![](./pubData/source/images/pages/page3.jpg)
EL SEGUNDO HERALD February 1, 2018 Page 3
Douglass
MORTUARY
“Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954”
B U R I A L - C R E M AT I O N - W O R L DW I D E T R A N S F E R
P E T M E M O R I A L P RO D U C T S
500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245
Te l e p h o n e ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 9 3 2 5 • F a x ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 0 7 7 8 • F D 6 5 8
Burkley Brandlin
Swatik & Keesey LLP
AT T O R N E Y S AT L AW
Lifetime El Segundo Residents
Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury
Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litigation
310-540-6000
*AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
Public Safety Briefs
Two Ways to Keep Your
Home Safe and Secure
The El Segundo Police Department is
now offering all local residents a free home
security inspection. This inspection provides
a list of measures that can be taken to improve
home security and prevent a burglary
by examining entry doors, windows, exterior
lighting and landscaping from a security
standpoint. After the inspection has been
completed, participating residents will receive
written recommendations on how to improve
safety. To schedule an appointment, call
the El Segundo Police Department’s Crime
Prevention Unit at 524-2274.
Leaving home for a vacation or having
your home tented for termites? The
El Segundo Police Department offers free
“Vacant Residence Patrol Request” to all
residents. While you’re away, patrol officers
and members of the Retired Senior Volunteer
Program (R.S.V.P.) will make random checks
on your house. For a free Vacant Residence
Patrol Request call the El Segundo Police
Department at 310-524-2200.
– Source: ESPD
Fire Department Earns Mission
Lifeline Gold Recognition
The El Segundo Fire Department has been
recognized by the EMSA and the American
Heart Association as a “2017 Mission
Lifeline Gold” recipient. This award is in
recognition of the department’s EMS team,
consisting of paramedics and emergency
medical technicians (EMTs), and those efforts
in assessing and treating patients suffering
a specific type of heart attack called a ST
Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI).
Paramedics and EMTs on scene have the
skills and equipment to analyze a patient’s
cardiac heart rhythm using a special 12-lead
EKG monitor -- and from those findings
begin to treat and rapidly transport patients
to specialty medical centers. STEMI centers
allow the patient to bypass the emergency
room and go directly into a cardiac catheter
lab where a medical procedure is performed
(a special catheter is inserting into an artery
located in the groin and passed along to the
location of the blockage whereby a balloon is
inflated to clear the blockage that causes the
STEMI) which saves the patient’s life. The
award by the American Heart Association is
the highest standard and speaks to the lifesaving
efforts that El Segundo’s EMS field
providers have delivered to those patients in
town having a STEMI.
– Source: ESFD
ESPD Conducts Operation to
Deter Alcohol Sales to Minors
The El Segundo Police Department cited
three restaurant employees for selling alcohol
to a minor on Friday, Jan. 19. The enforcement
actions were part of a minor decoy operation
conducted by ESPD officers, along with a
minor under the age of 21 directly supervised
by plainclothes law enforcement. The minor
decoy posed as a prospective customer and
attempted to purchase alcohol from 13 liquor
establishments in El Segundo.
Retail licensees that sell to a minor may
face a minimum fine of $250 and/or 24 to
32 hours of community service for the first
violation. A further review by the Department
of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC),
responsible for the licensing, regulatory, and
enforcement of alcoholic beverages, will take
administrative action against the alcoholic
beverage license of the business.
ESPD regularly conducts compliance
checks to reduce availability of alcohol to
minors. During this recent enforcement, the
following locations sold alcohol to a minor,
and the clerk received a citation:
• Pizza Rev, 460 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
• Rubio’s Coastal Grill, 400 N. Sepulveda
Blvd. #C
• California Fish Grill, 730 S. Allied Way.
The following locations complied with the
law and did not sell alcohol to the minor
decoy:
• Embassy Suites, 1440 E. Imperial Ave.
• Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza & Grill, 780
S. Sepulveda Blvd.
• North Italia, 840 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #110
• PF Chang’s, 2041 E. Rosecrans Blvd. #120
• Jackson’s Food & Drink, 2041 E. Rosecrans
Ave. #190
• Malibu Fish Grill, 400 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
• Salt Creek Grille, 2015 Park Pl.
• Veggie Grill, 720 S. Allied Way.
• Superba Food & Bread, 830 S. Sepulveda
Blvd. #100
• True Food Kitchen, 860 S. Sepulveda
Blvd. #100
This project is part of a state-funded grant
awarded to El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, and
Manhattan Beach by the ABC. •
Visit us online: www.heraldpublications.com
Bonuses, Bigger Checks
Promised to Workers
By Rob McCarthy
A message from the taxman can usually be
summed up in two words: Pay up. So it’s a
pleasant surprise when the Internal Revenue
Service announces that many taxpayers have
more money coming their way soon.
