Dear Family,

News Flash! TaxMama left her living room!

Yes my friends, I finally ventured out of the house. Amazing, there is still a world out there. And what a world!

I came face to face with the nicest people. Old friends, and new...and newer yet.

My buddy Rudy was supposed to be on vacation this week, but he cashed it in and sent the money off to help the Hurricane Katrina victims.

Rochelle, who was supposed to be on her way to Israel this week, cancelled the trip and has gone off to join her sister in Texas and drive in to disaster zone to help out.

This is just a little of the love and kindness I found in people during this time of crisis. The United States has never faced the displacement of so many people at one time.

People are opening their homes to victims, driving into the area and inviting folks to stay with them until they can get back on their feet. Friends and family are bringing family members to their homes until they can find new jobs and new homes in other towns.

In San Diego, one philanthropist filled up an entire airplane with much-needed supplies - and brought back a plane-load of refugees.

As in any time of crisis, like the one on 9-11, Americans are demonstrating a wonderful capacity for love and generosity. Even IRS is helping out. You'll see a couple of announcements about easing up of tax filing and payment deadlines for relief workers helping out during this disaster. There's also a Congressional push to ease the tax burden on 401(k) and IRA withdrawals - although IRS has offered some minimal benefits for now. Read today's IRS News.

And speaking of San Diego, I met the nicest tax professionals at the join CSEA/CSTC meeting. We had a lot of fun talking about the tax implications of doing business on the Internet...and about how many more people are doing business online than they realized, including themselves.

It was also such a treat to meet one of my EA Exam students, Jan Morse and her associate, Roger Garay, EA. It's much better in person.

Those folks who spent the summer with me, studying for the EA exam (coming up next week), devoted nearly 90 hours to class time this summer PLUS all the extra homework and study time on their own and with their buddies - all the while, having to keep up their jobs or tax practices, and to care for their families. It's a huge sacrifice and time commitment. You are my heroes!

And then there's BizRadio host Brent Clanton. He called to have me talk about the upbeat side of the disaster - the tax benefits available to Hurricane Katrina victims. Well, though we barely scratched the surface, it did get me thinking about ways to improve the tax benefits. The research turned up a great idea I've never seen anyone write about. When I mentioned the idea to Steve, my MarketWatch editor, he wanted the article. So,...be patient. It will appear in the Tax Watch column either later today, or next week. (I ran this by my friends Lucie and Jonda at Intuit, unofficially, of course. They see no flaws in the concept, either - and they're really smart. They like it.)

Isn't it interesting how things start a whole train of thoughts and actions? You never know where an innocent phone call can lead.

For those of my clients urgently trying to get my attention, as of Monday, I'm back, working on your returns, full-steam ahead. All the rest of the files I have in-house will be processed and beautiful tax returns will come winging their way to you soon. (Or along the waves of electronic carriers.)

Meanwhile, if you're not in the path of the next hurricane, the weather is gorgeous - go outside before the weather starts to get cold!

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

President Bush and Social Security
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