What records are we required to save and what can we throw out? CenPOS saves receipts with instant retrieval for 7 years.

How are you retaining records now and how easy would it be to retrieve specific data? Below we examine the records related to business income and how CenPOS can help you meet these requirements. There is no definitive answer for records retention from taxing and legal authorities, only general guidance and some rules.

The following information is to provide some general guidance and to help you with a dialog with your professionals, who can address specific requirements. In addition to IRS rules and requirements, some of the recommendations may apply to state and/or other federal regulatory rules (such as the Department of Labor, etc). Certain professions have specific rules dictated by their licensing bodies. For instance, in Florida, medical records must be kept five years from the last contact with the patient.

The Internal Revenue Service has stated:

“Records such as receipts, cancelled checks, and other documents that support an item of income or a deduction appearing on your tax return should be kept until the statute of limitations expires for that return. Usually this is three years from the date the return was due or filed, or two years from the date the tax was paid, whichever is later. There is no statute of limitations when a return is false or fraudulent or when no return is filed.

The following is a non-IRS list of recommendations for income records retention:

Accounts receivable ledgers and schedules – 7 years

Bank statements and reconciliations – 7 years

Cash register tapes – 7 years

Sales tax returns – 7 years

CenPOS provides 7 years record retention regardless of the payment input location. Additionally, you can pull receipts, including signed receipts, on demand at no additional cost. Export all data as a CSV file.  Whether your customer pays in person, online, or over the phone, CenPOS is the hub for all electronic payments. If you are subject to an audit and need a large number of records, you can contact our support team for large retrieval alternative options.

Retrieve and reprint receipts for 7 years with any custom date selection. Over 20 standard fields, plus custom fields are stored.

About CenPOS : “Creating efficiencies through payment innovation”

Founded in 2009, Miami-based CenPOS is a payment technology provider committed to providing its customers and partners with innovative solutions for today’s rapidly evolving consumer payment choices. CenPOS is an intelligent payment-processing network that streamlines the payment experience for businesses and consumers by using state-of-the-art technology to replace inefficient, outdated payment systems.

CenPOS Global sales: Christine Speedy direct (954)942-0483, HQ toll free: (877) 630-7960.

Partnering with leading technology integrators, 3D Merchant Services is expanding attorneys’ billable hour accuracy while at the same time reducing administrative time, and increasing cash flow. Increase billing accuracy with automated logging of all calls, whether in the office, or on your cell phone. Then empower customers to pay their bills securely online, and optionally send them electronic bills (EBPP)

Small law firms with 1-5 attorneys especially need tools to reduce administrative time in order to maximize profits. For small firms, an accurate cell phone call logging solution may have the biggest impact to accurately capture billable hours, and immediately assign it to a client and matter code.  Larger firms probably already have a phone log billing system, but if not, then combining the desktop time log, with PBX call logger and mobile phone logger closes the loop for all time tracking. Add the CenPOS payment processing solution, and you can bill more accurately and collect monies due in a secure and cost effective manner.

As previously reported, attorneys can accurately log billable time with a new innovative mobile time tracker. A key feature is the pop-up on incoming calls; when you hang up, you can immediately assign the call to a client, assign pre-defined matter codes and even enter notes. The length of call is prefilled for you.  Data is all accessible back in the office via a web based dashboard for later modification and export into your accounting software.

Expense record on mobile device. Assign and submit billable/ reimbursable expenses on the go.

Our innovative payment gateway works with your existing payment processors, creating numerous efficiencies, increasing cash flow,  reducing the cost of payment acceptance, and improving transparency.

• Partners access real-time revenue.
• Generate reports and automatically distribute via email.
• Automatically send invoices and reminders to clients, with simple click to pay online.
• Empower clients to pay any invoice online- self pay saves your staff time and reduces risk.
• Accept payments and retainers in person with signature capture on mobile devices.
• Finance staff will have tools to automate processes and control payment processing costs.
• The most flexible, scalable payment solution available today.

Payment Modules include: virtual terminal, batch upload, Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP), Dashboard Reporting, report writer, shopping cart and pay page.

Legal Payment Brochure (pdf Download) . This one page document will be updated in the future.
CenPOS clients include those listed in the 2011 U.S. News – Best Lawyers ‘Best Law Firm’ Rankings. Contact us now to find out why they chose our technology.

See also Legal billing and payment technology increases cash flow.

About CenPOS  http://www.cenpos.com/  “Creating efficiencies through payment innovation”

Founded in 2009, Miami-based CenPOS is a payment technology provider. CenPOS is an intelligent payment-processing network that streamlines the payment experience for businesses and consumers by using state-of-the-art technology to replace inefficient, outdated payment systems. The network reflects the core values that drive the experienced and innovative CenPOS team: Simplicity, Scalability, Security and a holistic approach to payment processing strategies.

