The Ticker

TurboTax shuts off state tax return filing

TurboTax, the country's most popular do-it-yourself tax preparation software, said yesterday that it has temporarily stopped processing state tax returns because of an increase in fraudulent filings.

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue says 160,000 refunds are currently in the pipeline, and due to the increase in the filing of fraudulent tax returns nationwide, it will more carefully scrutinize information on returns.

Other state agencies have also reported a rise in filings with stolen personal information, said Intuit, the company behind TurboTax. Most victims found out that a fraudulent tax return was submitted in their name when they received a rejection notice after filing their returns, said Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller.

There haven't been issues with federal returns to date because the Internal Revenue Service has implemented stronger fraud detection policies, Miller said.

Intuit is working with security company Palantir to investigate the problem. So far, there has been no security breach of its systems, the company said. Instead, it believes personal information was stolen elsewhere and used to file returns on TurboTax.

West Coast dockworkers won't handle cargo due to labor dispute

Terminal operators at the 29 U.S. West Coast ports won't handle cargo this weekend as a labor dispute with dockworkers escalates, their bargaining agent said. Loading and unloading of vessels at ports from San Diego to Bellingham, Wash., will be suspended through Monday morning, according to an emailed statement from the Pacific Maritime Association.

Shipping lines and terminal operators can't justify paying overtime to unionized dockworkers who are handling cargo at reduced levels of productivity, an association spokesman, Wade Gates, said in the statement.

Consumer borrowing picks up in Dec.

Consumer borrowing picked up in December as Americans used their credit cards more after pulling back the previous month.

Total outstanding non-mortgage credit increased by $14.7 billion to $3.3 trillion, the Federal Reserve said yesterday. Economists expected a $15 billion rise.

Revolving debt, which includes credit cards, increased by $5.8 billion to $887.9 billion, the largest increase since April. That's a positive sign of growing consumer confidence amid strong job growth and falling gasoline prices.

Non-revolving credit, which is mostly auto and student loans, rose by $8.9 billion to $2.42 trillion. Auto sales have reached near-record levels as Americans replace aging vehicles and lending standards ease.

• Citizens Bank announced that Bradley L. Mattox, left, has been hired as a vice president and relationship manager for Citizens Commercial Banking. Mattox joins Citizens in Boston from BNY Mellon, where he was a vice president and senior private banker.

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Connector czar: It’s working great

The state's Obamacare czar yesterday proclaimed the Bay State to be "a million miles ahead of" last year's disastrous health care sign-ups, announcing the state has now enrolled 325,814 Bay Staters so far.

"That's a complete turnaround and, if we're being honest, not a lot of people thought it would be done," said Massachusetts Obamacare chief Maydad Cohen. "Just looking at the enormity of the problems and the calendar made even our biggest supporters skeptical."

To date, some 3.8 million users had accessed the state's pricey Obamacare website, and 440,546 users had determined which plans they're eligible for, Cohen said.

"The enrollment numbers themselves don't lie; the website is working," said Cohen. "People are getting insurance for themselves and their families and we're a million miles ahead of where we were last year — and that's an undisputable fact."

Open enrollment on the Health Connector website runs through Feb. 15. When the enrollment period started last year, the site crashed numerous times and it was plagued with problems for months, causing people to give up on trying to enroll and ultimately costing the state millions of dollars to fix.

It's hardly been a flawless process this year, as a representative from Attorney General Maura Healey's office noted during a conference call yesterday that many customers had called their hotline to complain.

A Healey spokesman said 131 consumer complaints had been received since open enrollment began on Nov. 15.

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Judge upholds ride-share rules

A bid by taxi medallion owners to halt regulations that have legalized transportation companies including Uber and Lyft has been rejected by a federal judge.

"Plaintiffs have failed to convince this court that medallion owners have a protected property interest in the market value of their medallions," U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton said yesterday in a court order. "Purchasing a taxicab medallion does not entitle the buyer to 'an unalterable monopoly' over the taxicab market or the overall for-hire transportation market,"

Gorton said the Boston Taxi Owners Association was not convincing in its argument for a preliminary injunction, rejecting its claims of violation of equal protection and "unconstitutional taking of their property."

The association has sued both Boston and the state in an effort to halt state regulations for Uber and Lyft that it sees as unfair. Initial statewide regulations for so-called transportation network companies went into effect last month, but require legislative approval.

