Topic: THE WEEK THAT FLEW BY (Read 10853 times)

vixmom · « **Reply #30 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:23:18 AM »

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Get Well Vibes to Mr. Richard Valley ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #31 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:24:29 AM »

[move=right,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Get Well Vibes to CillaLiz's Mom ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #32 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:24:55 AM »

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Successful Operation and Quick Recovery Vibes to Elmore's Dad ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #33 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:25:21 AM »

[move=right,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Get Well Vibes to Ginny's MIL ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #34 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:25:45 AM »

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Quick Back Recovery Vibes to TCB ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #35 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:25:52 AM »

[move=right,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Excellent and inspirational Writing Vibes to Maria ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #36 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:27:42 AM »

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Excellent and inspirational Writing Vibes to BK ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #37 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:28:08 AM »

[move=right,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Excellent and inspirational Writing Vibes to DakotaCelt ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #38 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:29:03 AM »

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Excellent Travel Vibes to Maria ~~~~~[/move]

vixmom · « **Reply #39 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:30:12 AM »

[move=right,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~Excellent Travel Vibes to Ben & DP Ant ~~~~~[/move]

Matt H. · « **Reply #40 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:34:39 AM »

Good morning!

It's overcast here, and we might get some rain, but it's going to be warm today (80) and the low tonight is supposed to be 70!

Matt H. · « **Reply #41 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:35:59 AM »

Great get well wishes to Richard Valley. I don't read SCARLET STREET regularly, but I much enjoyed his contributions to the Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes DVDs some years back.

S. Woody White · « **Reply #42 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:37:17 AM »

It s'a lacious
It s'a lerious
It s'a lovely

Jennifer · « **Reply #43 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:38:23 AM »

DR George, you might find this amusing. My sister called me last night at 6pm to ask (out of the blue) if I wanted her to tape the Rosie cruise movie.

Matt H. · « **Reply #44 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:38:34 AM »

This afternoon I journey up the road 42 miles to see a friend in H.M.S. PINAFORE. I rather dread the drive and the show (though he assures me it's going to be well sung). But one does this for friends, and I wouldn't think of missing it.

Thus, I will be E&T this afternoon, but since the show starts at 7:30, I should be home before midnight and able to post some thoughts on it and the rest of my day.

S. Woody White · « **Reply #45 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:40:02 AM »

We've got so much piled up on our DVD shelf, waiting to be watched, that it isn't even funny. Not to mention the number of television shows der Brucer has recorded, that he hasn't yet watched.

$:-\$

FJL · « **Reply #46 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:41:25 AM »

Get well quickly vibes to Richard Valley!

Matt H. · « **Reply #47 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:42:02 AM »

Friday Media Check:

CD - FLOWER DRUM SONG (soundtrack)
AMERICAN IDOL - Season 3, Greatest Soul Classics
CALL ME MADAM (OBC and Dinah Shore subbing for Merman)

DVD - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (to conclusion)
THE NUN'S STORY
ANGEL - Season 3, disc 5

DVR - THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM
THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE
last night's MY NAME IS EARL

laserdisc - SUMMER HOLIDAY (MGM)

Matt H. · « **Reply #48 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:44:16 AM »

DR George, I got the Rosie show, but I won't be able to get it dubbed until this weekend since I'll be gone from the house most of today. Should be able to put it in the mail on Monday for you.

I was reading about the show in THE ADVOCATE last night before I turned out the lights. You should enjoy it, and I'll watch while it's dubbing since it isn't likely I would have watched otherwise. I'm glad now I'm going to see it.

FJL · « **Reply #49 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:46:04 AM »

Ron - If you're excited about the thought of possibly having a brother (your post yesterday

), you're gonna be freaked out when I finally get that photo of me at 29 posted as my avatar. If not freaked out, then at least amused. Same expression and everything.

Or maybe one day when there's an HHW Separated at Birth (only a few years apart).

Matt H. · « **Reply #50 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:47:21 AM »

I just noticed I have gone over 15,000 posts. Wow! I've had busy fingers. Glad to be in the same company as bk and DR JRand.

FJL · « **Reply #51 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:47:30 AM »

Can you be separated at birth, but just a few years apart?

vixmom · « **Reply #52 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:48:53 AM »

Especially for you FJL!!!

Quote

Here are nine of the funniest, though not recommended, tax-trimming attempts that clients have taken to CPAs across the country.

My son, my dog
Disc jockeys typically don't make much money and save even less. A few years ago, one approached Wyoming CPA Mike Lovelett for some free advice.

"I've got this problem, and I'm really starting to get nervous about it," the DJ said. "Several years ago, I was going to owe some tax, so I put an extra deduction on my tax return."

Well, reasoned Lovelett, managing director of Lovelett, Skogen & Associates in Casper, it couldn't be that bad. Then the DJ explained: "I put my dog on as a dependent." The radio personality had deducted his dog Red all these years, allowing him to escape owing the IRS on those particular returns.

But, unfortunately for the DJ and all other pet owners, claiming a dog or cat or any other furry family member is definitely disallowed by the tax laws.

And then there's:

Sex and the city: Then there was the client who approached Manhattan CPA Marc Albaum about a very personal tax matter. "He had made some money being a sperm donor and wanted to know if he could take a depletion allowance," Albaum recalls. "I told him he really needed to be an oil well or something like that."

Playing with fire: Herb Wakeford, a CPA in Raleigh, N.C., recalls a Pittsburgh furniture-store owner who, after years of trying unsuccessfully to sell his business, hired an arsonist to torch the place. The insurance company paid off to the tune of $500,000, which the owner dutifully reported on his income tax return. However, along with taking the proper deductions for the building, its contents and the usual business expenses, he also deducted a $10,000 "consulting fee" he had paid the arsonist. An IRS audit two years later landed them both in jail. The IRS disallowed the "consulting fee" and slapped on $6,500 in additional taxes, penalties and interest.

