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Show J BUSINESS EDITOR: ANNE GOLDEN THE DAILY HERALD (www.HarkTheHerald.com) 344-256- 2 FCC gives 1 3. arm nr.TA Yr WASHINGTON j Peter. Kranenburg Education tax credits can save you thousands Many taxpayers are not tak- ing full advantage of two lucra- , (AP) Federal regulators gave their blessing Friday to the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp., a union that transforms one of tha offspring of the old Bell system into the nation's largest local phone company and wireless tive tax credits that first became available in 1998. If you, your spouse, or any of your dependents is attending college, do not overlook the following tax breaks. Hope Credit. The IRS will give you up to a $1,500 tax credit for each student attending college. The credit is available if the student is in his br her first or second year of ... undergraduate studies and is enrolled in college on at least a half-timbasis. The credit is computed as 100 percent of the student's first $1,000 of tuition and qualified college fees, plus 50 percent of the next $1,000 of tuition and fees. Lifetime Learning Credit. You can claim up to a $1,000 tax credit if you, your spouse or a dependent is attending college or is taking eligible courses to acquire or improve job skills. Unlike the Hope Credit, which is a credit, the lifetime learning credit is a credit based on 20 percent of the first $5,000 of tuition and fees for all family members. There are some special rules for these credits. Both credits are reduced if your income is more than $80,000 (married filing jointly) or $40,000 (single or head of household). Your credits could also be reduced if the student receives grants or scholarships. And you cannot claim a Hope credit and a lifetime learning credit for the same student in the same year. If you were eligible for the Hope or lifetime learning credit but failed to claim them on your 1998 or 1999 tax returns, you can file amended returns and receive your unclaimed refunds. For professional assistance in amending your returns, or for advice on whether you qualify for these credits, contact your provider. The approval allows the companies to complete a deal announced almost two years ago and launch a combined business under the new name Verizon Communications. It also brings them closer to their vision of offering a bundle of telecommunications services local, from wireless and data one source. The Federal Communications Commission signed off on the deal after accepting a plan by the companies to partially spin off GTE's assets in areas where Bell Atlantic by law cannot yet offer that service. The long-distanc- long-distanc- e, e A9 . SATURDAY. JUNE 17, 2tMtO clearance to phone merger Justice Department cleared the deal in the fall, so FCC approval' is the final hurdle. Regulators were pleased by the companies' promises to spend $500 million to enter local phone markets or serve 250,000 new customers outside of their current territories within 3 years of closing. That would make Verizon a rival to other Bell companies in puter traffic. For regulatory poses, this constitutes pure long-distanc- service, which Bell companies cannot offer within their regions until they show their local markets are open to competition and gain FCC approval. Bell Atlantic secured FCC permission in December to offer service in New York state only, but it still needs to get authority to provide longeach of the distance service-fo- r 12 in its local states remaining calling region. The companies hope to have such approval in hand by fall of next year- .Until then, the two companies plan to spin off GTE's Internet assets into a new corporation, called Genuity, in which the merged company would have a 9.5 percent interest. Once the combined business gets approval to offer service throughout Bell Atlantic's territory, it will be permitted to have long-distanc- some regions, offering consumers another option for local telephone services or Internet connections. The companies also agreed to establish a separate affiliate for providing Internet services within their region. FCC officials said the 25 conditions placed on the deal would help to promote competition and improve residential phone service. The agency accepted a plan by the companies to spin off most of GTE's Internet backbone the massive data pipelines that crisscross the country carrying com e long-distanc- e up to an 80 percent stake in Genuity. Analysts say the company has strong motivation now to open its local markets to competition, so that it can win approval and reclaim Genuity. "To me that's the biggest incentive you could ever think of," said Lisa Pierce, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Cambridge, Mass. "They are going to want do pretty much whatever it takes," The GTE