BulldogTom

I think you might be making more out of this than you need to. If you give money at church to a designated missions fund, or a special benevolence offering, do you question the deductibility of the contribution? If the check is not going directly to them, and the organization is a legitimate charity, I don't see a problem with supporting a ministry that sends specific people to do the work of the charity. Another example - Christian Childrens Fund. They tell you who they are sending the money to. It goes directly for that child's benefit. Does that void the charitable contribution. There may be more than what you have posted to this story, but on its surface, I don't see where there is a problem with the contributor taking a charitable ccontribution deduction. Tom Lodi, CA

Be careful with that program, as CurrentWife1.0 is an antivirus program that causes multiple problems for Rich Boyfriend 1.0. Current Wife 1.0 has many additional applications at her disposal, including Private Investigator 24.7, Divorce Lawyer 100K, and Joint Accounts 2.1. These are particulary nasty programs that will convert Rich Boyfriend 1.0 into Why Are You Stalking Me 1.0 and will make the program I Still Love My Wife 9.0 run in a continuous loop until Rich Boyfriend 1.0 is uninstalled on every operating system attached to the WWW. Tom Lodi, CA

OK, don't tell my wife I posted this...... Because wife did not upgrade to enhanced support, she only got the KB canned response to her question from an Indian call center. Had she upgraded support, she would have gotten a live, American Male technical support manager giving her the best technical advice for her particular situation. Here is the advanced support response. Wife needs to install CleanHouse3.1 along with BunsOfSteel6.9 on her own operating system. It would not hurt if she also installed HowtoMassageEgo4.0 and remembered to run program PerfectMakeupAndHair1.0 daily. Finally, if she were also to run FootMassage5.1 and BackRub2.0 on a regular basis, she would find that Husband1.0 makes BiologicalClock9.0 keep perfect time. By following these simple steps, the operating systems of Husband and Wife will actually communicate with each other. Tom (senior support manager) Lodi, CA

KC, I have not been on the board for a few days, but I too add my belated prayers. May God bless and heal Don, and give you comfort right now. I know God is still in the miracle business, and if enough of His people will pray, His heart can be moved to intervene. May He move in your life right now. Tom Lodi, CA

Would love to help you out, but the commute would be a little tough on the fuel budget. Tom Lodi, CA

Jainen is buying, the bar is open, and all of you are invited.

I can make that happen. I don't know a lot of places in Sac to meet, but if you can pick something along I-5, I am sure I can find it. Or, if you don't mind, we can meet in Elk Grove. I know lots of places because that is where I work. I think we should invite Jainen and stick him with the check. Tom Lodi, CA

I sent you a PM in response to your note to me. Did you get it? You can call me at 916-686-3700 ext 102. I am usually here 7AM-4PM. Lunch from 12-1PM. Tom Lodi, CA

As my hair is less than 1/4 inch long, I think I would have to wait until it grows out. Even then, I could not get the full mohawk because of "folical deficencies". OK, who knows all the characters. MR. T was BA. There was a guy named FACE. I forget what the leader was named, but I think George Preppard played the role. I think there were 1 or 2 others. Jainen will know. He brought it up. Tom Lodi, CA

Does that make me Mr. T ? If so, I need to make a trip to the jewlery store. Tom Lodi, CA

Jainen, I had my conference with the IRS appeals officer this morning on the 1099R issue on the disability withdrawal and the 10% penalty. In my response letter to the Appeals Officer, I focused on the Admin Law Judge ruling for 2 pages and made a passing reference to Rideaux in one paragraph on the last page. Our conference call this morning lasted a total of 3 minutes, just long enough for her to explain she did not have a case on point and would allow the exception to the additional tax. Thank you so much for your assistance on this. Rideaux was a very good case, and I did not find it until you pointed it out. Your advice was spot on as ususal. I wanted you to know that I really value your input on this board. You are appreciated. Tom Lodi, CA

The problem with commercially grown strawberries is they need to gas and ship them. You can't pick fruit at the most sweet stage because it will not make the shipping journey. That is why your local fruit usually tastes better. I worked in produce for many years. I used to go out to the packing house and take the fruit off the cull line for myself, even though I could take any box of fruit I wanted. I took a box of culled nectarines to my mom one time, and she just raved over how fantastic they were, and how she never tasted better. Then I told her this was the fruit we send to the dairy to feed the cows. She did not believe me. There was nothing wrong with the fruit, except it was too ripe to ship when I pulled it off the cull belt. Now, could you send me some ripe pineapples? The green crap they sell here in CA I won't buy. Tom Lodi, CA