Tax season, which opened on Monday, puts
the IRS in a giving mood and this year is no
different. When Congress approved a tax code
overhaul in late December, the changes included
lower tax rates for individuals. The IRS has posted
the new tax tables on its website, and expects
employers to begin using them in February.
“Many employees will begin to see increases
in their paychecks to reflect the new law in
February,” the IRS said, without giving an
estimate about how many U.S. workers’ takehome
checks will rise.
Congress’ new law won’t affect current
tax returns for 2017, though it did raise the
standard deduction for individuals to $11,000,
heads of household to $18,000, and married
couples to $24,000. For people with simpler
tax situations, the new tables are designed to
produce the correct amount of tax withholding.
The revisions aim to avoid a common
taxpayer mistake: over- or under-withholding
of income taxes.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Congress
last December is predicted to deliver modest
tax cuts to middle-income people. The Tax
Policy Center in Washington, D.C., estimated
an average tax cut of $1,200 for all households
in 2018, which won’t be seen until next year’s
income tax returns are filed. But, the larger
paychecks don’t have to wait that long.
The time it will take for employees to see the
result of tax cuts legislation on their paychecks
will vary, according to the IRS. Those hikes in
take-home pay depend on the employers and
how quickly they calculate federal withholdings
using the 2018-revised tables. “Employers
should begin using the 2018 withholding tables
as soon as possible, but not later than Feb. 15,
2018,” the IRS said.
Whether taxpayers really see any extra money
depends on whether they read their pay stubs.
A finding by the Electronic Payments Association
suggests that any slight change could go
unnoticed by the majority of U.S. workers.
The association reported that 82 percent of
U.S. workers use direct deposit instead of a
paper check. If they read their electronic pay
stubs, they’ll see a difference.
There’s an added bonus in the tax rate
change for workers. Employees do not have
to do anything at this time, though the IRS is
revising the standard W-4 withholding form that
each employee fills out at time of hire. “The
new withholding tables work with the Forms
W-4 that workers have already filed with their
employers to claim withholding allowances.
This will minimize burden on taxpayers and
employers,” the IRS said.
The tax code changes took effect on Jan. 1,
just days after the House and Senate approved
the biggest tax reform legislation in decades.
Companies since have announced bonuses for
employees because Congress did away with
the previous corporate tax rates and created a
new rate of 21 percent.
Several airlines are among the employers
who are passing along the corporate tax cuts.
Alaska, American and Southwest Airlines all
pledged $1,000 bonuses to their employees.
Alaska went a step further and offered $118
million in incentive bonuses to its 23,000
workers nationwide.
Other companies and entities that do business
in the South Bay that have promised tax
cut bonuses include:
• Bank of America: $1,000 bonuses to about
145,000 of its workforce.
• FedEx: $200 million in raises, about twothirds
of which will go to hourly team
members. The delivery service giant also plans
to contribute $1.5 billion to its pension plan.
• Home Depot: Gave one-time cash bonuses
of $1,000 for hourly associates before Jan. 1.
• Honeywell: Increased the 401(k) match
for employees in the U.S., Canada and
Puerto Rico.
Financial institutions and banks, including
Wells Fargo and Washington Federal, raised staff
salaries and bumped the company minimum
wage to $15, using the corporate tax savings.
Verizon gave employees, excluding its top
management, 50 shares of the telecom company’s
restricted stock. Apple was even more
generous, handing out $2,500 in stock to most
of its employees.
Not everyone will enjoy a tax reduction
under the new law. While most taxpayers will
pay less, some taxpayers will pay a slightly
higher tax rate for 2018, according to Executive
Director Kathy Pickering with The Tax
Institute. High-earners with a marginal tax
rate of 35 percent (up from 33 percent) will
be most affected.
Even if you didn’t receive a celebratory bonus,
the IRS said that 70 percent of taxpayers
are expecting refunds this year. The tax season
opened Monday and runs Jan. 29 through
Tuesday, April 17. The filing period is five days
shorter than last year, putting added pressure on
tax preparers and self-filers to make the deadline.
The IRS says 90 percent of refunds are issued
in under 21 days, but to expect delays with
returns that claim the Earned Income or Additional
Child Tax Credits. The Earned Income
Tax Credit is for working people with low to
moderate income. To qualify for this refund,
you must file a tax return, even if you do not
owe any tax. According to the agency, “The
IRS expects the earliest EITC/ACTC related
refunds to be available in taxpayer bank accounts
or on debit cards starting on Feb. 27,
2018, if they chose direct deposit and there are
no other issues with the tax return.”
For the second consecutive year, April 15
falls on a weekend -- so the tax return filing
deadline falls two days later on a Tuesday. •