marriage marks yet another step in Boll Atlantic's evolution into a telecommunications powerhouse. In 195)7, the company merged with Nynox oneof the other seven Bell companies created from the 198-breakup of AT&T. The now Verizon will now become tho largest local phono company, controlling 63 million of tho phono linos into people's homos with a presence in more than 30 states. long-distanc- e , , -- e , per-stude- per-famil- y tax-fre- e CPA's office. Lifetimes gifts can be less taxing If your net worth is currently more than $675,000, there's a good chance that your estate eventually will be subject to tax. To trim your estate and lessen the future tax burden, you might want to think about making lifetime gifts. Lifetime gifts generally fall into two broad categories, with $10,000 as the dividing line. You can give up to $10,000 to any number of people per year, without triggering gift tax. Gifts above $10,000 start chipping away at your lifetime gift and estate tax allowance, which is currently $675,000. Cumulative lifetime gifts in excess of your allowance are subject to gift tax. Why would you ever want to make a large, taxable gift during your lifetime? The answer may surprise you. Even though the rates for gift and estate tax are officially the same, you can realize significant tax savings by making lifetime gifts. Those tax savings arise because gift tax is levied only on the amount that you give, while estate tax is levied on your entire estate. Of course, you should never give away anything merely to save taxes, and even nontaxable gifts may require planning. You should see a qualified tax adviser before you embark on any program. Contact your CPA office for help. gift-givin- g Orem CPA Peter Kranenburg, owner of Kranenburg Accounting & Tax Service CPAs, can be reached at (801) or 224-456- 8 uttripleckaol.com. Tobacco chairman claims innocence MIAMI (AP) The head of the nation's third-large- cigarette maker denied Friday that the company lied to customers about the health risks of smoking, and said costly legal battles have hurt the firm's ability to pay a large punitive award. Nicholas Brookes, chairman and chief executive of & Brown Williamson Tobacco Corp., also said that since he took over in 1995, the company has not manipulated nicotine levels to keep smokers hooked. "I can categorically tell you that I have not, nor has anyone else, lied to the American public since (1995)," Brookes said in his second day of testimony in lawsuit filed a by sick Florida smokers. The lawsuit the first class action by smokers to go to trial represents 300,000 to 500,000 smokers. The jury earlier determined that the nation's five largest cigarette makers class-actio- n . conspired to produce a deadly product. It awarded $12.7 million in compensatory damages to three people representing the class. Brookes on Friday asked jurors to consider the company's "difficult" financial condition before deciding on punishment. But Stanley Rosenblatt, the smokers' attorney, suggested Brown & Williamson was overstating its troubles. He cited a 1997 estimate by Brookes that the worth was company between $5 billion and $7 Brookes contested that the estimate, saying Louisville, producer of Kool, Lucky Strike and 18 other brands is actually worth only $894 milKy.-base- d dot-com- PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) AltaVista chief executive Rod Schrock steps into his office in the hills of Palo Alto, his face bearing the strain of efforts to insulate the venerable search engine company from turmoil rocking the Internet industry. After rapidly expanding the staff last year and pouring millions of dbllars into an advertising campaign deemed by many to be a failure, Schrock in the past few months has fired 50 of its 800 workers worldwide, reassigned 60 others and been forced to admit defeat in an effort to defrock Yahoo! of its title as world's leading search engine. But he blames the troubled times on a lesson being learned by nearly everyone in the Internet industry. "Frankly, my view is the Internet industry, the craze around the Internet, ultimately caused unhealthy behavior," Schrock said, his from a eyes long week of strategy reviews. 'That behavior was: 'Focus on acquiring an audience at all costs, regardless of costs.'" Now the Internet party has become the pink-sliparade. Many companies are paying the price as red-rimme- d p high-flyin- stock prices g crash down to earth and funding dries up. 'j....-.