux City Chamber on Tuesday. Barry Kennedy, president of the State Chamber, discussed topics like taxes, quality of life and labor laws, and identifying issues facing the Nebraska business community. "Our challenge is to get other people to come here and see what we have, see our work ethic," Kennedy says.

QUESTIONS ON FDIC COVERAGE

Now with the supposed economic crisis, we've been receiving questions on FDIC coverage. One of our accountants, Megan Munsell, researched this subject and came up with answers to some of the questions you may be having.

Find out if you are FDIC Insured with these common questions:

Q: What types of bank accounts are insured?

A: Checking, Savings, Trust, Certificates of Deposit (CDs), IRA Retirement Accounts, and Money Market Deposit Accounts.

Q: What is not FDIC Insured?

A: Investments in mutual funds, annuities, stocks, bonds, Treasury securities and safe deposit boxes. See additional questions and answers below for more on these accounts.

Q: How much is insured?

A: The basic insurance amount is $100,000 per depositor per insured bank. Certain retirement accounts, such as Individual Retirement Accounts, are insured up to $250,000 per depositor per insured bank. If you and your family have $100,000 or less in all of your deposit accounts at the same insured bank, you do not need to worry about your insurance coverage -- your deposits are fully insured.

Q: What if we have more than $100,000 deposited in the same bank?

A: The FDIC provides separate insurance coverage for deposit accounts held in different categories of ownership. You can qualify for more than $100,000 in coverage at one insured bank if you split up your deposit accounts into different ownership categories.

The most common ownership categories are:

Single Accounts: these are deposit accounts owned by one person and titled in the person’s name only. All of your single accounts at the same bank are added together and the total is insured up to $100,000.

Note: Retirement and qualifying trust accounts are not included in this ownership category.

Certain Retirement Accounts: these are deposit accounts owned by one person and titled in the name of that person’s retirement plan.

Only the following types of retirement plans are insured in this ownership category:

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) including traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRAs, and Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE) IRAs

Section 457 deferred compensation plan accounts (whether self-directed or not)

Self-directed defined contribution plan accounts

Self-directed Keogh plan (or H.R. 10 plan) accounts

All deposits that an individual has in any of the types of retirement plans listed above at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $250,000. For example, if an individual has an IRA and a self-directed Keogh account at the same bank, the deposits in both accounts would be added together and insured up to $250,000.

Note: Naming beneficiaries on a retirement account does not increase deposit insurance coverage.

Joint Accounts: these are deposit accounts owned by two or more people. If both owners have equal rights to withdraw money from a joint account, each person’s shares of all joint accounts at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $100,000. For example, if a husband and wife share accounts at one bank, the total of their accounts is insured up to $200,000.

Revocable Trust Accounts: these are deposits held in either payable-on-death (POD) accounts or living trust accounts. Deposit insurance coverage for revocable trust accounts is based on each owner's trust relationship with each qualifying beneficiary. While the trust owner is the insured party, coverage is provided for the interests of each beneficiary in the account.

The FDIC insures the interests of each beneficiary up to $100,000 for each owner if all of the following requirements are met:

The beneficiary is the owner's spouse, child, grandchild, parent, or sibling. Adopted and stepchildren, grandchildren, parents, and siblings also qualify. In-laws, grandparents, great-grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews, friends, organizations (including charities), and trusts do not qualify.

The account title must indicate the existence of the trust relationship by including a term such as payable on death, in trust for, trust, living trust, family trust, or an acronym such as POD or ITF.

For POD accounts, each beneficiary must be identified by name in the bank's account records.

If any of these requirements are not met, the entire amount in the account, or any portion of the account that does not qualify, would be added to the owner's other single accounts, if any, at the same bank and insured up to $100,000. If the revocable trust account has more than one owner, the FDIC would insure each owner's share as his or her single account.

Note: In applying the $100,000 per-beneficiary insurance limit, the FDIC combines an owner’s POD accounts with the living trust accounts that name the same beneficiaries at the same bank.

Additional Questions and Answers:

Q: What about Mutual Funds?

A: The key point to remember when you contemplate purchasing mutual funds, stocks, bonds or other investment products, whether at a bank or elsewhere, is: Funds so invested are NOT deposits, and therefore are NOT insured by the FDIC – or any other agency of the federal government.

Q: Securities?

A: Securities you own, including mutual funds, that are held for your account by a broker, or a bank's brokerage subsidiary are not insured against loss in value. The value of your investments can go up or down depending on the demand for them in the market. The Securities Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC), a non government entity, replaces missing stocks and other securities in customer accounts held by its members up to $500,000, including up to $100,000 in cash, if a member brokerage or bank brokerage subsidiary fails.

Q: Treasury Securities?

