A Singapore Property tax is a tax levied on properties in Singapore. This includes all types of properties such as HDB flats, factories, offices and vacant land. If you or your business owns property, you are liable to pay property tax.
The amount of property tax you have to pay per year is a percentage of the Annual Value of the property which you own. The Annual Value is the estimated yearly rent the property can fetch if it were rented out. The tax rate for owner-occupied residential property is 4% per year. The tax rate for all other properties is 10%.
Property taxes must be paid by 31st January each year. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) will compute the annual tax you need to pay and send you the bill in December. Instructions on how to pay property tax are also included in your bill. (more…)
In order to be considered tax-deductible your donation must meet a few restrictions:
1. You actually have to donate the cash or property; a pledge or promise to pay does not count as a deduction until it is actually paid.
2. You must itemize your return in order to claim the deduction. Taxpayers taking the standard deduction cannot deduct charitable contributions.
3. You have to meet the IRS’ record keeping requirements, and will need to keep all receipts, canceled checks, acknowledgement letters, and appraisals for donated property.
Cash Donations
All monetary contributions made either by check, money order, credit card, or electronic funds transfer, etc. to qualified nonprofit groups can be deducted on your tax return. Just be sure that you have adequate records for all contributions. (more…)
Do you complain about the amount of taxes you pay? Tax planning is the way to really make sure that you are minimizing the pain. A common strategy used in tax planning is to move taxable events into the future. That is a very dangerous strategy these days, one that can really backfire.
We live in a unique time in the United States. Despite our complaining, this is actually a period where tax rates have been near historical lows in the last 100 years. While this is not any help when you are writing out checks to Uncle Sam, it is a basic truth.
Unfortunately, we have continued to spend money at a staggering pace. If we were a teenager, our parents would have taken away our allowance and grounded us! The idea that the United States may not be able to pay its national debt is no longer a fringe idea. Our current debt is 12.3 trillion. The President is conservatively estimating another 10 trillion in debt this decade. Nobody is entirely sure who is going to buy all this debt and sooner or later it will have to be dealt with. (more…)
The federal government has recently begun a history making incentive to help first time home-buyers make real estate purchases. If you qualify for the new tax credit, you can get $8000 toward the purchase of your home.
First, in order to qualify for the tax credit, you have to purchase and make closing on your home by December 1,2009. If you have built a new house, you must be living in it by December 1, 2009. Your home buying experience, must have taken place between February 1, 2009 (when the credit was first enacted) and December 1, 2009 (the scheduled end date for the credit) to qualify. It is likely Congress will extend the end date, but you should not rely on that at present.
While the tax credit is stipulated for first time home-buyers, that categorization is not exact. You will qualify as a first time home-buyer if you have not owned a home threes years prior to buying this one. If, for instance, if you owned a home and sold it five years ago and have not owned a home since, you qualify as a first time home-buyer under this credit. (more…)
Many people waste money every year by paying an accountant to do what they can easily do themselves. If you know how to choose a good income tax preparation software, you will be able to easily fire your accountant with no worries.
1. Do you want an online based software, or one that installs on your computer? Both have their pros and cons. An online software doesn’t take up any space on your hard drive and once you have saved your tax return you can go back to it from any computer. I have had to do this multiple times. A lot of the time, you can get an online based software for free if you are just doing the basics.
Some people are worried about safety, and would rather their information be kept only on their computer, this is understandable considering identity theft. It truly depends on what you are most comfortable with. (more…)
Are you in the midst of tax dues you owe to the IRS? Here is tax problem help where you can easily reach out – to help you get freedom from your tax obligations. USA Tax Help is a professional services firm with many years of experience in dealing with back taxes IRS. They assist their clients to significantly reduce their tax arrears to the IRS.
It is time to rethink your decision to handle tax dues to IRS or State taxes all by yourself – you may lack the expertise needed in understanding the functioning of the system. But with good professionals on your side you can explore the multiple options available to you and get them to work to your enormous advantage. If you are tired of looking behind you and trying to escape from tax collectors then here is your chance to hand over your tax woes to some one who can take care of them. (more…)
When you are looking at buying a home or selling your home, some people are under the impression that the assessed value on your property tax bill is a good way to figure out the value of a property. Typically, property tax assessed values are updated periodically, but might not take any market conditions into consideration, like an appraisal does.
In the past years, when homes were going through dramatic appreciation, it was better to have a lower assessed value because your property taxes weren’t so high. Now, many companies are specializing in getting assessed values lowered to reflect current market values, which can make a difference on your property tax bill.
Whether you are buying or selling a home, it is important that you realize that an assessed value is not necessarily reflective of a home’s market value at the present time. In fact, if your home was assessed at a new value a couple of years ago, you might want to consider having the county re-assess it because market values have dropped, especially in some areas where values have dropped as much as 50%. This can help you save money on your property tax bill, but if you have to pay for an appraisal to prove the decrease in market value, this might cost you a few hundred dollars. (more…)
When you are faced with tax dues to the IRS and you are unable to pay them you are left with three main options: one is to pay the whole amount which in most cases is an impossibility because of bad financial state, second is to make the payments in installments and third is to make a partial payment and get the rest waived away. But in order to get help with tax related issues the ideal thing to do would be to seek professional help like USA Tax Help to sort out the situation. If you try to handle the matter by yourself you may land up in a further mess.
This is because a complete working knowledge of the IRS system is needed to make the right arrangements.
What can USA Tax Help do to help in tax obligation reduction? They do the following:
• A complete analysis: They gather details about your tax liabilities and all the past communications from the IRS. They get into an analysis of all your assets and liability statements; they also judge your cash flow every month. After getting an idea about what the future potential cash flow can be they go to the next step.
• Recommendation: Based on their financial analysis of your status they give you a list of options in the form of recommendations – you can choose the one that will most suit your situation. (more…)
CPA’s vs. accountants or bookkeepers
Most business owners in New York City do not understand the significant differences between CPA’s and other accounting professionals or bookkeepers. Stringent education and licensing requirements are the key differences where credentials and qualifications are concerned. However, the tax benefits of choosing a good Manhattan CPA far outweigh those of the standard accountant or bookkeeper.
Manhattan CPA’s are skilled business advisors and can properly guide you with financial planning strategies, especially where filing your taxes and tax planning is concerned. In addition to assisting you with your business accounting and tax needs, they can also handle your personal needs such as financial, retirement, and tax planning. Therefore, it is imperative that you understand the importance of choosing a CPA for tax purposes as well as your business and personal accounting needs. (more…)
One of the worst surprises an investor can get is a big tax bill at the end of the year. A big hit from capital gains taxes can turn an otherwise very profitable investing year into one that is only marginally profitable, or even worse, can turn a year of positive returns into an overall loss for the year. Avoiding this unpleasant event takes year-round tax planning. Unfortunately, however, creating a tax problem can take just one mistake.
Short-Term Capital Losses Deduction – Offsetting Capital Gains
Most investors are aware that they have to pay taxes on the profits that they generate while trading securities such as stock, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds.
These taxes are divided into two major categories: Short-Term Capital Gains and Long-Term Capital Gains. (more…)
