By Melissa Clary

It seems as though people will do anything to try and decrease their tax liability. Here is a list of 10 deductions that taxpayers were certain that they could write off;

1. No receipts from above - Putting a few bills into the church offering plate got a client of 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 different 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.”

2. Silence is golden … and deductible - Since we’re on the subject of charitable deductions, Allyson Baumeister, CPA, of had a prominent client who found a creative solution to a chronically noisy next door neighbor: He bought the house from the fellow, 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,” says Baumeister.

3. He took Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, too - When accounting software was in its infancy, a rookie CPA 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.

4. But you can write off the pimp hat - When does an entertainment expense exceed IRS criteria? Ed Mendlowitz, CPA had 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 the so-called contractor with a Form 1099 to support this business expense, the client declined to do so and dropped the whole idea.

5. 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.”

6. What are you, an Indy driver? New Jersey CPA Elihu Katzman couldn’t believe this deduction: “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 in one year. We asked him if he had any time to sleep, in that he must have spent most of the day and night driving.”

7. The $50,000 business meeting - Imagine a tax preparer’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. The preparer questioned the client and he said, ‘Well, I threw a party for my clients. And the tax preparer said, ‘You didn’t invite me?’ Anyway, they started discussing the expense and the client informed the preparer that the cost was for his daughter’s wedding. But he did invite all his clients. However, he was not allowed to write off his daughter’s wedding.

8. The joys of being a parent – Clients are constantly asking their tax preparers if they can write off loans that they gave 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.

9. Inflating your assets - The story that is consistently brought up at CPA classes is where the topless dancer got breast implants and wrote them off as a business deduction. The IRS challenged her, it went to tax court and she won.

10. Tax Benefits of Being Blind – This one is an old favorite. The government is going to give you a break if you are blind. Just check the box on line 39A. Huh? You are BLIND! Obviously, the idea is you are having someone else do the tax return, but it is still pretty funny at first glance.
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Melissa Clary, CPA is a partner of the Colorado-based C.P.A. Firm Kruger & Clary. For details on their firms services visit http://www.krugercpas.com/

Visit the Good Business Blog to learn more from Melissa and other Good Business Experts.

by Anne Alexander

Let’s say you’re the CFO of a real estate development company in Houston.

Let’s say you and your team has been working their tails off for many months.

Let’s say it’s an absolutely gorgeous spring day, in the low 70’s, no humidity.

Well, if you’re like this client of mine (who gave me permission to share this story), you’ll get a “wild hair” and close up shop for the afternoon and take everyone to the zoo!

My client, let’s call her “Jane,” and 14 of her staff went on a spur of the moment “field trip” to the zoo. They had an absolute ball! After all, it’s not every work day you get to pet four inch cockroaches and ride a carousel with your colleagues.

Jane also gave some funds to a few of her staffers to buy animal toy gifts from the gift shop. The next day everyone got one of these as a memento for their desk to help them remember the fun they had.

This little outing gave her staff a huge morale boost. They had a great time and got to connect with each other on a personal level. Jane used to do more of this when her staff was smaller, but like many of us, over the years, some of those good habits had slipped.

The next morning, her staff came to her office and gave her flowers and a thank you card. One of them commented that “you throw the best staff meetings!”

If you have a staff, when was the last time you celebrated with them, maybe even for “no good reason”? If you work solo, you still need to get out and have some fun, refresh yourself with something out of the ordinary.

In The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, one of the best selling leadership books of all time (and my leadership bible), one of the five leadership practices is called “encourage the heart” and one of the two corollary commitments of that practice is to “celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community.”

This is exactly what Jane was doing last week when she took her team to the zoo.

“Community may not be the stuff of ordinary organizations, but it is the stuff of great ones, ones with strong cultures,” said Kouzes and Posner.

What can you do this week to celebrate your company culture and your team?

See you at the zoo!

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Anne Alexander, president of Authentic Alternatives, Inc., based in Fort Collins, CO, works with business owners and managers all over the U.S. to develop strategies and systems that dramatically increase their bottom line profits. Visit the Good Business Blog to read more articles from Anne and other Good Business Experts!