"In order for Massachusetts' economy to thrive, we must continue to embrace technology and innovation as a means for growth," Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement.

Boston is in the middle of its own regulatory process, with a Taxi Advisory Committee that has been looking at the issue for months. A spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh said the city is pleased with the decision.

A lawyer for the Taxi Owners Association did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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Audi A4 earns a high grade

The efficient 2015 Audi A4 with go-anywhere, all-wheel-drive is a solid choice for the New Englander not willing to compromise on performance or craftsmanship.

Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive system intuitively sends power to the wheels with the most grip. Although our tester had 19-inch, low-profile summer tires, I found the sedan provided superb traction on both wet and snow-covered roads.

The quattro system, which has been around for more than 35 years, was equally impressive on dry roads, giving the A4 sharp handling with a decent amount of feedback and providing the driver with an intimate connection to the road. The A4's sport-tuned suspension settled through bumps on the corners and the sedan's electronic, speed-sensitive steering had a heavy, precision feel.

Under the hood, the A4 packs a turbocharged 2.0- liter, inline four-cylinder engine that cranks out 220 horsepower. Audi offers three transmission choices with the A4: a six-speed manual, a continuously variable automatic, and an eight-speed automatic with manual override. My tester had the eight speed with paddle shifters, which allowed me to take control of the sedan, especially through the corners and on steep highway ramps. The multitude of gears allowed for smooth downshifting and maximized the transfer of power from the efficient engine. The A4 balances a respectable amount power with decent fuel economy for an all-wheel-drive sedan. The A4 did 21 miles per gallon in the city and 30 mpg on highway.

Silver and gray trim highlighted my A4's black interior. Leather heated front seats were firm and supportive. The centerpiece of the A4's cockpit was a distinctive flat bottom steering wheel, which was part of the $1,500 sport plus package that included the paddle shifters, a black headliner, and 19-inch, 5-arm aluminum wheels with a titanium finish. Three-zone climate controls allowed driver and passengers to individualize the cabin temperature. While the A4 is listed as a five-seater, my children looked cramped in the backseat for the lift to school. The rear seats fold down with a 60/40 split.

Red backlighting on switches and buttons played well against the dark interior. A 7-inch display screen was neatly integrated into the A4's dashboard. Navigation, stereo, cellphone, and vehicle settings were controlled with a joystick knob surrounded by an array of buttons on the center console. While the center stack was imposing at first glance, I found operating the A4's infotainment features intuitive and straightforward. The cluster of controls reduced the need to drill down through layers of menus. A push-button ignition button was located beside a conveniently placed electronic parking brake control.

My only dislike with the A4 was the location of the cruise control stalk behind the steering wheel. I guess it's just a distinctive quirk with Audi, but cruise control is much easier to use when located on the steering wheel.

The solidly built Audi A4 starts at $37,600 and my tester topped out just over $46,000, which puts it in the mix with the other premium sedans from Germany, such as the BMW 3-series or Mercedes-Benz C300. The A4 is also worth a test drive when considering the Cadillac ATS, Lexus IS, or Infiniti Q50.

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Cambridge condo mixes style, comfort

This stylish new condo is one of three carved out of a long, narrow stucco house in North Cambridge that features a long front porch topped with private decks.

The end Unit 1 at 130 Rindge Ave. is the last of the condos for sale, on the market for $975,000, and it features three bedrooms and three levels of living space.

There's not much yard space around the 1875-built property, but the rebuilt front porch does overlook a large, open green space in front of the upscale Wyeth apartments next door. The house's exterior has been completely restored, with new black mullion windows and white trim.

The front porch leads into a foyer, with dark-stained red oak floors that are featured throughout the property, along with 9-foot ceilings with crown molding on the first floor.

To the left of the foyer sits a stylish recessed-lit kitchen,­ with 22 white-­painted wood cabinets and Carrara marble-topped counters with a white beadboard back­splash. There's also a separate Carrara-­topped gray-painted island with a breakfast bar that seats three as well as a double-doored pantry/storage closet. High-end stainless-steel appliances include a Bosch refrigerator and dishwasher as well as a professional-grade Viking gas stove and a matching microwave above.

Adjacent is a dining area, with glass doors that open out to a back porch and down to a private fenced-in patio.

Back inside, to the right of the foyer sits a good-sized recessed-lit living room with crown molding and four six-over-six windows on three sides.

Oak stairs lead up to three oak-floored bedrooms on the second floor with a window at the top of the landing.

