Month: June 2020

Insurance Continuing Education Classes

Insurance is essential to cope with unexpected risks and misfortunes in life. There are very few resources to get monetary aids when in times of desperate need. Getting your life & health insured is beneficial not only for you but also safeguards your family when in need. This is just one of the kinds of sales pitch you may use to convince people to take up an insurance policy. However the above statements can be communicated by anyone who has no proper knowledge about the insurance cover, premiums, policies, regulations and laws that go with it and may only end up giving incorrect information if probed deeper into this subject. This is when Insurance professionals come into the foreground as they deal with every nuance of insurance and are extremely well equipped with the versatile insurance products available in the market today. The main objective of Illinois Insurance continuing education is to deliver exceptional skill and knowledge through online to all insurance professionals, agents, brokers as well as underwriters so that they may be competent to sell these products. Nowadays Illinois Insurance continuing education course is offered online where in the basic requirements are that you avail minimum of 30 hours of continuing education every 2 years. The Illinois Insurance Continuing Education also requires that you take up at least one mandatory insurance course which is for duration of 6 hours if you deal with long term care insurance in this state. However, this insurance CE requires that you complete your chosen optional courses as well as the mandatory one before the due date for your license renewal arrives.

Different states in the United States have different rules and regulations governing insurance continuing education requirements and courses. In Illinois, you are not allowed to take up the same course which you have done earlier in a span of three year period to ensure that you don’t get stuck dealing with just one core insurance product with nil or lack of adequate knowledge on the others. Illinois Insurance continuing education ensures that you emerge as a successful insurance professional with holistic perspective and knowledge on all the insurance products that are being offered in the industry. If you are initially dealing with Life Insurance, then it is recommended that you also learn to sell health and property insurance policies so that you can challenge yourself to perform better in all spheres, thereby increasing your avenues to generate maximum sales. Therefore insurance CE courses motivate and inspire you to handle different products to test your mettle and you may be surprised with yourself. There are hundreds of multinational insurance companies which are looking for competent and multi talented insurance sales force who are knowledgeable as well as skillful in selling the different products to various target segments be it corporate, individuals, business concerns or communities. Last but not the least, the Illinois insurance continuing education offers independent as well as classroom study courses and you can chose the medium that fits your budget best.

Should You Lecture Your Students?

When you hear the word lecture, what comes to mind? Do you envision an instructor standing in front of the class talking for hours about a subject hoping that they have something interesting to say, or do you picture an instructor who is engaging and has a dynamic presentation? From the instructor’s perspective, the class lecture is a required element of traditional classroom teaching. Within an online classroom, lectures take the form of informational messages, weekly summaries, and announcements. From the students’ perspective, a lecture can be nothing more than endless information that they may or may not process and they may or may not remember. If your goal is to dispense information then a stand and deliver presentation is all that you need. If your goal is to connect with students in a meaningful way and you want to inspire them to learn and connect with information, you need to consider techniques for engaging them with the material you are presenting.

Students have a great deal of information that they are processing at any given time in your class. When they walk into the classroom they do not automatically stop thinking about their day, responsibilities, or any other pressing demands. In addition, they have assignments to consider, course requirements to complete, and learning objectives to meet. When you first begin a lecture students will develop a perception about that presentation and either choose to listen or ignore what you have to say. It is important to begin that lecture with something engaging, whether it is a story, overview, or discussion about how this presentation is relevant to the class and the process of learning. Once you have students’ initial interest, then you must build from that in an interactive manner.

An effective method of creating a lecture that enhances the process of learning is to develop an outline. Start by considering the subject matter you want to work with and then divide those topics into sections that you can address throughout the allotted time. Next, consider learning activities that you can interject throughout the lecture. This may be a class discussion, a question-and-answer session, a presentation by a guest lecturer, a group activity, an individual activity, an assessment, or a presentation delivered by your students. The purpose of including learning activities is to draw students into the process of learning. It helps to connect their experience and knowledge to the subject matter and it further stimulates their interest.

