National Spending Journal – By Shoeboxed

With the credit markets as frozen as they are, it is difficult for many small businesses to get the loans they need to grow. Today, President Barack Obama announced new plans for immediate action to bring America’s credit markets back to life for small business owners.

Small business are a major component of the American economy. [...]

If you are still waiting to file your tax return, make sure the procrastination doesn’t stretch too much longer. If you have already filed your federal tax return, though, you can track the status of a refund, if you are due to receive one, online.
On the IRS’s main website, it has posted tools in both [...]

For many, it can be confusing to determine how much of your social security benefits are taxable, if any. It typically depends on your total income and marital status. For example, if social security benefits were your only income in 2008, those benefits are not taxable at all, and you will most likely not need [...]

As the cost of tuition continues to rise nationwide and our economy slides deeper and deeper into recession, post-secondary education can quickly drain your bank accounts and help you rack up debt. The IRS hasn’t been caught totally unaware of these phenomena, however, and there may be some “Hope” for your wallet yet. If you [...]

The Internal Revenue Service has already determined that many early tax filers have mistakenly attempted to double-dip on new tax credits that began with last year’s stimulus checks, the agency announced this week.
The IRS recently reported that approximately 15% of filers so far have made mistakes relating to the rebate. The IRS is catching the [...]

“In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
Despite certainly having heard this famous Ben Franklin quote, three of President Barack Obama’s top appointees have neglected to pay parts of their taxes, bringing such intense media scrutiny that two of them have withdrawn their nominations.
Tom Daschle, Obama’s nominee for Secretary for Health and Human [...]

Shoeboxed, the leading online service for organizing receipts, released a new feature today allowing users to download their receipt information into a format that they can import into Quickbooks, a popular accounting software program for small businesses.
Since many small businesses use Shoeboxed to organize their receipts, this move makes a lot of sense.
Follow these easy [...]

In the news today are several large companies announcing large layoffs, including Caterpillar, ING Group, Sprint Nextel, Pfizer, Home Depot, Deere, Philips and Corus. Total job cuts announced today total approximately 61,000 jobs.
Caterpillar, the construction giant will be cutting 20,000 jobs. These job losses are in line with a 25% decline in sales volume.
ING Group, [...]

As President Barack Obama seeks to get Congressional approval for an economic stimulus package by mid February, it is interesting to look at where the proposed stimulus would create jobs. The Wall Street Journal has released information about where jobs would be created, as released in a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The [...]

John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch has resigned from his post at Bank of America, which overtook Merrill just three weeks ago, among allegations of extravagant personal expenses charged to the company.
It was recently reported that Thain spent at least $1.22 million to redecorate his office in 2008, while Merril Lynch was reeling [...]

Throughout the recent presidential campaign and in the lead-up to Barack Obama’s inauguration, we have seen the rapid growth and eventual ubiquity of Obama kitsch.
From buttons to bunting, parade signs to panties, you can get pretty much anything these days with Obama’s face on it.
Though the people manufacturing Obama goodies are obviously in it to [...]

Carlos Slim, one of the richest men in the world, will be investing $250 million dollars in the New York Times.
The Mexican billionaire is reportedly in discussions with the paper about the terms of a potential investment, The Wall Street Journal reports.
New York Times Co. reached a deal with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim to raise [...]

UPDATE (Friday 1/16 2:05 p.m.): The USPS has said it has “nothing to announce today“.
Rumors are flying about a “Big Announcement” from the United States Postal Service to be announced this Friday, January 16. On several blogs covering Postal Service issues, the topic is hot. Local postal workers near our offices know about the [...]

Keeping and organizing receipts is one of those things that every small business must do but doesn’t want to. But we tell ourselves that sitting down to scan receipts for hours on end or entering data into an endless spreadsheet is what we need to do in order to make taxes manageable. The IRS needs [...]

Shoeboxed’s receipt organizing service is featured in this month’s Inc. Magazine. Here is an excerpt of the article. Make sure to get a copy of the latest edition of Inc. for all the details:
You have better things to do on business trips than hoard and sort receipts. Several companies have recently launched tools that can [...]