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Greetings!
Hope your holidays were happy!
This enewsletter is our way of letting you know the opportunities,
upcoming events and other items of interest that come across our desks
each week. Have something new happening at your place? Keep us up-to-date
by emailing us the details: [email protected]
Follow through on your New Year's Resolution to NETWORK
Each Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce Business Networking Group
monthly meeting features:
- Open networking
- The opportunity for each person to address the group and tell us
what yo do
- A featured speaker from among our members. Our speaker for January
14th is Jim Harkins of Rogers Print & Design. His topic is "Outline
for a successful print job."
- Policies and 'Growing the Group' Discussions
- Announcements
Attend your first meeting at no charge!
Next meeting is January 14, 2003 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at the Cape Cod
Chamber of Commerce administrative offices, 307 Main Street Suite 2,
Hyannis.
RSVP
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Cliff Robbins Jr. awarded Special Services Award for
Dedication to Small Business Community |
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 Georgianna Parkin, Executive
Director of the Massachsuetts Small Business Development Center
(MSBDC) network, has awarded Clifford Robbins Jr., the Senior
Management Counselor on Cape Cod, a 'Special Services Award in
appreciation for [his] dedication to the small business community'
in Southeastern Massachusetts during 2002.
The MSBDC provides a comprehensive program of free,
high-quality, one-to-one management counseling to potential and
existing small business entrepreneurs. Services include business
plan development, financial management, marketing, organizational
development, et al.
Cliff, who helped 652 clients last year, holds regular office
hours at the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce's administrative offices
(307 Main Street, Suite 2, Hyannis). Click the link below to
contact Cliff for your appointment.
Email
Cliff »
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DOR requiring some tax payments electronically |
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 The Massachusetts Department of
Revenue (DOR) has recently announced that some taxpayers,
including employers, retailers and lodging operators, must file
their returns and pay their taxes electronically. Failure to
comply could result in steep penalties. Please see below for
details.
Who Must File and When
Beginning on January 1, 2003, any taxpayer with a combined tax
liability of $100,000 or more for the following three tax
categories must submit their taxes by electronic means:
- wage withholding,
- sales and use taxes, including meals tax and the tax on
telecommunication services, or
- state and local room occupancy excise.
Once an
entity has reached the threshold and filed electronically, it is
required to do so in all subsequent years regardless of the amount
due, as long as it must file a return for any of the three
categories listed above.
Filing Requirements
For purposes of this new requirement, "electronic means"
includes use of a computer, the Internet, a touch-tone telephone
or any other submission compatible with the DOR's equipment and
facilities, as long as prescribed by the Commissioner of Revenue.
How to Register
To file electronically, a taxpayer must register with the
Department of Revenue. The preferred method is through the Web
site: www.mass.gov/dor. Once a taxpayer provides contact
information, including a federal identification number (if the
taxpayer is an entity) or a social security number (if the
taxpayer is an individual), he will be mailed a personal
identification number (PIN). Once the taxpayer receives a PIN, the
registration process is complete and the taxpayer can file using
the DOR's secure Web site (WebFile for Business) for filing and
paying all trustee taxes. If a taxpayer does not have access to
the Internet, he should call the DOR's Customer Service line at
(617) 887-6367 or, in Massachusetts, the toll free number (800)
392-6089 to request a faxed copy. Once the application is
complete, it should be faxed back to (617) 887-5019. For those
taxpayers filing only withholding and general sales taxes, the
Business Telefile system may be used.
Massachusetts
Department of Revenue / Business Options: Electronic Filing and
Payment Programs »
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The 2002 Economic Census is Underway |
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 Census Bureau Announces
Electronic Reporting as 2002 Economic Census Continues
The Commerce Department's Census Bureau is announcing that
most of the 5 million businesses that received 2002 Economic
Census forms in December can- for the first time-file their
information electronically. Responses are due by Feb. 12.
"Allowing businesses to extract data directly from their own
spreadsheets and drop them into electronic questionnaires is a
major breakthrough," said Charles Louis Kincannon, Director of the
Census Bureau. "It demonstrates the Census Bureau's commitment to
e- government and translates into less reporting burden for
business."
Businesses that want to try electronic reporting can visit the
Census Bureau business help site . Using
information they received with their paper form in December, they
can download a Windows-based electronic questionnaire tailored to
their business. Businesses complete the electronic forms on their
own computers at their own pace and file the form on a secure
Internet site or mail a diskette in to the Census Bureau.
The real payoff is for firms with dozens or even thousands of
locations. Instead of having to complete a separate form for each
establishment, businesses can import information from company
spreadsheets right into the Economic Census software. "Electronic
reporting can significantly lower the reporting costs incurred by
some of our largest and most important businesses" says Tom
Mesenbourg, Assistant Director of the Census Bureau. "It saves us
time and money as well."
In addition to electronic reporting, the Census Bureau's
Business Help Site offers answers to
questions businesses ask most often, and provides other services,
such as verification that their report was received. Complementing
the on-line Help Site is a toll-free "help line" (1-800-233-6136),
answered by Census Bureau employees from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., EST,
Monday through Friday. Businesses that received a form are
required by law (Title 13, U.S. Code) to respond.
Taken every five years, the economic census is a benchmark for
measuring 96 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Federal
Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has said the economic census
is "indispensable to understanding America's economy."
In addition to the Fed and other federal agencies, state and
local officials use economic census data to design programs to
promote business development. The private sector uses the data for
activities such as developing business plans, calculating market
share, and evaluating new business opportunities.
Data on over a thousand industries will be processed during
2003, with the first results expected in early 2004. The Economic
Census will yield more than 1,600 reports and data products for
states, counties, and places-all published at
www.census.gov/econ2002.
2002
Economic Census »
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Welcome New Members! |
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- Drifter
Sportfishing
- Mary Lampert
- On-Cape Lithographers
- Out to Play Cafe
- Pablo Parada Pentz
- Rainbow Resort Motel
- Sandwich Glass
Museum
- I. Marie Sherman, Justice of the Peace
- What's Next?
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2003 Cape Cod Golf Passport |
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| The new bigger, more extensive
2003 Cape Cod Golf Passport is on sale now!
The Passport has more courses - 28 of the Cape's 29 public
facilities - plus local restaurants and hotels offering discounts
to play, eat or stay at their establishments.
The values offered by the courses are even better than last
year and we all know what a bargain those offers were. For
accommodations, some of the participating hotels are offering up
to 20% off room rates seven nights a week. Restaurants have
reduced their costs including some with a free meal for every four
persons dining out at that establishment.
And the best news is that the Passport costs the same as last
year, just $79 for savings that can add up to over $1,750!
More
about the 2003 Golf Passport Offerings.... »
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Cape Cod Chamber Gift Links |
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- Chamberwear
- 2003
Golf Passport
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- Cape
Cod Chamber Gift Certificates
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