By Ryan Swadley

Everyone knows there are plenty of ways to reach a customer today. But why reach a customer online? Today you either have a website or have no window to the outside world. Consumers of today increasingly don’t read newspapers, watch TV, and have limited attention spans. If you have kids you probably know they are lucky to even know what the yellow pages are. Not having a good web presence today is the modern day equivalent of not having a phone number for your business. How will your customers reach you when they are ready to make a purchase?

More and more customers are starting to look for information online and for good reason.

It’s Convenient - It can be done at your own leisure. Whether consumers are shopping for a better dentist or a better hair salon they can look at other opinions and read reviews.
It’s Fast- It can be done without the hassle of driving around and going from store to store. With gas prices skyrocketing there is no wonder why.
Social- Many consumers today still want to make sure that their friends approve of their purchases.
Trusted in Numbers- Whether it is true or not consumers still tend to think “that if everybody is doing it” or “wearing that brand” “eating at that restaurant” then it has to be good.
According to Business Week, December 17th 2007

69% of Consumers will research a planned purchase online, prior to making a store purchase.

62% of Consumers will seek online peer reviews for planned purchases prior to making store purchases.

So just exactly what is a planned purchase? A planned purchase may be a new car, High Definition television, a plumbing service, new golf clubs, a health membership and the list goes on.

Today’s consumers are increasingly migrating to social network sites and seeking peer feedback for many decisions in their life on places such as: MySpace, Facebook, Ning!, Bebo, Linked In and more. These sites are being used to form the 21st Century’s social gathering places for friends, family members and business professionals to share opinions, gather contacts, create memories watch videos, share digital photos and post their current likes and dislikes.

It is the new marketers challenge to connect into this new wave of consumers on their own turf.

Particularly, with the Millenials the ages born from 1982-2002 as they have more or less grew up around technology their whole lives.

Just how much buying power do these milllennials have?

According to Kelly Mooney President & Chief Experience Offer from Resource Interactive

What is the exponential dollar power of the digital millennials?

$200 billion in annual direct spending power, 15%-17% spent online, and “co-purchasing” influence on the buying decisions of America’s households.

How much do the digital millennials influence household purchases?

81% of clothing and apparel purchases
77% of groceries purchases
76% of movie, video, DVD purchases
69% of video games and systems purchases
68% of computer purchases
66% of cell phone and computer software purchases…

So how does your business tap into this elusive audience?

The answers for doing this are not necessarily so obvious and various ways are being deployed by some of today’s top brand’s in different companies today using wikis, Facebook Applications, Google Gadgets, blogging and more. One thing they all have in common is one goal of creating enough buzz and awareness that they create a campaign that spreads on the Internet like wild-fire.

What is the Exact Formula for Success?

While no one has figured out the exact formula as of now the search is still on for the right way to reach this coveted new demographic. Either way, the message is clear the new customer is here to stay and the more your business continues to adapt to the way these millennials communicate the more likely you are to succeed. The challenge for business owners will not only be to reach the consumer of tomorrow but to turn them into “the new consumer of today.”

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Ryan Swadley is the Chief Executive Officer of Paladin Inc. an award winning digital communications firm specializing in web development and leveraging new media marketing channels. He is also a consecutive top ten finalist in the technology category for the Indy’s Best and Brightest award for Business Executives under the age of 40 in 2006 and 2007. Visit: http://www.paladin3d.com/ to learn more.

As you can tell by now, I love the mixture between sports and business. For in many ways, they both require very similar characteristics and disicipline to be the best! So, here’s a clip of Philadelphia 76ers Owner Pat Croce. There are 3 or 4 clips here, but I particularly want you to pay close attention to the first one.

How many times a day do you use the word should? Every time you use that word and not do it, is a time when another hungry, passionate and driven competitor is note saying - they’re doing! How committed are you toward being the best? Everyday that goes by where your committment level is less than 100% is a day wasted. You “should” commit 100% today and every day or save everyone a whole lot of grief and do something you will commit yourself to, because you believe in yourself enough to do it.

There you have it - right between the eyeballs! Take action today and knock the should out of your vocabulary forever.

Jeff Levin
Online Entrepreneur
Founder of GrowthPOD.com
The I Promote You. You Promote Me! Network
www.growthpod.com</b>