Laptops are replacing the desktops at most of the offices.
Due to increase of travel and loads of work.
Laptops were designed with portability in mind. Many of
the design features create problems when it comes to
ergonomics. Long periods of working and inappropriate
laptop use can increase the chance of muscle and joint
pain, overuse injuries of the upper limbs and eyestrain.
The problem is that the monitor and keyboard of a laptop
are very close together.
The risks can be reduced or eliminated with proper work
space design, improved posture and good working habits.
Posture-related injuries
Back and neck pain, headaches, and shoulder and arm
pain are common laptop-related injuries. Such muscle
and joint problems can be caused or made worse by poor
workstation design, bad posture and sitting for long
hours.
Although sitting requires less muscular effort, it still
causes fatigue and requires parts of the body to be held
steady for long periods of time. This reduces circulation
to the muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments and can
result in stiffness and pain. If a workstation is not set up
properly, these steady positions can put even greater
stress on muscles and joints.
Prevention tips muscle and joint injuries
Suggestions to reduce the risk of muscle and joint
problems include:
• Position your keyboard at a height that allows your
elbows to rest comfortably at your side. Forearms
should be roughly parallel with the floor and level with
your keyboard.
• Adjust your chair so that your feet rest flat on the floor.
• Use a footstool (if your feet do not rest on the floor
when the chair is adjusted for good arm position).
• Switch to an ergonomic chair, which helps your spine
to naturally hold its curve while sitting.
• Use an ergonomic keyboard to offer your hands and
wrists a more natural holding position.
• Take frequent short breaks and go for a walk or
perform stretching exercises at your desk. Stand often.
• Use external devices. Attach an external keyboard
and pointing device to your laptop. Position them at a
height that allows your upper arms to hang loosely
from the shoulder and your forearms to extend
horizontally towards the keyboard.
• Raise the laptop. Place the laptop on a stand, book or
other surface so that you can see the screen without
having to bend or rotate your neck.
Ideally screen should be 51 cm away and 20 cm below
eye level.
Overuse injuries of the upper limbs
Muscles and tendons can become painful with repetitive
movements and awkward postures. This is known as
'overuse injury' and these typically occur in the elbow,
wrist or hand of computer users. Symptoms of overuse
injuries in the upper limbs include pain, swelling, stiffness
of the joints, weakness and numbness.
Prevention tips overuse injuries
Suggestions to reduce the risk of overuse injuries
include:
• Keep your mouse at the same height as your correctly
positioned keyboard.
• Position the mouse as close as possible to the side of
the keyboard.
• Use your whole arm, not just your wrist, when using
the mouse.
• Type lightly and gently.
• Mix your tasks to avoid long, uninterrupted stretches
of typing.
• Remove the hands from the keyboard when not
actively typing, to allow the arms to relax.
• Make sure the laptop is stable and will not wobble or
slide as you work, rest your eyes frequently and blink
more to prevent them feeling dry, it adds.
Eyestrain
Focusing your eyes at the same distance point for
extended periods of time would cause fatigue. The
human eye structurally prefers to look at objects further
than six meters away, so any work performed close-up
puts extra demands on the eye muscles.
The illuminated computer screen can also contribute to
eye fatigue, blurred vision, temporary inability to focus
on faraway objects and headaches.
Prevention tips eyestrain
• Make sure your primary light source (such as a
window) is not shining into your face or directly onto
the monitor.
• Tilt the monitor slightly to eliminate reflections or glare.
• Maintain a gap of nearly 51 cm between screen & eyes.
• Position the screen at or 20 cm below eye level.
• Reduce the contrast and brightness of your screen
• Frequently look away from the screen and focus on
faraway objects.
• Have regular eye examinations if any symptoms appear.
Precautions while carrying laptop during travel
Frequent travelers carrying laptop can put strain on backs,
hands and shoulders. To minimize these precautionary
measures are :
• Carry only the essential laptop accessories.
• Use a sturdy bag, backpack, or rolling luggage.
• Pack an external mouse.
So you see, there can be many disorders by use of
technology. But, still the technology is to be used with
the changes in the business needs, space shortage
etc… Therefore, as they say 'Precaution is better then
cure'; one should understand the risk, take it seriously
and to try to minimize the injuries.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Is laptop usage damaging your health ?
ITAT makes it tougher for taxmen to impose penalty
ITAT makes it tougher for taxmen to impose penalty
Imposing some checks on arbitrary actions of taxmen, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has made it tougher for the Assessing Officers (AO) to impose penalty on common taxpayers.
Setting aside the orders of the AO and Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) in case of Delhi-based Genesis Overseas case, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in a recent ruling said that tax sleuths cannot impose penalty without clearly mentioning the grounds for such action.
"The required satisfaction for initiation of penalty proceedings as required in law was not at all discernible from the assessment order...Penalty proceedings initiated by the AO were bad in law and the penalty imposed u/s 271(1)(c)in pursuance of such invalid initiation is not sustainable", the ITAT said in case of the city-based company.
The company, was charged by the Tax department for concealment of income by furnishing inaccurate particulars for about Rs 10.68 lakh.
The department had alleged that the traveling expenses of Rs 2.37 lakh to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kathmandu by the Directors of the company were not related to the business of the company but still shown as a business expense in an attempt to evade tax.
Also, another amount of Rs 8.3 lakh was shown as commission expenses by the company while it had only shown in the accounts to be given to the company's sister concern in order to reduce income and evade tax, the department said.
