Welcome Reception “Top Networker”! May 26, 2010,Wednesday, 8-10PM CST Simply register online and purchase your combo ticket  with a discount. Or buy a single ticket to welcome reception. It’s that easy! But you must act fast as this offer will expire soon! Exciting new possibilities await you at the Business Convention and Expo of the Deaf (BCED) in Houston, Texas will refresh and re-energize your business, career, and personal development. Come to BCED at the Omni Hotel Houston on May 27 – 29, 2010. For more information: http://deafbusiness.org Org. Committee Tips: Do not be afraid to go by yourself. Remember that networking events are designed to get people talking to each other. Many people attend by themselves. Be bold and look for opportunities to join interesting conversations. Effective networking gives you an advantage in business. Ensure success by  following these tips and doing the work before, during and after the event. Bring a few things with you. If you need to, bring an index card with the names of individuals you’d like to speak to. Wear your company nametag if you have one. Only bring marketing materials if they are not too cumbersome to handle. And most importantly, don’t forget your business cards! START A NEW WAY OF THINKING! Spring is a time for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual rebirth. But, are you struggling with your bad habits and negative thinking? Is your life an endless juggle between your job and bills? Are you still stuck in an old mindset? Come to BCED and be ready to reform your thinking, get out of your old mindset, and achieve new results along your journey to SUCCESS! REGISTER YOUR JOURNEY FREE $20 gift card to Mokara Spa Registered attendees will receive a complimentary gift card to Mokara Spa! The gift card $20 gives you a privilege: soak in steam sauna, relax in jacuzzi, and enjoy your best time with a spa package for extra fees. GET FREE GIFT CARD TO SPA! Women in Business Night The priority is to help each other, which may create ideas, strategies, opportunities and revenue especially in this new, extremely challenging economic situation we’re facing today. Business Deaf women as consultants will provide consultation, hands on training, and mini-fun activity. Free admission for registered attendees $5 for non-registered friends. TAKE ME THERE! What opportunities are available in green business? Discover green start up available opportunities in green business. The presenter introduces you to green world: market, product, and resources to be delivered and needed following to demands. GO FOR GREEN! Dessert Reception An exclusive treat from the Business Convention and Expo of the Deaf! There will be a dessert reception on Saturday after Closing Ceremony! Snack on gourmet desserts with the finest teas and cold drinks in a relaxed atmosphere! Free admission for registered attendees REGISTER HERE! Do people know your business well? Know your target audience.If you are looking for the right avenue to promote or seize your business opportunity, you come and get everything you need to take your business to a whole new level. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with small businesses, market your business, and tap into a network of entrepreneurs, service providers, financial organizations, franchises, and governmental representatives. BUILD YOUR BUSINESS AT BCED! Sunday Retreat On the day of the week that is intended for rest, give yourself permission to step out of your life for a few hours. Encircled by supportive friends, colleagues, and attendees, you will begin your day by nurturing yourself with fun activities: golf, disc golf, downtown tour, and a trip to Kemah Boardwalk. JOIN FOR FUN! Featured Article Do you want SUCCESS? Catch this opportunity for a SUPER training on May 29, 2010, Saturday! “SECRETS OF WORLD CLASS” Steve Siebold World Class Keynote  Speaker and Trainer The 6-hour program is an awakening to expose participants to the process and show them there’s a higher level of emotional competence and mental performance. Mental Toughness University is a comprehensive mental training process that moves individuals and teams from good to great. Mental Toughness trains people how to control their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, before, during, and after a performance. Especially under pressure. Value: $4,000 You pay $299 or $150 REGISTER HERE! OMNI GALLERIA HOTEL BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM Join Our Mailing List! About Us BCED Business Convention and Expo of the Deaf www.deafbusiness.org http://deafbusiness.org

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Synopsis
Do you want SUCCESS? Catch this opportunity for a SUPER training on May 28, 2010, Friday! “SECRETS OF WORLD CLASS” Meet Steve Siebold – World Class Keynote Speaker and Trainer.

The 6-hour program is an awakening to expose participants to the process and show them there’s a higher level of emotional competence and mental performance.

Mental Toughness University is a comprehensive mental training process that moves individuals and teams from good to great. Mental Toughness trains people how to control their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, before, during, and after a performance. Especially under pressure.

