| Volume 141 Number 100 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Every year, millions of people tell the FTC about frauds and scams. Last year, the FTC heard from 3 million people, and here’s some of what they learned from the reports: Click here for more.
Amazon launches weekly delivery day program
Amazon has announced that it’s giving Prime members the ability to schedule a day of the week to have all of their packages arrive under a new feature dubbed Amazon Day. On Amazon Days of a customer’s choosing, the e-commerce giant will deliver a week’s worth of Amazon orders. The company says there are several reasons to get excited about the new feature: Click here for more.
Your Money
Claiming a deduction for business mileage can be a good way to reduce how much you owe Uncle Sam, but the government is tightening up the rules for tax-deductible miles. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated itemized deductions for unreimbursed business expenses like mileage. The tax reform law also significantly narrowed the mileage tax deduction for moving expenses. That can now only be claimed by active-duty military members who are relocating because of new orders. Still, a mileage deduction still exists for certain situations. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Bill introduced to stop debt collection robocalls. A bipartisan group of lawmakers resurrected a bill on Thursday that would shield consumers from robocalls and robotexts from federal debt collectors and government contractors by getting rid of certain exemptions in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. One of the sponsors stated, "The bipartisan HANGUP Act (The Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone Calls Act) will ensure that government contractors are subject to meaningful rules protecting consumers from robocalls and robotexts." The legislation would strike a provision of an Obama-era budgeting measure passed in late 2015 that exempted callers collecting debt owed to the federal government from robocalling and robotexting protections under the TCPA. And it would rescind the Federal Communications Commission's declaratory ruling that formally exempted government contractors from the TCPA. Click here for more.