What caught our eye today? This article by Emily Valla, special to the Idaho Statesman.

Do you remember when you were in school and the teacher would give each student a worksheet to “spot the difference” between two side-by-side detailed scenes?  You would look carefully at each of the two images, trying to spot subtle details, such as an extra button on a shirt or a missing shoe on a person. Maybe it was the number of petals on a daisy or a cone of ice cream missing the cherry on top. The directions would indicate there would be six differences, but try as hard as you did, (and even when you asked a classmate for help) you could still only find four or five differences, and were convinced there was never a sixth.

If you are an employer planning to add to your workforce, you need to know about the recent change regarding Form I-9, the Employment Eligibility Verification form. Form I-9 is compulsory for all employers to confirm every newly hired employee’s identity and that they are authorized to work in the United States.

With the 2017 tax year coming to a close, many individuals and business owners are asking what they can do to reduce their tax obligation, discover tax credit opportunities, or set themselves in a  more favorable tax position.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! In recent years, thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams and fake IRS communication. This page looks at the scams affecting individuals, businesses, and tax professionals and what do if you if you spot a tax scam. 

REMEMBER: The IRS doesn't initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information.  In addition, IRS does not threaten taxpayers with lawsuits, imprisonment or other enforcement action.  Being able to recognize these tell-tale signs of a phishing or tax scam could save you from becoming a victim.

 Background--direct and indirect (60-day) rollovers

Confronting the latest scheme to target taxpayers, the IRS and its Security Summit partners warned (on September 22, 2016) that scammers have sent fake emails purportedly containing CP2000 notices, which are used in the IRS’s Automated Underreporter Program.

Read more about IRS Scams by Howard Kass

The IRS emphasized that it never sends these notices by email, and instead uses the U.S. Postal Service (IR-2016-123).

 Cybersecurity. What if I said I can give you five security tips you can implement in five minutes that will help greatly mitigate the risk of your home or business computer system from becoming a target for cybercriminals?  Yes, it can be that easy! 


While there are certainly savvy hackers out there, the reality is many breaches of security stem from common, no-cost proactive measures that most overlook.

Here are our top five: