| eGuidePro @ 2011-07-21 00:10 (Business and Finance) Hong Kong tax rules are not very complicated. However, many people are confused when preparing their tax returns because there are not many guidelines around. In this series of articles, we will explain some key concepts and rules for Hong Kong taxes. In this part, we will focus on the salaries tax.
For Hong Kong salaries tax, you should report income arising in or derived from Hong Kong which is received and receivable during the year. Even if full or partial tax exemption is claimed or relating back of lump sum is applied, the gross amount should be declared in your tax return.
Income includes income from an office, employment (on a full-time, part-time or casual basis) or pension from a former employer. Award of shares and share option gain are chargeable income. For share option gain, the gain will be taxable when the option is exercised, assigned or released. Even if the option is exercised after you have left the employment, the gain is still taxable. Holiday journey benefits are taxable. The benefits are to be assessed by reference to the amount paid by the employer for such benefits.
A place of residence provided to you by your employer or its associated corporation is chargeable to tax based on the “rental value”. Rental value is calculated as a percentage of the total income from your employer and the associated corporation which provided the residence after deductions of the outgoings and expenses. If the place of residence is provided for part of the year, the amounts in the calculation should be for the period provided. You need to adjust the retable value proportionately if the place of residence was not provided for the full year and you have elected for ratable value.
For deductions, outgoings and expenses are limited to those wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the production of your assessable income, not being expenses of a domestic or private nature and capital nature. Deductible education expenses include tuition and examination fees in connection with a prescribed course of education or fees of an examination set by specified education providers or trade, professional or business associations. Approved charitable donations must be in respect of those made to tax-exempt charities in Hong Kong or Government for charitable purposes and supported by receipts.
A married couple may elect to receive a joint assessment under Salaries Tax if they would pay less tax under a single assessment based on their combined income and allowances than under two separate assessments based on their respective individual incomes and allowances.
Above are some key concepts and rules related to Hong Kong's salaries tax. If you are still confused, you can consult Hong Kong Government's website, which has a lot of useful resources for tax. Also, you might want to consider hiring a professional to prepare your tax.
You can visit AttorneyHelp.org for more legal resources and visit Accountinghelper.org for more resources on tax.
Category: Business and Finance
eGuidePro @ 2011-07-13 00:30 (Business and Finance) If you live in Hong Kong and need to pay Hong Kong taxes, you should feel lucky because compared to those of many other countries, Hong Kong tax rules are relatively simple. However, many people are confused when preparing their tax returns because there are not many guidelines around. In this series of articles, we will explain some key concepts and rules for Hong Kong taxes. In this part, we will focus on the property tax.
Not everybody needs to report property tax in their Hong Kong tax return. Only details of properties which you were the sole owner, as registered in the Land Registry, and were let during the year are to be reported.
The rental income from properties partly owned by you should not be reported in your tax return. Separate Property Tax Returns will be issued in respect of the partly-owned properties. If you have not received a Property Tax Return for any let property that is partly owned by you, you need to fill in Form IR6129 or inform the Department in writing.
The property location should be the full address as registered in the Land Registry. The rental income to be reported should be the rental income for the whole letting period in the year, not monthly rental.
The deductions include rates you agreed to pay and paid by you and irrecoverable rent. Other items like Government rent, management fee, renovation or refurbishment expenses, etc., are not deductible. For Property Tax assessment, 20% of the assessable value will be deducted as a statutory allowance for repairs and outgoings.
If you had more than two solely-owned properties let during the year, supply details of other properties in the same format on a separate sheet in your tax return. Then enter the total number of properties let, amount of the rates paid by you and irrecoverable rent and assessable value of all properties let.
In case you are the executor of the estate of a deceased sole owner of a property, you should declare income from properties owned by the deceased in the return issued to you in the capacity of the executor of the estate of the deceased owner, not in your own return.
Above are some key concepts and rules related to Hong Kong's property tax. If you are still confused, you can consult Hong Kong Government's website, which has a lot of useful resources for tax. Also, you might want to consider hiring a professional to prepare your tax.
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or more resources on tax, please visit Accounting Helper. For more resources on law, please visit Attorney Helper.
Category: Business and Finance
eGuidePro @ 2011-07-10 00:24 (Business and Finance) Hong Kong tax rules are not very complicated. However, many people are confused when preparing their tax returns because there are not many guidelines around. In this series of articles, we will explain some key concepts and rules for Hong Kong taxes. In this part, we will focus on the profits tax.
To understand Hong Kong's profits tax, first you need to understand who are required to pay. Sole proprietorship businesses, whether they have business activities or not, are required to report their profits tax.
Partnerships of which you were a partner or sole proprietorship businesses which has changed to partnerships and vice versa during the year need not be reported in your tax return. Corporations of which you were a shareholder need not be reported in your tax return either.
You need to declare the profits / (losses) from the businesses, trades or professions for the basis period. "Basis period" means either the year ended 31 March during the relevant year of assessment or the annual accounts of the business made up to any date within the relevant year of assessment.
Below are some key concepts that you need to understand in profits tax.
Gross Income:
Gross income means all types of income, including ordinary business income, proceeds from sale of capital assets and other non-taxable receipts, whether or not derived from the principal activities.
Turnover:
Turnover includes amounts received / receivable from goods sold or services rendered.
Gross Profit / (Loss):
This is the amount of turnover after deducting cost of goods sold. For business not involving sales of goods, enter '0' for this item in the tax return.
Assessable Profits / (Adjusted losses):
Assessable Profits / (Adjusted losses) must be computed in accordance with the Inland Revenue Ordinance of Hong Kong. Add non-deductible expenses charged in the accounts to the net profit per account or deduct from the net loss to arrive at the assessable profits / adjusted losses. Salaries paid to, benefits received by the proprietor and his/her spouse, proprietor's domestic and private expenditure, capital expenditure and non-business expenses are not deductible.
For calculating profits tax, you can use the Performa Profits Tax Computation Form [IR957A(e)] provided by the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department.
Above are some key concepts and rules related to Hong Kong's profits tax. If you are still confused, you can consult Hong Kong Government's website, which has a lot of useful resources for tax. Also, you might want to consider hiring a professional to prepare your tax.
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For more resources on tax, please visit Accounting Helper. For more resources on law, please visit Attorney Help.
Category: Business and Finance
Brian Walker @ 2009-03-29 05:36 (Business and Finance) Almost nobody likes doing taxes. The process can be very stressful. Therefore, sometimes it just makes sense to get some help with them. For tax return, you can get help from various resources, such as tax preparation professionals, tax software and the IRS.
Tax Preparer
Tax preparers are individuals who were trained for the job or have picked up the skills over time. They are not difficult to find. You can find tax preparers in places such as H&R Block. The advantage of using a tax preparer is that the costs are relatively inexpensive.
Enrolled Agents
Enrolled agents are a step up from tax preparers. An enrolled agent has license and can represent you at an audit. However, keep in mind that the professional knowledge and quality of work varies from agent to agent. Some can be excellent. Others are less impressive.
CPA
CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant. It’s not easy to obtain a CPA license. It requires significant study and the licensing test is very difficult. If you have a unique or complex financial situation, for example, being a small business owner, you might want to use a CPA. Usually CPAs can also make suggestions to significantly lower your tax bill. CPA services cost more. However, the savings can outweigh their fees.
Tax Software
The technology of computers has minimized the risk of making mistakes. Tax software is now available for people who want their taxes to be done accurately and conveniently. There are different types of tax software you can use for different purposes. While you can buy tax software from local stores, the best place to find tax software is actually the Internet. Buying tax software from the Interest is very easy. For some software, you can usually download it onto your company and start using it right away. There is also other tax software that does not require any installation at all. You can finish the whole process on-line on their websites.
When it comes to tax prep software, there are many choices on the market. Which one is the best for you? Well, it depends on a variety of factors. However, many people choose to use the big three of tax prep software: Turbo Tax (PC/Mac or online), Tax Act ((PC/Mac or online), and Tax Cut (PC or online). They have all been around for many years and have a lot of experience handling new tax rules and finding deductions for their users. Besides, all three of them offer both free version (for simple returns) and paid version (for more complicated cases).
Help from IRS
Don’t forget that you can get help from the IRS. You can go to its website http://www.irs.gov for tax rules, tax forms and help on filling taxes. On this site, you can find answers to many questions in the Frequently Asked Questions and Tax Trails pages. If you can’t find the answer to your question, you can try search and enter a few key words to see if your question is covered elsewhere on the site. Also, you call their toll-free tax assistance line at 800-829-1040 for individual tax questions or 800-829-4933 for business tax questions.
Brian Walker is a freelance Internet writer. You can find more tax articles and accounting articles on http://www.accountinghelper.org.
Category: Business and Finance
Brian Walker @ 2008-10-07 02:13 (Business and Finance) Nowadays, lots of people depends on loan, or other form of credit to acquire new car, pay off bills, finance home improvements, pay for long awaited vacation, consolidate debt, and other important things. Before you can get loan from bank, they will have to consider your credit rating.
In the past, if you have bad credit you may find it difficult to get loan most especially secure personal loans. However, it's now possible for people with bad credit to obtain loan from banks and other financial institution with ease.
Most banks have realized that bad credit can happen to anybody. They believe that it's possible to improve your credit score or totally change your bad credit, thus they prefer giving second chance to people with bad credit to give them the opportunity to proof their abilities. This type of loan is called bad credit loan.
Bad credit loan provides people with credit problem to improve or create a completely new credit history by starting afresh. With bad credit loan you can get the money you need. If you repaid the money to the bank as agreed, it will make it easier for you to get more credit in future and you will be building new credit score in the process.
Banks that offers bad credit loan often have different plans. Some will request for high value properties like car, real estate as collateral before they can lend you money. They often asked for this because of possibility that you may default on your loan based on your bad credit rating they have.
It's going to be easy for them to get their money back by selling your property you offer as collateral if you default on your loan. Other banks may approve bad credit loan without collateral but they may charge you higher interest rate. They are allowed by financial regulators to charge you more interest than regular banks can charge on normal loan because not all banks can afford granting such substandard loans.
If you still find it difficult to get bank that will grant your loan application, I will advice that you consider applying for a secured loan or reduce amount you are requesting for. You can get loan with or without good credit score. If you shop around you will see different lenders that can grant your offer. You just have to make sure that you repaid loan bank on time to avoid having your credit blacklisted completely.
Brian Walker is a freelance Internet writer. You can find more free onine money guide on http://www.1clickmoney.com.
Category: Business and Finance
Sue Wong @ 2008-05-17 00:58 (Business and Finance) Today dental insurance has established itself as a must-have benefit. Even most small companies offer dental insurance today to recruit and retain workers. Does one need Dental Insurance? This question is asked by us in parlance with any kind of insurance. Well, insurance is a tool that offsets financial losses due to accidents or incidents or unforeseen circumstances. With this in view, insurance is always advocated but if one is young and healthy and doesn't need to visit a dentist more than twice a year, dental insurance will not be a requirement, since the premium for such insurance may be more than the annual tooth maintenance bill.
People with a turbulent dental history are advised to purchase dental insurance or join a discounted dental plan for the simple reason that dental bills can turn out to be very steep. Millions of Americans are undergoing root canal and cavity procedures despite the fluoride in drinking water. Dental health in the USA has not been of very high standard over the decades. Dental health depends upon a variety of factors including dental hygiene, stress, personal eating habits, nutrition etc.
The programs of dental coverage available are Indemnity Plans, Preferred Provider Plans, HMO Plans and Discount Plans
Dental Indemnity Insurance Plans
These are normal, traditional insurance coverage plans where you get a percentage of your dental bills covered for a monthly fee or premium. Normally a indemnity plan covers 100% of preventive services, 80% of restoration services and 50% of major treatment like orthodontics.
Dental Preferred Provider Plans
These plans cost an average of $40 per month and give you highly discounted rates of dental procedures within the specified network. A few benefits are available outside the network also. These plans are regulated by state insurance departments and fall in the insurance category.
HMO Dental Insurance
These insurance plans are also known as capitation plans. They operate like Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO). These are also regulated by state insurance department and cost between $20-$40 a month.
Dental Discount Plans
Discount dental plans are like clubs where you get the best deals when you show your membership card. These are again network based. They give best value to individual and family memberships. This membership is only purchasing a discounted access to a network dentist and is not considered insurance.
You can find more dental guide at http://www.101dentist.com.
Category: Business and Finance
Brian Walker @ 2008-05-16 05:41 (Business and Finance) Credit scores helps in building a good credit history. Credit check is usually done to verify whether you are eligible for a loan or on any other forms of credit based on your past credit performances. This will reveal your past as well as your previous credit transactions with different lenders and how you deal with it. Thus, a credit check is the reflection of your past credit performance. It works like a report card, which reveals whether you have "passed" or "failed" in a particular subject.
Credit checks are done by lending institutions such as credit card companies and banks on individuals who wish to apply for a loan or any form of credit. In addition, credit checks could also be done by a homeowner whether an individual would be a good tenant or not, as reflected by his or her past credit performance. Insurance firms also run credit checks on individuals who wish to avail of their insurance policies.
You can obtain your credit report containing credit-related information from any of the three major credit-reporting agencies. Furthermore, you can obtain your personal credit reports for free as stated in the FCRA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under this Act, every individual is entitled to receive a free credit report from any of the three major credit-reporting companies in the United States once a year - Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. Your free credit report contain your personal information (such as your name and address), how you paid your past and previous bills, and any delinquencies you have committed such as late payments as well as if you have filed for bankruptcy.
To obtain your free credit report, you need to fill up the required form through a centralized credit report website on any of the three major credit bureaus in the United States. You will be required to provide some basic information, which includes your name, permanent address, your social security number, and your birth date. Your credit report is important in securing yourself against any attempts of identity theft such as credit cards misuse and other forms of fraud. In addition, you must update your credit report regularly as lending institutions would be using such reports to determine if you are worthy enough to be awarded with the loan you have applied for.
After you received your free credit report, you should read each section carefully. All aspects must be included in computing your credit score. So make sure you have paid attention to all of them. Check your report for any discrepancies and make sure that you have not missed any payments at all. Your credit report also comes with the list of individuals or business entities that you have requested credit information from. You may also check to see if such names or entities are familiar with you.
Your free credit report would be used in running a credit check to you when applying for a loan or any other forms of credit. Thus, make sure that it is free of discrepancies or erroneous entries. Keep in mind that this report will reflect your credit performance - ensure that you do not stumble anywhere so that your loan application would always be a success.
You can find more money and finance guide at http://www.1clickmoney.com, including news, articles, links and more.
Category: Business and Finance
Brian Walker @ 2008-05-09 01:01 (Business and Finance) We all need to save money for the future. But bank interests from saving accounts can barely beat inflation. As the future of social security becomes unknown and many companies' retirement plan becomes undependable, investing has become the most important way to insure our financial future.
Before you start investing, you should learn the basics of investment. At the same time, you need to have a good understanding of your risk tolerance and be clear about your investment goals. Ask yourself the following questions: What do you want to achieve through investments? Retiring? Buying a home? Funding college education? Will it be long term investing or short term investing? How much money can you invest? Knowing your goal will help you make better investment decisions.
There are different types of investments, such as stocks, bonds and cash. You need to learn about each type and should decide on which ways to invest based on your own situation. There are three types of investors: conservative investors, moderate investors and aggressive investors. Conservative investors invest in cash, including bank saving accounts, CDs, US treasury bills etc. Moderate investors invest in cash and bonds and may also invest in the stock market and low risk real estate. Aggressive investors do most of investing in the stock market and might also invest in business ventures and high risk estate.
How much many should you invest? To answer this question, you need to first determine how much you can afford to invest and what your financial goals are. It's important to always keep three to six months of living expenses ready in savings. Then, you can determine how much you can add to your investments in the future. Also, keep in mind that some types of investments require a certain initial investment amount.
When you start investing, you should try to avoid some common mistakes that people tend to make. First of all, don't put all your eggs into one basket. Diversification should be an important part of your investment strategy. Also, don't expect to get rich quickly. Don't put off investing until later, and don't invest aggressively until you are in the financial position to do so. When you invest, it's important to plan for the long-term because investors who focus on long-term gains benefit most.
You can find more investment guides and investment tips at http://www.investmenthelper.org, including investment guide, investment tools, investment news and more.
