Archive for October, 2008
October 31, 2008 at 4:51 am · Filed under Tax Accounting
Contrary to the provisions of a new law, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) failed to exempt minimum wage earners from paying taxes in July, which was when a higher minimum wage took effect, according to an accounting firm.
Lawyer Benedicta Du-Baladad, Punong-bayan & AraulloTax Advisory & Compliance head, said the government has no reason to incur a higher deficit last month given that the tax relief for minimum wage earners was not immediately implemented.
“They are not giving yet the full benefit. It has no effect in terms of revenues,” she said.
Buladad said the accounting firm has received numerous complaints from minimum wage earners on the deduction of taxes from their salaries.
Because of this, Punongbayan & Araullo said employers should make a tax refund of P39 a day starting July up to December this year.
In June, President Arroyo signed into law a measure exempting minimum wage earners from paying income tax and raising the personal exemptions of above-minimum wage earners. The law, Republic Act 9504 amended several sections of RA 8424 otherwise known as the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
The government’s budget deficit grew 33 percent to P53.4 billion at end-September from P40 billion in the same nine-month period last year, after the BIR’s collections fell short of target. The end-September financing shortfall is also higher than the P35.1 billion expected for the period.
http://www.yehey.com/finance/level3.aspx?id=227820
October 31, 2008 at 4:48 am · Filed under Student Accounts
When you set up blogs with multiple users the comment notifications are only sent to the email address that was used to set up the blog.
So if you’ve set up student blogs with your student’s email address using Edublogs Blog & User Creator feature comment notifications will be sent to your student. This is a problem if you wanted all comments sent to you for moderation.
While you can change the email address in blog settings (Settings > General) a simpler solution is to set up the student blogs using one Gmail account.
Using Gmail To Create Student Accounts
Gmail (or Google Mail) is Google’s free web email service with tons of storage space and lots of great features e.g. ability to easy search mail messages, threaded messages, built in chat. Create your gmail account here. I recommend choosing a name that people can identify easily as being you e.g. mine is my name with the s missing from the end of waters.
Educators can use one Gmail account to set up student blogs or sign up for different online services using gmail’s support of plus addressing. How this works is simple! Gmails ignores anything in the first half of an email address after a plus sign so if you create each email with the format username+studentname@gmail.com all emails will be sent to the inbox of username@gmail.com. You can use both text and numbers in the student names.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Remember when using Edublogs Blog & User Creator feature to create student blogs the students are automatically added as Administrators (here is an explanation of the different roles you can assign users). Also don’t forget to change selection to Yes in the Add Admin field if you wanted to add yourself as co administrator when creating the student blogs.
http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/07/24/creating-student-accounts-using-one-gmail-account/
October 31, 2008 at 4:43 am · Filed under Small Business Accounting
With consumer spending accounting for 70 percent of GDP, it is difficult to foresee an improvement in overall economic growth until consumer spending improves.
Rachelle Bernstein, Vice President and Tax Counsel, National Retail Federation
At a press conference Wednesday, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) proposed a $700 million stimulus plan for small business. Schumer said his plan included a waiver of fees that banks must pay to make Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loans as well as increased funding for the SBA. Schumer also wants to raise loan and guarantee limits and allow business owners to refinance their SBA loans at lower rates. He said the program would allow the SBA to help with up to $25 billion in “affordable” loans.
The nation’s largest retail trade association is also asking Congress for more economic stimulus money. With consumer confidence at a record low and retailers expecting the weakest holiday season in six years, the National Retail Federation asked the House Ways and Means Committee this week to consider a second economic stimulus package that includes tax rebate checks or other direct relief for consumers.
“With most economists predicting a weak economy into 2009 and consumer spending at record lows, NRF believes additional congressional action would help the economy and soften the negative impact on the American people,” NRF Vice President and Tax Counsel Rachelle Bernstein said. “We believe an immediate stimulus that will put money into the pockets of consumers where it can have a ripple effect throughout the economy is needed. That stimulus could be accomplished in a number of different ways including more rebate checks, a nationwide sales tax holiday, a payroll tax holiday or other alternatives.”
