AMBIT NewsEdition 13 November 2009 |
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E-Commerce with the Alaska Business Portal |
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What can the Alaska Business Portal do for your business?
On the Internet, the most important ingredient for business success is being found. If customers never see your products, it doesn't matter what quality or how reasonably priced they are. Alaska businesses face a unique set of challenges; among them are the state's topography, population distribution and climate which tend to limit market exposure and increase costs. The Alaska Business Portal offers a solution for Alaskan businesses. It provides a way for your business to be seen not just in your local community or within the state, but to markets throughout the world. Even if you already have a web site, the Alaska Business Portal can provide tremendous benefit in two ways: First, a page on the portal provides you with another presence on the Internet as well as the ability to advertise and directly sell products to customers anywhere. Second, linking your existing web site to your AMBIT portal page can improve the visibility of your current site. The best part is the price. For new users, portal membership is free for the first nine months! Recognizing the challenges faced by Alaska businesses, we want to provide a way for businesses to achieve all the benefits of buying and selling online at a minimum cost. Even after the first nine months, the service is only $19.95 per month and is comparable to other services that charge $50 or more per month. This is in line with the program's goal of providing the best tools for Alaska businesses to succeed and grow while controlling costs to get the most value out of every dollar. AMEP staff can walk you through the set-up process, train you to make changes to your page and provide technical support. Give us a call at (907) 279-2637 or e-mail us at info@alaskamep.org. |
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We Want to Hear From You |
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AMBIT staff regularly gathers feedback from clients to improve services. we would love to hear from you about what types of impacts our services are having on your business and your community. Please call us at (907) 279-2637 with any comments or questions you have about the AMBIT program. |
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Alaska Manufacturing Business, Industry and Technology Program (AMBIT) |
Term of the Week |
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Cost of Credit The cost of credit is the amount of money required over the life of a loan to borrow money. For instance, if you took out a loan for $3,000 at a 12% interest rate for 3 years, you would pay $3,587.15 over the three year period. Since you borrowed $3,000, your cost of credit would be: $3,587.15 (pay back amount) - $3,000 (loan amount) = $587.15 (cost of credit) |
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Announcement |
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[The following is an excerpt from the IRS newsletter of 09/20/09. Issue Number: IR-2009-079] Most Businesses May Take Advantage Of Expanded Loss Carryback Option Under New IRS Procedure Most businesses may use losses incurred during the economic downturn to reduce income from prior tax years, under a revenue procedure issued today by the Internal Revenue Service. The relief provided under the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 differs from similar relief issued earlier this year in that the previous relief was limited to small businesses. The current relief is applicable to any taxpayer with business losses, except those that received payments under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The relief also applies to a loss from operations of a life insurance company. Taxpayers under the procedure may elect to carry back a new operating loss (NOL) for a period of three, four or five years, or a loss from operations for four or five years, to offset taxable income in those preceding taxable years. An NOL or loss from operations carried back five years may offset no more than 50 percent of a taxpayer's taxable income in that fifth preceding year. This limitation does not apply to the fourth or third preceding year. The procedure applies to taxpayers that incurred an NOL or a loss from operations for a taxable year ending after Dec. 31, 2007, and beginning before Jan. 1, 2010. Please check with your tax professional to see how this IRS notice pertains to your business. |
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AMBIT is an affiliate of the Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. (AMEP). AMEP is one of 59 centers located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. each center was created by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) to help stem the loss of American manufacturing jobs. Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. A public and private partnership funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, The Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. is committed to developing the state's economy through the provision of technical, business and economic training and assistance to Alaska's small manufacturers and to rural Alaskans producing, marketing, and distributing Native art and other home-based manufactured products. |
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Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. |
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