Dear Family,

Since it's my birthday this weekend, I have a present for you - your own virtual greeting cards to play with.

You can trick your family, friends and business associates into thinking you're considerate and you remembered their birthdays and anniversaries. Just set up all your cards every two months - and you'll look so good!

Did you see this week's West Wing? (Come on my friends, you must - you'll be tested on it each Friday.)

Most IRS proposed regulations don't get much attention. But the one they issued this week will. It's about offering you the opportunity to put some or all of your 401(k) contributions into ROTH-IRAs. I touched on just the surface of these issues in this week's MarketWatch article. Click here.

And speaking of IRS - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the tax code has to be simplified. (No kidding?!) 

In response, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson simplified taxes to their lowest common denominator - donuts. If Johnny gets one doughnut and Bobby gets two, how many will there be? (none, silly - they'll be eaten!) What, you don't think IRS has a sense of humor?

Oh, that reminds me - several of you loved learning about IRS's EFTPS program last week. If you haven't read about it - please do. And sign up now, even if you're not sure you're going to use. There's no obligation to use it once you sign up - but if you need to pay IRS quickly for anything, it will be there waiting for you.

A couple of things I learned from this week's questions to TaxMama (both those that are posted here and those that aren't).

1) Please get advice BEFORE you take any financial actions! Afterwards, it's usually too late.

2) Don't prepare your own tax return if you have a business or rentals - especially if you have a home office. It's MUCH cheaper to pay a professional who will get it right. Even the best programs can't prevent you from doing amazingly dumb things.

The truth is, some of the self-prepared tax returns I've seen have people doing things on them that no tax analyst who develops the software could ever imagine. So, it's really hard to build in protections. You can't imagine just how imaginative real people can be - in all my years doing taxes, I could never have dreamed up some of these scenarios.

But if you are going to do it yourself, Turbo Tax is one of your best options. I know some of the people behind it - and they have done a great job of trying to interview you within the program, as if you were meeeting with a tax pro.

But please, please, please, if you ARE going to prepare your own tax return, please read the book before you do. Small Business Taxes Made Easywill help you get your records in order and to arrive at the right amounts, before you try to plug them into the software. AND if you follow the guidelines, your records will also be in good shape if you ever get audited.

That's it for now. Time to build my March To Do List - you'll find it on MarketWatch on Monday.

Best wishes,
Eva Rosenberg, EA
Your TaxMama is watching...out for you.

President Bush and Social Security
If you want to express your own opinion on Social Security to President Bush and your legislator's, please feel free to use the link at the bottom of this letter.