Mia Pankey

Taxpayers receive the most important tax form of the year in January: Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Your 2010 income tax and future Social Security benefits are based on it, so its accuracy is vital to your short- and long-term financial health.

The American Payroll Association offers W-2 tips to save you time, money and headaches this tax season:

1. Increase your paycheck in 2011. The average person overpays taxes by nearly $250 a month, according to the IRS. Making minor adjustments to Form W-4 can increase your paycheck. The W-4 assistant at www.nationalpayrollweek.com/W4 helps determine the withholding allowances you claim on Form W-4.

2. Don't forfeit free money. Read the back of W-2 copies B, C, and 2 to determine if you are eligible for credits. You could be missing out on thousands of dollars in tax credits.

3. Review your W-2 carefully against your final 2010 paystub. If your W-2 seems incorrect, contact your payroll department.

Important items to review:

A. Box 1 should differ from your final 2010 paystub year-to-date gross pay if you participate in a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored savings plan.
B. Box 3 total should not exceed $106,800 - the 2010 social security wage base.
C. Boxes 1, 3, and 5 should be less than your final 2010 paystub year-to-date gross pay, if you use pre-tax deductions to pay your insurance premiums or to contribute to medical or dependent care, parking, or transit flexible spending accounts.

4. Ensure your Social Security Number (SSN) matches your Social Security card. The name and SSN on your W-2 must match your Social Security card to receive your benefits. Ask the payroll department for a corrected W-2 if they do not match.

5. Make sure you get all your tax forms. You should receive a W-2 from every company that paid you in 2010 by January 31. Contact the payroll department of any company you worked for in 2010 that didn't send you a W-2. Request a 'reissued statement' to replace lost W-2s. If you earned more than $600 from a single company for any freelance or contract work, you should receive Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, instead of a Form W-2.

RISMEDIA, January 24, 2011-

Now is the perfect time for homeowners to ensure their house is prepared for winter weather. A home should be winterized so it will be able to sustain damage severe weather may bring. Additionally, if a house is winterized and damages do occur, the homeowners insurance policy will cover the house against the weather damage. HomeownersInsurance.net offers advice so people can prepare for winter weather and help avoid potential costly issues.

Homeowners must first inspect their house thoroughly so that possible issues can be avoided. The most important interior areas are the furnace and fireplace. HVAC professionals can inspect the furnace and clean out the ducts. Furnace filters should be replaced on a monthly basis to keep ducts clean. Any flammable materials around the furnace should be removed. If there is a hot-water radiator, the valves need to be opened slightly to bleed. When water is seen, they can be closed. If propane is used in the home, the tank will need to be filled. These should all be inspected to be sure they are working properly.

If there is a fireplace in the house, the screen or cap on the top of the chimney should be secure to keep out any birds, squirrels or rodents. The chimney should be cleaned by a professional occasionally because buildup of soot can cause fires. The damper should open and close properly and the mortar between the bricks should not be cracked. Any cracks should be fixed so heat does not seep into areas it should not be, creating a fire hazard.

The next step in preparing for winter for safety and insurance purposes is to examine the exterior. Damage may not be evident immediately during winter months, and may only be noticed with the first spring rain. The doors and windows should be checked for cracks, and then fixed. If the homeowner has a basement, shields can be placed over the window wells for protection from snow melt. Any worn shingles or roof tiles should be replaced so melted snow does not seep into weak areas. Gutters and downspouts should also be unclogged and leaf guards should be installed. Debris should then be cleared from the foundation to look for further cracks to repair.

RISMEDIA, November 20, 2010

11 Ways to Save on Airfare in Any Season

Yes, fares on many routes are much more expensive this holiday season than last, but airfares are not static and there are (relative) deals to be had any time of year. Here is Airfarewatchdog.com's best advice for making your airfare dollars go further, no matter what the time of year.

1. Sign up for the airlines' email feeds and frequent flyer programs
We know, you already get too much e-mail, but the airlines want to develop a one-on-one relationship with you, so they'll send you special deals, such as 50 percent off promo codes or two-fers, if you sign up. Airline sites sell much more than airfares these days (hotels, rental cars, credit cards and such), and they will entice you to deal direct rather than use a third party site such as Orbitz. If you're on Twitter, you might also want to follow the airlines' tweets, which they're using to promote exclusive Twitter-only deals.