What, not the Barcalounger? Then there was the client who insisted on deducting the cost of his television and cable service, against his accountant's advice. "His reasoning was that he was a Spanish teacher at school, and the only reason he bought the TV and had the cable was for the Spanish channels so he could be able to teach his students better," Howard says. "I told him, 'Well now, not too many people out there can deduct the cost of their TV and cable, but if you can get away with it, knock yourself out.'"

Fun with livestock, Part I: Back when the Society of Louisiana CPAs manned a tax hot line, few inquiries stumped them. But Al Suffrin, SLCPA's communications and public relations director, recalls one that did: "We took a call from an ostrich farmer in St. Tammany Parish who called in to find out how to go about depreciating an ostrich," he says. Strange as it sounds, you can depreciate an ostrich or any other livestock, as long as it's used for breeding.

Fun with livestock, Part II: Which brings us to the tale of the crusty old Texas rancher who insisted upon accompanying his CPA, Raymond Lott of Lott, Vernon & Company of Killeen, to the rancher's first tax audit. When the rancher's tax depreciation schedule listed 15 or 20 animals as breeding stock, the no-nonsense young IRS agent challenged the old cowboy. "I presume you breed these animals?" she asked pointedly. Without hesitation, the rancher replied, "Nope," sending his CPA into mild tachycardia. After a sufficient pause, the rancher finished the popular Texas joke, "I've got a bull for that."

Go fish: There was a time when deductions were as plentiful as dinner mints. "Many years ago when I was a young clerk, a local CPA kept a very large glass bowl filled with receipts in his office," says Nancy Reynolds of Reynolds & Associates in Naples, Fla. "If a client came in and was a little shy of deductions, they merely dipped into the bowl and helped themselves to some of those glorious deductions."

Sic him, Fido: Sometimes deductions seem so logical they just have to be legal. "I had a guy come in one time wanting to know if he could deduct the cost of his dog food. His reasoning was that his dog was security for his house, therefore the dog food became a security expense," Howard says. "I kind of liked that one. The IRS loves that stuff."

And finally:

He works in mysterious ways
And when all other loopholes seem closed, sometimes only a higher power can help.

One fine February, a rookie tax accountant completed a slam-dunk return for one of the firm's old and trusted clients and turned it in to his boss, says Mary Anne Petesch, a CPA with Hagen Kurth Perman and Co. of Seattle. There followed several loud whoops of laughter from the partner's office.

It seems the client had accidentally lost his dentures when they fell in the toilet and had claimed them on his taxes as an act-of-God casualty loss.

Matt H. · « **Reply #53 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:57:09 AM »

Heading down now to clean up and run some in-town errands. I will try to return a little later before I head out of town later this afternoon.

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #54 on:** April 07, 2006, 08:00:14 AM »

BK, I saw SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN on the big screen when it first came out years ago. I found it a dreadful bore then and have never watched it since.

TOD

DVD: Counsellor at Law starring John Barrymore
CD: Buddy Clark CD and Gene Pitney

Tonight I will probably watch Heller in Pink Tights.

S. Woody White · « **Reply #55 on:** April 07, 2006, 08:10:14 AM »

Quote from: FJL on April 07, 2006, 07:47:30 AM

Can you be separated at birth, but just a few years apart?

Don't remind the mother, she'll tell you about every detail given half the chance!

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #56 on:** April 07, 2006, 08:14:45 AM »

Quote from: DearReaderLaura on April 07, 2006, 07:13:08 AM

I make that mistake myself sometimes.

I think we all do.

PennyO · « **Reply #57 on:** April 07, 2006, 08:18:17 AM »

Good morning, all. Another mild, almost-warm spring day here. Nothing in any of my electronic devices here at the loft... as you might suppose from my difficulty the other day in uploading a new pic, I haven't figured out how these various media players work. Oh, well. Gives me lots of time to read.

Speaking of which - 3 short blocks away from this building is a brand new LA Public Library! Just around the corner from the community center/pool/health club. So after my workout yesterday, I went to the library and took out three books - DOUBT, the Pulitzer winning play by John Patrick Shanley; Christine Jette's book about Tarot; and The Collected Plays of Neil Simon, Volume IV. And I have continued to enjoy the Natalie Goldberg book I started 2 days ago: Wild Mind.

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #58 on:** April 07, 2006, 08:19:45 AM »

Quote from: FJL on April 07, 2006, 07:46:04 AM

Ron - If you're excited about the thought of possibly having a brother (your post yesterday ), you're gonna be freaked out when I finally get that photo of me at 29 posted as my avatar. If not freaked out, then at least amused. Same expression and everything.

Or maybe one day when there's an HHW Separated at Birth (only a few years apart).

I am really looking forward to it!

As a kid in South Carolina, we used to tell the "younger" kids stories about how we all had "Yankee twins" and that if we didn't mind our manners we'd find ourselves being replaced (i.e. switched).

We were used to northern (non-Southern) accents because of all the textile industry in our town, but we'd tell the little ones that in the north, people would poke fun at them if they were switched.

It passed the time....

PennyO · « **Reply #59 on:** April 07, 2006, 08:20:11 AM »

LOVE the tax-deduction stories, above. I, myself, have gotten creative with that stuff, from time to time.. but it IS way easier to deduct odd stuff, if you're an actor or performing artist - which is its own catagory in the Profession code check box...

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Author Topic: THE WEEK THAT FLEW BY (Read 10853 times)

FJL

FJL

FJL