One Day admission:$150
Four Days admission:
$259 Special Discount!
(Original price $299)
The Four Days registration includes meals, admission to all general and breakout sessions, trainings, ceremonies, dessert reception, and expo.

REGISTER HERE!

More info about Steve Siebold: CLICK HERE!

When
May 27-29, 2010 from 9am to 5pm.

Where
2nd floor in the Omni Houston Hotel at Four Riverway in the Galleria area of Houston, Texas

REGISTRATION FOR FREE ADMISSION TO EXPO : CLICK HERE!

FOR EXHIBITORS: CLICK HERE!

Your feedback and suggestions are important to us. Please check our website: http://deafbusiness.org Business Convention and Expo of the Deaf Org. Committee

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The IRS allows ordinary and necessary travel expenses related to business. This means your business expenses should take a direct route to the primary purpose of your business trip. Overnight accommodations should be at a comfortable place such as a hotel or conference retreat. Accommodations shouldn’t be extravagant in luxury. Under the accountable plan, there is no tax reporting on actual receipts. The non-accountable plan, however, is reportable on Form W-2 for employees getting travel reimbursement in excess of actual receipts such as per diem or advance payments without using all of the funds.

If a traveling software salesman flies on a commercial jet to Los Angeles, stays at OMNI hotel, rents a Lincoln Town Car and drives around with his customers, then this may be an appropriate business tax deduction. Likewise using a limousine in Manhattan where transportation fares are reasonable and appropriate in this area may be acceptable. However, it’s not tax deductible for a local small business owner to fly on a private jet, rent a limousine and a book a large beach house for himself for a brief business lunch in Miami, Florida. So, some judgment is required in determining which business expenses appear reasonable and necessary.

If you are planning to mix your travel plans as business and pleasure, you will need to separate your personal expenses. Suppose Bob bring his family from Houston, Texas to Orlando, Florida for his jewelry tradeshow all day Thursday and Friday. Bob’s wife, Bonny, and their two children stay at his double bed hotel and they go to Disneyworld over the next three days while Bob works. They return home on Sunday night by commercial flight. Table 1 allocates Bob’s business and personal expenses.

Expenses
Allowable Business Expense | Non-deductible Personal Expense

Four roundtrip airfares at $1,200
300.00 | 900.00

Double-bed hotel room at $150 a night
300.00 | 300.00

Car rental $500
300.00 | 200.00

Two luggage check-ins at the airport
25.00 | 25.00

Disneyworld
600.00

Meals & incidental expenses (M&IE)* assume $49 per person each day
98.00 | 686.00

Total expenses:
1,023.00 | 2,711.00

*incidental expenses are taxis, shuttles, tips, fees, etc

Because Bonny and children are traveling for vacation, that is a personal expense. There are a few exceptions here. If a spouse has a bona fide business purpose such as coordinating the inventory logistics, booth setup, greeting customers, negotiating and handling the point of sales (POS), then this would be an acceptable business expense. But it is not tax deductible if Bonny stopped by her husband’s jewelry booth to help briefly with the credit card transactions during a busy lunch hour.

Now if you decide to be a road warrior from Anchorage, Alaska to Key West, Florida, then it may be as simple as hopping in the car and being on the road collecting your gasoline and motel receipts. When driving from home to a temporary place of work or a business conference, you have two methods to calculate your auto expense.

1. Mileage x IRS standard mileage rate (.50 as of January 1, 2010), or
2. Actual expense such as depreciation, lease payments, insurance, gasoline, oil change, auto license, inspection fees, repairs, tire replacement, etc

You will want to use the method that gives you the maximum tax deduction. But if you choose the mileage method, you must use this method in the first year of your auto for business. Then you may change this to actual expense in the second year and after.

For the mileage method, you can keep a log of your date of travel, purpose, beginning and ending miles or miles driven on a notebook, daily planner, calendar, Excel spreadsheet, or similar method. Choose a tracking method that is comfortable for you so you won’t get frustrated or overwhelmed with complexity and then procrastinate.

For meals and incidental expenses (M&IE), the self-employed can use the IRS standard meal allowance instead of calculating the actual receipts. For employees, we recommend using the actual receipt under the accountable plan. IRS Publication 1452 has a list of city per diem rates for a given time frame. Meals and entertainment are subject to a 50 percent limit. The daily rate may also be prorated to ½ or ¾ day rate for traveling days.