About 3DMerchant.com

3DMerchant.com is a marketing and educational web site created by CenPOS agent Christine Speedy to share CenPOS success stories, applications, relevant merchant services news, and generate new business leads from readers like you.

Click here to request sales or information about any subject posted on 3DMerchant.com.

CenPOS Will Conduct Live Demos of their Payment Solutions Platform at NADA 2012 in Las Vegas

CenPOS, a payment processing technology provider will be conducting live demonstrations of their CenPOS Payment Solutions Platform at the 2012 NADA Convention to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada February 3-6th. The demos will take place at the company’s booth (#2890) twice daily at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

CenPOS provides innovative payment solutions to dealerships, whether a single dealership or a large multi-brand, multi-location dealership group. CenPOS has created a dynamic payment processing solution to meet the unique challenges of a dealership’s payment ecosystem.
Dealership groups have problems creating payment uniformity throughout their group due to inefficient, and often times costly legacy payment systems. CenPOS solves this by creating standardization across the group and eliminating inefficiencies.

“We encourage members of the trade media and dealership managers to stop by the booth and let our representatives show you what the CenPOS intelligent platform can do for your dealership,” said Jorge Fernandez, President & CEO, CenPOS.

The CenPOS intelligent payment network provides essential solutions for every department in the dealership:

Auto Parts

CenPOS Mobile Solution: Empower drivers on the road with smartphones to collect payments with signatures. Because CenPOS is an intelligent platform, anyone can accept payments without worry of errors. ( They do need to enter the correct sale amount!) The CenPOS mobile platform lowers costs associated with risk, exposure to chargebacks, and converts historically manually entered transactions into card present swiped transactions.
Tokenize payment information for repeat customers: Creates and electronically stores credit authorization forms. Mitigates PCI burden of storing traditional paper authorization forms, which contain sensitive cardholder data that is typically not stored properly.
Real-time AVS: Prevent fraud through the use of real-time AVS to reject transactions based on merchant specific risk parameters.

Auto Service

Increased pin-based debit conversion: Limits the dealership’s exposure to chargebacks, so customers cannot charge back on the basis of “services not rendered” or “not to satisfaction”. There is a 14 day window for customer disputes with pin debit vs 180 days for signature debit.

CenPOS Mobile Solution: Allows Service Advisors to be more hands-on with customers, handle the payment transaction and reduce the need for cashiers.
Interchange optimization: Properly qualify business, corporate and purchasing cards which can make up a bulk of service transactions. CenPOS can provide a savings of 60-95 basis points depending on card type.

Auto Sales / Finance

Collect quality data: CenPOS captures customer data at the point of sale that salespeople typically do not document, thus ensuring compliance and quality data collection.
Streamline and simplify check acceptance process: CenPOS dynamically routes check transactions to the appropriate vendor depending on routing rules determined by the dealership. Reduce the risk of losing a claim on a guaranteed check by ensuring the cashier provides all of the information specified by the provider.

About CenPOS

http://www.cenpos.com/

“Creating efficiencies through payment innovation”

Founded in 2009, Miami-based CenPOS is a payment technology provider. CenPOS is committed to providing its customers and partners with innovative solutions for today’s rapidly evolving consumer payment choices.

CenPOS is an intelligent payment-processing network that streamlines the payment experience for businesses and consumers by using state-of-the-art technology to replace inefficient, outdated payment systems. The network reflects the core values that drive the experienced and innovative CenPOS team: Simplicity, Scalability, Security and a holistic approach to payment processing strategies.

CenPOS provides solutions to a range of organizations including but not limited to retail, card not present merchants, automotive dealers, professional services and academic institutions; special programs are also available for non-profits. Call us: (305) 630-7960, or toll free: (877) 630-7960.

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CenPOS Automotive sales: Christine Speedy direct (954)942-0483. Christine brought in the first CenPOS automotive client after the official launch, Rick Case Automotive Group, and continues to lead the company globally as  a top producer.

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I previously addressed salon solutions with multimerchant terminals. Is that still the best choice today? Let’s explore the pros and cons of various merchant account options for the salon environment, where most workers are independent contractors renting a chair or a ‘booth’.

Under new IRS reporting requirements, credit card receipts are now reported to the IRS by the credit card processor on schedule 1099k. * This indicates gross proceeds so your tax returns will need to match accordingly or it will result in an audit. This can also result in fines from the IRS over whether the other stylists are employees of the salon or independent contractors. Separate merchant accounts may help prove there are no employee relationships.

