Glenn Beck Tea Party At The Alamo In Texas, April 15th, 2009

If you were wandering what the tea parties were all about, here it is plain and simple, take the time to watch this video and really listen to what is said. Even if you hate Glenn Beck, at least listen to what he says and remember he was not alone, people all across this nation were having these tea parties and saying enough is enough!

Question Of the week: When should you quit?

     With the economy the way it is, most of us are happy just to have a job. But some times the jobs we have can be more then we bargained for, with all the office politics, the drama and the crying that’s goes on, even the best job can be more then we can handle.

     So is the job worth it? At what point do you say enough is enough “I quit”. For me, this has never been an easy question, but after thinking about it I guess I can bring it all down to this. When I get up in the morning with the feeling that I hate going to work and I feel I don’t make a difference any more, that’s when it’s time for me to quit. So what about you? When would it be time for you to quit?

HEY!! Get your pet out of my sandbox.

Most of us love animals. Some of us even have dogs or cats that we love and take on walks in parks or around our neighborhoods. Some people even take their pets on trips to the store or on long road trips to see family and friends. I do the same thing with my two big dogs. We take them with us when we go camping or on a trip to California to see family. I think it’s safe to say that most of us love our pets and are responsible pet owners, which brings me to the topic of this article, “Irresponsible pet owners”.

I have a HUGE Complaint about irresponsible pet  owners. More specifically, pet owners who don’t clean up behind their pets or let their pets run freely around the neighborhoods leaving their crap everywhere. The other day I went out to my backyard and saw a cat doing its dirty little business in my kids’ sandbox. To say the least, I was not happy and I ran the cat out of my yard (Or I should say my dogs ran it out). I was really mad at that stupid cat. I thought, the nerve, I have enough to do cleaning up behind my two big dogs; I don’t need to clean up behind a cat as well. But after thinking about it, I realized that it’s not really the cat’s fault. After all, the cat was doing what came naturally. The real fault was with the irresponsible owner. So many times I have seen dogs and cats running around the neighborhood, sometimes by themselves, and other times off leash and using every ones yard as a bathroom, with the owner trailing obliviously behind. It’s bad enough when the dogs are by themselves doing that, but I really get upset when the owner is right there and won’t clean it up. I see this kind of thing a lot when I take my kids to the park. A lot of times I see dogs doing the bathroom thing in a field where kids are playing. Other times, I see the deposits of a cat in the sandboxes that kids are playing in, sometimes well within arm’s reach of a child. The next time you take your kids to the park and they play in the sandbox, you might want to ask yourself, “How clean is that sandbox?”

The answer to this problem is very simple; we all need to be responsible pet owners. We need to keep our pets at home and not let them run free all over the neighborhood. We also need to clean up behind them after their little bathroom break. Sure, no one likes to scoop poop, but no one likes to step in it either. If we all take a little more responsibility for our pets, things will be a little bit nicer (and cleaner) for everyone.

Plinky question: What are you famous for?

Now the Old Man

I have not had my 15 minutes of fame yet. I plan to live to be a 100 years old (Lord willing) so I guess I will be famous for dying at 100 years old and being famous for nothing.

What about you? what are you famous for?

What do you mean I can’t deduct that?

With tax time just 2 weeks away I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the  stupidest deductions people have taken. So below is the top ten dumbest deductions ever taken. Now I can’t claim this top ten list because I found it on MSN money at “articles.moneycentral.msn.com”. So I hope you enjoy this article. Also, before any of you e-mail me asking why I did this in red, I did it as a tribute to those of us who are doing our taxes and might end up in the red when we are done.

WARNING !!

I am not responsible for all you stupid people out there that might be just brain dead enough to try some of these stupid deductions.

10. Inflated assets

It's a classic feel-good-all-over tax case that has grown to mythic proportions over the years. Hatter explains: "The one they always talk about at CPA classes is where a topless dancer got breast implants and wrote them off as a business deduction under Section 179 and treated them as a capital asset, as an ordinary necessary business expense, and was able to deduct them.

"The IRS challenged her, it went to the tax court, and she won."

9. Finally, the Social Security crisis solved

Warning: If parents ever start documenting this deduction, we'll no longer need to worry about Social Security.

Marcia Geltman, a CPA with Nisivoccia & Co. in Randolph, N.J., says parents have asked her more than once if they can claim a bad-debt loss from unpaid loans to their children.

"The correct answer is, unless you have documentation verifying the existence of the loan and have taken legal action that resulted in a determination that the loan is not collectible, no deduction is allowed," she says. "Let us hope that, in the long run, we receive more blessings from our children then these momentary aggravations."

