Beacon of Light Financial Services, Inc.

Urgent Alert! IRS warns of coronavirus relief payment scam. The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division issued a warning Thursday about a new attempt of COVID-19 scams tied to the latest round of stimulus payments.... Never give any information over the phone and the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information. Recognize the telltale signs of a scam. If you need assistance with your taxation or any other finance matter, please feel free to reach out to us! https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scams-consumer-alerts

Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving Day from all of us at The Gregory L. Schaffer Companies!

The Gregory L. Schaffer Companies wants to salute and honor all Veterans, their spouses, children and families for their sacrifice, unselfishness and courage. You are our TRUE HERO'S and we are grateful and we thank you. May God Bless you always!

To all our valued clients, We would like to thank you for your patience, trust and confidence through this health event and we are blessed that we have not been shutdown at all during this entire ordeal. Our office will reopen to the public on Monday June 22nd with restrictions as many of you have already experienced with other offices that have been opening. The safety of you and our staff is our top priority especially as this Covid 19 is still spreading.... All visits to the office are by appointment only except for dropping off files, mail, data, etc. in which we ask that you not enter the building if you have been experiencing any symptoms whatsoever. Masks are required as a safety precaution and there are no exceptions. If you can fax, email or upload your correspondence, we are asking that you do so instead of coming to the office. If you do not have a client portal established, Nicole would be happy to establish one for you which provides a secure way of uploading your files that we need to see. Any appointments that can be performed via video/telephone conferencing are still a requirement until the medical profession has a viable cure to this illness. If you do have an appointment, please call when you are in the parking lot and remain there until your scheduled time or our staff gives you additional instructions. We are grateful for all our medical professionals and first responders and we continually pray for their safety. Thank you for your cooperation during this time and we are looking forward to getting back to normal operations as soon as it is safe for all. May you and your families stay healthy and enjoy the summer! Gregory L. Schaffer, CEO, President

I am grateful to announce another milestone in the history of The Gregory L. Schaffer Companies; our 36th anniversary. The journey started on June 15th, 1984 an...d today we serve thousands of clients here in Western NY, the entire United States and across the globe. We stand as one of the most comprehensive financial service companies we are grateful to serve so many families. Our firm is designed to be a financial doctor to our clients and their best interest is our highest priority. Our success story is our dedication to being trustworthy, highly educated, providing a value to our clients and applying the Golden Rule. We have a true passion for helping others and we remain diligent to provide the highest level of service and expertise for many more years to come. Our staff has been a key part of our journey and their dedication, enthusiasm, loyalty and hard work has been valuable to our continued success. I am proud to have them as part of our work family. We can’t thank our clients enough for allowing us to serve as their trusted advisors and allowing us to be part of their lives. We are grateful and blessed for your trust and confidence and we will do all we can to edify your financial stewardship and protect your families for many more years to come. May God Bless you and your families always! Gregory Lee Schaffer, Founder, CEO, President

It will be very unlikely for seniors to see a cost of living adjustment for next year on their Social Security.

For the general public, please be aware that the IRS is not processing paper returns at this time so you should seek methods to file electronically to ensure ti...mely processing especially is you have not received a stimulus check or you are due a refund and expecting it quickly. We are available to assist if you need us. See more

We will see but you should pay attention to your bank accounts this month.

This is a good resource for knowing what is going on with processing at the Internal Revenue Service

Internal Revenue Service is not requiring tax returns to be filed for citizens that do not normally file. This is a change in initial guidance so please take note. https://www.irs.gov//economic-impact-payments-what-you-nee

New York State Department of Taxation has announced 07/15/2020 as deadline to correlate to Internal Revenue Service deadline. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts//bulletins/2834c58

The House passed by a voice vote Friday afternoon the Senate’s $2.2 trillion relief package, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, (CARES) Act. Now... it goes to the President for signature. For all of our clients, we will be reaching out with guidance after thorough review of the bill.

Guidance fro the Internal Revenue Service on deadlines and payments for all of our tax clients: https://www.irs.gov//filing-and-payment-deadlines-question