Actually, blueberrys are not usually commercially grown in the central valley. They do more up in Oregon and Washington. I think it has to do with the humidity in the air. The central valley is a little to dry and the growing season is too hot for berries, which is why most are grown closer to the coast over in Watsonville, Salinas, Oxnard, and Santa Maria. We do have an early spring and late fall strawberry crop in the valley, but they are mostly commercially grown for juice or the local market because they don't compare to the coastal varieties. Even the Blackberries and Raspberries that do well in the valley are not as good as the commercial varieties from the coast. I am sure you can get better information about the varieties that would do well in your personal garden at a local nursery. I am sorry I can't help you with that one. Tom Lodi, CA

I saw a piece on MSNBC or something like that where the 4 Billion would go to communities to PURCHASE forclosed homes in high forclosure areas. The question was asked, what are these cities/counties going to do with the properties they bought? The answer was to help low income families purchase homes. That was were I got that information. It may not be a requirement, but it is where I understood the 4 Billion was going.

Have you updated adobe lately? It may be that you need a current version. I use pdf factory also and have never had that problem. Tom Lodi, CA

Please excuse my ignorance on this credit. Isn't this the one for home builders or construction companies only? It does not apply to the owner of the building, does it? I started to read the article and got busy and had to leave it. Any quick overview? Tom Lodi, CA

The President signed the bill this morning. Apparently his desire to put 300 Billion into Freddie and Fannie overcame his objection to giving 4 Billion to local communities to buy forclosed homes to use for low income housing programs. So we have a new standard deduction for those with property taxes but not enough deductions for Schedule A. I think this is the only good provision in the bill - oops, I mean law. Tom Lodi, CA

I did not initially think about the Schedule C angle. But I assume it would allocate between office in the home and the 1040 just as it does now with the Schedule A. Any chance Congress will screw up the wording and we get a double dip? Portion allacable to the home office on the C and fully included in the standard deduction on the 1040? Tom Lodi, CA

You have the right to ask for a conference with the audtors supervisor. Put the request in writing. If they don't grant the request, ask for an immediate Notice of Deficiency, file the tax court petition, and you will get to appeals right away. Tom Lodi, CA

Jainen is still one of my favorite "personalities" on this board. When I really want a critical review of my thought process, there is none better. I have whip marks on my ego from him, but I bear them proudly. His help has been invaluable, and he dispenses it to all of us without bias. I hope he never stops coming to this board. Tom Lodi, CA

I assume Jack and Jainen are pulling my leg. I understand that the law has not been signed yet, but the President has indicated he will sign the bill. This was just one provision that I did not hear about during the debate on the bill, and I was seeking comment. I wonder how long it takes Jainen to come up with these responses, because that one was pretty good. I had to read it twice before I came to the conclusion that he was typing "tongue in cheek". Tom Lodi, CA

I was just reading up on the new housing bill and read that Congress has increased the Standard Deduction for people who pay property taxes but don't itemize. The standard deduction increases by the amount of property taxes paid, up to 500 single and 1000 MFJ. Anyone heard how IRS will put this into the tax form? I assume we will have a new box on page 2 of the 1040 that we fill in the amount of property tax? This is a good thing for some of my clients who are just below the standard deduction on schedule A. Tom Lodi, CA

What!!!!!!! I can't beleive this. Jainen, please tell me it is not true!!!!!!!! You, of all people complaining about the government setting standards for what you can eat. Banning food from the table!!! I would think that someone who is from Santa Cruz would be jumping up and down with joy over this one. I mean, really, when the government started setting the level of wages that must be paid, limiting housing rents that can be charged, and taxing "sins" like alcohol and cigarettes, how long did you think it would take until they controlled every segment of your life. Hopefully, they will require a license to procreate next. It is the only area that does not require a tax or a license in the state. That would be a good thing too, don't you think? Tom Lodi, CA

My laptop came from HP and was set up by my local pro for that reason- all the junk removed and the operating system set to match the other two workstations that they built for me. They are an authorized reseller for HP, so I got the same deal I would have gotten from HP on the laptop from anywhere else. They could have built me one, but the price would have been more than the HP. But my pro knew what I was doing, and set everything up to work together seamlessly. Since I am not that techie, I was very happy. Tom Lodi, CA

I like the local pro building it the way I want it method also. Had 2 desktops and an HP laptop built for me by my pro. They all work seamlessly together, and I don't have a ton of extra software popping up telling me it is time to renew or register or buy life insurance....you get the idea. If I was going to buy something off the shelf, I would go Dell. They do a great job. We have them at my day job. The bigger you are, the better the deals. We buy 30 laptops at a time from them, so it may not be the best comparison for a small business, but they are great to us. Tom Lodi, CA