Sea Turtle is Killed Suddenly??

Here is a nother one of the animal cruelty. I read it in an article. IT said that the green sea turtle have been unintentionlly killed in a fishing net off the coast of Brazil.Based on Bryan Wallace who is a marine biologist with Conservation International said that ” Of all the threats sea turtle face right now, by catch is the most serious.” In one of the study, the authors said that they estimate that the true total of by ctach is probably not in tens of thousands, but in millions of turtles taken as by catch in the past two decades.Most of the sea turtle species are listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species.

Here is another news in National Geographic News which dated on April 2007which also stated that 8 million sharks were killed accidentally off Arica yearly. In the news, it said that the accidentally caught animals, or by catch, also include some 34, 000 sea birds and 4,200 sea turtles every year off west coast of South Africa, Namibia and Angola. Marine experts have said that by catch around the world has contributed to a serious decline in the population of some sharks, mamals, seabirds, turtles, and numerous other species.

Animal Cruelty laws need to improved

Recently i just read one new about the animal cruelty laws in The Star newspaper dated on 19 April 2010. It say that the punishment for animal cruelty in Malaysia is very light where anyone whoguilty of that offence shall be liable to a find of RM200 or imprisonment for a term of 6 month or both only. The Animal Ordinance Act 1953 is the law that governs animal abuse cases. The fine for abusing any animals is ranged from RM100 to RM200 only. Surprisingly, the punishment was rather light and  it would not teach the wrong-doers a lesson. Under the Act, there is a jail sentence of 6 months however, it has never been used before.  In the news, it say that the Veterinary Services Deprtment(VSD) did not take any action on the animal cruelty cases. Basedon the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor marketing and communications manager Jacinta Johnson- Chan, She say that there are total of 657 cruelty were reported last year with 90% of it is invlving dogs  but none were prosecuted. In the news, it also said that  animal lover have got togehter to sign a petition calling for the changes of the anaimal cruelty punishment to as following;

– An increase in the fine from RM200 to RM10,000;

· Increase the jail term from six months to two years;

· A lifetime ban on animal ownership for those charged with abuse; and

· Urging the public to be responsible pet owners.

This petition was sent to Prime Minister Department in January 2007 but there are no any response. Could we say that it is not enough determination? Based on the SPCA Chairman Christine Chin, she blames it one the lack of enforment by the authorities concerned and the lack of will power to change things.Surendran, who is also the president of the Malaysian Animal Rights and Welfare Association (ROAR), cited the recent KTM dog abuse case as an example.

“Despite identifying the perpetrators, the authority concerned chose to do nothing.

“This is not the first time though, there have been numerous cases with proof of animal abuse and the governing authorities always seem to turn a blind eye,” he said, adding that in the KTM dog abuse case the governing authority was the VSD.

“Malaysian animal laws are one of the worst (see chart) in the world and the situation has certainly put a dent in the image of the country as a developed nation.

“It sends out the wrong perception to foreigners when they see and hear about animal abuse cases,” he said.

Malaysia Investment Tax Planning

What the necessary thing that needed when we are going to invest in the property in Malaysia? First, the capital gains tax. From 1st april 2007, capital gains tax was created in Malaysia. Some experts believe that creating the tax will further encourage investment from overseas buyers and bring more liquidity into Malaysia’s market. Second, the stamp duty. In the 2008 budget, stamp duty for the land tittle transfer for properties costing less than RM250,00 was recommended. This benefit is applicable for the purchase of one house for the entire financial year of 2008.

Price Stamp	Stamp Duty in 2007	Stamp Duty in 2008
RM250,000	RM4,500	RM2,250 (-50%)
RM150,000	RM2,000	RM1,000 (-50%)
RM350,000	RM6,000	RM6,000 (unchanged)

 

The current rate is 1% for the first RM100,000 and 2% for RM100,001 to RM1,000,000. This situation is prompting property developers to provide more properties at below the price of RM250,000 in order to entice buyers. New home buyers face two main stamp duties for tittle transfer and the bank loan facility agreement.

In Malaysia, there is a Government Sales Tax(GST) of 5% is charged on hotel and restaurant bills and on professional bills such as lawyers’ bills. Property tax is a local tax based on the annual rental value of our property. IT is payable in two installments annually.Quit rent is a local tax levied on all landed properties and payable annually at a rate of 1 sen to 2 sen per square foot – RM1 = 100 sen. The Quit Rent liability generally totals less than RM100 per year.

Contract Law

A contract intends to formalize an agreement between two or more parties. Contracts can cover an extremely broad range of matters. Some of the example is sales of goods or real property, the terms of employment, and others. The parties to a contract have a mutual understanding of what the contract covers. A contract must involve an offer to another party who accepts the offer. Fror example, the seller is trying to sell a piano and offer the piano to the buyer for RM10000. The buyer’s acceptance of that offer is needed to create a binding contract for the sale of the piano. Counter-offer is not an acceptance and will be treatedas a rejection of the offer. In order for the contract to be valid, the parties to a contract must exchange soemthing of value. In the case of the sale of a paino, the buyer receives something of value in the form of the piano, and the seller receives money. Action contemplated by the contract must be completed in order for  the delivery to be enforceable. For example, if the buyer of a piano pays RM1000 purcahse price, he can enforce the contract to require the delivery of the piano unless the contract provided that delivery will occur before payment. In a “breach of contract” action, the party alleging the breach will recite that it performed all of its duties under the contract, where as the other party failed to perform its duties or obligation.

Malaysian Residence for Individuals

The tax residence of individuals in Malaysia means the quantitative tests under section 7 of the Income Tax Act 1967. IT is determined by reference to the number of days an individual is present in Malaysia during a particular calender year. Basically there are 4 part of Section 7 of the Income Tax Act 1967 as shown at follwing:

Section 7 (1)(a)- In MAlaysia for 182 days in a basic year

• An individual is in Malaysia in that basic year for aperiod of 182 days or more. Part of a say also counts as a full day. Fro example, an individual first arrives in Malaysia on 14/5/2009 and leaves on 26/11/2009 where he have stay more than 182 days in Malaysia.

Section 7 (1)(b) – In Malaysia for less than 182 days in a basic year

• Linked to a period of 182 or more consecutive days to the immediately preceding calender year.

Example:                    

An individual in Malaysia	Residence status:
Year 2002 including 31 Dec for > 182 days	RESIDENT (sec.7 (1)(a))
Year 2003 including 1 Jan for < 182 days *	RESIDENT (sec.7 (1)(b))

*The individual must be physically present inMalaysia on the 2 days (31 Dec and 1 Jan)  in order to establish the link.

• Linked by a period of 182 or more consecutive days to the immediately succeeding calendar year.

Example :

An individual in Malaysia	Residence status:
Year 2004 including 31 Dec for < 182 days#	RESIDENT (sec.7 (1)(b))
Year 2005 including 1 Jan for  > 182 days	RESIDENT (sec.7 (1)(a))

* In order to establish the link between 2004 and 2005, he individual must be physically present inMalaysia on the 2 days (31 Dec and 1 Jan).

Temporary absences from Malaysia are to be treated as forming part of the qualifying period provided the individual is in Malaysia immediately prior to a dnafter that temporary absence. Thse include:

– connected with his service in Malaysia or attending conferences or seminars or study abroad.

– owing to ill-health involving himself or members of his immediate family.

– social visit not exceeding 14 days.

Section 7 (1)(c) – In Malaysia for 90 days or more

An individual in particulr basic year must be in Malaysia for 90 days or more and in three of the four immediately preceding basic years, he is either Malaysian tax resident or in Malaysia for 90 days or more, he will be deemed to be resident for that basic year.