2. Sign up for third-party fare alerts
Many airfare websites offer alerts, and they all have something to offer. Yapta.com lets you track your specific itinerary, down to the flight number and dates of travel, and will let you know if the airline owes you a price-drop refund. Travelocity's easy-to-use FareWatcherPlus lets you track up to ten routes and you can choose to be notified either when a fare goes down by $25 or more, or when it goes below a price you choose. Orbitz also offers alerts, as does Bing Travel, TripAdivsor.com/flights and FareCompare.com.

3. Search airline sites individually, but not exclusively
As noted above, many airlines have "private" sales, reserving their very best fares for their own sites. These are different from promo code fares. International airlines such as Aer Lingus, Iberia and Qantas regularly offer lower fares (i.e., $100-$400 less) on their own websites compared to what you'll find on Kayak or Orbitz. And yet, you shouldn't ignore online travel agencies such as Expedia and Travelocity, because these sites will tell you if it's cheaper flying out on one airline and back on another. In general, airline sites want you to fly only on their "metal."

4. Buy hotel plus air packages
It's often significantly cheaper to buy an air plus hotel package rather than airfare alone, especially for last minute travel. We often see Travelocity "TotalTrip" offerings, especially on last minute flights, pop up with hotel plus air for half the price of air alone. Lastminute.com is also a great source for finding last minute packages.

5. Use Priceline for last-minute trips
If you don't have a 7-, 14-, or 21-day advance purchase window to buy your fare, your best bet is the "name your own price" feature of Priceline.com. True, you won't know the exact flight times or airline you're flying until to pay for your trip, but you can save 50 percent or more. Hotwire.com can also be useful for last minute trips.

6. Use consolidators, but beware of the restrictions
Especially with the economic downturn, business and first class cabins will be emptier in 2010, and deals will be amazing. Consolidators specializing in premium cabins will have some great deals, and the airlines themselves will be heavily discounting their premium cabins, so check the specials on their websites. Sites like Vayama.com, airfare.com and Asia.com also sometimes sell consolidator fares.

7. Use a flexible date search
True, many people are not flexible in their travel dates, but would you fly in a different month or a day or two earlier or later to save hundreds of bucks? If so, learn how to do a flexible travel date search on airline and third-party sites.

8. Consider the extra fees before you buy
If Southwest has a fare of $198 round-trip and United has one for $148, and you are checking three bags, then Southwest actually has the lowest fare because Southwest charges nothing for the first two checked bags, whereas United would charge you an additional $165 each way for three.

9. Combine two separate fares rather than buying one fare
If you're flying to a destination in Europe, you might save money by purchasing one fare from the U.S. to, say, Dublin, and another from Dublin onward on Ryanair.com (just beware of Ryanair's rather onerous fees). Same holds true for some destinations in Asia (fly into Singapore and catch a low-cost carrier such as Airasia.com from there) and to some smaller Caribbean destinations via San Juan or the Bahamas. Even domestically, two fares are often less than one, such as the recent scenario where Dallas to Honolulu was selling for $350 round-trip with tax, but Houston/Honolulu was $800. As you're no doubt aware, you can fly Houston-Dallas for a lot less than $450!

10. Buy tickets on an airline that will refund the difference if a fare goes down
Let's say you've found the lowest fare, and then the day after purchase your non-refundable fare for the same itinerary goes down. If you ask for it you can get a refund for the difference. But some airlines will charge you a costly "administrative" fee of $150 or more, wiping out any savings. Others will give you the entire fare difference without extracting a fee. Currently, the "nice" airlines are JetBlue, Southwest and Alaska.

11. Check fares several times a day, and don't listen to airfare pundits who predict airfares
A lot of people like to pretend they're clairvoyant, and they know where airfares are headed. But airlines are unpredictable creatures, and any airfare expert who claims he or she knows that airfares will be lower or higher in the coming months or the coming day is suspect. No one can accurately predict where airfares are heading, any more than we can predict the stock market, because we have no idea when the economy will improve, or how much airlines will cut back capacity, or when the next flu epidemic will hit. If we could, we'd all be comfortably retired by now! Fares fluctuate throughout the day, and the number of seats offered at the lowest fares also changes frequently. So if you don't like the fare at 10 a.m., check at 2 p.m. or the next day and you may be surprised.

By George Hobica

RISMEDIA, December 7, 2010
(c) 2010, Airfarewatchdog.com.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.