Merchants Are Running Out of Time to Prevent IRS Backup Withholding.

This is the time of year that credit card processors notify merchants for whom they do not have correct Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) on file. Should you receive such a notice it is vitally important to your business that you contact your processor immediately.

As I covered in this post last year, http://brswitzer.blogspot.com/2012/08/tax-identification-numbers-and-your.html, having an incorrect TIN on file with your processor results in backup withholding, whereby the processor withholds 28 percent of all your credit card volume by order of the IRS. Fixing the TIN after withholding starts doesn't help- it will not end until you file a tax return and the IRS determines you are eligible for a refund.

In September and October the IRS requires processors to send "B" notices to affected merchants listing the steps they need to take to update their account information. The "B" notice will include a Form W-9. The Processing company has just 30 days from when they are notified by the IRS to get a corrected W-9 back from the merchants, after which they are forced to start backup withholding.

You should always read any communication from your processing company, but it's especially important during these two months of the year. If you receive notice that your TIN is invalid or doesn't match what's on file with your processor, contact them and update your account immediately.

Enormous Double Billing Error Affects Companies Across US

First Data Corp., the back end platform for thousands of credit card processing companies, revealed today to it's processing partner companies that they duplicated the ACH payment for July processing fees on one of it's largest  platforms.

First Data is still reviewing to see how many merchants are affected, but the number could be in the hundreds of thousands. First Data is also explaining that the ACHs may not be for the same amount. For instance if a merchant owed $200 for their July processing the first ACH would be $200 and the second $203 or some other close but not exactly the same number.

The company hopes to have the reversal file built today. Once the file is built they expect to be able to deposit refunds within 24-48 hours.

Reportedly the company will be working with any merchants that incur NSF charges as a result of the incident. They will require documentation and ask that you contact your processing company if this has occurred.

The Ten Most Easily Stolen ATM Card PINs

Credit and debit card fraud affects millions of Americans every year.  Your first line of protection against fraud is your PIN, and depending on how much thought you put into your personalized number, you could be at greater risk than you realize.

A new study from DataGenetics says that card thieves are able to successfully guess more than 25 percent of stolen card PUN's within 20 attempts. The study lists the most used PIN's. And because they are the most commonly used PIN numbers, they are by default the least safe.

The 10 most used PINs:

  1.  1234

  2.  1111

  3.  0000

  4  1212

  5.  7777

  6.  1004

  7.  2000

  8.  4444

  9.  2222

10.  6969

By the way, the study said the least used PIN is 8068.