A Profile of the Asian Economy

With the world's two fastest growing economies and 60% of the world's population, Asia is emerging as arguably the most important market in world trade.
The Asian economy is already the largest continental economy in the world. The biggest players within Asia, according to GDP, are Japan, China, India and South Korea. China has largest economy of those and has emerged as the second largest in the world (when not including the EU) behind the US although it is anticipated that it will soon overtake and claim top spot. Japan, for a long time Asia's financial superpower is now second whilst India, in terms of purchasing power, can be considered the third largest.
The might of the Asian economies may seem like a fairly modern invention but for much of European antiquity and up until the 19th century countries such as China India were the prominent economic powers in the world. Much of their success then as now depended on their plentiful natural resources, the same resources which tempted European colonisation which in turn stunted Asian economic power until the 20th century.
Asia is a very diverse and disparate continent and as a result the key economic drivers differ substantially across it, to some extent relating to the geography of each locale. The emerging superpowers of China and India are, as are much of central Asia and the subcontinent, largely reliant in the industrial and manufacturing industries fuelled by their large workforces and extensive resources. The rise of both China and India has followed an easing in the socialist governance of the two countries which has unlocked the potential in the massive labour forces and natural resources that each country has.
In Japan and South Korea on the other hand, although industry still plays major role, the economies are more developed and varied and success is also particularly reliant on the financial and service sectors. Both countries experienced post war booms - Japan after the Second World War and South Korea after the Korean War - and are now home to some of the world's leading multinationals, particularly in the field of consumer electronics and motor vehicles. The success of each economy followed close cooperation between government, banks and business with heavy investment and enthusiastic research into high end technology.
The financial services are also integral to the economies of smaller but prosperous South East Asian states such as Hong Kong and Singapore (together with South Korea and Taiwan known as the Asian Tigers due to their rapid economic development in the second half of the 20th century). The two states are free trade ports which have grown their economies through the adoption of western capitalist principles, international trade and low taxation. They have two of the world's most important stock exchanges with the Hong Kong stock exchange the world 's six largest by market capitalisation.
The wealth of the Middle East states is mostly commodity based with oil in particular being key to their prosperity since the its discovery in Iran in 1908. The region is home to the biggest proportion of the world's known oil reserves and as a result relatively small Gulf States such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain have been able to rival the larger economies of Turkey and Saudi Arabia and many of those economies now have the some of the highest GDPs per capita in the world (Qatar's, the highest, stands at 88,232 US$).
One of the biggest challenges facing modern Asian countries is the distribution of their wealth. In middle east despite being oil rich and having some of the highest GDPs per capita in Asia, much of the wealth remains in the hands of a minority in the upper echelons of society. Whereas, in the vast countries of India and China the size of their economies is largely based upon, but very much offset against, the size of their populations sharing as they do 2.5 billion people between them (over a third of the world's total). As a result their GDP per capita stands at only 3,417 and 7,518 respectively in comparison with the region's other large economies of Japan (32,817) and South Korea (30,200), whilst the other successful financial and trading nations in the South East are such as those of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Advantages of Consumer Car Loans

A consumer car loan is a loan that involves two parties, in this case, the purchaser and the lender. The lender purchases the car on behalf of the consumer in form of a loan, after which the consumer then gets to enjoy the car as he makes the necessary repayments within the designated dates. The loan is normally secured against the ca,r but at the end of repayment, the car fully belongs to the purchaser. The best thing about the consumer loan is the fact that you can do anything you want with the car, even selling it during the period of the loan so long as in the long-run you get to make all the repayments to the lender. In general, the car ownerships will fully rest with you.
You will get the ownership of the car as soon as you get to sign the agreement. The funds will then be accredited directly to the bank account of the car seller and the car will be released to you. This kind of financing is made available to private sales, dealers and car yards and is available to all. It is however expected that the repayments are made at intervals that are fixed and you can expect them to be debited directly from your personal bank account. This is a measure that is put in place but you can also make the choice of making the repayments on a weekly basis or monthly or even after a fortnight. You can have flexible repayment method depending on the lender that you choose to use.
The consumer car loans are available for individuals who want to purchase new vehicles, as well as used vehicles, and therefore, everybody is accommodated at the end of the day. You will also get to enjoy the tax benefits that come with the loan and even enjoy cash management when making the purchase of the car that you need. Below are some of the advantages that you will stand to gain when you choose to go for the consumer loan:
You will enjoy up to 100% of financing for the car. It is actually very possible to get this percent when looking for this kind of financing.
You will manage to make the repayments on dates that are pre-determined and regularly structured to suit your needs.
You will get full ownership of the vehicle as soon as you get to sign the agreement.
The finance length can also be custom tailored to suit any individual needs that you might have.

