Rabbi Berel Wein tells a humorous story about the time his plane ticket was cancelled due to a mix-up. Twenty minutes before take-off, the airline quickly seated him in first class, next to the vice-president of TWA. The vice-president noticed him reading the Chumash in Hebrew. After a few moments, he leaned over and asked, “What language is that book written in?” 

“Hebrew,” Rabbi Wein replied, sweetly. “You mean there are still people left in the world who read and write Hebrew?” he responded incredulously. “I thought it was a dead language.” "Well,” Rabbi Wein explained, “there are millions of people in the world who read, write, and speak Hebrew. In fact, your airline flies regularly to a country where Hebrew is the official language, spoken by millions of people.”For some reason the VP disliked the response. “I see that you and I have nothing in common,” he muttered, turning away.

Once again, tax time brings some confusion. Several tax breaks expired at the end of 2014. It is expected that they will be reinstated retroactively, though, and will apply to the 2015 tax year. It is almost December and it has not happened yet. The same thing happened last year, so stand by.

Planning Ahead

The tax fundamentals remain the same. Here are some general planning pointers:

1) Planning helps. For example, if you are married on the last day of the year, you are considered married for tax purposes. So get married in December rather than January.

2) Obviously, the lower your income, the better. Pensions, daycare, work expenses, and health expenses can be paid for with pretax dollars.

3) Sign up for your company’s pension plan. It saves taxes now and prepares for old age later. Not participating is a big mistake, especially if the company matches your contribution.

A friend of mine received a call from an unfamiliar number. When she asked who it was, the caller replied, “Your grandson.” After hesitating a second or two, my friend said, “You must have the wrong number” and hung up. It was only later that she remembered an article about scammers who use this ruse to extract money from seniors, and was amazed that she could have considered the call legitimate even briefly.

When we hear about outrageous scams, we wonder, “How could they have fallen for that?” But people do, even some of the most intelligent among us. With Consumer Reports’ recent cover story on the topic of senior scams, I thought it would be a good time to review this important and timely topic.

With the summer coming to a close, and my recent trip out West fresh in my mind, I thought now would be a good time to do a how-to article, so you can start planning for next summer. In addition to building anticipation, early planning is important for accumulating credit card miles. Please skip that winter break in Florida and save your miles for a fantastic jaunt to the American West.

Where Are You Going?

The first and most obvious thing to do when deciding on a trip is to pick the destination. As I have written in the past, I am a huge fan of our national parks. Folks, our Creator has given us a beautiful world. To me, it seems almost like a religious obligation to see as much of it as we can.

We all had our fill of hamantaschen recently, so I thought we should pause and, in proper post-Purim spirit, focus on Mordechai-taschen. “What’s that!” you ask? Why, Mordechai’s version of a hat, of course. You see, the origin of our favorite three-cornered baked treats, it is said, was the triangular shape of the evil Haman’s hat. But have we ever considered what Mordechai’s hat looked like? Folks I think it must have been a Borsalino. What else?

I embarked on this quest for Mordechai’s head covering due to a recent item in the frum media, which reported on a Borsalino boycott. It apparently started with a group of Chabad yeshiva bachurim who were angry at the price spike on this frum essential to an unacceptable $300 and decided to take action. This unprecedented tactic has since spread to other circles.

In my last article I discussed some last-minute tax law changes that were expected. They indeed came through in December, and they are not earth-shattering. Teachers can deduct $250 in expenses, and college tuition gets a $4,000 deduction or a tax credit, whichever you prefer. And mortgage insurance premiums are now deductible.

Another mortgage-related change is a big deal. It is called “exclusion from income for discharge of mortgage debt,” and here is what it means: Say you are underwater in your mortgage, owing the bank more than what your residence is worth. The mortgage company might “write off ” some of the debt, and you now officially owe less principal. Normally, if someone forgives debt that you owe him, you have to claim the forgiven amount as income. This included home mortgages that were renegotiated, which could become a disaster. This new provision saves people who are in that situation.