| Issue No. 239 Serving the Entire Business Community July 2004 | ||
VISIT OUR SPONSORS  |
Annual Chamber Picnic
What: The Florida Scramble Rent Marshall County's Historical BarnThe Shady Rest Barn is available for rent by the public. Last summer major preservation work was completed to restore the barns masonry foundation, barn doors, siding, interior hay chutes, window louvers, exterior paint, and roof. The cupola, shown in this picture, was designed by Kurt Garner, B.A. Martin Architects and is a historical replica of the original cupola shown in a 1898 sketch of the barn. Shady Rest is located at 10924 Lincoln Highway. The Shady Rest property was the original Marshall County Infirmary and the home and barn were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. As a former infirmary, this property and collection of buildings are unique. The basement level of the barn has intact calf stalls and cattle stanchions, along with the necessary harnessing equipment for a dairy operation. The main level has built-in wooden ladders, window louvers, and enclosed hay chutes. An article from the Marshall County Republican newspaper dated 1898 states, “The large barn is one of the best and most commodious in the county and with the smaller buildings adjoining, affords plenty of room for all stock, implements, grain and feed that may be accumulated on the place.” Bowen Center received a grant from the Indiana Department of Historical Preservation and Archeology to help complete the preservation work on the barn with the support and collaborative efforts of the Wythougan Valley Preservation Council and the Marshall County Historical Society. Bowen Center looks forward to sharing this grand, historical barn with the community. Surrounded by magnificent trees, spacious farm fields and ample grassy areas for outdoor party games, the Shady Rest Barn is ready to accommodate your next community event, business event, family get-together or other social function. Experience has shown that dinner parties with entertainment can be very successful at the barn. The Indiana Landmarks Foundation hosted a dinner party at the barn and last summer the Shady Rest Barn Warming dinner was a success as well. Each event held a catered dinner with live entertainment and over 100 people in attendance. The barn is equipped with electricity and lighting, and portable toilets. The historic ambience coupled with the majestic stature of the barn is unduplicated elsewhere. For more information regarding rental options for your next event, please contact Marsha at Bowen Center: 1-800-686-6847 x2954 or stop by the Chamber and pick up a brochure! We look forward to seeing you at the barn! ------------   Centier Bank209 E. Jefferson St., Plymouth; 574-936-3192; www.centier.com Centier Bank is pleased to announce the opening of its 33rd branch this August at 201 N. Michigan St. To provide immediate service to business clients, Centier has opened an interim loan office at 209 E. Jefferson Street. Representing Centier are Dennis Beville, VP of Business Banking, his assistant Donna Pontius, and the newly appointed Branch Manager Dee Brown. Founded in 1895, Centier Bank currently serves more than 20 Northwest Indiana communities. IUSB Off-Campus Programs9113 E. Washington St., Plymouth; 574-936-1954; www.iusb.edu/~ocp/ The IU Alumni Club of Marshall County is sponsoring a half price alumni club membership day at the Marshall County Fair on Tuesday, July 20 from 2-9 PM. On that day IU alumni attending the fair can join the IU Alumni Association for half the regular membership price. Single one year membership will be available for $20 and joint membership for $25. Stop by the IUSB Off-Campus Programs booth to join or renew your membership and enjoy the benefits of being a member of one of the largest alumni associations in the country. Membership in the IU Alumni Association includes membership in your school/campus alumni association and local area alumni club, and is open to all alumni and friends of IU. Take the first steps toward earning an Indiana University degree. Attend Indiana University South Bend's OnSite Admissions on Tuesday, July 27 from 5:00 to 6:30 PM at IUSB's Plymouth Office, 113 East Washington St. Admission counselors will be there to review transcripts and admit prospective students. For more information regarding application fees, admission criteria and required documents, call the Office of Admissions at 1-877-462-4872 ext. 4839. Placement testing is now available in Plymouth for incoming students. Exams will be given for reading, mathematics and English. Tests will be administered on Saturday, August 7. Testing will take place at the Old Plymouth Fire Station located at 220 N. Center St. Testing begins at 8:30 AM. For more information, call IUSB Off-Campus Programs at 574-936-1954 or 1-800-321-7834. A Letter from Jackie Wright, Executive DirectorMarshall County Council on Aging, Inc. Older Adult Services Dear Chamber Members: We have a home...Our journey is over! 1305 W. Harrison is the new resting (much needed) place for Marshall County Council On Aging. Our offices now reside at the new Life Enrichment Center. The agency of Marshall County Council On Aging has officially added to its family. We now offer out of town transportation, Rock City Rider, Plymouth and county wide transportation, Meals on Wheels Plymouth, Culver, Bourbon and Argos, I & R services, Tax services, Medicare service, lawn service and now an educational, social and recreational program housed at the beautiful Life Enrichment Center. If it is true it takes a village to raise a child, it took an entire county to get this Center. It took crossing all lines, county and city, new and old, Republican & Democrat, as well as competing with hundreds of other like communities. It took 15 plus year but every past Board member, all staff, clients, student, teacher, Mayor, City and County Council members have a right to be proud of what they have accomplished. This Center is truly the act of a village! Thanks for the opportunity and possibilities yet to be accomplished. Sincerely, Jackie Editor's note: see insert… we have a great opportunity to see the new facility and give our congratulations to Jackie and her staff at the Chamber Members Business After Hours this July 21st. Thieling Co., LLC1416 W. Jefferson