PICB's Monthly Digest of Sound Credit And Collections Practices

 
Printing Industry Credit Bureau www.picb-us.com (847) 265-0400
Volume 2014, Issue 3
Dear Member, 

ALERT: There is a particularly disturbing new scam being perpetrated on printers.  The scam artist poses as a collection agency, collects a retainer from the printer, and collects the debt from the delinquent debtor only to vanish into thin air with the money.  This is truly a "fool me twice" scenario that negatively impacts printers and their customers.  While we'd love for you to use PICB, we are first and foremost concerned about protecting printers - so if you are being solicited by a collection agency you've not used, check them out immediately by reaching out to your affiliate manager.  The affiliate manager may be able to provide more information, will likely know the trusted collection agencies others have used, and may have heard of those printers who have been burned by con artists posing as collection agencies.  They may provide the name of a good agency known to them and will likely not recognize the fly-by-night ones.  In this manner, we may all protect one another by using networking to establish the known professional collection agencies from the fake ones.  If you are solicited, collect as much information as possible and share this with others.  Most cons will push back when asked a lot of questions.  Information is truly your ally when catching a con.   


With much respect, 

Andrea

Andrea Schlack
President


       Original Artwork by Marc. Art, Inc. [email protected]
Lawyer's Pen

A timely question as tax day looms, with answers provided by attorneys William A. Rinehart and Jay C.Scheinfield. 


 

Q: AFTER ALL COLLECTIONS FAILED, AND WE ARE FORCED TO WRITE A CUSTOMER OFF AS BAD DEBT, IS THERE A WAY TO PROPERLY NOTIFY THE IRS THAT THE DEBT HAS BEEN WRITTEN OFF AS NON-PAYMENT AND SHOULD NOT BE REPORTED AS AN EXPENSE?  

 

A: If the business is on an accrual basis for their accounting, then the obligation not paid by the debtor was taken as income previously. In that case it should be listed under expenses as a bad debt. Client will have to have sufficient information to show that they made substantial efforts to collect the account and that it was written off as uncollected after those efforts were taken. Obviously, the ultimate situation would be if there was a bankruptcy, but this is not necessary as long as there is a file to show substantial efforts. 

 

If the client is on a cash basis, then the obligation due by the debtor was never picked up as income and, therefore, no adjustment is necessary on client's tax form and no deduction is available for that "bad debt." 

 

On a related note, client can send out a 1099 form to the IRS if they are writing the bad debt off, listing the debtors name, address, and ID number. Ultimately the IRS may then make sure the debtor lists the bad debt as income on their taxes. This does not do anything to collect the debt, but may give the client some satisfaction that the debtor is not completely getting away with non-payment. 

 

William Rinehart

Rinehart, Scaffidi, & Mathews

Milwaukee, WI 

  

 

 

A:  The short answer to your question is easy. A 1099C can be issued to a debtor for cancellation of indebtedness income. In other words, when you write off the debt as a loss it is considered income to your debtor. Getting there is a bit more complex. The IRS says a debt becomes worthless when the surrounding facts and circumstances indicate there is no reasonable expectation of payment. To show that a debt is worthless, you must establish that you have taken reasonable steps to collect the debt. It is not necessary to go to court if you can show that a judgment from the court cannot be collected. You may take the deduction only in the year the debt becomes worthless. You do not have to wait until a debt is due to determine whether it is worthless.

 

What do you need to issue the 1099 C? First, you need the debtor tax ID or social security number. The first place to look is the credit application you had your buyer complete. If this is not part of your credit approval process you are likely without recourse. Without it you will be unsuccessful achieving your objective. Futhermore, a bankrupt debtor will not be effected by it.

 

Jay C. Scheinfield

Attorney at Law

Upper Darby, PA

 

 

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PICB is the Graphic Art Industry's dedicated credit and collection agency. We've gained the trust of printers over 35 years of helping them get paid by slow and non-paying customers. Our rates are below industry averages, yet our results are superior.
 