- - , fctes t hc AsvtH'lak'it Court proceedings: Judge Paul Kaye, right, listens to Brown & Williamson tobacco company attorney Gordon Smith, center, while plaintiff attorney Stanley Rosenblatt listens during a side bar in the Florida Smokers trial at the Dade County Circuit Court in Miami. i Pus. lion. "We would only need to lose 1 12 additional share points on Kool for the company under its current cost basis to go under water," he said. Earlier this week, Philip Morris Inc. CEO Michael Szymanczyk testified that s - f.dBLti 1 ' billion. Future gloomy for "vl The list of troubled busiis long: Value America, DrKoop.com, KBKids.com, Quepasa.com, Petplace.com, Petstore.com, CarOrder.com, Salon.com, TurboLinux. Even online retailer Amazon.com viewed as one of the most stable Web companies has shed some of the fat built up when oblivious investors lavished millions upon it. 'The first phase of the Internet, characterized by little more than exuberance and an uncertainty about what the industry was going to look like, is coming to an end," said John Challenger, chief executive of Chicago-basefirm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Now we're moving into the second phase of the digital revolution ... where we're going to sort out the companies that don't produce. There's no doubt you're going to see a summer littered with dot- nesses d com layoffs." The firm, which tracks hiring and firing across all industries, found in a recent study that the hightech industry is outdistancing the pack in replacing its chief executives, a reflection of the increasing desperation in the struggle to survive, Challenger said. Analysts who follow the over 25 years to settle state lawsuits. Andrew Schindler, head of K.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., is scheduled to testify when proceedings resume smoking is unhealthy and addictive, but said smokers can break the habit if they choose. He argued that tobacco companies have been pun- ished enough by a 1998 agreement in which they agreed to pay $254 billion view is the Internet industry, the craze around t ne interne;, A. ultimately caused unhealthy behavior." Rod Schrock, AltaVista chief executive industry are the online closely watching shakeout. PlanetRx.com, Autoweb.com, Buy.com Inc. " Inc., Inc., Inc., Inc., Inc., Fogdog.com Garden.com HomeGrocc-r.coInc. and Streamline.com Inc. are among those that will run out of money in the next 12 months unless they get additional funding, Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst Anthony Noto said in a report last month. Forrester Research went even further in the predictions category, saying the majority of will go out of business by 2001. Among the first were London-baseretailer Boo.com, New York news online agency APBNews.com and, just in the past week, Hollywood ghxim-and-dop- dot-com- s d Entertainment's Reel.com subsidiary. Martin Orlowsky On the Net: Tobacco links; http:uivie.umich.edn7 Sumtrnivebniten.html of MOUNTAIN HOME, Throe weeks Ark. (AP) after he wrapped up a personal bankruptcy, Frank Wallis got some good he found financial news a misprinted gold dollar that could be worth up to $100,000. Wallis bought four rolls of Sacagewea $1 gold coins a couple of weeks ago. He opened one. expecting to see the American Indian guide's youthful face on the coins inside. But one bore a more familiar profile: George Washington, in a pose usually seen on quar- A CDNow Drugstore.com Egghead.com other CEOs t ' Gold dollar coin may fetch mega money Frankly, my W Monday. Two Lorillard Tobacco Co: and Bennett I a? Bow of Ligget .are also Group Inc. expected to testify. ters. , The error is believed to be the first of its kind in the history of the U.S. Mint. Even after spotting the mistake. Wallis didn't realize how valuable tho in minted coin, be. might Philadelphia, "I decided probably at least it was a fun coin to own because of the George camad Washington paign," he said, referring to a $40 million campaign in which Washington, illustrated by his portrait on the $1 bill, insists he doesn't mind being left off the new coin. After contacting experts, Wallis realized the coin was likely quite valuable. ' 208-yea- r ' . Tho mistake is known by collectors as a "double denomination mule error" two currencies stamped on different sides. Wallis' coin boars the front of tho Washington quarter and tho back of the Sacagawea dollar. It is not known whether other coins with the sitnie . error are in circulation, 500 million Sacagawea coins were minted. A spokesman for the US. Mint did not retun a call seeking comment. Twenty days before ho, found the coin, Wallis, the business page editor of The Baxter Bulletin, was completing a bankruptcy. "I was in financial ruin." he said, explaining that a hospital stay fan' 199U caused him to forfeit two months' salary. Since then, ho has been trying to get caught up. "Now, if the Lord wills. I can pay the debts." ho said. But he noted his fortunes may again ('hange. "Today it's a valuable coin, but if somcbod has found several more, it's not so valuable," Wallis said. A dealer will auction the coin during the American Numismat ic convent ion Association's in Philadelphia August. in |