Urgent Communication To our clients: As I write this, tax filing deadline is extended to 07/15/2020 per Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin so this will give a li...ttle reprieve but business is as normal for our clients that want to get their tax return filed and more so maybe a refund back. The past several weeks has certainly tested us all and we are adapting to this disruption. We are working almost around the clock to address all our clients’ needs while being protective and proactive in all areas of finance. Our decision today is to protect our staff by closing our main office. We will all be working remotely to protect our health which in return protects our clients as we will not have any disruption of services. Our office has state of the art capabilities for this process which are efficient and most of all secure. Our process is somewhat seamless so you will not notice that we are not even in the office. Here is a list of our direct numbers or you can still just call the main line as normal as well, visit www.gregoryschaffer.com and click on "contact". For getting any documents to use you have the following options: 1. We have a secure portal which is the safest method of sending sensitive information where you can upload pdf’s, word docs, pictures, etc. located on our company website at www.gregoryschaffer.com Main page in the upper right hand corner. 2. You can mail as normal, however there may be delays so anything time sensitive, please call our office for guidance if this is the case. 3. You can video with anyone of us and show your document on camera as we can take picture of this. 4. You are welcome to text us a picture as well. 5. We all have direct fax numbers, or you can send to our general number. 6. We do have cash management system for clients that needs funds transferred from or to their accounts. An urgent reminder that texts, faxes and emails are not appropriate for sensitive information unless you are sending it encrypted so please consider the portal for sensitive information like social security numbers, driver’s license and account numbers. You can as well, black out any information that is sensitive and use any method then for transmission. *For clients that have not used the portal, please email or call Nicole at [email protected] or 585-621-3300 Ext 101 so she can register you. Guidance for Insurance Clients: We encourage all insurance clients to make payments directly to your insurance carrier. As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve, we understand that customers may begin to experience financial hardships. During this time, carriers are implementing procedures to provide flexibility and to help provide peace of mind to their insureds. If you are experiencing a loss of income and you are financially impacted and are not able to make your schedule payment, the majority of insurance companies are making exceptions and are asking that they be contacted directly. Receipt of cash payments are being suspended due to the logistics of deposits. We will accept money orders payable to The Gregory L Schaffer Insurance Agency, Inc. or you can make the money orders payable to the insurance carrier and mailed direct to them. If the money order is payable to The Gregory L Schaffer Insurance Agency, Inc., place the payment in the white mail box located at the main entrance next to the door, then contact Theresa or Kelly to advise payment has been placed in the mailbox. The mailbox does have lock so please call for code prior to leaving for the office. We will gather the payment and process with the insurance carrier. If we have you email address on file, we will email you the payment receipt. If we do not have your email on file a receipt will be mailed to you. Carco Vehicle Inspections: There are no changes in the mandatory vehicle inspections on vehicles 7 years or newer. All Carco inspections will be conducted by appointment only. The appointment will be scheduled at the time of our telephone conversation after the confirmation of the vehicle purchase. If you purchase a brand-new vehicle, no inspection is required, and we obtain the MSO-BOS directly from the dealership. Partial List of Insurance Carriers for your reference: Adirondack mynatgenpolicy.com 844-287-2237 Andover andovercompanies.com Erie and Niagara enia.com 800-234-9876 Foremost foremost.com 800-527-3905 Kemper kemper.com 866-675-3345 Leatherstocking leatherstockinginsurance.com Main Street msagroup.com 877-927-5672 MetLife online.metlife.com 800-255-0332 Mercury Insurance mercuryinsurance.com 800-503-3724 New York Central nycm.com 800-234-6926 NYS Insurance Fund nysif.com Philadelphia phyl.com Safeco customer.safeco.com 877-566-6001 Security Mutual securitymutual.com 800-822-1232 ShelterPoint shelterpoint.com Travelers travelers.com/pay-you-bill 800-252-2268 Personal, 800-550-7716 Commercial Utica uticanational.com 800-598-8422 Wayne wciny.com 800-724-1648 All our staff is available via telephone and video and we will be scheduling appointments starting next week. Please know that nothing under our control will compromise our commitment to take care of you and your families, we appreciate your trust and confidence and we are truly grateful that we are part of your lives. Sincerely, Gregory L. Schaffer, CEO, President

Tax filing deadline is extended to 07/15/2020 per Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin so this will give a little reprieve but business is as normal for our clients that want to get their tax return filed and more so maybe a refund back. Our office is an essential service according to latest release from Governor's office so we are fully operational however working remotely. Please call our office for guidance on our methods of received documents from you.

It is highly probably that tax season will be extended and righteously so considering this disruption. Take care of your families, be safe and proactive. Our pr...ayers are continual and we are here for all our clients, call on us anytime. https://www.taxprotoday.com//u-s-treasury-considers-extend

To all our clients: As of writing this at 7:42pm on Sunday night, it appears that COVID-19 Coronavirus is upon us at 10 confirmed cases in Monroe County, NY and... I am afraid this is just the beginning based on trends throughout other cities in the United States. We are prepared and will continue to provide our services regardless of this event as we have technology in place all along to continue operations without even having our main office open. As of now our office will remain open but I am assessing this pretty much daily. Your safety and the safety of our staff is our priority. During this time, it is essential that each of us practice simple, preventative measures as recommended by public health authorities. We have advised our employees of personal hygiene, social distancing techniques, and have provisioned our office with sanitary supplies to inhibit the spread of the virus at our office. We ask that if you have an appointment and you are the slightest bit ill, please contact us so we can reschedule or take alternative measures to accommodate your needs. We have state of the art processes for doing business remotely with extreme efficiency. Our phones will ring direct to each of us regardless of location, we have a secure portal for uploading of documents and numerous other ways to receive documents from you for your convenience. Your data is never unsecured as all communications are encrypted and only placed on our servers. This will protect you as well as us from continued spread of this horrible virus. I will provide more guidance as the week continues but for all our tax clients, I would request we get your data this week just in case for your convenience we shut our main office. All of us with have video conferencing ability as well remotely. We appreciate your understanding and we are grateful that we are part of your lives, keep yourself and your families safe, we will be praying for all affected families. Sincerely, Gregory L. Schaffer, CEO, President