March 28 at the Cedarville University Pops Concert

We had a very nice time at the Cedarville Pops Concert last night. The performance was outstanding with a nice variety of music including instrumentals and singing. Some of the styles were whimsical and others were popular hits with plenty of good jazz thrown in for good measure. I think everyone enjoyed the concert. The time of fellowship over a nice meal in the cafeteria was the perfect way to start the evening.

Be sure to join us at our April 8th Luncheon at Washington Heights. We will have a special speaker tell us about fraud protection. I know this will be an informative and entertaining program. We will also be entertained by the piano music of Jim Weiss for our time before the meeting and Josh Hales will minister to us with a vocal solo or two. You won't want to miss this luncheon.

April 24th we will have a day trip and join the Cincinnati Reds in their stadium for a game against Houston. Plan to sign up for this one at the luncheon, if you haven't already done so.

More Economic Stimulus Payment Information

I posted some information last week to show that most retired people should be sure to file their income taxes to get the Economic Stimulus payments. The IRS and also Kiplinger (the tax people) have provided calculators on the Internet to help you know how much you can expect to receive. I prefer the way Kiplinger did their calculator since it is easier to understand. This is sufficient for about 99 percent of us. Just click the links to find the calculators and schedule.
KIPLINGER PAYMENT CALCULATOR
If you prefer, you can use a calculator provided by the IRS. This is certainly more complex, but I believe it is more accurate for certain people, too.
IRS PAYMENT CALCULATOR
Both of these are just estimates, so don't go spending the money until you have it in your hands.

Now, maybe you want to know when you will get these payments. The IRS is the best place to go for this information. First, the payments are made based on the last two digits of your SS #. Actually, if you file a joint tax return the first number of the two SS #s is used.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE

YAH Luncheon - March 11, 2008

Last month we were snowed out, so we used some of the talent for this month. Fred Scheffler played a selection of piano music about Love and Ann Wamsley produced a very nice slide show of old time valentines. These were done during our prelude time.
Here is a link to the Fred Scheffler piano music prelude. LINK

Lisa Poe introduced a couple of day trips including one on March 28 to Cedarville University to have a meal in the cafeteria and hear their Pops Orchestra. This is an evening event. On April 24th we will enjoy a Cincinnati Reds game. We have great seats! I think they are seats on the third base side. There are a few seats left, so be sure to sign up at the April luncheon. Lisa also introduced the Fall Trip to Chicago. This will be a five day trip from September 22 through 26. We will do a lot of fun things. Maybe I'll keep these a secret for now. We will start accepting sign-ups with partial payments at the next luncheon.

We were privileged to have the 6th Grade students from Dayton Christian Schools provide a musical concert which included choir singing, piano solos, violin trio, readings and solos. This group was led by our own Sarah Britton.

Here is a link to the program by the 6th Grade Choir. LINK

As we prepare to celebrate with the Irish this month, the gals in the kitchen did a great job of preparing traditional Cabbage Rolls. They were delicious thanks to Janice Bowersox and her great crew. Cathy Johnson also did an excellent job of decorating the tables for this event.

Next month we will have an informative program presented by a good friend of ours. David Darkow will tell us how to protect ourselves from fraud. Dave was with the Social Security Administration before retiring and starting his own consulting business working with government agencies and corporations preparing their employees for retirement. Don't miss this luncheon April 8th!

Be Sure to Get Your Economic Stimulus Payment

Beginning in May the IRS will begin sending out economic stimulus payments.

You MUST FILE a 2007 tax return to get a rebate. If you normally are not required to file because you are retired, you still need to file in order to qualify for a rebate. You only need $3,000 of income in order to qualify. Social Security benefits and pension plan income are considered qualifying income. Investment income is not qualifying income.

Here are some things you should be aware of:

• If you receive Social Security benefits that are not taxable, list the full amount of your benefits on form 1040 line 20a (to show that you have qualifying income) and zero on line 20b (to show that none of the benefits are taxable).
• You must claim yourself. If you are normally claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return you might want to consider asking them not to claim you for 2007.
• You need to file a 2007 return by December 2008 in order to receive a rebate check.

If you have additional questions regarding the economic stimulus payments follow this link to the IRS website:
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/irs/article/0,,id=177937,00.html

I know this is a bit confusing but it is true that you must file an income tax return to get your share of the money. Fortunately, here in the Dayton area we have several Senior Citizens Centers where you can get free Income Tax help with filing from AARP. Make an appointment soon because they are very busy with others wanting their fair share of these payments.