The amendment regarding transaction between associated enterprises which says that service tax will have to be paid even if the consideration is not actually received comes into effect from today. (more…)

Image credit to Delicious Baby

Millions of people use credit cards all around the world. A huge chunk of those users made mistakes when dealing with their credit cards. The consequence of the errors is costly.A lot end up in debt and most of the time these are the people who rant about the credit card being the devil. But fact of the matter is, this is not the case. When used properly, credit cards are very good financial tools.

If you’ve traveled internationally, your credit card company likely owes you money! And the deadline for filing your paperwork is just around the corner: May 30th! Here’s our fun hack for getting the most out of your refund without tedious paperwork.

For years, the credit card companies have been double dipping — they charged a 1-3% transaction fee on foreign transactions and inflated their base exchange rates before applying these fees. A recent class action settlement means we can all get a little bit back.

To quality, you need to have used your credit card in a foreign country between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006. To submit your refund, just go to ccfsettlement.com, where you’ll find three options for claimants:

1. an easy $25 refund
2. a refund based on your estimate of the total number of days you spent outside the country
3. a refund based on detailed information about your annual travel expenses

Sources : Delicious Baby

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) rose slightly to $36.7 billion in April from $36.6 billion in the preceding month, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Foreign exchange inflows consisted mostly of the bank’s gains from foreign exchange operations, its income from investments abroad, as well as the government’s deposit of proceeds from a loan from the Asian Development Bank, the central bank said.

The latest GIR level covers 6.2 months of imports of goods and payments of services and income, central bank said.

The GIR reserves for April are equivalent to 5.2 times the country’s short-term external debt, based on original maturity, and 3.4 times based on residual maturity.

The central bank aims to boost the GIR level, including its holdings of gold and other foreign currencies, to a range of from $35 billion to $37 billion by the end of 2008.

($1 = P42.35)

Sources : Business

More than 1 billion kina ($A400 million) has gone missing from Papua New Guinea’s finance department over the past 10 years.

The revelation by PNG’s Auditor General came alongside a warning that accounting and reporting systems in all government departments had collapsed.

Australia - which is PNG’s largest aid donor - had six senior bureaucrats and other advisors in the country’s finance department during the time the billion kina went missing. (more…)

Image credit to Telegraph

In her new book, Business Nightmares, former Dragons’ Den star Rachel Elnaugh talks to some of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs about their setbacks – and discusses the collapse of her own Red Letter Days. In this extract, she looks at how to overcome disaster

After Emma Harrison left university, her father invited her into his small Sheffield training business to give her work experience. Only 18 days later he told her she’d got the hang of it, and promptly disappeared to Germany leaving her in charge. (more…)

The euro continued to drop while the pound rallied, as investors reconsider their forecasts for interest rates in the euro zone and United Kingdom.

Softer economic data from the euro zone — with the German Ifo indicator falling unexpectedly on Thursday and M3 money supply easing to an annual rate of 10.3 percent in March — has cast doubt on the ability of the region to ‘de-couple’ from the U.S. recession and global financial crisis. (more…)

Normally, the release of US Non-farm Payrolls takes center stage in the forex markets, as the figure tends to spark significant volatility and can shape interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve. However, Wednesday’s FOMC rate decision may steal the limelight, as futures are currently pricing in an 82% chance of a 25bp cut to 2.00% and an 18% chance that the Fed will leave rates unchanged.

(more…)

TAMPA — Two well-known Tampa Bay entrepreneurs have spearheaded the formation of a local chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a group designed to allow members to draw on the collective resources and expertise of kindred spirits in the business world.

Along with other players in the local business community, Kevin Harrington, CEO of Reliant International Media LLC, and Greg Stemm, co-founder of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (Nasdaq: OMEX), have started to actively recruit for the organization and say they plan to have the chapter up and running by the summer.

Roughly 75 people attended an invitation-only party to promote the launch of the chapter at Harrington’s spacious waterfront estate in St. Petersburg on April 10. Local celebrity boxer Ronald “Winky” Wright, who owns independent record label Pound 4 Pound Records Inc. and is involved with other Bay area entrepreneurial ventures, put in an appearance along with some other heavyweights in the local business community.

Since the launch, there have been preliminary talks about appointing a president and board of directors for the chapter. Once 20 people join the organization, it would have the critical mass needed to get off the ground, Harrington said.

Sources: David Guidi

THE corporate regulator is preparing a crackdown on the $400billion-plus property finance sector in an attempt to curb a spate of collapses in the high-risk market dominated by mum and dad investors.

The move follows the release yesterday by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission of a report into its investigation of 94 unlisted companies operating in the $8 billion property “debenture” finance industry. (more…)