Example:

A taxpayer in Malaysia:	Residence status:		Reasons:
5.1.2002 – 31.12.2002	RESIDENT	(sec. 7(1)(a))	³ 182 days
1.1.2003 – 9.2.2003	RESIDENT	(sec. 7(1)(b))	linked to a period of > 182 consecutive days (31.12.2002 & 1.1.2003 is linked)
1.1.2004 – 5.4.2004	NON-RESIDENT
1.2.2005 – 2.6.2005	RESIDENT	(sec. 7(1)(c))	his stay is > 90days & in ¾ immediately preceding year he was resident under sec.7(1)(a) & sec.7(1)(b) & was in Malaysia for >90 days in the basis year 2004

Section 7 (1)(d) – Not in Malaysia

Toqualify for resident status under 7(1)(d)

1. he must be resident for the immediately following year
2. he was resident for the three immediately preceding year.

Example 11:

Year		Residence status
2001	< 90 days	NON-RESIDENT
2002	> 183 days	RESIDENT (Sec.7(1)(a))
2003	> 183 days	RESIDENT (Sec.7(1)(a))
1 January 2004	< 90 days	RESIDENT (Sec.7(1)(b))
2005	> 90 days	RESIDENT (Sec.7(1)(c))
2006	Not in Malaysia	RESIDENT (Sec.7(1)(d))
2007	> 90 days	RESIDENT (Sec.7(1)(c))

Foreign-source income

Basically foregin source income is an income derived by resident individuals and companies from overseas salaries and foreign assets and businesses. If the taxpayers’ tax payable on the amount earned is greater than the tax paid in the overseas country, the taxpayer is required to remit the difference to the IRB. For example, if the income is RM100, the foreign tax RM30 and the Malaysian tax us RM40, the taxpayer gets a foreign tax credit of RM 30 and pays RM10 for malaysian tax. However, the foreign tax in RM40 and  the Malaysian tax is RM30, the taxpayer pays no Malaysian tax. Besides that, refunds are not given which means that people pay tax at whatever as the higher rate.

Salary or wages that earned in another country and subject to tax in that country are excmpt from Malaysian income tax where the taxpayer worked overseas for a continous period of at least three months. If the taxpaer derives his income in the same year from Malaysia, the exempt overseas income is taken into account in working out the tax on the Malaysian income.

computation of income tax payable

There are six steps in computing an individual’s income tax payable for a given year. The steps are as follows:

Step 1 : Compute the statutory income(SI) from each source. In doing so the following rules have to be adhered to:

• Statutory income from a business source is arrived at by adding balancing changes and thereafter deducting capital allowances from adjusted business income. This has to be done separately for each business source as balancing charges and capital allowances are source specific.This means that balancing charges and allowances attributable to the assetsof a given business can only be applied against the adjusted income of that business and not others.
• The statutory income from others services such as employment, interest, rental, dividend,etc. equal gross income less aallowable expenses. Allowable expenses in the case of dividend income would be interest expenses and fund managemnt fees, while in the case of rental income they could take the form of quit rent and assessment, interest expense, repair and maintenance, managemntfees and fire insurance premium.

Step 2 : Compute aggregate income (AI) which is the sum of

• aggregate statutory business income less business losses brought forward from previuos years
• statutory income from other sources.

Step 3 : Total income (TI) is computed by deducting the following items in order of sequence from aggregate income

• current year adjusted business loss
• donations to approved institutions

Step 4 : Chargeable income (CT) is arrived at by deducting personal reliefs. This only applies to resident individuals. In the case of non-resident individuals, chargeable income is equal to total income.

Step 5 : The relevant tax rates are then applied to chargeable income to determine income tax chargeable. Scaled rates are used for resident individuals while flat rate of 28% is applied for non-resident individuals.

Step 6 : Income tax payable is obtained by deducting the relevant tax rebates for resident individual and Section 110 (tax deducted from Malaysian derived dividends at source) tax relief.

