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@065 CHAP 10
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│USEFUL TELEPHONE HELP LINES AND INTERNET SITES:│
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
TELEPHONE HOTLINES. The SBA and several other government
agencies maintain toll-free telephone "hotline" information
services to assist businesses and taxpayers. Some of the
more important ones to know about are the following:
. SBA Answer Desk: 1-800/827-5722 (or 1-800-UASK-SBA)
This is the toll-free number of a new small business
information and referral service offered by the SBA,
which you can call from anywhere in the continental
United States, except Washington, D.C. In the
District of Columbia, call 653-7561.
This answer desk is a system providing voice mail
messages on a wide variety of small business subjects.
. SBA On-Line: The SBA has set up its first electronic
bulletin board system, called SBA On-Line, to help
distribute information about its services and
publications. There is no charge for this service.
You can browse through various files remotely or
download them, for free, to your computer. Even the
phone lines for this BBS are toll-free. To log on,
dial:
- 1-800-697-INFO
. Small Business Hotline: 1-800/424-5201
This toll-free line is a specialized free service
offered by the Export-Import Bank to small exporters
needing general information or problem-solving
assistance relating to doing business abroad. It
provides information on export credit and on assistance
available from other government agencies and the
private sector.
. Immigration and Naturalization Service: 1-800-755-0777
This toll-free line is for information about your
responsibilities as an employer under U.S immigration
laws and regulations.
. U.S. Department of Justice: (800) 255-8155
Call this hotline to hear prerecorded and taped message
regarding the type of documents you can request from a
new employee to establish identity and work eligibility
under the U.S. immigration laws.
. Interagency Trade Information Center: 1-800/USA-TRADE
(For general information on exporting, provided by
various U.S. government agencies.)
NOTE: For information on taxes and other aspects of
doing business in various foreign countries, the
accounting firm of Ernst & Young publishes a series
of booklets for each of a large number of countries.
To obtain one of these country guides, call or write
the Ernst & Young office near you. (Ernst & Young
offices are located in most major cities and in
almost every state.)
. EPA Small Business Ombudsman: 1-800/368-5888 (or, if
busy, try 1-703/305-5938)
Like certain Scandinavian countries, the Environmental
Protection Agency now has a "Small Business Ombudsman"
to give you easier access to the EPA, help you comply
with EPA regulations, and make sure you are fairly
treated in any disputes with the EPA.
. Internal Revenue Service National Toll-Free Line:
1-800/TAX-FORM
Use this number (1-800/829-3676) to obtain IRS tax
forms, publications, etc. The IRS also puts on free
small business workshops nationwide. To call for a
reservation, use the IRS national toll-free number.
. Americans with Disabilities Act information: For
information on ADA, call the U.S. Justice Department's
information line: 1-202/514-0301
. Social Security Administration: 1-800/772-1213
If you want to find out what records the Social
Security Administration (SSA) has of your earnings
and your projected benefits at retirement age, you
can file a simple form requesting a detailed printout
of this information (and hopefully find they haven't
lost your files). This is something everyone should
do once every few years, since, if the SSA has made
a serious mistake in your earnings record, you have
only a limited number of years in which you can
contact them and have your record corrected.
To obtain the request form, call the above toll-free
number. Or, if you prefer, you can write the SSA for
this form at:
Consumer Information Center
Department 72
Pueblo, Colorado 81009
@CODE: CA
. California Franchise Tax Board Information Center
Phone Numbers:
In California, call (toll-free):
. From Area Codes 209, 408, 415, 707, and 916:
1-800/852-7050
. From elsewhere: 1-800/852-5711
From outside of California call: 1-800/852-5711
. California State Board of Equalization general
information number: 1-800/400-7115
@CODE:OF
@CODE: HI
. Hawaii Business Action Center (One-stop center for
all state permits at 1130 N. Nimitz Hwy., Suite
A-254, in Honolulu)
From Oahu, call: 1-808/586-2545
Neighbor Islands Toll Free Number: 1-800/225-6723
. Hawaii Small Business Information Service
(Honolulu): 1-808/586-2600
Neighbor Islands Toll Free Number: 1-800/541-3289
@CODE:OF
@CODE: WS
. Wisconsin has announced an automated forms and
documents retrieval system, "Fax-a-form," available for
use by anyone with a fax machine. The system provides
access to a telephone menu that allows you to select
Wisconsin tax forms and publications and have them
faxed back to you, and is available 24 hours every day.
The telephone number for Fax-a-form is (608) 261-6229.
