Most accounts payable, accounting, finance and tax professionals are aware that in 2002 the IRS issued its declarative ruling regarding whether frequent flyer miles were taxable - or so we thought.

The IRS said that because of all the technical and administrative issues it “has not pursued a tax enforcement program with respect to promotional benefits such as frequent-flier miles.” And the IRS still stands by that statement despite what has happened.

What happened? Citbank has sent 1099s to people who received thousands of miles as a reward for opening a checking or savings account. You can imagine how happy they were. To be fair to Citibank, buried in the fine print associated with this offering was a statement saying the recipient was responsible for all applicable taxes.

Citibank says it is aware of the IRS stance on not taxing frequent flyer miles but the 2012 instructions for Form 1099-MISC say that income tax must be paid if at least $600 in “prizes and awards” is received. In Citibank’s mind, the points were a prize or an award for opening the account.

To make matters even worse, many complain that Citibank has overstated the value of the points, valuing each mile at 2.5 cents. Most experts believe the points are worth between one and two cents.WE can see how Citibank arrived at its conclusion, but really???

The chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, Sherrod Brown, has already written Citibank telling them to stop.

It will be interesting to hear how the IRS weighs in on this. We will continue to follow this issue for our readers.

(c) 2012 Mary S. Schaeffer and Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow

Whether you are an accounts payable professionals, an accounting or finance executive or some other professional concerned about career advancement, the following resolutions will work for you.

1. Take greater care when writing emails – both in checking spelling and grammar and not responding quickly to an infuriating message.

2. Give at least one talk this year, if you have never given one before; give three or four if you have.

3. Improve your PowerPoint skills and include PowerPoint presentations not only when you are giving a talk but also when making a presentation to management.

4. Make better use of pivot tables when analyzing data and making management presentations.

5. Increase networking using Linkedin.

6. Join at least two groups on LinkedIn and contribute to those forums asking and/or answering queries posted by other participants.

7. Attend at least three vendor webinars during the year.

8. When attending an industry or vendor meeting, don’t stay with the folks you know from your current company.

9. Read one book per quarter to help increase your knowledge and advance your career.

10. Take a long hard look at your work wardrobe and honestly evaluate whether it says “I’m management material” or not.

An upcoming issue of our Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow newsletter will explain why and how these resolutions are important to all professionals.

(c) 2012 Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow and Mary S. Schaeffer

Although not nearly as lyrical as the original, we offer you Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow’s Holiday Wishes for 2012.

1. May AP get the year end closed well before midnight.

2 Let fraud of all types not slip through your safeguards,

3. May duplicate payments become but a fading memory.

4. May your staff be satisfied with both their work and their compensation.

5. Let management be pleased enough with your work to give you that promotion you so richly deserve.

6. And let employment be found elsewhere for those disgruntled co-workers who make life so difficult for you and your staff.

7. May there be adequate budget so everyone gets a raise.

8. May your 1099s fly out the door in January without a hitch so B-Notices clutter your mailbox nevermore.

9. Let 2012 be the year where training becomes a priority again.

10. May the auditors, be they escheat, sales and use tax, or worse, never darken your doorstep again.

11. Let you find both the humor and the patience to deal with the absurd -especially on those occasions when ridiculous seems to rule the day.

12. And most importantly, may you unearth a little spare time to sit down, plan, and enjoy your family and friends .

… and of course, may there be a few dollars left in the budget so you can a subscription, or perhaps attend a seminar or conference.

I hope to have an opportunity to meet many of you in 2012. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal readers not only of our paid subscriptions but also of our free weekly e-zine. We know your time is valuable and we appreciate the time you spend each week with us reading our latest updates.

(c) 2012 Mary Schaeffer, CRYSTALLUS, Inc. and Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow

A quick note about the prior post. These are optional standard rates. The IRS does not mandate that they be used by businesses. However, over 80% do use them. Of course, this means that about 20% don’t. In our research at Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, we have discovered that virtually everyone who doesn’t use the IRS rate, uses a lower rate.

The Internal Revenue Service issued the 2012 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 55.5 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 23 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

The rate for business miles driven is unchanged from the mid-year adjustment that became effective on July 1, 2011. The medical and moving rate has been reduced by 0.5 cents per mile.

As we head into year end, which inevitably means 1099 production for many of our readers, we thought it might be worth mentioning the IRS TIN Matching Program. If your organization is eligible to use it (and most are) we strongly recommend you do so.

Looking at it from a selfish standpoint, it will mean far fewer B Notices with the possibility of receiving none. Virtually every organization that I’ve spoken to that signs up and uses it throughout the year report that they receive only a minimal number of B-Notices and some have received none once they start using the program. This alone should be enough to convince you to make the change.

For additional information, go to IRS.gov and search for TIN Matching. You won’t be sorry you did.

(c) 2011 CRYSTALLUS Inc. and Mary S. Schaeffer

One way to get me ranting and raving quickly is to say something like, “Oh, what’s the big deal about accounts payable - you get an invoice and you pay it - really, what is the big deal?” I’m sure many reading this have heard the same type of remark. As you might imagine I have a long list of what can go wrong when accounts payable issues are ignored.

Not only will I talk about them in our upcoming Accounts Payable Best Practice webinar, we also taped the portion of that webinar where I discuss what can go wrong and put it online. On that short video, I also give a high-level overview of best practices. You can see that video on YouTube here.

Because we like to have fun sometimes, we asked readers to send us examples of the most hair-raising invoices they’d received. Then we posted them for their reading pleasure and asked our audience to vote for the invoice they felt deserved the title “Worst Invoice in 2011.”

We invite you to do the same. Please go here and after reading the entries use the link at the end of the invoice entries to vote for the invoice you think most worthy of that title. I’ve got to warn you; the choice may be difficult. We’ve got some real doozies.

(c) 2012 Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, CRYSTALLUS Inc. and Mary S. Schaeffer All rights reserved.

Each year, the Institute of Financial Operations (formerly the IFO) designates one week as Accounts Payable Recognition Week. At AP Now we try to celebrate with our readers. This year we are offering a free webinar on October 19th. The topic selected is “Little Mistakes that Cause Big Problems in Accounts Payable.”

We’ll identify those small every-day mistakes many make and show you how to fix them. Actually, for many just pinpointing the problem is adequate as the way to fix them is obvious.

To attend, all you have to do is register. We’ll have information about registering in our weekly ezine. To sign up for our free weekly ezine, go to our e-zine signup page.

(c) 2011 Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow