6 minute read
Y our Money
Your Money There’s an App for That
By Allan Rolnick, CPA
President Trump’s war on TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing app that’s loaded with more spyware than James Bond’s latest car, illustrates just how ubiquitous those programs have become in our lives. Apple offers 2.2 million apps in their iStore. Apps help you do everything, from setting an alarm to wake you up in the morning to generating white noise to help you fall asleep at night. In between, you can use your phone to manage your money, order up dinner, buy movie tickets, track your workout, and watch Monday Night Football.
Of course, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So clever developers have also loaded up the iStore with apps like Harmonica (pop your iPhone in your mouth and blow like Dylan), Sausage Legend (combat to the death, except with sausages), and Yo (text “yo” to anyone on your contact list). Frankly, we’re a bit surprised no one from the MacArthur Foundation has called those developers with their genius grants.
Naturally, there are apps to help with taxes. TurboTax and H&R Block let you file the simplest returns right from your phone. The IRS has an app that lets you request records, check your refund, and follow the
service on social media. And some apps even help you pay less — which brings us to this week’s story about an app called Monaeo.
People who pay a lot of tax often have more than one home. What happens if one is in a high-tax state like New York or California, and the other is someplace with no income tax like Florida or Nevada? If you spend too much time in the hightax state, you can wind up owing tax there — even if your primary residence, your drivers’ license, and your voter registration are all somewhere else.
Enter the world of tax-residency audits. Imagine sitting down with a state tax auditor and scrambling to produce calendar records, plane tickets, and folders full of receipts to prove where you were! You might agree to pay the tax just to end the torture.
That’s where Monaeo comes in. For just $79/month, Monaeo automatically logs your phone’s physical location and records your city, state,
and country. (It won’t log street addresses, which should reassure users who want some privacy while they’re paying less.) You can share access with your accountant, lawyer, or personal assistant. You can generate reports for years at a time. You can set up alerts to warn you when you’re approaching your limit in any particular place. You can even pull in supporting data from EZ-Pass toll records or office building keycard swipes.
State tax audits can have pricey consequences. Actor Tom Hanks lives in LA’s chic Pacific Palisades, but also has a pied-a-terre in New York. The National Enquirer reported in 2013 that he walked the plank early on the New York Film Festival premiere of Captain Phillips to avoid wasting one of his 183 allowable “New York days.” (If you can’t trust the National Enquirer to deliver hard-hitting tax coverage, who can you?) In another case, the New York Division of Tax Appeals ruled that when Match.com’s new CEO took his rescue dog with him to Dallas, it meant the move was official.
We understand that when it comes to helping you save taxes, help comes from all directions — and we welcome it with all. So next time you glance down at your phone — which most Americans do every 12 minutes — remember we’re here working on your behalf. Text us with your questions, and enjoy the savings!
Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.
Life C ach
Time to Tweak your Narrative
By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., MFT, CLC
It’s all about your narrative!
After all, most people don’t really like an “I’m sorry scene” that lasts more than 10 minutes; It can be so awkward and uncomfortable. ...And on these 10 Days of Repentance we are asked to do it over a 10- day period.
But how about if you think of it as an opportunity for a “do over”? A chance to make an experience or outcome turn out differently. Now, that we’d take any day of the week or even every day.
So what’s the difference?
With “I’m sorry,” we feel at fault, sort of called out for our behavior. With a “do over,” it’s as if the first event never even happened. But if we learned nothing from the original event, might we just repeat it exactly the same way?
Doesn’t it help to remember we did “it” – whatever that “it” was – and then rethink how we can do it differently?
Therein enters the 10 Days of Repentance!
It’s not a beat-yourself-up time. Not a time to say, “I’m a walking disaster.”
Rather, it’s a time to say, “Now that I’ve got a chance for a sparkly clean slate, how am I going to learn from my past and show up differently this time around?!”
Could you just picture this: here it comes. The big pitch has been thrown. He winds up. He takes it back. He’s got his eye on the ball. He’s moving forward. He suddenly gets distracted. He loses focus, and…he strikes out!
Hey, wait! There’s a sudden miracle, the ump calls for a “do over.” The batter goes up again, and he goes through the exact same motions, then he gets distracted again, and boom same exact mistake gets made, and he strike out – once again!
Did he focus on the opportunity to look at his previous hit and show up differently?! What if he had a day to watch the replay, might he have done better? How about if he had 10 days?
There’s the narrative. We’ve got 10 whole days to figure it out. To look at the past, rethink it, and decide what we can do to show up better. Or shall we say, show up a focused batter!
So why 10?
Well, everyone knows that 10 stands for the perfect score in a performance. We can truly “gold medal” this by putting all our energy into it.
Some may think of it as 10 days of running around trying to do good deeds to up your score. And many would be happy to be the recipient of these efforts, I’m sure. But, more importantly, it’s the “pre-do over” time. Because you have the whole year ahead, hopefully, to do all those good deeds. Therefore, at this time of repentance, you want to create a perspective on who you are. Not the downtrodden, I-messed-up you who
lives in the space of I’m sorry and wants to run from the shame. But the I-can-be-awesome you, who can look at the replay and do it better this time around!
So, get out there and bat a thousand in the replay review department. Because that’s a 10 in anyone’s book!
And may it be so in the Book of Life for you this Yom Kippur!
Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.
