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INDUSTRY NEWS New IRS Regulations on Domestic Manufacturers May Help Cemeteries and Funeral Homes The Internal Revenue Service recently published regulations detailing procedures to be used by domestic manufacturers under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 to qualify for a special tax deduction. The Act added section 199 to the Internal Revenue Code whereby a deduction from taxable income may be taken for "net revenue" earned from the sale of property produced in the U.S. The new deduction requires the taxpayer to be engaged in the production and either sale or lease of tangible personal property although it does not matter when the property was produced as long as the property is sold by the taxpayer after 2004. According to ICFA Special Tax Counsel Leslie J. Schneider, the new deduction "might seem on its face not to be applicable to the typical activities that are performed by cemeteries (or funeral homes), but it turns out that certain types of cemetery activities might qualify for this special deduction." Schneider has written an article explaining the terms of the new IRS regulations that will appear in the the August-September issue ICFM, which is the annual "Government and Legal Affairs" theme edition of the ICFA magazine. SBA Praises IRS for New Simplified Deduction Method for Domestic Production In a related development, the U.S. Small Business Administration published a letter commending the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury regarding the final rules for Section 199. According to the SBA, "The proposed rule provided for a simplified deduction method calculation for employers that generated $25 million or less in annual gross receipts. Under the final rule the accessibility of the simplified deduction method calculation is expanded to include employers that generate annual gross receipts of $100 million or less." The SBA concluded that "the expansion in the final rule allows approximately 2.2 million employer firms engaged in the permitted production activity to use a far less complicated method to determine their deduction....Increasing the simplified deduction method availability to 99.5 percent of the employer firms engaged in the permitted activities should amount to a great savings to those firms." The complete text of the SBA letter can be read at http://www.sba.gov/advo/laws/comments/irs06_0609.html. IRS Seeks Public Comment on Paperwork Burden of Form 1041QFT Yesterday, the IRS announced that it was seeking public comments through August 18, 2006, concerning "paperwork and respondent burden" involved in filing Form 1041QFT, the federal income tax return for qualified funeral trusts. IRC section 685 permits the trustee of such trusts to report and pay the tax on trust earnings in lieu of the purchaser whose funds are deposited in trust. There are no changes being made to the form itself at this time. According to IRS, the number of businesses or other for-profit organizations using Form 1041QFT are approximately 15,000, and the estimated time to complete the form per user is 18 hours. The total "annual burden hours" for all users is estimated at 270,150 annually. The request for comment can be found in the Federal Register for June 19 at 71 FR 35338-01. ICFA members having questions regarding the comment period should contact Bob Fells at ICFA HQ at 1-800-645-7700 or email rfells@icfa.org. ICFA NEWS 2006 Fall Management Conference: Hotel Update Join your colleagues, October 4-7, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for four days of education, networking and relaxation! Please note that you must begin making your travel plans now! This year's Fall Management Conference coincides with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, an event that draws an estimated 780,000 guests to Albuquerque. This means that everything from hotels to plane reservations to dining reservations will book up quickly. The ICFA has reserved a room block at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, and the suites in this block have already sold out. The remainder of rooms, both within and outside the block, is expected to fill up soon. Don't wait! Call 1.800.233.1234 to reserve your room, and refer to code G-ICFA. To register for the Fall Management Conference or to view the conference schedule, visit www.icfa.org/fall06.htm; or call the ICFA at 1.800.645.7700. Invest in your Future with ICFA University Whether you are new to the profession or looking for ideas to help improve your business, ICFA University, July 21-26, at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, has something to offer everyone! Choose from five colleges encompassing every area of the funeral and service profession: Cemetery Administration & Management, Cremation Services, Funeral Home Management, Land Management & Grounds Operations and Sales & Marketing. The five-day, intensive program provides students with extensive networking opportunities, quality courses taught by top experts in the profession and on-campus dining and housing. To ensure the housing and class placement of your choice, register today! To see the complete program schedule for ICFAU and to download a registration form, visit www.icfa.org/icfau06.htm; or call 1.800.645.7700. 2006 Annual Convention Audio CDs Now Available Sixteen of the presentations from the 2006 Convention & Exposition are now available for purchase as audio CDs from the ICFA. To order, call 1.800.645.7700. If you attended the 2006 ICFA Convention, you will receive a 30 percent discount. (Discount offer is good until September 1.) The following presentations are $18 for members and $28 for non-members:
Wide World of Sales Conference Proposals Due June 30 As preparations begin for the ICFA's 2007 Wide World of Sales Conference, January 17-19 at Treasure Island in Las Vegas, Nevada, the ICFA Sales & Marketing Committee invites ICFA members and attendees who wish to speak at this event to submit proposals for presentations. Interested candidates should submit their proposed presentation to ICFA headquarters no later than June 30. The Wide World of Sales Conference draws 400+ sales managers and counselors, as well as company owners, suppliers, insurance agents and others. The committee is looking for practical, "how to" presentations related to preneed sales, at-need sales, family service, marketing and sales team management. Instructions for preparing your proposal are available by downloading them at http://www.icfa.org/docs/call_for_presentations.doc or by calling the ICFA at 1.800.645.7700. It's Not Too Late! Register for 'Advanced Quality Funeral Care' Join the ICFA at one of the three remaining Advanced Seminars in Quality Funeral Care in Portland, Oregon, Washington, D.C., or Albuquerque, New Mexico, and find out why Todd Van Beck is one of the most highly demanded speakers in the cemetery and funeral service profession. Van Beck will help you achieve new levels of quality service at your funeral home, resulting in better service to clients, strengthened relationships with families and higher visibility in your community. Attendees of the first two meetings in Chicago and Atlanta raved about the program's value and its effectiveness in providing them with the direction and the knowledge to improve their management style and exceed families' expectations. Both seminars received 100 percent "excellent" ratings for the overall seminar on post-conference evaluation forms. The Portland, Oregon meeting will take place this week, June 23-25 at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel. It is not too late to register either onsite or by calling the ICFA at 1.800.645.7700. The two remaining seminars are:
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And more ... For a limited time, ICFA members can purchase the McQuaig Job Survey, the McQuaig Word Survey and the McQuaig Self-Development Survey for just $100 per assessment, a savings of up to 50 percent off the regular price. The member discount offer expires December 31, 2006. Companies assessing more than 100 candidates per year are eligible for additional discounts. For additional information, visit http://www.icfa.org/pdf/mcquaig2.pdf and http://www.icfa.org/pdf/mcquaig.pdf. For questions and to sign up for the program, contact Michael Gravelle at The McQuaig Institute at 1.800.387.5455, ext. 361, or mgravelle@mcquaig.com. Join today! The 2006 Music Licenses are available for just $220, no additional fees. Covers ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Any U.S. funeral home, cemetery or related business is eligible for membership as a Music License Member. Join today! The ICFA Store allows members to purchase the latest ICFA resources and training products online. Some products are available for immediate direct download, including the newly released Wirthlin Report on consumer attitudes and article packages on cremation, cemetery and funeral home valuations and trust funds. The ICFA News Page takes you to sources throughout the world for industry news and updates. It brings you the most comprehensive selection of funeral service and cemetery news available anywhere, along with frequently updated general news items related to national and world events. The News Page reports the news before anyone else and is one of the most visited page on the ICFA Web site. Stop in each day and you'll see why. The Network is an online e-mail service that offers ICFA members an easy, free way to share questions and answers to everyday on-the-job challenges. Recent discussions have examined issues such as working with the Muslim community, distance between burial sites, direct mail marketing, the growing popularity of geocaching at cemeteries, recruiting staff and more. Ideal for smaller companies with smaller budgets. Join today! The ICFA Internet Expo is the largest online exposition in the cemetery and funeral service industry. Cemetery and funeral home owners and operators will find 300+ providers in more than 100 product and service categories. Exhibit space is provided as a free, exclusive benefit to all ICFA supplier and professional members. Check it out today! Need a labor relations and employment law attorney? Check out ICFA's HR Law Benefit program offering members no-cost telephone legal consultations, paid for by the ICFA via an exclusive retainer agreement. ICFA members now also have access to an attorney for tax-related questions regarding trust earnings, care fund allocations, capital gains, investments and more. The ICFA has retained Leslie Schneider, CPA, a tax attorney with Ivins, Phillips & Barker in Washington, D.C., for telephone consultations for up to 20 minutes with no obligation. To take advantage of this member benefit, call Schneider at 202.393.7600. The ICFA and Applied Merchant Systems of Chicago, Illinois, currently offer members a Credit Card Processing Program with a special low discount rate of 1.75 percent, with no per transaction processing fee. This new benefit makes it less expensive for cemeteries, funeral homes, memorial designers and related businesses to accommodate customers who wish to pay via credit card. For more information, call 1-800-675-6573. The ICFA Insurance Program, administered by Driver Alliant, allows members to purchase commercial property and casualty insurance -- including general liability, commercial property, automobile liability and physical damage, umbrella liability, professional liability, workers compensation, employee benefits and more -- at rates they probably would not be able to afford on their own. To advertise in the ICFA Wireless: The ICFA accepts limited advertising in the ICFA Wireless newsletter, a bi-weekly newsletter e-mailed to all ICFA members that are current on their dues and have provided a current e-mail address. For rates and to place your insertion, contact Kim Ferguson at kferguson@icfa.org or 1.800.645.7700. To unsubscribe from the ICFA Wireless: Send an e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the subject line to: wireless@icfa.org. Please include your name and company name in the body of the e-mail. International Cemetery and Funeral Association 107 Carpenter Drive, Suite 100 Sterling, VA 20164 1.800.645.7700 703.391.8400 Fax: 703.391.8416 www.icfa.org Copyright 2006 International Cemetery and Funeral Association. |
