Financial questions

Import duties continue to be significant elements in the cost of international trade. Yet many companies and businesses still pay more duties than the law requires - which impacts adversely on landed cost and ultimately on business profitability. A planned approach to managing customs duty costs would look to eliminate, reduce and delay payment of customs duties. How to reduce customs duties in your business There are many ways to reduce customs duties. The amount of duties paid depends on four "...

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The end of tax filing extensions is quickly approaching. What do you do if you can't pay the amounts you owe? You should still file your return by the due date and pay as much as you can. There are, however, additional steps that might help. Credit Cards You can charge your taxes on your American Express, MasterCard, Visa or Discover cards. If you go in this direction, you can use either of the following two sources: Official Payments Corporation 1-800-2PAY-TAX (1-800-272-9829) www. officialpayments....

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Excerpted from the new book, "How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain" TM The complete article with pictures and sample Auto Log is available at www. organize. com Every year American companies lose millions of dollars in productivity to employees who end up taking their own personal time off to do their taxes. Whether you are filing by paper from just one W-2 or running multiple enterprises, streamlining now will pay off this year and in future. Applying these proven Tax Time Tune-Up tips will save you time, frustration and could even save you money....

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As a small business owner or self-employed person, one of the easiest ways to keep Uncle Sam off your backand out of your life is to file your forms, payments andother paperwork on time. Over the next four months there are several key datesthat you dare not forget! Here they are -- all in one place, along with links to the IRS website PDF file for thatparticular form, where appropriate. NOTE: This article only addresses federal tax deadlines. Be sure to contact your state's tax department for theirdue dates....

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If you are a Small Business Owner or Self-Employed Person, there's one especially lucrative tax break that not onlyputs money in your pocket, it also makes the filing ofyour business tax return much simpler. What am I talking about? It's called the Section 179deduction, and if there's one tax break you need to understand, this is it. Here's why: The Section 179 deduction enables the Small Business Ownerto "expense" (i. e. deduct in the current year) up to$102,000 of the cost of most business equipment, ratherthan use those stingy and complicated depreciation rulesthat require you to write-off the cost over five or moreyears....

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Q: I was contacted by the city tax collector to say that my business is scheduled to be audited to see if I owe sales tax on items purchased on the Internet. Can they really make me pay sales tax on internet purchase? I thought you could buy things online tax free? -- Charlie B. A: Sorry, but your local municipality is well within its rights to audit your business to identify items purchased online. The city can also demand payment of sales tax on those items if sales tax was not previously paid....

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In the largest criminal tax case ever filed, KMPG has copped a plea to using fraudulent tax shelters to bilk the government out of 2.5 billion dollars. KMPG has agreed to pay a fine of $456 million dollars, but nine of its executives still are under indictment. Son of Boss Tax Shelters From 1996 to 2003, KMPG promoted a tax strategy known as the Son of Boss. This shelter was used to create phony tax losses that could be claimed by wealth individuals looking to write off tens of millions of dollars....

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We all love to criticize the IRS, don't we? And I'mjust as guilty as anyone. It's easy to ridicule a hugeorganization of government bureaucrats who often seemto be Public Enemy #1. Our negative attitude toward the IRS can lead to astrong desire to just ignore it altogether. Butself-employed people who ignore the IRS do so at theirown peril. So when it comes to providing free information abouttaxes, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. The IRS does provide some excellent resources to helpus make the best of a potentially bad situation....

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As tax time approaches, many home-based business owners begin completing their forms or paying their accountants with trepidation. This nervousness comes from two sources: a fear of being audited and a fear of having to pay a lot. For the most part, both of these fears are unfounded. For one, audits are rare. In fact, only 0.5% of taxpayers are subjected to audits every year. And if you do beat the odds, keeping good records and maintaining receipts will help you weather the IRS storm. Obviously you have not control over whether or not your return is chosen for an audit, but you can control how much you are going to owe the government this year....

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An early distribution from an Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) or a qualified retirement plan need not be a "taxing" experience. Fortunately, there are exceptions to early distributions. Any payment that you receive from your IRA or qualified retirement plan before you reach age 59Ѕ is normally called an "early" or "premature" distribution. As such, these funds are subject to an additional 10 percent tax. But there are a number of exceptions to the age 59Ѕ rule that you should investigate if you make such a withdrawal....

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If you are environmentally conscious and purchase a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid vehicle that combines a gasoline-powered engine with alternative power methods, you are in line for a nice tax deduction. Ostensibly, the government uses clean power tax deductions as a method to promote the use of vehicles that are less harmful to the environment. The clean-fuel tax deduction is based on the incremental cost of using a vehicle model that combines traditional gasoline-powered engines with electric motors....

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Running a home based business reaps many wonderful tax deductions that other businesses some times may not claim. Unfortunately to many small business owners end up paying the government taxes every year because they are unaware or several small business deductions that are available. Most of the time any expenses that are related to your business can be added as a deduction on your taxes. If you do not pay taxes through out the year, deductions can help you from paying a large amount of taxes each year and can also adjust earned income....

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"Settle for Pennies on the Dollar! IRS debts settled for $20Wipe out the Penalties with an Offer"-such is the language of Offer-in-Compromise promoters. What they fail to tell you is that one has to qualify for an Offer and few taxpayers will be able to meet the tough standards for an OIC. The Offer-in-Compromise (OIC) has been around for a long time, but it wasn't until 1992 that IRS started really using the program in good faith. After the Revenue Reform Act of 1998, IRS became even more liberal with the OIC....

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