Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tax Deducted at Source.(TDS)

Tax deducted at source is one of the modes of collecting Income-tax from the assessees in India. Such collection of tax is effected at the source when income arises or accrues. Hence where any specified type of income arises or accrues to any one, the Income-tax Act enjoins on the payer of such income to deduct a stipulated percentage of such income by way of Income-tax and pay only the balance amount to the recipient of such income. The tax so deducted at source by the payer, has to be deposited in the Government treasury to the credit of Central Govt. within the specified time. The tax so deducted from the income of the recipient is deemed to be payment of Income-tax by the recipient at the time of his assessment. Income from several sources is subjected to tax deduction at source. Presently this concept of T.D.S. is also used as an instrument in enlarging the tax base. Some of such income subjected to T.D.S. are salary, interest, dividend, interest on securities, winnings from lottery, horse races, commission and brokerage, rent, fees for professional and technical services, payments to non-residents etc.It is always considered as an Advance tax which is paid to the government when we are being paid for provision made by us in the form of products or services.

Unemployment taxes

Each employer also must pay State and Federal Unemployment Taxes (SUTA and FUTA). The FUTA rate is equal to 6.2% of gross compensation, but normally nets to 0.8% because the employer is allowed to take a credit of up to 5.4% of compensation for SUTA taxes that paid by the employer. This will be the case if the employer is eligible for the maximum credit. The wage base for FUTA is $7,000 (i.e., the employer is liable for FUTA only on the first $7,000 of compensation paid to each employee per calendar year). Each state has a different rate, so that employers must consult the state requirements for each applicable state regarding tax rates and maximum wage base. Many states require new business to have an average starting rate until an employment history is created. For example, Indiana requires new employers to pay 2.7% for the first 3 years. Afterwards the rate is adjusted depending on various factors, such as whether an ex-employee files a request for unemployment benefits.

Social security and Medicare taxes

Social security and Medicare taxes, also known as FICA taxes, must be withheld from the employee's wages. The employer must also pay a matching amount of FICA taxes for employees.

1. Social Security Tax: As of 2007, the employer must withhold 6.2% of an employee's wages and pay a matching amount in social security taxes until the employee reaches the wage base for the year. The combined total for the employee and the employer is equal to 12.4% of gross compensation. The wage base for social security tax in 2007 is $97,500. Once that amount is earned for a given year, neither the employee nor the employer owe any additional social security tax for that year.

2. Medicare Tax: As of 2007, the employer must withhold 1.45% of an employee's wages and must pay a matching amount for Medicare tax. The combined total for the employee and the employer is equal to 2.9% of gross compensation. Unlike the Social security tax, there is no maximum wage base for the Medicare portion of the FICA tax. Both the employer and the employee continue to incur and pay Medicare tax on each additional amount of gross compensation, with no limit on the amount of gross compensation on which the tax is imposed.

Payroll tax

Payroll tax generally refers to two kinds of taxes: Taxes which employers are required to withhold from employees' pay, also known as withholding, Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) or Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) tax; and taxes which are paid from the employer's own funds and which are directly related to employing a worker, which may be either fixed charges or proportionally linked to an employee's pay.

Value added tax (VAT)

Value added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST), is tax on exchanges. It is levied on the added value that results from each exchange. It differs from a sales tax because a sales tax is levied on the total value of the exchange. For this reason, a VAT is neutral with respect to the number of passages that there are between the producer and the final consumer. A VAT is an indirect tax, in that the tax is collected from someone who does not bear the entire cost of the tax. To avoid double taxation on final consumption, exports (which by definition, are consumed abroad) are usually not subject to VAT and VAT charged under such circumstances is usually refundable.

VAT was invented by a French economist in 1954 as taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA in French). Maurice Lauré, joint director of the French tax authority, the Direction générale des impôts, was first to introduce VAT with effect from 10 April 1954 for large businesses, and it was extended over time to all business sectors. In France, it is the most important source of state finance, accounting for approximately 45% of state revenues.[citation needed]

Personal end-consumers of products and services cannot recover VAT on purchases, but businesses are able to recover VAT on the materials and services that they buy to make further supplies or services directly or indirectly sold to end-users. In this way, the total tax levied at each stage in the economic chain of supply is a constant fraction of the value added by a business to its products, and most of the cost of collecting the tax is borne by business, rather than by the state. VAT was invented because very high sales taxes and tariffs encourage cheating and smuggling. It has been criticized on the grounds that (like other consumption taxes) it is a regressive tax.

Income tax

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An income tax is a tax levied on the financial income of persons, corporations, or other legal entities. Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate tax, corporate income tax, or profit tax. Individual income taxes often tax the total income of the individual (with some deductions permitted), while corporate income taxes often tax net income (the difference between gross receipts, expenses, and additional write-offs).

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