The master suite covers half the second floor, with oak flooring, crown molding and recessed lighting. Two front windows bring in light and a pair of glass doors lead out to a private deck over the front porch with views of the open space next door.

The master suite has four closets, all with built-in shelving. The stylish en-suite bathroom is completely marble finished — from its small tile floors to gray tile around a deep soaking tub and shower. And there's a Carrara-topped double-sink wood vanity.

The second bedroom features two windows, two closets and an overhead light/fan. Across the hall sits a small third bedroom best suited as a home office or nursery. It has one deep closet.

The second full bathroom on this floor is equally stylish, with green-and-white small tile marble floors and white marble tile surround with small green tile inlay around a deep soaking tub and a shower. This bathroom also has a Carrara marble-topped wood vanity.

The unit has a fully finished basement, with oak stairs leading down to a carpeted family room.

The large family room has one window and two closets. One holds the unit's two-zone high-efficiency heating and cooling system, and the other has a washer-dryer hookup as well as a Navien tankless water heater.

There's a full bathroom on this level, with small white ceramic tile floors and white ceramic tile surround for a deep soaking tub and shower.

The condo comes with two outdoor parking spaces on a long shared driveway.

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Staples merger to cut stores

Hundreds to as many as a thousand Staples and Office Depot store closings are expected if federal regulators sign off on the planned $6.3 billion merger of the nation's two largest office supplies chains.

With about half of their combined 3,200-plus U.S. stores within five miles of each other, Citi analyst Kate McShane estimates more than 500 locations could be closed. "We think store closings are likely to be announced down the road, once the deal is approved by the (Federal Trade Commission) and closed," McShane said.

Those closings would be on top of ones already planned by the individual companies, which are downsizing their retail footprint as they struggle to compete with online rivals. Staples has about 55 stores slated to be closed out of 225 it previously announced as part of its retail "reinvention." Office Depot has about 235 stores remaining to be shuttered out of 400 planned closures, according to McShane.

The store closings would be a small part of the estimated $1 billion-plus in annual cost savings that the two companies expect by the end of the third year after a merger closed.

"Store closings and real estate optimization as well as sales initiatives may bear fruit over time, but for now sales and margins continue to decline," said Carol Levenson, director of research, at Gimme Credit, a corporate bond research service.

About 1,000 store closings — either voluntary or forced by the FTC — are expected by Janney Capital Markets analyst David Strasser. That would save the merged company 
$350 million-plus in rent expenses, he said.

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Data of 80M Anthem customers stolen

The computer breach at the country's second-largest insurer is the latest attack on a health care company as hackers aim their sights at valuable information found in medical records, one expert said.

"Everyone in health care knows it's a problem; everyone in health care is taking it very seriously," said John Halamka, chief information officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "Protecting patient data is our mission, but the problem is getting harder to solve than ever."

Yesterday, Anthem Inc., which covers more than 37 million people throughout the country, said data for about 80 million customers were stolen, including names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and street addresses, in a "very sophisticated" attack. Bloomberg reported the company is eyeing Chinese state-sponsored hackers.

Halamka said medical records are an inviting target to hackers. On the black market, medical records go for about $150 each, compared to a dollar for a credit card.

"What we're talking about with medical identity theft is a health care shopping spree; I can get the surgery I need, the health care I can't afford," he said.

Halamka said Beth Israel is spending roughly $3 million a year to keep patient data safe.

"Every day when I wake up, security is one of the first things that I think of," he said.

Anthem does not write policies in Massachusetts, but residents who work for companies based in other states may be affected, according to the state Division of Insurance. Attorney General Maura Healey's office plans to investigate the scope of the data breach in Massachusetts.

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Hot Property: Take a swing at Big Papi’s condo

"Big Papi" wants to sell you his penthouse complete with his own furnishings.

Red Sox legend David Ortiz is selling his three-­bedroom condo atop a six-story midrise called the Water­mark. Built in 2007, the 81-unit building is part of the Waterworks at Chestnut Hill complex on the Brighton-Newton line that also includes three historic municipal water buildings converted into high-end condos on an 8.8-acre site.

The Watermark Penthouse 606 has almost 3,100 square feet of living space on one level and comes with two deeded garage spaces.

And while it is within the city borders, its sweeping views of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir across the street make Big Papi's place feel far way from congested Brighton, although it's only a quarter mile from Cleveland Circle.