Malaysia Individual Taxation

In Malaysia, the law governing income tax is the Income Tax Act, 1967 (Act53), a transaction must be fall within the ambit of “Scope of charge” (section3) in order to be liable to income tax. Due to the scope of charge, this means that it charges tax on income of any person for each year of assessment accuring in or derived from Malaysia or remitted to MAlaysia from oversseas. The resident  status of the taxpayer is very important deu to the following reasons:

• Scope of Charge – A resident is subject to tax on income derived in Malaysia and income remitted to MAlaysia from overseas whereas, a non-resident individual will only be subject to tax on income derived in Malaysia.
• Relief – No relief will be given to a non- resident individual.
• Tax Rates – Aresident individual is taxed on scaled rates where as a non- resident will be taxed at aflat rate of 28%.

How an individual can be resident? Generally, as individual is a resident if he physically within MAlaysia for 182 days or more in a tax year.Tax reliefs are available to a resident taxpayerin clude the following:

1. a personal relief of RM8,000
2. wife relief of RM3,000 if the wife is living with the husband and has elected to be assessed jointly with the husband.
3. child relief of RM1,000 per child
4. maximum deduction of RM6,000 for life insurance premium and contribution to approved pension and provident funds
5. maximum deduction of RM3,000 for premiums paid for education and medical insurance
6. maximum deduction of RM5,000 on medical expenses incurred on the taxpayer’s parents
7. maximum deduction of RM 5,000 on expenditure incurred for the purchase of supporting equipement for taxpayer, his wifem child or parent who is disabled.

Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia

The Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM) is one of the main revenue collecting agencies of the Ministry of Fianace. The departement of Inland Revenue Board (IRB) become a statutory board on 1 march 1996,  as a result of  the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia Act 1995. It is established to give more autonomy especially in financial and personnel management as well as to improve the quality and effectiveness of tax administration. Basically this agency is responsilbe for the overall administration of direct taxes under the following Acts;

1. Income Tax Act 1967
2. Petroleum (Income Tax) Act 1967
3. Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976
4. Promotion of Investments Act 1986
5. Stamp Act 1949
6. Labuan Offshore Business Activity Tax Act 1990

What is the function of the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia? Following is the functions of the board provided by IRBM:

• To ad as agent of the Government and to provide services in administering, assessing, collecting, and enforcing payment of income tax, petroleum income tax, real property gains tax, estate duty , stamp duties and such other taxes as may be agreed between the Government and the Board.
• To advise the Government on matters realting to taxation and to liaise withthe appropriate Ministries and statutory bodies on such matters.
• To participate in or outside Malaysia in respect of matters realting to taxation
• To perform such other functions as are conferredon the Board by any other written law.
• May act as a collection agent for and on behalf of any body for the recovery of loans due for repayment to that body under any written law.

Law of Shopping

Whenever we go shopping and time from time we will face up to something that is faulty, defective, or that we want return for some reason,  we tend to don’t know about our rights.When we buy something, then we have form a contract of sale which will brings into force the Sale of Goods Act 1979. How is a contract made? When a shopper puts an item on the shelf with a price on it, this does not constitute an offer to sell. A shopper not necessary need to sell anything to us if they don’t want.A contract happen when we pick an item off the shelf and take it the check out, and we are asked for some money. We have made an offer to buy and its offer part of making a contract. When the cashier takes our money, that is the acceptance part and the contract has been made. This how Sales of Goods Act 1979 applies. What is the rights for SOGA? First, the goods supplied must be described, and fit for purpose. If not, we can take it back to the shopper in a reasonable length of time we are entitled to a refund. We might get the refund of a replacement, alternative or credit note. One example of items that not fit for purpose or as described is a telephone supplied in a box.On the box it says it is a green phone but when we open it, it is a blue one. On line selling is effectively just a new form of mail-order and it is covered by Distance Selling regulations (DSR). This means that we have 7 days from receipt to decide if you wish to keep the goods or cancel the contract.If we cancel the order we are entitled to a refund of cost of goods plus delivery. If we buy from  auctions sites such as Ebay and the seller is registered with Ebay as business seller, then DSR applies. If they are private seller, we can’t cancel it unless the goods are not as described.