A: Treasury securities include Treasury bills (T-bills), notes and bonds. T-bills are commonly purchased through a financial institution. Even though Treasury securities are not covered by federal deposit insurance, payments of interest and principal (including redemption proceeds) on those securities that are deposited to an investor's deposit account at an insured depository institution ARE covered by FDIC insurance up to the $100,000 limit.

Customers who hold Treasury securities purchased through a bank that later fails can request a document from the acquiring bank (or from the FDIC if there is no acquirer) showing proof of ownership and redeem the security at the nearest Federal Reserve Bank.

Q: Safe Deposit Boxes?

A: The contents of a safe deposit box are not insured by the FDIC. If you are concerned about the safety, or replacement, of items you have put in a safe deposit box, you may consider purchasing fire and theft insurance. Consult your insurance agent for more information.

Information provided by FDIC.gov

DID YOU KNOW???

This beats getting out of the car and looking for the gas cap door. Why doesn't anyone tell us these simple things? Why didn’t the manufacturer make more of a point of this? Seems as if it is reasonably important.

I have been driving for many years... I would think I should have noticed the little secret on my dashboard that was staring me in the face the whole time...I didn't...and I bet you didn't either...Have you ever rented or borrowed a car and when arriving at the gas station wondered...mmmm, which side is the gasfiller cap?

My normal solution was to stick my head out the window, strain my neck and look, try to see in the side mirrors or even get out of the car! Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to share with you my little secret so you will no longer look like Ace Ventura on your way to the gas station or put your neck at risk of discomfort or injury.If you look at your gas gauge, you will see a small icon of a gas pump?The handle of the gas pump will extend out on either the left or right side of the gas pump? If your tank is on the left, the handle will be on the left? If your tank is on the right, the handle will be on the right (see photo). It is that simple!

Don't feel dumb, just go out and share the world's best kept auto secret with your friends.

NEW TAX LAW

Correction: The dates of 4/9/08 and 6/30/08 were incorrect when this post was published on 9/15/08. These dates have been corrected and appear in red below.

As I mentioned in my post on August 4th, the New Homebuyers' Tax Credit gives a $7,500 credit to some people buying homes between 4/9/08 and 6/30/09. But beware, this is an interest free loan, not a true credit, and must be paid back over a period of 15 years.

Below are a couple of questions I have received about the new credit, including my responses.

Q - If I’m qualified for the tax credit and buy a home in 2009, can I apply the tax credit against my 2008 tax return?

A - Yes, but you must meet certain qualifications in both years. The law allows taxpayers to choose to treat qualified home purchases in 2009 as if the purchase occurred on December 31, 2008. There are some detailed rules on this which you should discuss in person with your tax preparer to make sure that you qualify.

Q - If I purchase a home in 2009, can I choose whether to report the purchase as occurring in 2008 or 2009, depending on in which year my credit amount is the largest?

A - Yes. If the applicable income phaseout would reduce your home buyer tax credit amount in 2009 and a larger credit would be available using the 2008 amounts, then you can choose the year that yields the largest credit amount. There’s also a new special website devoted just to this new credit.

NON CPA TAX PREPARERS CRITICISED

According to the Treasury Department, many returns done by unlicensed paid preparers are riddled with errors. Agents made undercover visits to 28 such preparers and found that 61% of the returns contained mistakes, and in a third of those cases, the preparers acted recklessly.

In one example the preparer added in deductions the taxpayer wasn’t entitled to, or claimed dependents erroneously. One of the problem preparers the Treasury visited prepared over 700 actual returns for taxpayers during the most recent filing season. This information gives legs to a bill forcing unlicensed preparers to register with the IRS.

Preparers who aren’t CPAs, lawyers or enrolled agents will have to pass a test to do tax returns. As Senator Grassley once said, “it does not seem right that you have to have a license to cut hair, but do not need to have a license to do a tax return.”

We at Kopsa Otte know that this is true. We get to see a lot of returns when we do second opinions. Just this week we are amending a return prepared by an unlicensed preparer and the happy new client is getting refunds of over $3,000. If you are not a client of Kopsa Otte, and are interested in having us do a Second Opinion on your tax return, contact Amanda Hansen at ahansen@kopsaotte.com for details.

WILL FALLING PRICES HURT LAND VALUES?

(Des Moines Register) -- Iowa farmland owners and investors should be mindful of Wall Street's current trouble, but they should also watch corn and soybean prices more closely, a farmland broker said this week. Troy Louwagie of Mount Vernon, a land consultant with Hertz Real Estate Services, said the Iowa Farm and Land Realtors survey showed that farmland values rose by 6.6% since the last survey in March and by 17.6% since the same survey a year ago. Land prices have risen because of record commodity prices, Louwagie said, and a continuation of those prices will determine how long the increase continues. The survey released Tuesday showed a slight cooling from an annual average farmland value increase of 20% or more during the last five years because less land is being bought this year for suburban commercial and housing development and recreation. As a result, Iowa is returning to its traditional pattern where farmers dominated land purchases.