Credit card processing options:

1. Single terminal, one merchant account:

• PRO: Contractors can easily be commissioned on product sales since everything is tracked
• PRO: Salon owner always gets their rent on time since disbursements are net
• CON: software is typically required to track sales to an contractor
• CON: Contractors must wait to get paid
• CON: Contractor may not have transparent reports, thus leads to discontent and higher turnover.
• CON: See IRS reporting requirements

2. Single terminal, one merchant account, with CenPOS:

• PRO: Easily track sales by contractor; optionally assign sales to type, including service, product, tip
• PRO: Automatically qualifies transactions for lowest cost, reducing processing fees
• PRO: Add/remove users and contractors on demand
• PRO: contractors can see their sales and estimated proceeds remotely any time
• PRO: 7 years records stored
• PRO: ensures the operation PCI Compliant
• CON: See IRS reporting requirements
• CON: Contractors must wait to get paid

3. Contractors bring their own terminal:

• PRO: Contractors get their money sooner- may reduce churn.
• PRO: Simplified bookkeeping
• CON: How many phone lines will be needed?
• CON: Potential rent collection issues
• CON: Contractors not likely to push high profit product sales without commissions, which cannot be integrated. Customers will have 2 charges if they want to buy products.
• CON: If a contractor has a terminal that is not PCI Compliant, or there is a data breach, can the owner be held liable?
• CON: Space – a wall of terminals takes up space you may not have

4. Multi-merchant Terminal:

• PRO: A multimerchant terminal eliminates need for contractors to invest in hardware.
• PRO: Contractors get their money sooner- may reduce churn.
• PRO: Simplified bookkeeping
• PRO: Owner is in control of hardware PCI Compliance
• CON: How many phone lines will be needed?
• CON: Potential rent collection issues
• CON: Everytime a contractor leaves or comes on board, new programming has to be downloaded
• CON: the terminals start at $499 and new regulations may require future replacement to support NFC

5. CenPOS with multi-merchant:  (signature capture terminal or card reader plus a receipt printer.

• PRO: eliminates need for contractors to invest in hardware.
• PRO: It’s host based so owners and contractors never have to download terminal updates.
• PRO: Contractors get their money sooner- may reduce churn.
• PRO: Simplified bookkeeping;
• PRO: PCI DSS (data security) Compliance for all contractors mitigates risks
• PRO: Mitigate risk of IRS issues
• CON: Unless their next salon has CenPOS, the contractor will have to either buy equipment or sign up for a CenPOS account, an additional monthly fee to bear.
• CON: Each contractor will have a login. Reception can login all users at the start of day, but to switch between accounts, the password will need to be re-entered.

BEAUTY SALON MERCHANT RECOMMENDATION:

The salon must take into account several factors including turnover and overall sales volume to make the best choice. My recommendation is #5, CenPOS with multi-merchant. The overall benefits for the salon owner and the contractors far outweigh any potential annoyance on the  switching.

• Owner can remotely view via web overall sales for the entire operation, including all contractors.
• A sales incentive program can be implemented for products by using a drop down menu to enter sales into ‘buckets’ for tracking.
• No extra phone lines needed, just one high speed internet line.

• 

PIN DEBIT COMMENT:

Pin debit requires an encryption key unique to each processor. Since not all merchants are likely to use the same processor, pin debit should not be used for multi-merchant. The main impact is risk from customer disputes is 120 days vs 14 days. This may not be an issue in the salon environment. Under 2011 law, regulated debit fees are now the same for both pin and swipe so this is no longer an issue.

PRODUCT SALES COMMENT:

Regardless of how you choose to sell products, you’ll want to provide some incentive to involve contractors. The receptionist can be key, but when a stylist tells their customer to buy a product, it carries a lot more weight. A program can be as simple as a chart with each stylists name and then add a check or sticker for each time their customers bought something. The person with the most stickers gets a $100 gift card.

Other articles you might like:

IRS Link  Cash Intensive Businesses Audit Techniques Guide – Chapter 10, Beauty Salon Defined
Salon merchant account solutions SPECIAL DEAL (older)

Here’s a sneak preview of two innovations that will improve your EBITDA in 2012 with very little effort by your legal staff. The first improves billable time data capture and the second enhances payment acceptance with a flexible PCI Compliant solution, while mitigating risk.

Capture more billable time with a new innovative mobile time tracker that enables you to capture and assign billable time by matter code and client. A key feature is the pop-up on incoming calls; when you hang up, you can immediately assign the call to a client for billing and even enter notes. The length of call is prefilled for you. This data is all accessible back in the office via a web based dashboard.

Expense record on mobile device. Assign and submit billable/ reimbursable expenses on the go.

Our  innovative payment gateway works with your existing payment processors, creating numerous efficiencies, increasing cash flow, and reducing the cost of payment acceptance. Partners will have unprecedented access to client billing and payment data based on permissions granted. Clients will have new ways to receive invoices and make payments. Finance staff will have tools to automate processes and control payment processing costs. You’re in control of the most flexible, scalable payment solution available today.

We’ve been too busy bringing clients on board to create comprehensive marketing materials; technology is ready for immediate implementation. Payment Modules include: virtual terminal, batch upload, Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP), Dashboard Reporting, report writer, shopping cart and pay page.

Legal Payment Brochure (pdf Download) . This one page document will be updated in the future.

Join clients listed in the 2011 U.S. News – Best Lawyers ‘Best Law Firm’ Rankings. Contact us now to find out why they chose our technology.

CenPOS, a fast-growing digital payment processing technology provider, has received certified status with T Tech, First Data Merchant Services and Vantiv. These industry certifications allow CenPOS to provide a robust array of payment solutions the company offers its clients.

Miami, FL (PRWEB) January 02, 2012

CenPOS, a fast-growing digital payment processing technology provider, has recently received certified status with T Tech and First Data Merchant Services; CenPOS recently received certification from Vantiv. These latest industry certifications place CenPOS in the technological forefront of the ever-changing payment process ecosystem and provide a robust array of payment solutions the company offers its clients.

T Tech Certification
T TECH offers a full suite of electronic check processing, check guarantee and ACH services allowing clients to streamline their processes and maximize their resources. As a result of the T TECH certification, CenPOS that will now be able to support both Check 21 and ACH transactions.

First Data Merchant Services Certification
First Data Merchant Services (FDMS) Certification to allows CenPOS the ability to support additional transactional sets. CenPOS is now able, through this certification to FDMS’ Nashville platform, to complete partial authorizations on prepaid cards, full authorization reversals on both debit and credit, and complete debit returns.

In April 2010, the Card Association mandated that acquirers must process partial authorizations and real- time reversals. Partial authorizations allow consumers with prepaid cards to zero out the balance on their cards. Real-time reversals require that merchants close out any pending authorization within a specific amount of time depending how the transaction was conducted.

About CenPOS
http://www.cenpos.com/
“Creating efficiencies through payment innovation”

Founded in 2009, Miami-based CenPOS is a payment technology provider. CenPOS is committed to providing its customers and partners with innovative solutions for today’s rapidly evolving consumer payment choices.

CenPOS is an intelligent payment-processing network that streamlines the payment experience for businesses and consumers by using state-of-the-art technology to replace inefficient, outdated payment systems. The network reflects the core values that drive the experienced and innovative CenPOS team: Simplicity, Scalability, Security and a holistic approach to payment processing strategies.

CenPOS provides solutions to a range of organizations including but not limited to retail, card not present merchants, automotive dealers, professional services and academic institutions; special programs are also available for non-profits. Call us: (305) 630-7960, or toll free: (877) 630-7960.

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EDITORS NOTE:

  Call 954-942-0483 to reach Christine Speedy, CenPOS Global Sales

More CenPOS resources:

Youtube.com/3dmerchant
3Dmerchant.com/blog/category/cenpos/
CenPOS.com

1. How will your virtual terminal help my business manage credit card processing fees?
2. How long is transaction data stored for?
3. Can I perform a zero dollar authorization to see if card is good and then bill my client later?
4. If I want to also accept payments with a card reader, including on a cell phone, will I get retail interchange rates?
5. What happens if a card on file is expiring?
6. Do you accept credit and debit cards and checks?
7. If I change vendors, can I extract stored payment data?
8. Can I block prepaid debit cards?
9. Can I store both credit/debit and check data, for variable amount recurring billing?
10. How will you protect my company from internal fraud?