Even if you use the standard mileage and standard meal allowance deduction method, you will still need to collect receipts or card statements as proof of business travel. If you don’t have anything to prove your time, place, and business purpose of your travel, then the IRS will disallow your tax deduction.

To make all this easier during your business travel, have a designated envelope to store your receipts. Make a note on the purpose of your receipt. The travel envelope also comes in handy to note the amount and time when a receipt is not available such as tipping the bellman or when your taxi driver ran out of receipts.

When you get home, you can slip the travel envelope in your tax reporting box and catch up on work. Then designate a time to enter your travel expenses in the accounting books or give it to your CPA for your year-end financial and tax reports.

Howard Knight, CPA, is the owner of Howard Knight CPA firm. To comment on this article, he can be reached at hknight@biz-cpa.com.

CIRCULAR 230 DISCLOSURE: Any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and/or links, is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by anyone for the purpose of avoiding federal tax penalties that may be imposed by Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax law provisions or for promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.

Howard Knight
Certified Public Accountant
12 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1100, Houston, TX 77046 | www.biz-cpa.com
713.425.4922 | 713.568.3380 vp | 713.583.0280 fax | 713.387.9908 text message

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There were many tax regulation changes in 2009 and we are ready to ensure that you claim all legitimate tax deductions on Form 1040. We also prepare corporate Form 1120, partnership Form 1065, payroll Form 941, and more.

Please contact our deaf owned CPA firm at VP 713-528-3380, hknight@biz-cpa.com, or visit our website at www.biz-cpa.com. We look forward to serving you with the highest quality and integrity as your personal CPA.

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Our mission is empowering and educating young business starters, future entrepreneurs, and new small business owners in starting up small business and entrepreneurship, lobbying businesses owned by Deaf, Hard of Hearing, CODA, and ASL- signers owners, and improving a higher quality of their businesses.

Achieve SUCCESS while you build your own legacy

You will learn all you need to know on how to follow your passion at Business Convention and Expo of the Deaf:

• Small Business Fundamentals (Entrepreneurship 101)
• Hot Trends in Business
• Skills Development
• Business Management
• Marketing Strategies
• Finance and Investment
• Women In Business

For more information on how you could be participated, visit “Schedule”, “Agenda”, and “What To Do” pages on this website.

“INVEST IN YOURSELF AND IN FUTURE, TODAY.”
Business Convention & Expo of the Deaf
Houston, Texas – May 27 – 30, 2010
Omni Hotel Galleria
Four Riverway
Houston, Texas
http://deafbusiness.org

Impossible Is Nothing!

SPEAKERS
World Class Mental Toughness University
STEVE SIEBOLD
Exclusive Keynote Trainer and Coach

CHARLES CARRINGTON
Senior Exceutive
“The Power of Votes and Voices”

RAJA KUSHALNAGAR
J.D., L.L.M.
“Overview of patents and Trademarks for Deaf Owners”

JOEL KELLHOFER
AC2.com Productions
Actual Signs (UK) Ltd
“Deaf business still means business despite the reccession”

Green Business
“What opportunities are available in green business?”

MYRANA ORLECK-AIELLO
President and CEO of TCS Associates
“Climbing Success and Making a Difference:My Journey and Your Future”

HOWARD KNIGHT, CPA
“How Healthcare Trends May Impact on Small Business”

“2010 Economic & Tax and How It May Impact Your Business Organization”

GARY MEYER
Vice President, DHH Insurance Inc.
“Protecting your business from liability losses!“

MARINA FANSHTEYN, MBA
Deaf Women’s Network
“Meeting of the Minds”

JAMIE CLARK
Moderator
Discussion Panel: “Would you rather wait for an economic turnaround or be the master of your destiny?”

MASTERY DEVELOPMENT Round Table:
“Development of the business language terminology in American Sign Language”
(For ASL users and interpreters who are novice with business language terminology)

And more speakers…

REGISTER NOW AND MARK ON YOUR CALENDER: MAY 27 – 30, 2010. REGISTER AT WWW.DEAFBUSINESS.ORG

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For more info contact:
Vladimir Kotenev
admin@deafbusiness.org

Source and DeafBusiness

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