Tax expert John Catoni, of the Dailey Law Firm explains to a caller that he can apply for an energy tax deduction.

Male Speaker 1: Tom, calling from [Indiscernible] . Tom, you are on the Law Show, what can we do for you?

Male Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for taking my call. I have a furnace and air-conditioner I put order in for it in the end of 2008. And they put the furnace in at the end of the year and took a break over New Year then put the air conditioner in 2009, so I paid for the whole job in 2009. Can I deduct that for the energy deduction on my taxes?

Male Speaker 1: Yes, you can. Basically that’s a cash basis event. So its when you actually pay for the furnace and the air conditioner, so you can use that on your 2009 taxes.

Male Speaker 2: Oh! That’s great news. Thank you very much.

Male Speaker 1: Great, thanks for calling the Law Show Tom. We got time for another caller. We got Nick calling from Macomb Township. Nick, you are on the Law Show, what can we do for you?

Male Speaker 3: Regarding the contract that I have and one of the clauses in the contract refers to arbitration. And the company that I had the contract with is out of state and we’ve been kind of going back and forth as far as some of the terms regarding commission and my question is there is another part of the contract that says its according to the state law that they are incorporated in. And my question is do I have to file for arbitration here in Michigan or can I file in Michigan or does it have to be in that particular state where they are incorporated?

Male Speaker 1: Yeah, it’s a great question. You’d had to look at the language of the statute. It is common for contracts to have choice of laws provisions meaning they say something like the laws of the State of Michigan will govern this agreement. And so what you’re going to have to do is you’re going to have to get a lawyer that is licensed to practice in the state that the choice of law provision and that contract to review it and advice you accordingly because if its not Michigan I’m not licensed to practice in any state other than Michigan in federal court, so I can’t tell you what the ramifications would be. So lets say hypothetically the contract says the laws of the State of Illinois will control this agreement or shall control this agreement, then get a Illinois lawyer to take a look at that because –