Our own answers using the CenPOS Virtual Terminal:

1. CenPOS helps your business manage credit card processing fees with proprietary patent pending least cost routing and interchange optimization technology. The CenPOS VT isn’t just a web page with fields to fill in. It’s the hub for all payment entry points whether mobile, retail, ecommerce, or web. It’s an intelligent switch that makes decisions on the fly for you, removing people, software, and hardware limitations and errors from affecting your payment processing costs. Other virtual terminals have fixed fields to fill in. CenPOS data fields appear and disappear based on many factors, including how the payment information is being received, and  fraud control settings you manage.
2. All data is store for 7 years.
3. Yes, CenPOS supports zero dollar authorization; check with your processor to make sure they support it.
4. Yes, CenPOS proprietary switching technology automatically presents the correct data required to qualify for the best card not present or retail interchange rates. Additionally, this switching mitigates dispute risk by collecting and storing signatures, if required. If you offer pin debit, CenPOS will automatically prompt the consumer for their pin number, converting 76% vs national average under 25% in 2010. ALERT: if your business is mostly card not present, and you add a phone with credit card reader, for most virtual terminal solutions, you’ll have the signature as a benefit for sale, but unless you get a separate retail merchant account, you’ll still pay MOTO rates (card not present), which can cost 1% more.
5. CenPOS will automatically notify customers with an email address on file beginning 60 days prior to expiration. Merchants can also see a list of expirations, dynamically sort/search them, and even export them if desired.
6. Yes, CenPOS supports almost any payment method. CenPOS is future proof and will support all new payment types. Updates are virtually every month with no disruption to merchants or added costs.
7. No, you cannot extract stored payment card information. CenPOS is a PCI Compliant solution that uses both encryption and tokenization for maximum protection. If you can extract it, can the data really be that safe?
8. Yes. Membership, installment, and recurring billing merchants usually need this feature.
9. Yes. You can even print out a form with the merchant token ID and the last 4 digits that the customer can sign- replaces faxed forms with exposed card data.
10. There are numerous ways CenPOS protects merchants from internal fraud, a rising crime problem that often goes unnoticed for years, especially when a trusted, high-level employee is involved. In addition to micromanaging user permissions, and what types of transactions are even allowed, merchants can create real-time automated alerts. Additionally, the report writer provides endless opportunities for multiple executive staff member notifications of any payment aspectyou wish to track. For example, a daily email with all refunds, with credits without offsetting debits, with daily sales, with all refunds over a certain dollar amount, or with all refunds by specific employee.  By controlling access permissions, and how data is delivered, you can eliminate number fudging by a crafty employee.

    

From the Retail Payments Risk Forum December 5, 2011, The future of mobile payments is explored. Although mobile payments have been much slower to develop in the United States than many industry observers had predicted, there have been a number of encouraging recent developments. Starbucks, for example, has processed more than 20 million mobile payments since launching its app, and the Chicago Transit Authority’s new fare collection system will be able to accept mobile payments starting in 2013. Still, despite these small successes, the United States has not seen the mobile phone really take off as a vehicle for point-of-sale payments.

The Retail Payments Risk Forum recently interviewed David Evans, a payments industry consultant and the founder of Market Platform Dynamics, in a podcast exploring some of the challenges facing widespread mobile payments adoption. Evans maintained that a couple of obstacles have kept mobile payments from taking off in the United States. “Barrier number one is that there is not a very persuasive mobile payments alternative for consumers to use at the point of sale, and the second is that there’s really not the technology at the point of sale capable of processing a mobile payments-type transaction.”

In addition to these barriers, he said, is the simple fact that most consumers are satisfied with the way things are. Evans explained, “I can pull out a credit or a debit card at the point of sale, I can swipe it, and it works beautifully. Takes about a second. No fuss, no muss—the clerk knows what to do. The technology is all there. So we have this wonderful system that works really well right now that’s extremely efficient.” To change the status quo, a compelling value proposition must emerge for all parties. “Someone’s going to have to come up with a really great alternative that adds value to the merchant and adds value to the consumers to make both of them want to do something different than [what] they are currently doing,” said Evans.

Regarding the prospects for mobile payments outside the United States, Evans said, “I think that where we are going to see mobile payments take off around the world is primarily in countries that do not already have a very well-developed payment card industry with acceptance at the point of sale and that have very well-developed mobile phone systems.”

The role of different types of market players has been a major source of debate among those forecasting mobile payments. Many disagree how the mobile carriers, such as Verizon and AT&T, will fit into the new landscape. Evans predicted that “the likely role of the carriers in payments is basically being a pipe.” He stressed that mobile carriers do not have the expertise to operate mobile payments and are more likely to become pipes for others who will develop mobile payments alternatives.

When asked about his predictions about the type of technology that will ultimately support mobile payments, Evans said that it was still too early to know. However, he did say that “it’s really the solution that is going to drive the adoption of a particular acceptance technology at the point of sale, rather than the acceptance technology driving the solution.” There are clearly still a lot of unknowns with regards to mobile payments, and Evans wisely concluded that “we should talk about this in 10 years when we may actually know the answer!”

By Jennifer C. Windh, a payments risk analyst in the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed