| A.
R. Kakhsaz Company
an accountancy corporation
Member
American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants
International associates:
Tavana & Co.
Chartered Accountants
Toronto, Canada
Tel.416-229-2221
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SUPER BOWL
CCCLXXXVIII: That's how the 2353 Super Bowl will
be numbered if the NFL is still around. This year's
game is Super Bowl XXXV (or 35). The first few Super
Bowls didn't even use Roman numerals. The numbering
showed up with Super Bowl V in 1971, when then-NFL
Commissioner Pete Rozelle decided they might lend
the annual games an aura of pomp and circumstance.
The first three games weren't known as Super Bowls.
They were called the "World Championship
Game," until one-day, Lamar Hunt, owner of
Kansas City Chiefs, saw his kids bouncing one of
those hyper-springy "super balls" around.
And the rest is history. While a lot of Americans
can't read the Roman numerals, it's striking how
little public defiance the NFL's numerals have
stirred up over the years. Why so many people count
a football game the way the Vatican counts popes?
Say it's a tradition!
THE U.S. ECONOMY HAS SLOWED without much evidence
of a pickup in inflation, says the Federal Reserve.
Real-estate and construction activity in California
remain strong. That's a "soft-lading."
HAVE YOU VISITED OUR WEBSITE LATELY? Go
to: WWW.ARKCPA.COM
TAX LAW COMPLEXITY AND THE IRS's emphasis on
enforcement rather than preventing taxpayer error,
are leading causes of tax troubles experienced by
small businesses, says a report by the General
Accounting Office, a U.S. congressional watchdog
agency.
48% OF H-1B VISA APPROVALS last year were
for applicants born in India. That's the kind of
visa that allows foreigners to enter the U.S. with
permission to work.
THE IRS EXPECTS AN INCREASE OF 20 MILLION in
individual income-tax returns by 2008. More than 125
million of such returns were filed in 1999.
RECORD FEDERAL ESTATE AND GIFT TAXES OF $29
billion were collected in 1999, up more than 4% from
the prior year.
THE AVERAGE U.S. BUSINESS TRAVELER spends
$970 for a domestic trip and $3,455 for an
international trip.
HOUSTON, TEXAS HAS THE WORST AIR QUALITY in
the U.S. The city is embarking on a series of measures
to clean-up its polluting acts.
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THE TAX, DESIGNED FOR THE SUPER-RICH AS enacted
by President Reagan in 1986, now is hitting
the not-so-rich middle-income families. Without
major tax-law changes, 1.5 million people will
be hit by the infamous Alternative Minimum Tax
on their income-tax returns for 2001 and three
million in 2002. That's up sharply from 414,000
in 1995. The AMT law has many flaws that need
to be fixed. Some believe it should be repealed
altogether.
PAY THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TAXES: That's your
right. As it is your tax-accountant's job!
HOLD A NEW $20 OR $100 BILL faceside up and
tilt it toward the light, you'll see that the
numerals "20" or "100" in
the lower right hand corner flip from green to
black. That's an anti-counterfeiting measure
which is the result of using an optical variable
ink. Low-cost, high-tech color copiers, laser
printers and such have made it easier for counterfeiters.
They now have gone beyond just currency bills,
into checks, securities, concert tickets,
motor-oil containers and on.
THE IRS APPEALS DIVISION RECEIVED 58,000 new
cases last year. The division reaches agreement
with taxpayers on about 90% of its cases, says
the IRS.
TOTAL SPENDING ON INFORMATION technology
as of mid-2000 accounted for 5.3% of U.S.
gross domestic product, up from 3% of GDP a
decade ago.
ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR GOT $2.7 MILLION in
damages from the City of Thousand Oaks, California.
The jury's unanimous award was due to the
City's more than a thousand change-orders which
changed so much of the original contract as it
was deemed breached and abandoned by the City.
The contract was awarded in 1992 to Amelco
Electric at $6.2 million. The City paid Amelco
an additional $1 million. But that wasn't enough.
Amelco sued, claiming for $2.2 million more.
THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX IS "a terrible form of
taxation," says U.S. Congressman Bill Archer. It
attracts complexity "just like a magnet draws steel
fillings."
WE SEE
MORE IN NUMBERS than just numbers… We see opportunities for you.
Ali R. Kakhsaz, CPA, MAcc
www.arkpca.com
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