...the dopamine reward system.

https://guysandgoodhealth.com/2013/08/01/what-is-the-value-of-hugging/

The National Institute of Health’s News in Health publication reported that “Oxytocin makes us feel good when we’re close to family and other loved ones, including pets.  It does this by acting through what scientists call the dopamine reward system.  Dopamine is a brain chemical that plays a crucial part in how we perceive pleasure….

“Oxytocin does more than make us feel good. It lowers the levels of stress hormones in the body, reducing blood pressure, improving mood, increasing tolerance for pain and perhaps even speeding how fast wounds heal.  It also seems to play an important role in our relationships.  It’s been linked, for example, to how much we trust others.”

Hot Button for Fraud and Audit - Education Credits

If you are receiving the refundable American Opportunity Credit, please make sure the student on your return meets the requirements: these include being enrolled at least half time in an accredited program leading towards a degree or certificate.   Some tax preparers will try to win your favor by getting you a larger refund.  If it sounds too good to be true then... 

Remember you are ultimately responsible for the tax owed.

Q20. What if the student’s return was incorrectly prepared and filed by a professional tax preparer?

A. The IRS urges you to choose a tax preparer wisely. You are legally responsible for what’s on your tax return, even if it is prepared by someone else. For more information, read IRS’ Tips for Choosing A Tax Return Preparer.

Q4. How much is the American opportunity tax credit worth?

A. It is a tax credit of up to $2,500 of the cost of tuition, fees and course materials paid during the taxable year. Also, 40% of the credit (up to $1,000) is refundable. This means you can get it even if you owe no tax.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/American-Opportunity-Tax-Credit:-Questions-and-Answers

Is the web getting smarter?

Will your next internet browser learn your interests and be somewhat of a personal assistant to you?  Taking into account your current location, your previous likes and a complex sentence you enter, your browser may be able to personalize your search results.  Interpreting the context of your request is on the horizon with browser technology.  TiVO and Pandora are currently providing individualized content based on user input on a very limited scale, Web 3.0 looks to take this technology and apply it to the entire web.  Planning a vacation could become much less time consuming once this technology matures.  No more spending hours to locate a good deal on a destination, flight, and hotel, 3.0 technology will gather and analyze the data for you based on the parameters you state.  Experts disagree on how this new technology will be implemented, however, it is certain that it is forthcoming.  The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, describes this potential reality as the Semantic Web.  Utilizing software agents, web crawlers would find metadata that is relative to your search.  Metadata is invisible to the human eye, but easily identified by the computer.  The problem with this future is this code would require more complex writing and would take more time to complete.  Please refer to, “How Web 3.0 Will Work” for more in depth exploration of this topic. (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-304.htm)

We will continue to receive a better user experience as this technology matures.  The ever-evolving internet environment will continue to change how individuals interact and how businesses market themselves.  Interactive marketing may be the next wave of business growth opportunity.  Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL) are semantic technologies that will help computers recognize relationships and provide relevant results to user queries.  The whitepaper, “Web 3.0: Its Promise and Implications for Consumers and Business” published by Verizon enterprise provides an in depth exploration of this topic.  (http://www.verizonenterprise.com/resources/whitepapers/wp_web-3-0-promise-and-implications_en_xg.pdf)

the following appeared in the Wall Street Journal:

"The Treasury Department has named the 560 individuals who either renounced U.S. citizenship or gave in their green cards in the third quarter. The total for the year so far is 2,369, a 33% increase on the previous record number of taxpayer repatriations. Freddi Weintraub at law firm Fragomen Worldwide suggested, as well as being due to higher income and estates taxes in 2013, the exodus is also due to tougher law enforcement; FATCA comes into effect in 2014, which requires foreign financial institutions to report information about U.S. taxpayers to the IRS. Since 2009 over 38,000 people have paid $5.5bn in back taxes due from undisclosed offshore accounts, and it is thought that the same sum again is yet to be paid."

Home-Based Business CPA Explains Tax Benefits

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If you are not planning on filing your own taxes this tax season, choose a preparer you can trust.

Choose a preparer who is knowledgeable about deductions you may qualify for so that you will pay the least possible amount of tax.


Choose a preparer that will be there for all of your tax and accounting needs year-round.

I chose these photos to represent various aspects of the decision to higher a qualified professional for your tax preparation needs.  Most people who have a pool in their backyard could clean the pool themselves and even find out what the correct chemical balance should be so that they could then put forth the effort to maintain that balance.  Do they want to take the time to clean and maintain their pool themselves or perhaps their time is better spent on other aspects of their life.  I could compare the decision to hire a tax professional to how to handle a home repair; will you decide to DIY, hire a handyman, or spend the extra money for a licensed contractor.  You do get what you pay for and you must decide what results you want. 

Contemporaneous Mileage Log REQUIRED for Mileage Deduction

The IRS does not allow deductions for estimates of mileage.  Mileage records must be meticulously maintained.  The preferred method of maintaining mileage records is in a mileage log or calendar.  This documentation of mileage must be made contemporaneously in order to be accepted by the IRS, not reconstructed at a later date if you happen to be audited.  Only legitimate business purpose miles are deductible.  No matter your profession, commuting miles are never deductible. 

Commuting is the distance traveled between your home and your regular place of work.  These commuting miles are never deductible regardless of your method of transportation.  In order to deduct business miles you must be driving for business purposes outside of your regular commute.  If you have a qualified home office and this home office is your primary place of business then you may deduct driving from your home to meet with clients.  If you have a regular office outside of your home, you may deduct the travel from your regular office to your client meetings. 

If you have no regular office and no qualified home office, the location of your first business contact is treated as your commute and then the additional business miles for that day will be deductible, minus the drive home.  Mileage between your last business stop and your home are also considered commuting miles.  Therefore, if you only went to one business location per day, you would have no deductible mileage.

There are many apps available for smart phones that can help you track your mileage unless you prefer the old fashioned paper log book.  Just remember you must include the business purpose of the meeting along with the name, date location and total business miles no matter what method of tracking you choose.  

You must also document your total miles driven throughout the year, you must have an odometer reading for the beginning of the year or the date you place your vehicle in service for the tax year and an ending mileage for the tax year or date you dispose of the vehicle.  It is best to have an odometer reading from an external source such as a repair shop.  Try to get your oil changed, tires rotated, or smog checked as close to the first of the year as possible. 

This business mileage deduction can really add up at the 2013 standard mileage deduction rate of 56.5 cents per mile.  If you choose to use the actual expense method, you still need to maintain this mileage log because only the percentage of business use of your vehicle qualifies for this actual expense deduction. This deduction can be a substantial business expense.  If you only drive 100 miles per week for business, that is almost a $3,000 deduction.  How much do you drive for business?  Is it worth the few minutes it takes to document?