St., Plymouth; 574-936-4054; www.thielingcpa.com From the desk of Amy Thieling HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS For the past several years, we have been advocating the use of Archer Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) when they fit the individual's and/or company's circumstances. While MSAs are no longer available, they have been replaced by a significantly improved alternative. Starting in 2004, eligible individuals can use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to cut their federal income tax bills. Better yet, HSAs are available to high-earners and low-earners alike. There is no phase out rules to rob more prosperous individuals of the tax-saving benefits. Basic Rules HSAs operate somewhat like the Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) that some employers currently offer to their employees who want to defer part of their own money into an account on a pretax basis to be used later to reimburse themselves for out-of-pocket medical expenses. These funds may then be withdrawn tax-free to reimburse the account beneficiary for out-of-pocket medical expenses. Unlike an FSA, however, whatever's left in the HSA at year-end can be carried over to the next year. In addition, HSAs can be set up by the self-employed or even a nonworking spouse. Naturally, since we're talking about the tax law, there are a few catches with the new HSAs. The most significant requirement is that HSAs are only available to individuals who only carry health insurance coverage with relatively high annual deductibles. By that, we mean their health insurance coverage must come with at least a $1,000 deductible for single coverage or $2,000 for family coverage. However, for many self-employed individuals, small business owners, and employees of smaller companies, these thresholds won't be a problem. In addition, it's okay if the insurance plan doesn't impose any deductible for preventive care (such as annual checkups). The other requirements for setting up an HSA are that an individual can't be eligible for Medicare benefits or claimed as a dependent on another person's tax return. For individuals who can meet these requirements, they can make tax deductible HSA contributions for 2004 that are limited to the lesser of: 1. Their insurance plan's deductible amount (which must be $1,000 or more for self-only coverage or $2,000 or more for family coverage), or 2. $2,600 for single coverage or $5,150 for family coverage. For 2005 and beyond, all the above figures will be adjusted for inflation. An account beneficiary, who is 55 or older by the end of the tax year for which the HSA contribution is made, is allowed to make a larger deductible contribution. Specifically, the annual contribution limit that would otherwise apply is increased by $500 for 2004 and $600 for 2005. When an employee, self-employed, or even unemployed person sets up the HSA, the deduction for contributions to the account is claimed in arriving at adjusted gross income (the number at the bottom of page one on your return). Thus, eligible individuals can benefit whether they itemize or not. Unfortunately, however, the deduction doesn't reduce a self-employed person's self-employment tax bill. When an employer contributes to an employee's HSA, which will most likely be rare except in the case of a closely held business, the contributions are exempt from federal income, Social Security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes. One potential trap with employer contributions is that employer may face a 35% excise tax if comparable contributions are not made for all employees who have comparable coverage during the same period. For this purpose, a comparable contribution means the same amount or the same percentage of the health insurance deductible. The comparability rule is applied separately to part-time employees who customarily work fewer than 30 hours per week. Section 125 cafeteria (cash or benefit) plans are allowed to offer salary-reduction HSA contributions for eligible employees as part of the menu of plan choices. Thus, employers can sponsor the HSAs, but require employees to use their own (pretax) money to fund them. Setting up an HSA An HSA can be set up at a bank, insurance company, or any other outfit the IRS deems suitable (such as a brokerage firm). The HSA must be established exclusively for the purpose of paying the account beneficiary's qualified medical expenses. These include uninsured medical costs incurred for the account beneficiary, spouse, and dependents. However, for HSA purposes, health insurance premiums don't count as qualified medical costs-neither do higher deductibles and higher out-of-pocket maximums for out-of-network benefits. The tax rules for HSAs are quite similar to IRAs. For example, individuals can make HSA contributions for a particular tax year as late as April 15th of the following year. In addition, federal-income-tax-free rollovers from one HSA into another are permitted (limited to one such rollover per 12-month period). Conclusion HSAs seem like a match made in heaven for those individuals currently paying health care costs out of their own pocket using after-tax dollars. Provided these individuals have (or are willing to change to) health insurance coverage that qualifies as a high-deductible policy, there really doesn't seem to be a downside to setting up an HSA because any unexpended amounts at year-end will carryover to later years. Setting up an HSA should allow such an individual to pay their medical expenses with pretax dollars. For example, for someone in the 28% tax bracket, this is like getting a 28% discount on their medical expenses since Uncle Sam will pick up the rest of the costs in tax savings. For individuals who own their business and are covered by health insurance through their company, having their company fund their HSAs can make sense. (However, remember, this isn't always true because of the nondiscrimination rules discussed earlier that require you to cover other similarly situated employees.) This is just a quick overview of the HSA rules. If you'd like to know more about whether HSAs are right for you, please feel free to call us. ------------ New Members
------------ July 2004 ------------ July Inserts
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