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Family Tax Issues, General Information, Self Employed, TAXES

Is the Money on My Prepaid Card FDIC-Insured?

September 25, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

To protect your funds, make sure your card is insurable and registered Banks insured by the FDIC offer a wide variety of financial products beyond traditional checking and savings accounts, including prepaid cards.

A prepaid card allows you to use a card to make purchases at stores, withdraw cash from ATMs, or to pay bills online without accessing a bank account or line of credit. Since these cards usually are not linked to a checking or savings account, consumers often ask, “Does the FDIC also insure the funds on my prepaid card?” The answer could be, “Yes,” but there are some important initial issues to understand.

If the FDIC-insured bank that issued the card was to fail, the funds available on your prepaid card may be insurable as long as:

your prepaid card is eligible for FDIC deposit insurance coverage,
you properly register the card, and
specific deposit insurance requirements are met (listed below).

The first step is to determine whether the prepaid card is eligible for FDIC deposit insurance coverage. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enacted new rules effective April 1, 2019 (to learn more visit New Protections for Prepaid Accounts), which require financial institutions to provide a disclosure as to whether or not your prepaid card is insurable for those cards linked to an FDIC-insured bank.

While the new disclosure rules make it easier to find information about FDIC insurance coverage for a specific prepaid card, you must also register your card with the card issuer if your card is designed to be insurable, so that the FDIC can identify you as the cardholder in the event the bank fails.

Sometimes a card is issued directly by an FDIC-insured bank and sometimes by a third-party that will simply use a bank to hold prepaid card funds. If the third-party is managing the record-keeping for the prepaid card, the third-party will have the responsibility to provide the FDIC with the information about the owners of the cards and the balance on each prepaid card at the time the bank fails.

The bank’s records for FDIC insurable prepaid cards must meet the following requirements:

The account must be appropriately titled (names the owner or owners of the account) in the bank’s records and indicate that the prepaid account provider is going to be acting as the cardholder’s agent, which could include duties such as transferring funds on your behalf when you make a purchase and keeping track of the balance on your prepaid card as you add or withdraw funds.

If the bank fails, the card issuer as your agent will need to provide the FDIC a list identifying each cardholder and the balance on each card at the time the bank fails.

The contractual agreement among the financial institution, the prepaid card issuer and the cardholders must indicate that the individual cardholders are the owners of the funds.

Assuming you properly register your prepaid card, if the FDIC-insured bank that issued the card was to fail, you as the consumer would be insurable for up to $250,000, subject to aggregation with other similarly owned deposits you may have in the failed bank (for more information visit FDIC deposit insurance).

In addition, having FDIC deposit insurance coverage does not cover certain events, such as if your prepaid card is lost or if someone gains access to your prepaid card and steals the funds. In these situations, there could be other legal options available for you to try to recover your funds, such as those that may be described in your account agreement or provided under state or federal law.

It’s important to note that this information does not apply to gift cards. For information on gift cards, visit Giving or receiving gift cards? Know the terms and avoid surprises.

For more information about prepaid cards and similar products, see the FDIC’s webpage on prepaid accounts at Prepaid Cards and Deposit Insurance Coverage.

For more help or information, go to FDIC.gov or call the FDIC toll-free at 1-877-ASK-FDIC (1-877-275-3342). Please send your story ideas or comments to consumeraffairs3@fdic.gov

BUSINESS CREDIT, Business Strategies, business taxes, General Information, RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS, Self Employed, TAX DEBT RELIEF, Tax Reduction

Proprietors and Partners Mistakenly Pay Themselves Illegal W-2 Wages

July 18, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

In our Chicago South Loop Tax Preparation office, we often see sole proprietors and partners who are above the Section 199A thresholds look for W-2 wages as a means to salvage the 20 percent deduction allowed by Section 199A. They also often look enviously at the fringe benefits that are available to employees and not to them as sole proprietors or partners.

To overcome getting shorted on the Section 199A deduction or being denied fringe benefits, some sole proprietors and partners instruct their payroll services to make them W-2 employees. When the payroll services do this, the proprietors and partners believe they are now legitimate employees of their proprietorships and partnerships. Wrong. Totally wrong.

The sole proprietor may not be a W-2 employee of his or her sole proprietorship.
A partner may not be a W-2 employee of a partnership.
Some sole proprietors and partners have had their Certified Professional Employer Organization (CPEO) treat them as employees. Also, wrong!
Using a CPEO does not create the possibility of paying a W-2 wage to a partner or a sole proprietor.

Takeaways

The sole proprietor is not a W-2 employee of the proprietorship. He or she is self-employed and operates under the rules for the self-employed. The partner is not a W-2 employee of the partnership. He or she is a partner and is treated as a partner under the
tax rules. Partners receive remuneration for services as guaranteed payments, which are subject to self employment taxes.

The single-member LLC is a proprietorship unless the member elects treatment as an S or a C corporation. Similarly, a multi member LLC is a partnership unless it elects treatment as an S or a C corporation.

Although we’ve given you the basics, this is not an all-inclusive article. Should you have tax debt help questions, need Chicago business tax preparation, business entity creation, business insurance, or business compliance assistance please contact us online, or call our office toll free at 1-855-743-5765 or locally in Chicago or Indiana at 1-708-529-6604. Make sure to join our newsletter for more tips on reducing taxes, and increasing your wealth.

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BUSINESS CREDIT, Business Strategies, business taxes, Family Tax Issues, General Information, Self Employed, TAX DEBT RELIEF, Tax Reduction, TAXES

Owe the IRS? Find out what your credit report tells them.

May 11, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

man in white shirt using macbook pro

Author: Trudy M. Howard

In our Chicago tax debt office you’ll often hear me say “the IRS is worse than the FBI.” Of course this is simply my opinion (based upon years of research, tax debt cases, education, and government documents), but if the IRS isn’t worse than the FBI, they surely are a close 2nd!

When I tell you that the IRS can find out anything, I mean they can find out anything (except for your blood type, but I’m sure that’s pending)! The IRS has access to systems that you wouldn’t believe existed. For example, did you know that the IRS receives a weekly file of new movers? It’s true. “The United States Postal Service (USPS) provides an address update product — the National Change of Address Linkage (NCOA^Link), and the IRS receives a weekly NCOA^Link file from USPS. The file contains all of the reported changes of address in the United States for the week.” Not only does the IRS use this system, along with several others, the IRS also has the authority to pull a debtor’s credit report! Keep reading to see what your credit report tells the IRS.

or click here to call us 1-855-743-5765.

There are 6 key things that an IRS collections representative is looking for when they access your credit report.

Previous residences along with old/current employers.
Other lien holders to see how much you owe, and how much you’ve paid.
Property that may not have been disclosed during your collections interview.
Leads to hidden assets by identifying other creditors.
Financial institutions that you have done business with in the past and currently.
Entities and associations with foreign banks and corporations.

Hopefully, by viewing this list you see that it is important to disclose all financial information when dealing with the IRS. Once you submit all of your financial information, Howard Tax Prep LLC, located in the South Loop of Chicago, can help you with an IRS tax debt settlement, a tax debt payment plan, removal of tax lien, and IRS wage garnishments in Chicago, and all 50 states.

Never miss another tip again! Join our newsletter, to receive tax reduction/wealth building tips delivered right to your inbox!

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