@CODE:OF
HELPFUL INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB SITES (MODEM AND
INTERNET ACCESS REQUIRED):
Many businesses, government and nonprofit organizations have
set up home pages (or "storefronts") on the World Wide Web
of the Internet, where you can browse through or download
information, view videos and catalogues, and place orders
for merchandise, in some cases. Some of the more useful
sites for small businesses include the ones listed below.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:
. FED WORLD -- This is the central clearing site for
Internet sites that are related to the federal
government. It's a good place to start to locate and
review available information for a wide array of
federal agencies and departments. Its Web address is:
http://www.fedworld.gov
. SBA ONLINE -- The Small Business Administration has
a Web site, providing tips for starting, financing,
and expanding a small business, at the following
Web address: http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov
It includes links to other Web sites, including a
nifty new "U.S. Business Advisor" site that includes
information on almost every subject for anyone who
has dealings with the government. The Web address
of the U.S. Business Advisor site is:
http://www.business.gov
. IRS -- Even the Internal Revenue Service now has a
Web site from which you can download tax forms and
instructions and obtain other tax information. You
can download forms and other items to your computer
and print them out later. The IRS Web address is:
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/
. EDGAR -- The SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission) Web site contains corporate filings that
have been submitted to the SEC under the securities
laws, including 10K's, 10Q's and other forms. EDGAR's
address is: http://www.town.hall.org/edgar/edgar.html
. THE WHITE HOUSE -- The Clinton Administration has set
up this popular Internet site, which offers information
on many areas of the executive branch of the federal
government, among other things. The address on the
Web is: http://www.whitehouse.gov
. THOMAS -- Not to be outdone by the executive branch,
the U.S. Congress has set up THOMAS, a huge collection
of accessible information about the workings of the
Congress, including the full text of House and Senate
legislation. You can now read the full text of pending
bills for yourself, without need to hire an expensive
and Gucci-shod Washington lobbyist to tell you what is
in a proposed new bill. THOMAS can be reached at:
http://thomas.loc.gov
. U.S. TAX CODE -- If you are a lawyer or CPA, or other
fearless soul, and want to go directly to the source to
do your own tax research, you can search the federal
Internal Revenue Code on the Web at:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/ustax/ustax.html
STATE GOVERNMENTS:
. STATE INFORMATION -- You can now access a wide range
of business and tax information for any of the states
via the Internet. In most states, you can now directly
access the state's laws, download tax forms, and access
on-screen information on a wide range of business, tax
and regulatory subjects. A good starting point for a
search of state Web sites is the following "Yahoo" Web
site, which lists all of the states -- simply click on
the state whose governmental information you wish to
peruse: http://www.yahoo.com/Government/U_S__States/
@CODE: AR
. ARKANSAS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION. This state
economic development agency offers a wide range of
information on business conditions in Arkansas, for
businesses interested in starting up or relocating in
that state: http://www.aidc.state.ar.us
@CODE:OF
@CODE: CA
. STATE OF CALIFORNIA -- For a wide variety of information
about the state government, including access to
legislative information, economic data, and the ability
to search the full text of the California statutory
codes, at no charge, other than any on-line time charges
you may incur, try the California state government Home
Page: http://www.ca.gov
. CALIFORNIA TAXES -- The California Franchise Tax Board
maintains a World Wide Web site, which contains nearly
all state tax forms, instructions, and publications,
which you may download for free. Also, The FTB has even
created its own CD-ROM containing California tax forms,
which you can obtain. The FTB's Web address is:
http://www.ftb.ca.gov
. CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION (SBE). The SBE,
which administers the sales and use tax and many other
California taxes, now has a Web site, from which users
can obtain sales/use tax rates in any of the state's
counties and other information. The SBE's Web address
is: http://www.boe.ca.gov/boe/
. CALIFORNIA OFFICE OF SMALL BUSINESS -- This Web
site provides information on 3 areas: (1) Financial
assistance, (2) the California Small Business
Development Center Program, and (3) the Marketing
and Advocacy Division. Its Web address is:
http://www.ca.gov/commerce/sb_home.html
Its E-mail address is: osbform@smtp.doc.ca.gov
. CALIFORNIA TRADE AND COMMERCE AGENCY -- For information
about this umbrella agency, its Home Page address is:
http://www.ca.gov/commerce/home.html
. CALIFORNIA ELECTRONIC ADDRESSES -- You can get a
comprehensive listing of over 160 California Government
electronic addresses by downloading a text file over
the Internet. For details on downloading this
copyrighted information, go to the following Web site:
http://www.cpsr.org/dox/cegi.html
@CODE:OF
@CODE: CO
. COLORADO ELECTRONIC ADDRESSES -- The Colorado Dept.
of Revenue now has a computer bulletin board system
available to provide 24-hour a day information to
taxpayers. To access it, you need a computer,
communications software, and a modem.
The BBS provides "For Your Information" tax fact
sheets, all Colorado income tax forms, most of the
commonly used business tax forms, and Department of
Revenue newsletters. You can download software and
form files which you can use to print out the tax
forms on your printer, regardless of the type of
printer you have.
The BBS telephone number is: (303) 866-2600.
