HAPPY NEW YEAR! TIME FOR THE 2014 TAX SEASON KICK OFF!

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to the 2014 Tax Season which will kick off on January 20, 2015.

IRS NEWS From WASHINGTON -- "Following the passage of the extenders legislation, the Internal Revenue Service announced today it anticipates opening the 2015 filing season as scheduled in January.
The IRS will begin accepting tax returns electronically on Jan. 20. Paper tax returns will begin processing at the same time.
The decision follows Congress renewing a number of "extender" provisions of the tax law that expired at the end of 2013. These provisions were renewed by Congress through the end of 2014. The final legislation was signed into law Dec 19, 2014.
"We have reviewed the late tax law changes and determined there was nothing preventing us from continuing our updating and testing of our systems," said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. "Our employees will continue an aggressive schedule of testing and preparation of our systems during the next month to complete the final stages needed for the 2015 tax season."
The IRS reminds taxpayers that filing electronically is the most accurate way to file a tax return and the fastest way to get a refund. There is no advantage to people filing tax returns on paper in early January instead of waiting for e-file to begin.
More information about IRS Free File and other information about the 2015 filing season will be available in January." --PUBLISHED BY THE IRS. For more information, please go to IRS.gov.

There are plenty of new "rules" and "regulations" that should benefit you to know about. Through out this month, I will be updating you on these new laws. Please come back to this blog regularly to receive this information. Please contact me anything if you need this information in advance. Any questions about W2s, 1099s, and any other documents that you will be receiving, please feel free to contact me at anytime through this site or at valerie.chowdhury@gmail.com. In addition, please feel free to give me a call at (213) 820-1513. All tax preparation can also be done over the internet to save time.

"Blue Capris" the Movie

I just finished watching the movie "Blue Capris" on iTunes. The movie stars Isaiah Washington who played the role of "John Mohammed". Isaiah Washington is one of my favorite actors. The movies is about the true story of the "Beltway snipers", or "Washington DC snipers" whose story I remember well (I won't go through the whole synopsis of the movie so those of you who don't remember this event, go look it up on Wikepedia.org).

The movie chronicled the serial killings by John Mohammed and his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, in the Washington DC area back in the early 2000's. The movie was really very slow, but other than that, I really wished the makers of this film had focused more on the lives of some of the victims. The focus was on the crazy and convoluted lives of Mohammed and Malvo.

 I probably would have enjoyed the movie more if it wasn't such a pain to download it on iTunes. Trying to find help regarding this situation, of course, I "Googled" it and found out that many people are going through this situation with iTunes. I kept getting a black screen, and had to reboot my PC several times, as well as uninstall and reinstall iTunes twice. This is the third time I have gone through this with Apple. Three strikes, Apple, and you're out! From now on I'll download and watch movies on my Smartphone from the Android Play Store. You came out with the fingerprint I.D. for the new iPhone, but you can't fix this. Go figure...

Why Are We Putting Up With This Cable Wars Crap?

Why Are We Putting Up With This Time Warner/CBS Wars Bull Crap?

 

 

Of course all of us in the Los Angeles area are familiar with the ongoing war between Time Warner Cable and the CBS station and affiliates (Showtime, KCAL,). Time Warner Cable Dropped CBS from its cable channel because they claim that CBS wants to much money to be able to air its station through Time Warner Cable. CBS, however, claims that the money that it wants Time Warner Cable to pay out is fair for it's market. So, consequently, Time Warner Cable has dropped CBS, Showtime, and KCAL (Channel 9 in Los Angeles. Bye, Bye baseball & Judge Judy) from it's line up. My question is, why are we putting up with this? Here was my solution:

 

I dropped Time Warner cable approximately 3 years ago because it was to expensive ($135 per month). After dropping them, I decided to go with Direct TV. Direct TV, after the initial start up which is the first year of service, started charging me $97 per month. I next switched to DishNetwork thinking that I was going to get a better deal. After one year, I was paying approximately $88.00 per month for just "basic" cable (premium channels excluded). Heck, to me that was still to expensive for the type of entertainment they provided. About 6 months ago, I noticed that my son and I were watching more and more of our movies on our PC's. Also, I became aware that I can get 100% of my favorite TV shows from iTunes (just pay for what you watch), Youtube (free), Netflix ($7.95 per month), Hulu (basic is free. You only pay $7.95 for Hulu+) and if I go to the station websites of my shows (CBS.com, NBC.com, TNT.com, etc), I can watch most full episodes (free) over the internet with no problems.

 

I cancelled my DishNetwork subscription, purchased a digital antenna to be able to receive my local stations and other digital stations and programming. My so called "Bill" to do all this per month is just $7.95 for Netflix only. In this touch economic times, I think this is amazing. Why are we making these Cable TV "suits" rich? Now, it doesn't make sense. From $135 per month to $7.95 I think is pretty good. I don't miss my cable at all because I still get the same programs. Now, when it comes to saving money, I'm no expert. All I can write about is my experience. I would be happy to have your opinions, either pro or con. Thank you for listening.

 

 

Please stay tune daily for other money saving posts.