Finally, the most important aspect of delivering a dynamic lecture is to consider how you communicate. You can choose to either talk at students or talk to them and engage their thinking, which will prompt cognitive development and critical analysis skills. You also want to avoid talking up or talking down to students which is another barrier to communication that can disengage students and prevent them from listening. Another important aspect of communication is your tone. If your voice sounds warm and inviting students will feel encouraged to listen and participate. The most important goal of delivering a class lecture is not to establish your authority, but rather to lead your students through the process of learning and encourage them to be active participants.

Key Facts About the First-Time Homebuyer Credit

Given the number of people who took advantage of the various incentives the Obama administration offered prospective homebuyers the past several years, the subject of how to go about claiming the first-time homebuyer credit is likely to be a popular one this tax season.

According to the IRS, taxpayers

“… may be able to take the first-time homebuyer credit if they purchased a home as a primary residence in 2008, 2009 or 2010. This credit reduces the tax bill or increases the refund depending on the tax owed. The IRS will refund the credit, even if taxpayer owes no tax or the credit is more than the tax owed.”

Moreover, taxpayers may be eligible to claim this credit even if they are not first-time homebuyers. In other words, long-time residents purchasing a new home may well quality for the first-time homebuyer credit too. These facts should be well known to tax professionals like certified public accounts and enrolled agents who cover are required to take continuing education tax courses on a regular basis. Subjects like the first-time homebuyer credit, and how to help taxpayers take advantage of this tax break, have become an integral part of tax continuing education.

Claiming the First-Time Homebuyer Credit: Key facts

Here are several facts the IRS wants CPAs, IRS enrolled agents and all other tax preparers to know when advising clients on the process of claiming the credit:

(1) Taxpayers must have bought – or executed a binding contract to buy – a main residence located in the U.S. on or before April 30, 2010. If the taxpayer entered into such a contract by April 30, 2010, they would need to have closed on the home on or before September 30, 2010.

(2) Eligibility for first-time homebuyer status requires that the taxpayer, not have owned another principal residence during the three years prior to the date of purchase.

(3) In a similar vein, to qualify as a long-time resident homebuyer the taxpayer must have lived in the same residence for 5 years during the 8-year period that ended on the date of the new home purchase.

(4) The maximum credit for a first-time homebuyer is $8,000. For married taxpayers filing separately, the amount of the credit is $4,000. The maximum credit for a long-time resident homebuyer is $6,500.

(5) Taxpayers are required to file a paper return and attach Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit, along with relevant documents to verify the electronically.

(6) New homebuyers are required to affix a copy of the settlement statement used during the purchase of the home. For buyers of a newly constructed home, the dated certificate of occupancy must be attached. Mobile home purchasers unable to retrieve the settlement statement should attach a copy of the sales contract.

(7) Long-time resident claiming the credit are encouraged by the IRS recommends to include documentation that covers the five-consecutive-year period (e.g., Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement or substitute mortgage interest statements, property tax records or homeowner’s insurance records)

(8) Members of the military and federal employees serving outside the U.S. are automatically granted one additional year to buy a principal residence in the U.S. and qualify for the credit.

Summary of the First-Time Homebuyer Credit by Year

Below is a summary of some of the key facts of the first-time homebuyer credit that pertain to the year in which the credit was claimed. The details are a standard part of most tax CPE courses on the subject of recent tax breaks under the Obama administration.

For 2008: up to $7,500, the credit is paid back over 15 years.

For Jan – Nov 2009: up to $8,000, the credit does not need to be paid back.

For Dec 2009 – April 2010: up to $8,000 for first-time buyers, the credit does not need to be paid back.

For Nov 7, 2009 – April 2010: up to $6,500 for “long-term residents” buying a new home, the credit does not need to be paid back.

Until April 30, 2011: homebuyer credit continues to be available for qualified members of the U.S. uniformed services.

IRS Circular 230 Disclosure

Pursuant to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service Circular 230, we inform you that, to the extent any advice relating to a Federal tax issue is contained in this communication, including in any attachments, it was not written or intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (a) avoiding any tax related penalties that may be imposed on you or any other person under the Internal Revenue Code, or (b) promoting, marketing or recommending to another person any transaction or matter addressed in this communication.