8. The $50,000 business meeting

Imagine Hatter's surprise when a client-attorney listed $50,000 in entertainment expenses on his tax return -- quite a chunk considering the guy's gross income was in the $300,000 range.

"I said, 'Man, what is that?' He said, 'Well, I threw a party for my clients.' And I said, 'You didn't invite me?' Anyway, we started going through it, and he said, 'Walt, I've got to tell you, that was for my daughter's wedding. But I did invite all my clients.'"

What was the lawyer's occupation? Criminal-defense attorney!

7. What are you, an Indy driver?

New Jersey CPA Elihu Katzman couldn't believe this one: "We had a client-salesman that was asked the number of miles he used his car for business that year. He insisted that he drove 60,000 miles, all for business.

"We asked him if he had any time to sleep, in that he must have spent most of the day and night driving."

6. The 'Zoolander' deduction

Those who work in front of the camera for a living -- like Derek Zoolander in the 2001 film comedy -- are often inclined to work their accountant to deduct all manner of personal property and perks as business expenses, from full wardrobes to back waxing.

"We have public speakers, and we help them understand that they cannot deduct all of their clothing, even though they wear it onstage," says Dallas CPA Ken Sibley. "Models can deduct a lot of makeup and certain pieces of apparel, but it has to fit the rules. We don't let them deduct the pedicures, manicures and back waxing for therapeutic reasons."

The craziest "Zoolander" deduction? New Jersey CPA Alan Sobel wins the prize: "Deductions are sometimes claimed for money given to infants for 'modeling' for their parents," he says. Seriously.

5. But you can write off the pimp hat

When does an entertainment expense exceed IRS criteria? Ed Mendlowitz, a CPA with WithumSmith+Brown in Morristown, N.J., found out the funny way when a businessman client wanted to deduct the cost of a call girl he hired to entertain some clients.

When Mendlowitz told the businessman he'd have to present said contractor with a Form 1099 to support this business expense, the client declined to do so and dropped the whole idea.

 

4. He took Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, too

When accounting software was in its infancy, a rookie CPA at Hunter Group of Fair Lawn, N.J., prepared a return for an individual with one small glitch: The software mistook the filer's address "New York, N.Y." for the name of a dependent.

The mistake went unnoticed by the firm and the client until one day they received a phone call from the IRS. The agent apologized that the deduction was being disqualified, even though, as the agent politely agreed, it might indeed be justified.

3. Silence is golden -- and deductible

While we're on the subject of charitable deductions, Allyson Baumeister, a CPA at Sanford, Baumeister & Frazier in Fort Worth, recalls one prominent client who found a creative solution to a chronically noisy next-door neighbor: He bought the house, ripped it out of the ground and donated it to a local women's shelter. He then claimed the value of the house as a charitable deduction.

"The deduction was limited to a percentage of his income, but his income was such that that wasn't a problem. From what I recall, the IRS may have adjusted the value somewhat, but it did allow the deduction," Baumeister says.

Seems everything is bigger in Texas, even the charitable deductions.

2. No receipts from above

Putting a few bills into the church offering plate got one client of Virginia CPA James T. Campbell in a bind when the IRS asked for canceled checks or receipts to support his charitable deductions. Explaining why he had no such receipts, the taxpayer said he simply throws in cash "as the spirit moves me."

Campbell says the IRS agent paused to consider the taxpayer's response and then offered this advice: "I understand how the spirit can move you. So my advice to you is to always take your checkbook to church with you. When you feel the spirit coming on, just take out your checkbook and fill in any amount you think is right, whatever the spirit may dictate. It makes no difference how much you give, just as long as you have a copy of the canceled check.

"This way both the spirit and the IRS will be pleased."

 

1. It went up in smoke

Hatter must have thought he was hallucinating when one of his clients, a criminal-defense attorney, referred a marijuana dealer to Hatter. The dealer was facing prison time for drug dealing and didn't want to be nailed for tax fraud as well.

"Because he was involved in an illegal business, he could not take any deductions, period," Hatter says. "The tax code is written where if you are engaged in something illegal, you have to recognize all of the income, and none of the deductions are recognized, even the cost of the product. It was quite an education on my part."

Hatter chuckles at his client's income statement, or lack thereof: "Let's just say he wasn't getting 1099s from his customers. He gave me a number, and we paid taxes on it. I had no basis for it because he dealt in cash."

Question of the week: If you could eat only one type of cuisine for a year, what would it be?

This question was easy. Without a doubt at the top of my list would be Spanish food from Moron, Spain.

Spanish Seafood Cazuela

I would pick food from Spain and not just anywhere in Spain, but from Moron, Spain. I was there once when I was in the Air Force and We ate at this little place in Moron. They served us the best sea food both very lightly breaded and non breaded, It was the best by far, bar none.