This information is also available on the Internet,
through Colorado's World Wide Web (WWW) site, at:
http://www.state.co.us
@CODE:OF
@CODE: WA
. WASHINGTON STATE -- The state of Washington maintains
a number of Web sites, including sites for the
legislature, the governor's office, and the secretary
of state. You may need the Adobe Acrobat file viewer
to read some of the information. For links to all
state agencies, go to the following Web address:
http://www.wa.gov/
@CODE:OF
PRIVATE SITES:
. YAHOO -- The ultimate roadmap to the Web. It is an
enormous index to the Web and includes an excellent
search engine, to help you get to the information
you need, business-related or otherwise. Its Web
address is: http://www.yahoo.com
. SMALLBIZNET -- Probably the best site for general
business information on the Internet, created by the
Edward Lowe Foundation, a private philanthropic
organization. It contains a vast number of business
resources, and you can order whole books or for
a modest fee, pick a subject and use their "fax-on-
demand" service to fax specific information back to
you on the subjects you select, for a nominal charge.
Contains the entire PSI Research/Oasis Press
Successful Business Library, including the "Starting
and Operating a Business in ....." series of books
for all 50 states and D.C. (by the author of this
software program), at the following Web address:
http://www.lowe.org/smbiznet/bookshel/index.htm
. WWW VIRTUAL LIBRARY -- Add this site to your Web sites
hotlist! It contains a collection of lists of sites
kept by various parties throughout the world, on almost
any conceivable subject area. You can link directly to
any of those sites, including business-related ones, for
lists of useful sites on the topics of your choice.
It's like an index of indexes, and a great place to start
your research on any subject. Its address on the Web is:
http://www.w3.org/hypertext/datasources/bysubject/overview.html
. UCSD LIBRARY -- The University of California at San
Diego library makes available a reference shelf with
much information that can be useful to businesses. Its
various menu options include dictionaries, encyclopedias
and a facility for linking to the United Nations to get
the United Nations Currency Exchange Rates. Its address
on the Web is: http://www.ucsd.edu
. MARKET RESEARCH -- Two key sites for locating companies
that are on the Net are BizWeb and the Commercial Sites
Index. BizWeb is sort of a "yellow pages" listing of
of companies, arranged by category, but also includes a
handy search engine. The Commercial Sites Index lists
thousands of companies that have set up a home page on
the Net. Access BizWeb at: http://www.bizweb.com
or Commercial Sites Index at: http://www.directory.net
. ENTREPRENEURS ON THE WEB -- This site contains a wide
range of resource information on different aspects of
running a business, and includes links to other legal
and business sites. Its Internet address is:
http://sashimi.wwa.com/~notime/eotw/eotw.html
. ENTREPRENEURIAL EDGE ONLINE -- Contains numerous modules
of advice on many aspects of starting or running a small
business, plus links to many other useful home pages.
Address: http://www.edgeonline.com/
. WOMEN ON THE WEB -- This is the best Web site for women
in business, and is the home page for Working Women,
Working Mother, and Ms. magazines. Contains an extensive
database of articles on subjects such as best companies
for working mothers, the best women-owned businesses, and
the hottest careers for women. You simply identify your
criteria, such as salary range, access to child care, and
percentage of women employees, and the database will dish
up a package of information customized to your tastes and
particular interests. Its Web address is:
http://www.womweb.com/index.html
. ONLINE SERVICES' SITES -- If you have memberships on
America Online, Compuserve, Prodigy, or the Microsoft
Network, contact some or all of the following sites:
-- America Online: Go to the area on AOL known as the
Entrepreneur Zone, which provides a number of business
information services and content providers, such as
business magazines. Keyword: ezone
-- Compuserve: The Working from Home Forum contains
a wide range of downloadable software, and you can
interact with other home-based entrepreneurs to exchange
ideas and information. Go: work
-- Prodigy: On the Prodigy service, the main business
bulletin board and discussion group area is the
Entrepreneur Exchange. Jump: entrepreneur exchange
-- Microsoft Network: The business information
publishing giant, Commerce Clearing House (CCH), now
maintains an area on the MSN called the CCH Business
Owner's Toolkit, which offers a wide range of basic
information on business laws and taxes. Go word: CCH
. THE COPYRIGHT WEBSITE -- Contains helpful information and
advice on how to copyright your writing or other creative
works, including a special emphasis on copyright laws as
they apply to Web publishing. The Web address for this
site is: http://www.benedict.com
@CODE: CA
. CALIFORNIA STATE BAR -- The State Bar maintains a
Web site, with information for lawyers, including the
complete text of the Rules of Professional Conduct
and the State Bar Act, at: http://www.calbar.org
. CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION AND CODES OUTLINE. This private
experimental search engine permits you to do your own
legal research, by searching the California Constitution
and statutory Codes, including tables of contents, and
directories you can browse. Its Web location is:
http://www.jhhw.com/codes/index.html
@CODE:OF