Can Bankruptcy Stop An Eviction?

Whether you own or rent a home, the process of eviction can be a terrible experience. Already suffering from money problems and debt burdens, being evicted usually leads to further problems, financially. While you may be considering filing for bankruptcy to stop an eviction, there are a few things you should know.
Owning A Home
One of the most valuable resources of the bankruptcy process can be halting foreclosure proceedings on a home. After you file for bankruptcy the automatic stay order will halt the foreclosure process and prohibit any collection efforts while the debts are being resolved. This means that if you were served with an eviction notice prior to your filing, you may be eligible to stay in the home during the bankruptcy process. This depends on the date of your eviction, which is indicated on your eviction notice. Generally, you will be given 30 days to vacate the property once the foreclosure process has been initiated. If you are able to file for bankruptcy before the date of eviction, you will be safe for the time being. However, if you file after the eviction date, you are likely to find yourself and your belongings put out of the home by authorities.
Renting A Home
Renting a property can complicate both the eviction process and bankruptcy process. If you are renting a home that ends up in foreclosure, you may be given very little notice of the impending foreclosure. Depending on communication from your landlord, you could find yourself with only 24 hours notice to vacate the premises. In this situation, bankruptcy would not be effective in halting the eviction process.
If you receive an eviction notice due to missed payments on your part, your landlord maintains the right to notify you of an impending eviction. Each state holds different laws regarding the amount of notification your landlord is required to give before an eviction. You may have anywhere between 24 hours to 30 days. Filing for bankruptcy may be able to halt an eviction if you can complete the filing before the date of eviction.
It is important to note that filing for bankruptcy is not a guarantee. In order to proceed with eviction your landlord must obtain a court order. If your landlord already obtained a court order before you filed, you will still be evicted unless your attorney can convince the court to lift the order. Timing is extremely important and you will need to file for bankruptcy before your landlord obtains a court order if you want the best chances of avoiding an eviction.

Controlling Capital Gain Rates

When it comes to investment taxes, understanding and managing capital gains is the key to minimizing the tax impact of your investments.
Here are some basics:
The tax impact of a specific investment depends both on:
-the payer's tax bracket - the rate used to calculate your ordinary income tax
-the length of time the investment was held prior to sale.
The tax is based on the difference between the original cost and the selling price. The difference reflects the increase in price - the stock's capital appreciation - or "capital gain."
Short-term capital gains are taxed at the tax payer's ordinary tax rate, and are defined as investments held for a year or less.
Long-term capital gains apply to assets held for more than one year. They are taxed at a lower rate than short-term gains to provide incentives for investors to make capital and entrepreneurial investments as well as to compensate for the effects of inflation and the corporate income tax.
The tax rate refers Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) which is the total income from all taxable sources minus allowable deductions. Income sources include business income (Schedule C) and/or salary, wages tips, commission, bonuses, unemployment benefits and sick pay as well as unearned income - dividends and interest. (Schedule B)
Allowable deductions include alimony or retirement plan contributions and other personal exemptions and deductions.
Capital gains taxes the difference between your "basis" versus proceeds from the sale. This difference is your profit or loss.
The cost basis is an adjustment of the purchase price that factors in brokerage fees or taxes paid. Inherited stock is based on the stock price on the day the original owner died.
For example, suppose you are in the 30% tax bracket and make a $10,000 investment on January 3, 2010. By November 1 - 10 months later- you have a $2,000 gain on a $10,000 investment.
You'll pay about $600 in taxes if you were to sell on November 1, 2010, but only $300 if you sell beginning in January 3, 2011 or later. That's 3% of the original investment and 50% savings on the tax itself for waiting 60-days!
BUSH-ERA CAP GAIN BONANZA
The situation is even more interesting in the current environment: the long-term rate bottoms at 0 tax for the lowest 15% in ordinary taxable income through 2012.
The zero long-term cap gain rate has been available since 2008, thanks to the Bush-era tax cuts that began in 2003. This rate applies only to those in the 15% or lower tax bracket for ordinary income.
The zero rate applies if long-term capital gains plus regular taxable income for 2011 total less than $34,000 for an individual or $68,000 for married taxpayers, filing jointly. Long-term cap gain income over these limits is taxed at the higher rate.
The cap-gain tax is part of the ongoing debate around tax reform. The rates had been due to increase at the end of 2010 but were extended by new legislation through the end of 2012. One reminder - certain states treat long-term capital gains as ordinary income regardless of federal tax code.
2 - THE NETTING GAME
The first step to lower investment tax is to minimize cap gain rates by holding assets for more than one year
The second step is: minimize the tax paid in a given year by netting gains against losses.
Historically capital gains have held a preferential place in the tax code. We see this in lower trending rates. We also see it in IRS' method of computing the capital gains profit and loss on Form 1040, Schedule D
The Netting Game: First, the short-term gains and losses (those made in one year or less) are netted against each other for the tax year; then long-term gains and losses (those made in more than one year) are netted; and finally the remaining outcomes are combined together. Investors following instructions on Schedule D can implement this approach on their own. Tax advisors are also quite familiar with this practice.
EXAMPLE 1: a net short-term loss of $10,000 can be applied against a net long-term gain of $5,000 for a remaining short-term loss of $5,000 [-$10,000 + $5000 = -$5000]. In any given year, there is no limit on the amount of capital losses that can offset capital gains.
Remember - as indicated on Schedule D- after netting, a maximum of $3,000 of remaining losses may be deducted from ordinary income in any given year.
EXAMPLE 2: Purchase 400 Shares of S&P Unit Trust (SPY) @ 141.00 or $56.400
Within same tax year, sell 400 shares SPY at 131.00 for a $4000 short-term loss
Use $4000 loss to offset $4000 in other capital gains or $1000 in capital gains and $3000 in ordinary income
3- A STITCH IN TIME...
A third approach, the IRS also allows tax-payers a choice of accounting methods common in commercial world to further reduce cap gains - the equivalent of LIFO (last-in/last-out) or FIFO (first-in/first-out)
Thus, you may choose the way you compute cost basis to lower your tax by selling the most expensive shares first.
Suppose you have purchased 1200 shares of XYZ stock over a two-year period. You need to sell 800 shares of XYZ and want to minimize your tax consequence.
The selling price is a given. But what about the cost basis?
Since shares were bought at different time, the IRS permits the seller to calculate the lowest tax by designating the shares whose coast basis is the highest - which in turn would produce the lowest profit and therefore the lowest resultant capital gain tax.
In our example, you could sell the first 800 shares that you purchased two years ago, whose cost basis of $50 would result in a long-term gain of $20,000, with a tax bill of $3,000. On the other hand, if you choose to sell a specific tax lot instead, you can sell your most expensive shares first (even though they are short term) and still have a lower tax bill of $2,060.
HARVEST TIME
Tax-loss harvesting is the action of selling your losing securities to deliberately create portfolio losses that offset your taxable gains. The result: a lower personal tax liability in a controlled and measured fashion - with an option to reestablish your position in the New Year at a lower cost basis and lower tax liability.
This is one reason the stock market often dips at year end as investors actively dump their biggest losing positions to offset gains.
Sell and purchase shares of related but distinct stocks.
Effect is to realize loss and stay invested in same sector
EXAMPLE: sell 400 shares SPY at 131.00 for a $4000 short-term loss (as above) Simultaneously purchase 400 shares of IVV, iShares S&P 500 @ 130.00
Result: Realized loss in SPY shares but reestablish position in same sector with purchase of IVV
If IVV shares are sold in two years at 140, investor will pay 15% capital gains tax, or $600. (Assuming no capital gains tax rate increase). But tax loss already offset $3000 of ordinary income in the earlier year.
Assuming a 25% income bracket in the earlier year, the investor has realized a $750 saving tax year. After deducting the $3000 in the earlier year, the investor can carry $1000 forward to offset future gains, reducing cap gain by $150 (15% x $1000 loss carried forward).
The net tax paid will be reduced from $600 to $450. The whole exercise will result in a $300 savings (the $750 saved off of ordinary income in the earlier year, less the $450 cap gain tax paid in the later year).
Harvesting is an aggressive strategy that may be worth the effort when dealing with larger numbers. Watch out for the IRS Wash-Sale Rule designed to prevent investors from selling a stock in a losing position to offset a gain, only to turn around and buy the stock right back.
Under the "Wash-Sale Rule", you may not sell a stock and buy it back within 30 days and claim a capital loss.

Extra Tax Preparer Job Procedure For Taxpayers Who Formerly Claimed First Time Homebuyer Credit

Over the next several years, tax preparer work will entail reporting extra income for individuals who claimed the First Time Homebuyer Credit in 2008. The IRS is supposed to send reminder notices to taxpayers who must repay the credit over fifteen years. However, according to a report by the Tax Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the IRS is having trouble identifying home purchasers who should repay the tax credit.
The First Time Homebuyer Credit was initiated as a repayable amount until subsequent legislation over the next two years changed that requirement. Each revision to the law created different qualifications for the credit and distinctive credit amounts. A tax preparer review course was updated with new information for three tax years, beginning with 2008.
The credit was first implemented as essentially an interest-free loan. A home purchaser who met the definition of first time buyer was eligible to claim a refund for any part of the credit that exceeded tax liability. Many paid tax preparers calculated the credit and helped people obtain large refunds for 2008. However, this procedure should have been accompanied with an explanation that the credit is repayable over fifteen years beginning with 2010 tax returns.
In addition, any taxpayer who claimed the First Time Homebuyer Credit in either of the three tax years it was available - 2008, 2009, or 2010 - and sold or stopped using the house as a primary residence within three years must repay the entire credit. That means a tax preparer job now necessitates inquiring about whether a taxpayer claimed the credit, in which year, and if the home is still a primary residence.
Work on a 2011 tax return might involve a tax preparer requirement to calculate repayment of an entire credit. However, for sold homes, the repayment is only payable to the extent that a profit was made on the sale. Rules also apply from tax preparation training about capital gain tax on profit from selling a home that was not a principal residence for two out of five preceding years.
The TIGTA report states that the IRS did correctly send 5.2 million notices to taxpayers about repayment of the credit. However, the report also states that more than 61,400 households that should have received such notices were omitted or had incorrect information. Therefore, an addition to the tax preparation checklist is assuring that notices first time homebuyers receive from the IRS are indeed accurate.
The TIGTA report cites 27,700 instances of taxpayers receiving notices to repay the credit on homes they bought in 2009 despite only 2008 purchasers having to repay. About 18,200 of the 2008 homebuyers required to repay the credit did not obtain IRS notices. Also, 53,500 taxpayers were incorrectly informed that they owed repayment of the credit as a result of erroneous determinations of their homes as sold residences.
Whether the IRS can correct future inaccuracies in its notices to recipients of the first time homebuyer credit is uncertain.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service Circular 230, we inform you that, to the extent any advice relating to a Federal tax issue is contained in this communication, including in any attachments, it was not written or intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (a) avoiding any tax related penalties that may be imposed on you or any other person under the Internal Revenue Code, or (b) promoting, marketing or recommending to another person any transaction or matter addressed in this communication.

Expertise From Enrolled Agent Education Helps Workers With Side Jobs Defer Tax Impact

The knowledge of IRS enrolled agents permits them to work as tax advisers in addition to preparing tax returns. This is particularly valuable to taxpayers who earn extra income to supplement wages from their jobs. These individuals benefit from minimizing the tax impact of their sideline income.
Side jobs are increasingly common for people who want to put aside some money for the future. This situation is especially common as households are spending more of their current income to reduce debt. Fortunately, enrolled agent education reveals some details about how to defer the tax consequences of income from side jobs. This entails utilizing retirement plans that set aside the self-employment income for the future.
However, knowing some tax rules from enrolled agent study is critical to properly advising people with both wages from jobs and earnings from self-employment. A common area of concern for these workers is how their self-employment retirement plans are affected by similar plans at work.
An enrolled agent can explain how contribution limits are separately calculated for different types of retirement plans. For example, an employee of a small business with a SIMPLE IRA plan can create a distinctive SEP IRA plan for self-employment earnings. However, contribution limits are combined for employees with other types of multiple plans. Therefore, anyone with self-employment income must exercise caution in establishing a retirement plan for earnings from side jobs while having a 401(k) with an employer. In addition, people with a SIMPLE at work and a SIMPLE for self-employment are confronted with a single contribution limit for both plans combined.
An important area of EA continuing education is reinforcing the facts about different retirement plans for the self-employed. One reason for this is that the annual contribution limits are subject to cost-of-living adjustment by the IRS each year.
An employee is allowed to contribute $16,500 to a 401(k) for 2011. The total annual contributions to a SIMPLE IRA plan by an employee are limited to $11,500. A $2,500 catch-up contribution is permitted for an individual over age 50. This is also the maximum for the SIMPLE of a self-employed person. However, a matching contribution is provided from the business that is capped at 3 percent of income.
Many individuals with self-employment income establish a SEP IRA for their sideline earnings. Contributions to a SEP are not affected by contributions made as an employee to the 401(k) or SIMPLE at work. However, enrolled agent classes convey that any contributions by an employer to a 401(k) reduce the allowed SEP contribution from self-employment income. The combined contributions cannot exceed 25 percent of net self-employment income - not including the SEP contribution itself - up to the annual maximum for 2011 of $49,000.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service Circular 230, we inform you that, to the extent any advice relating to a Federal tax issue is contained in this communication, including in any attachments, it was not written or intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (a) avoiding any tax related penalties that may be imposed on you or any other person under the Internal Revenue Code, or (b) promoting, marketing or recommending to another person any transaction or matter addressed in this communication.