But this penthouse retreat has a big signing price — $3.2 million.

Keep in mind the asking price includes the Ortiz family's living, dining, kitchen­ and bedroom furniture as well as its outdoor patio furniture. Big Papi is also throwing in five flatscreen TVs as well as central surround-sound system with high-end Bowers & Wilkins living-room speakers.

"All a new owner has to do is turn the key," said listing broker Paul Colleary of Braintree's Dream Realty, who has worked with Ortiz since 2004, taking him to see over 100 properties and helping him buy four places.

"David is a great guy to work with, very easygoing," said Colleary. "Whenever he signs a new contract, he starts looking around for a new place."

It's not that Ortiz is selling off all his belongings. The slugger's primary Bay State home is a secluded single-family in Weston. He bought the Watermark penthouse a few years ago as a quiet and convenient place for him and his family to stay during the long Red Sox season. Fenway Park is only three miles away.

The penthouse has star quality, most notably with its two large terraces with sweeping views, ideal for outdoor entertaining. Colleary said the view of the daily sunsets over the reservoir from the living-room deck are spectacular. But Ortiz found the larger of the two spaces, a 330-square foot deck off the kitchen, inviting for other reasons.

"It overlooks three community baseball diamonds at Cassidy Park, and Big Papi loved to sit out there and watch the kids play ball, including his son," said Colleary. "He also entertained out there a lot."

The interior of the penthouse is anything but average. There's floor-to-ceiling windows in the large living/dining area that has tray ceilings, a gas fireplace and an elaborate wood chandelier. And glass doors lead out to a 120-square-foot balcony with sweeping views.

The spacious kitchen has a large array of custom cherry­wood cabinets, granite counters and a cabinet-encased Sub-Zero refrigerator and a Wolfe gas oven and cooktop with an enormous wooden hood. There's an eat-in breakfast nook or else dine outdoors on the terrace.

The master bedroom suite is worthy of a star with floor-to-ceiling bedroom windows with automated shades and a king-size walk-in closet with cherrywood built-ins that held Big Papi's extensive wardrobe. There's the marble bathroom, with a supersized soaking tub, and there's even an attached home office with a separate entrance where Ortiz tended­ to business.

The other two bedrooms also each have en suite marble bathrooms.

There's some superstar expenses too. The yearly taxes are $28,047 and the condo fee is a steep $2,875 per month, but that does include heat, hot water and gas and a 24/7 concierge. And the Waterworks complex has a fitness facility, function room and even a Waterworks Museum on site.

Colleary said Ortiz's owner­ship has drawn some well-heeled sports fans to look at the property and that the penthouse could work well for another professional athlete, particularly someone just traded into Boston.

"We'll see what happens at Red Sox spring training," Colleary said. "If I haven't sold the property by then, there's some good prospects down there."

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Brian Williams and the lost art of the public apology

Brian Williams is sorry. The NBC anchor said so on his nightly newscast, on Facebook and in the pages of Stars and Stripes, the magazine that first unearthed his repeated lies about flying in a helicopter struck by an RPG over a decade ago in Iraq.

And yet it's not enough.

It's not that being apologetic isn't adequate repentance for Williams' sin. What isn't enough is the nature of the apology he is offering. Like so many wayward public figures who aren't getting the right damage-control advice, Williams seems to believe apologizing early and often will take care of the problem without giving sufficient attention to how they say they are sorry.

Williams and NBC Universal - which may be sweating even more than the anchor is about his future as the face of its news division-probably think they did their best just by addressing the situation head-on in multiple outlets. To make such an apology from the very anchor desk where so many Americans trust him to be unfailingly honest was intended to acknowledge the gravity of his fabrication.

But the substance of what Williams said, and the absence of even feigned contrition in his delivery, only made his predicament worse.

Let's start with the wording of his statement. First, the utterance "I made a mistake" should be retired by all crisis-PR experts for the rest of eternity. It is a sentence intended to sound forthright and remorseful in all its unambiguous pithiness. But overuse over the years has turned "I made a mistake" into the opposite of what it should be; it's such a stock phrase, it basically signifies nothing beyond doing what shamed public figures feel they have to do.

In situations where household names like Williams shock us with their misdeeds, people are more interested in hearing some sense of why the sinner in question did what they did than just blurting out "I'm sorry." Williams attempted to do this by offering what seems like a unbelievable excuse: the "fog of memory" led him to confuse the unharmed helicopter he was actually in with another helicopter that took fire.