Category: Business and Finance
Brian Walker @ 2008-03-10 11:38 (Business and Finance) We all know that hiring a lawyer could be very expensive. As an attractive alternative to hiring a lawyer, you could use pre-paid legal services. Prepaid legal services are similar to insurance plans, but instead of covering your health, life or home, pre-paid legal services cover your legal needs.
How do prepaid legal services work? Well, just like insurance plans, members pay a fixed monthly subscriptions fee and in return they have access to a range of legal services on-call. The legal services might cover simple tasks such as reviewing of legal documents, writing a simple will as well as more complicated cases such as divorce, trials, real estate issues and bankruptcy, etc. In this way, members of pre-paid legal services pay a fixed amount of money monthly to defray the expense of legal services provided in the future. Prepaid legal service plans might also cover the filing of motions and legal representation in court, but clients might need to pay extra fee for such services.
Pre-paid legal service plans have been sold in the United States since 1970's and in some states they are considered to be insurance and thus regulated by the state's insurance commission. Prepaid legal services is attractive to people who cannot afford to retain a lawyer on a regular basis.
There are some benefits of using pre-paid legal plans. First of all, they are cost-effective. The fees of hiring a lawyer can be very expensive, but the charge of pre-paid plans is more in line with health or home insurance. The second advantage of using a pre-paid legal plan is the simplicity in which the services are priced and furnished. When hiring a lawyer, it's usually hard to understand how they charge their clients, because there are a complicated set of fees involved, such as hourly rates, flat fees, contingency fees, and statutory fee, etc. However, with pre-paid plans, you just pay a fixed monthly fee and if the services are not fully covered, you will know clearly how much you will have to pay. In addition, since prepaid plans offer unlimited phone consultation, this can save you a lot of trouble in the future. Most legal problems can be solved if you take the necessary steps in line with the law. With good advices, you can avoid getting yourself into troubles.
On the other hand, there are a number of limitations to using prepaid legal services. First of all, usually there is a limit on the scope of the legal services that are covered. Secondly, there might be a restriction on your choice of attorney and the quality of the legal services provided.
When choosing a pre-paid legal plan, you should look to see exactly what services are covered. Ask if the service provider have an in-house procedure to handle complaints. Also, you need to make sure you select a plan that has clear guidelines as to how to settle dispute when they arise. In addition, it's important to do some background research on the provider to make sure it's competent and reputable.
To find more attorney and legal resources, please visit http://www.attorneyhelp.org.
Category: Business and Finance
eGuidePro @ 2008-02-11 13:43 (Business and Finance) Every individual and business needs some types of accounting system in order to keep track of what they have spent and to predict whether they can expect a profit or loss from their business. Basically, accounting is information published periodically in business as an income statement or profit and loss statement.
Much of accounting is also concerned with basic bookkeeping. Bookkeepers prepare what are referred to as source documents for all the operations of a business - the buying, selling, transferring, paying and collecting. They also make entries of the financial effects into journals and accounts. In addition, bookkeepers prepare reports at the end of specific period of time, such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Bookkeepers also compile complete listings of all accounts. The final step is for the bookkeeper to close the books, which means bringing all the bookkeeping for a fiscal year to a close and summarized.
A balance sheet is a quick picture of the financial condition of a business at a specific period in time. The activities of a business fall into two separate groups that are reported by an accountant. They are profit-making activities, which includes sales and expenses. This can also be referred to as operating activities. There are also financing and investing activities that include securing money from debt and equity sources of capital, returning capital to these sources, making distributions from profit to the owners, making investments in assets and eventually disposing of the assets.
How is accounting used in business? Well, it's important to understand how the business makes a profit. A company needs a good business model and a good profit model. It's important not to confuse profit with cash flow. Profit equals sales revenue minus expenses. A business manager shouldn't assume that sales revenue equals cash inflow and that expenses equal cash outflows. In recording sales revenue, cash or another asset is increased. The asset accounts receivable is increased in recording revenue for sales made on credit. Remember that some budgeting is better than none. Budgeting provides important advantages, like understanding the profit dynamics and the financial structure of the business. It also helps for planning for changes in the upcoming reporting period.
To find more resources on accounting and taxes, please visit http://www.accountinghelper.org.
Category: Business and Finance
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