From PICB's website, click Resources & Archives at the top of the page to find links to government websites with real-time, free information you may find helpful in determining a customer's stability or viability. These sites provide you the ability to verify business registrations, civil court records, lien information, and much more.

When you don't have time to research your customer's background, PICB's sister company, √it Co. will do it for you. √it Co's Credit Risk Assessments compile reports the old-fashioned way with hands-on, extensive research using 21st century tools.  Know your customer before you do the work. 

PICB's free web-based tool, located at www.picb-us.com near the center of the navigation bar, provides free access to our database of customers who haven't paid printers.  Look up your potential customer and see if PICB already knows them.  It may save you some heartache. 

Questions?  Call us any time at (847) 265-0400
For Collections, visit PICB: www.picb-us.com
For Risk Assessment, visit √it Co: www.checkitco.com
 
Thanks for reading this edition!  Feel free to forward this to others.

 

Printing Industry Credit Bureau 
(847) 265-0400
Quick Links  
In This Issue
Credit Capers
Lawyer's Pen
Help Is Here
Your Staff at 
Printing Industry
 Credit Bureau

Andrea Schlack 
President

 Dennis Adams

Vice President
Collections Manager

 

Vin Ayden, 

Senior Risk Manager   Email Vin

 

Dan Comer

Office Administrator

  Email Dan

 

 

 

 

KreditKarma

Don't let them  bite twice!

 

A partial list of Uncollected Judgments for March 2014. 

 Click here

to view the full list.

 

Alec W. Bowers dba Diat Concepts, Ltd.  

(IL)

 

Andrew Eperi, Individually and dba Afrique 

(IL)

 

Alex Fino dba SF Transport Services (PA)

 

Associated Air Products 

(FL)

 

Berg Printing Enterprises, LLC dba Masterprint (WI)

 

Blue Ink

(IL)

 

CCMP dba BerylMartin 

(IN)

 

Christopher Nicholas Campos dba Campos School Portraits 

(AZ)

 

CMY&K Advertising

(NY)

 

CMY&K Publishing

(NY) 

 

Dale Jaslove Ind dba Healthcare Construciton 

(MI)

 

DBR Enterprises Inc & Anna Fregron as Personal Guarantor  

(SD)

 

Desi Talk Inc (dissolved)

Hemant, Inc. (dissolved) 

Brahmbharr, Inc.

(dissolved)

(IL)

 

Direct Media Marketing, Inc. 

(NE)

 

El Sol Newspaper 

(IL)

 

Emory Lithoof Nassau LLC

(NY)

 

Ewa Kuchino dba A to Z Media Graph (dissolved) 

(IL)

 

Frank Finocchiaro individually & T/A LBT Systems & LBT Systems, Inc.

(NJ)

 

First Fruits Beverage Company 

(VA)

 

Gregorys Furniture & Mattress LLC

(NJ)

 

Hi India, Inc. 

(IL)

 

Higher Standard Entreprises Inc dba Intouch Publishers.com

(NC)

 

Hip Hop Weekly Entertainment, inc. 

(FL)

 

Home Video Studio, Inc. 

(IN)

 

Hometown Heating & Cooling, Richard E. Fox, individually

(NY) 

 

Indian Hill System Inc, Robert Kelly

(IL) 

 

 Jeffrey Samuel Perry dba Chicago Salon & Day Spa

(IL)

 

Jill Morgenthaler for Congress

(IL)

 

Jim Weems dba J Print Services

(ID)

 

Joseph D. Rinder dba Beltone Hearing Aid Center, and individually

(NJ)

 

Karry Matheson dba Matheson Custom Print, and individually

(UT)

 

Kenmar Stationary

(NY)

 

Kristys Moore a.k.a. Kristys Waggoner dba Orion Publishing

(CA)

 

Lester Bafia, individually and D Mega Force Productions, Inc. 

(IL)

 

Lisa Dote dba G Graphics and dba Print This, and individually

(IL)

 

Lori Hutchings dba Kangaroo Cardio and Kendra Meeker dba Kangaroo Cardio

(KS)

 

MBL Communications, Inc. 

(NY)

 

My Mothers Invention

(TX)