Really?

It doesn't take a four-star general to remember correctly whether the aircraft they were in was struck by a missile.

But perhaps Williams could have even garnered some forgiveness for even such a far-fetched alibi had he squeezed even a scintilla of emotion into his written and oral apologies. This is where Williams and so many celebrities have gone wrong when the right words could actually do a lot to pull their feet out of the fire.

From Paula Deen to Amy Pascal, it's amazing how many public apologies are such bloodless, over-calculated nothingburgers that they do more harm than good.

Imagine had Williams spent more than just a minute at an anchor desk-perhaps even a good 10 minutes in a YouTube video, or even a whole hour on "Dateline NBC"-really speaking from the heart (or faking such sincerity).

Be authentic, even vulnerable. Agonize a little. Don't cry if it doesn't come naturally, but emote as if your career depends on it because-guess what?-it does.

Last year provided a decent example of a star who managed to do this correctly. Recall the accusations of homophobia Jonah Hill faced when he uttered some unfortunate epithets in a TMZ video. He went on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and either gave a performance even better than his role in "Moneyball" or resembled an actual choked-up, torn-up human being.

What if Williams had dropped the robo-anchor persona and, rather than saying he got confused, spoke at length on camera about what really happened that day. The sight of a genuinely repentant individual could go a long way to repairing his reputation.

All this criticism of Williams may sound unsympathetic, but to the contrary: If he makes the right moves, a man who by all other indications is a good person who, like all of us sometimes, made an unfortunate mistake can turn this around. It's not too late to save his career.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Brian Williams' self-inflicted wound helps arm NBC's critics

Brian Williams is inevitably going to be criticized by lots of couch-bound observers who have never reported from a war zone (including yours truly), but given the forces eager to pounce on any slip by the news organization he represents, he has committed perhaps the worst kind of self-inflicted wound.

The NBC anchor's faulty and seemingly self-aggrandizing "memory" about his stint reporting from Iraq in 2003 pushes enough hot buttons to create a perfect storm of bad publicity. And NBC News has once again looked tardy, at best, in formulating a PR strategy in response to bad news, as it was during transitions at "Today" and "Meet the Press."

Williams has benefited from coming across as a likable anchor - as comfortable throwing out one-liners on a talkshow as he is delivering the news. But he has stepped into the proverbial hornets' nest, for reasons both of his own making and beyond his control.

Williams' embellishment of his experience is particularly damaging coming from a journalist. Essentially, his account has reduced him to the role of unreliable witness, somebody whose version of an event was exposed as being significantly at odds with the facts.

But the real problem is that the story itself - dealing with the military - hands a cudgel to those already inclined to hold a grudge against or distrust NBC News, which explains the almost-gleeful tone of the coverage on Websites like The Drudge Report and Breitbart.com.

Part of that has nothing to do with Williams. NBC happens to be affiliated with MSNBC, whose liberal profile and politics has made it a favorite target of conservatives. Although the two operate separately, they are part of the same corporate family and share talent, allowing many to conflate NBC and MSNBC into a single entity, feeding the perception of a liberal "mainstream media" that can't be trusted.

Those same quadrants were positively overjoyed when Dan Rather was involved in a report about then-President George W. Bush's National Guard service that hastened his exit from CBS News. And while Williams is unlikely to experience anything that serious in terms of the fallout, there's no doubt this cloud will linger over him for a while and be used to discredit or diminish both NBC News and its anchorman the next time the division is involved in something that irks the usual suspects.

Thus far, Williams' explanation of why he would foul up the story sounds like more of an evasion than a response, which won't hasten making the controversy go away. Certainly, the 12-year time lapse hardly covers mixing up something as memorable as being aboard a helicopter that was actually forced to land after having been struck by ground fire.

Finally, there's NBC News, which after awkwardly mishandling baton passes at "Meet the Press" and "Today" needed to look decisive in either disciplining Williams or giving him a vote of confidence. Admittedly, the story keeps changing -- with a helicopter pilot backing up part of what Williams has said on Thursday -- but either way, a guy who looked like the least of the division's problems has now added to its woes.

There's an old saying that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you. But in this case, the reverse also applies: Just because people are out to get you doesn't mean that they're automatically wrong. On that score, Williams' Iraq war story is the epitome of an unforced error by providing his critics, even the unfair ones, legitimate ammunition.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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