International associates:

Tavana & Co.
Chartered Accountants
Toronto, Canada
Tel.416-229-2221

• Leaving U.S.? Got IRS permit?
Before leaving the United States
permanently or for an extended
amount of time, all U.S. resident
aliens and nonresident aliens
(with certain exceptions) must
prove they have met all federal tax
requirements.  This is done by
obtaining a tax clearance
document, commonly called a
"sailing permit" or "departure
permit", from the IRS.

• Fraudster Bernie Madoff
Ponzi scheme has raised
numerous tax and pension
implications and questions for the
victims.  The IRS defines a Ponzi
scheme as one in which a
fraudster gets cash or property
from investors, purports to earn
income from them and then
reports income amounts that are
"wholly or partly fictitious."
Payments, if any, of the purported
income or principal to investors
come from cash or property from
other investors.  And the
perpetrator of the fraud "criminally
appropriates some or all of the
investors' cash or property."
The federal tax law allows the
victims to claim their loss of
investment as a "theft" loss.
Investment theft losses aren't
subject to stiff limits that apply to
personal theft losses.  Claiming
such losses for income-tax
purposes can get so complex that
victims should seek expert advice.

• Some 27 percent of U.S. adults
did not read a single book for
pleasure in 2007.  In spite of that,
book sales continue to grow as
about 10,000 publishing
companies are established every
year.

• The first American novel, The
Power of Sympathy, was
published in 1789 by William Hill
Brown.  "There are three rules for
writing a novel.  Unfortunately
no one knows what they are."

• For more of the Generalist,
please visit ARKCPA•COM.

• theGeneralist, a one-page monthly
publication of the accounting firm of
A.R. Kakhsaz Company, is in its 15th
year of providing information, presented
fairly and accurately, from sources we
can depend upon and trust.

•The first 100 days of Obama:
Americans' evaluation of how
much he has accomplished:

A great deal	28%
A fair amount	31
Only some	20
Very little	20
Not sure	1

President Obama's job approval
rating has steadily been over
60%. And Americans feel good
about him.

• Successful investing is
anticipating the anticipations of
others, said John Maynard
Keynes.  He was the famous
economist that theorized the
essentials of macroeconomics.
He shared his birth date with
Adam Smith who was a
laissez-faire economist and wrote
"Wealth of Nations."  They both
were born on June 5th.  Keynes
in 1883 and Smith in 1723.

• In a world which seems to be
dominated by Internet, readers
have bemoaned what they see as
the slow but certain demise of
printed newspapers and books.
Yet, over three billion books were
sold in the U.S. in 2007 and the
number of children's books sold
increased by over 10 percent.

• Elimination of estate tax on big
inheritances was approved by
Congress under President George
W. Bush in 2001, with roll-backs
phased in slowly and its full
elimination slated to take effect
next year.  But democrats are
determined to act quickly to
prevent it.

• We see more in numbers
than just numbers...

Ali R. Kakhsaz, CPA, MAcc
www.arkcpa.com