“With consumer spending accounting for 70 percent of GDP, it is difficult to foresee an improvement in overall economic growth until consumer spending improves,” Bernstein said. “Over the next few months, consumers will be facing a challenging time. A new economic stimulus effort can help consumers and help the economy at the same time.”
Bernstein’s comments came in written testimony submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee, which is scheduled to hold a hearing on potential economic stimulus this morning. No legislation has been introduced, but the panel will hear from a broad collection of organizations and public officials on a variety of solutions intended to aid in economic recovery and job creation.
Bernstein cited record-low consumer confidence levels reported Tuesday by the Conference Board, which said the index had fallen to 38 for October, down from 61.4 percent in September and the lowest number in its 41-year history. Meanwhile, NRF is forecasting that holiday season sales will rise 2.2 percent to $470.4 billion this year, the slowest growth since holiday sales rose 1.3 percent in 2002 and half the 10-year average of 4.4 percent.
Bernstein said tax rebate checks distributed earlier this year by the Treasury Department contributed to a modest increase in retail sales. Month-to-month increases in general merchandise ranged from 0.3 percent to 0.9 percent during the time the checks were being distributed, and year-over-year increases ranged from 1.3 percent to 4.7 percent. A survey conducted for NRF by BIGresearch in August found consumers had spent 46 percent of the rebate money received, with most of the rest going into savings or to pay down debt.
Some of the money was diverted by unexpected increases in the prices of food and fuel earlier this year, but results were nonetheless better than if Congress has not enacted the tax rebates, Bernstein said.
“Economic forces impacted the consumer in the second quarter of the year that were not foreseen when the economic stimulus package was first enacted,” Bernstein said. “As a result, consumers used some of their rebate money to pay for the higher costs of these items rather than increasing consumption of goods. … Although our evidence shows that the taxpayer rebate payments helped consumer spending, additional stimulus is needed.”
NRF earlier this month wrote to Democratic and Republican leaders of both the House and Senate and urged them to hold a lame duck session on economic stimulus legislation as soon as possible after the November elections. The House has held a series of hearings on the topic over the past two weeks and is expected to return to Washington in November. The Senate is already scheduled to return November 17 though its agenda has not been determined.
http://rtoonline.com/Content/Article/oct08/economic-stimulus-round-two-102908.asp
October 31, 2008 at 4:38 am · Filed under Savings Account
In less than a month since its launch, more than 100,000 Canadians have opened a Tax-Free Investment Savings Account with ING DIRECT. ING DIRECT was the first company to launch an early version of the Tax-Free Savings Account, which becomes official in 2009.
“As soon as we found out that Tax-Free Savings Accounts were coming to Canada, we immediately began working on a way to bring the benefits of tax-free saving to our Clients with urgency,” said Peter Aceto, President & CEO of ING DIRECT. “We knew our Clients would love the chance to save even more of their money with us, but we’ve been blown away by the interest in our Tax-Free Investment Savings Account, both by our existing Clients and Canadians in general. The demand has exceeded our expectations. It’s been a busy month getting Canadians signed up.”
The ING DIRECT Tax-Free Investment Savings Account pays a base rate of three per cent, calculated daily and paid monthly, and an additional bonus interest equal to the interest earned will be credited on December 31, 2008, for deposits of up to $5,000 in the account during the re-launch period.
Money invested in the Tax-Free Investment Savings Account will be deposited into a TFSA on January 1, 2009 where interest earned will be tax-free. There are no fees or minimums associated with the Tax-Free Investment Savings Account.
For more information about the ING DIRECT Tax-Free Investment Savings Account, visit hugthetaxman.ca
About ING DIRECT
ING DIRECT is Canada’s largest direct bank with over 1.6 million Clients and more than $24 billion in total assets. ING DIRECT is giving the power of saving to all Canadians by offering high-value, simple products such as high interest savings accounts with no fees or service charges and low rates on mortgages. ING DIRECT has been operating in Canada since 1997, and since that time Clients have earned more than $3 billion in interest. Clients can bank with ING DIRECT 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at www.ingdirect.ca or by calling 1-800 ING DIRECT.
For further information: or to arrange an interview, please contact: Lisa Naccarato, ING DIRECT, Office: (416) 758-5072, Mobile: (416) 885-0348, lnaccarato@ingdirect.ca
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2008/30/c3324.html
