| Coalinga Area Chamber of Commerce Vision~Leadership~Opportunity |
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What a week... We welcome new members Coalinga Eels, H&R Block, and Coalinga PTO. We are honored to have these two organizations join the Chamber as we represent all areas of commerce. We are delighted to help promote, serve and encourage our shop local campaign. If we shop here in town then the city of Coalinga benefits on many levels. We have parks, roads, fire, police, schools, activities and more because of local support. We have Coalinga Eels applications in the chamber office (along with Oiler Cheer and Babe Ruth Baseball). First day of practice for the Eels is April 4. Coalinga PTO Work on Derby has begun as bids have gone out for a variety of items, permits have been filed and notifications to the proper authorities so mark your calendars for Memorial Day Weekend 2012, May 25-28, 2012! We have confirmed the use of the big Budweiser stage again this year. and would like thank AERA Energy and Sequoia beverage for your sponsorships! It is very appreciated and look forward to some great live entertainment. Sweetly Devine's Ribbon cutting ceremony was terrific fun as Sherry and company celebrates its first year of business and I enjoyed a divine cup of soup and a delicious Valentine lunch special. I heard Reel Time entertainment Sweet heart dinner at the Avenal theater was delicious and dinner at Mountain Oyster Steak House and Saloon was again marvelous! Shopped at Save Mart, gassed up at Fastrip, enjoyed coffee from Chevron, stopped at Big 5 for sports gear, doctor appointment at the excellent West Hills Medical Center, filled prescriptions at the very efficient RX Pharmacy, taught class at WHCC, and of course watched great basketball at both WHC and CHS! (Both are going to the play offs, fantastic! Go Toads! Go Falcons!) BBB alert on tax scams It's that time of the year. Time to dig out those shoe boxes and oversized manila envelopes stuffed with receipts and scraps of paper. Time to find the proper tax forms and a calculator and hope for a refund. Time to have your identity stolen. Yes, stolen. According to the IRS, the number of cases of identity theft from tax scammers is on the rise. One of the most common forms of scamming is phishing through email or texts. The messages vary but their bottom line almost always promises you a tax refund if you take advantage of the scammer's services simply by clicking on a link and providing some information. You can find information about tax-related scam at www.irs.gov, but here are some key points to remember. • Don't provide personal and financial information, such as name, SSN, bank or credit card account numbers or security-related information, such as mother's maiden name, as a response to the e-mail itself or on a linked site. • The IRS does not offer extra refunds for responding to surveys. The IRS does not do surveys. • According to the IRS web site, you will never receive an email or telephone communication from them requesting personal information. The IRS does business the old fashioned way; though the mail. • The IRS does not threaten people with retaliation or lower refunds if the emails or text messages are ignored. • Be suspicious if the message contains incorrect grammar or odd phrasing. • Don't bite if you receive a "confirmation phone call" from someone claiming to be an IRS representative who needs to verify your personal and banking information before your tax refund can be released. They may claim the reason verification is needed is because you were previously sent a check that has not been cashed. • The IRS does not send emails about "changes to tax laws" that include a downloadable document (usually in PDF format) that are supposed to explain the new tax laws. These downloads are populated with malware that, once downloaded, will infect your computer. • If you plan to file your taxes online, be sure you have current anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall protection installed. Always check with the BBB at 1-800-675-8118 or www.cencal.bbb.org before you commit to using a tax preparer, even if they are a national company. We have great local tax preparer's here in Coalinga GTS Tax and Insurances, H&R Block and M. Scott & Co. Please call one and make appointment to get you taxes done correctly and honestly. You know who are dealing with if done locally. Remember taxes are due April 17,2012, so do not wait until the last minute. |