However, the company in submissions before the Income tax Appellate Tribunal said that requisite satisfaction concerning the concealment of income was not recorded by the Assessing Officer and there was no clarity on penalty to be imposed. Considering the arguments of both the parties, the tribunal ruled that in absence of a discernible satisfaction about the concealment being recorded by the tax officer, the penalty proceedings had no meaning.
INEREST RATE JITTERS
“Spreads will narrow further if RBI hikes key interest rates in the coming days. Banks will have to raise sub-PLR rates to protect their margins,” said G Narayanan, executive director of Indian Overseas Bank. Most bankers have indicated that they may fail to meet the targets on margin this fiscal year if RBI continues to use the CRR as a tool to curtail rising inflation. Recently, banks have pleaded to the central bank not to raise CRR to manage inflation. However, a number of analyst have projected a hike repo rate and CRR. “Banks have began the exercise of raising sub-PLR rates, but it requires a lot of negotiation with corporates. Due to long-term relationship, corporates do not easily accept higher rates. But slowly, they are coming around to accept that fact that high interest rates are here to stay,” said RS Reddy, executive director of Union Bank of India.
E-Payment of Taxes
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have vide notification S.O.No.493(E) dated 13.3.2008 notified the categories of taxpayers who are mandatorily required to electronically pay taxes on or after the 1st day of April, 2008. A company and such other taxpayers (other than a company), to whom provisions of section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 are applicable have been brought within the ambit of the new provision.
With a view to clarifying and facilitating such electronic payment of taxes by different categories of taxpayers, the CBDT has issued Circular No. 5 of 2008. The Circular clarifies that a taxpayer can make electronic payment of taxes from the account of any other person. However, the challan for making such payment must clearly indicate the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of the taxpayer on whose behalf the payment is to be made. It will not be necessary for the assessee to make payment of taxes from his own account in an authorized bank.
Further, it has also been clarified that for the purpose of the newly inserted rule 125 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, the meaning of 'tax' will include payment of tax deducted at source (TDS) or tax collected at source (TCS). Therefore, a company and such other taxpayers (other than a company), to whom provisions of section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 are applicable, are also required to mandatorily make such payment electronically.
ARE YOU A SPAM VICTIM ?
Technologies are advancing, so as the problems with the
advanced technology. In the scenario of e-Mails when
the communication goes through within seconds, the
junk and spam mails are the unfortunate fact of
technology.
If you struggle to find important emails hiding in the
jungle of junk in your inbox, you are not alone. In 2007,
72% of all email traffic was spam.
What is a SPAM email?
A SPAM Email is an unsolicited commercial email, in other
words, an email trying to sell you something which you
haven't requested. E-mail spam, also known as bulk email
or junk e-mail is a subset of spam that involves
sending nearly identical messages to numerous
recipients by e-mail.
Spam is more than just a menace it makes your inbox a
gateway for viruses, phishing attacks and identity theft.
Where do spammers get addresses from?
Some of them are
• Dictionary attacks Some spammers use software to
randomly generate email addresses for popular email
providers, commonly called dictionary attacks the
software will guess the first part of an email address:
guessed@emailprovider.com
• Purchasing third party lists Buying email
addresses from third parties.
• Email Harvesters Some spammers use special
software called email harvesters which scan web
pages for email addresses. Common targets for email
harvesters are message boards and chat rooms.
• Some email appear from trusted sites This is
called email spoofing, in these cases the spammer's
apparent email address will be a trusted domain name,
the only way to really see where the email has come
from is by viewing the full header information of the
SPAM email.
Junk Mail trends
The various spam mails are
• Image Spam Includes Newsletter spams
• Attachment Spam Includes PDFs, zip files, etc…
Shows no sign of decline in near future
• Pump and Dump Stock Scam Spam One of the top
scam catergories, which continues to evolve even
after reporting
• New Social Engineering Includes spam related to
big events like Beijing Olympics, Saddam Hussein's
execution
Simple Tips to avoid excess junk mail
Some of them are
1. Don't advertise your email address or circulate it on
the World Wide Web, i.e. give email address to trusted
sites.
2. Have separate personal and business email addresses.
3. Choose an email address that is difficult to guess. This
would avoid dictionary attacks. Have special
characters such as underscores or numbers in email
address.
4. To avoid your email being picked up by email harvesters
software when including your email address on a
webpage (for example when you use a message board)
t r y t o o b s c u r e i t , for example, use
johnATyourprovider.com instead of using the @ symbol.
5. Check privacy policy and marketing opt-outs carefully
before giving out your mail address
6. Use junk mail filters with your email account
New Year Treat
This year introduced internet users to new dangers, like
'Peacomm Trojan' (kind of virus), where opening a
particular email had your computer download a mailware.
Your computer then becomes part of a bot network. A
bot-herder (spammer) can control these PC's remotely
and command them to send more spam.
Next on the list of spammers are social engineering sites.
It is therefore, strongly advised to the internet users; be
against giving out their email addresses on websites.
Once you are on a spam mailing list, there is nothing you
can do, except change your email address to avoid more
spam.
E-PAYMENT
E-PAYMENT OF TAXES MADARORY FROM 01.04.2008
CBDT has issued press release dated 23rd January , 2008
regarding mandatory e-payment of taxed from 1st April,
2008
e-Payments
• The scheme of electronic payment of taxes for
income-tax payers was introduced in 2004 and it was
optional
• With a view to expand the scope of electronic payment
of taxes, it is proposed to make the scheme
mandatory for the following categories of tax-payers:
o All corporate assesses;
o All other assesses covered under mandatory tax
audit
• The scheme of mandatory electronic payment of taxes
for income-tax payers is proposed to be made
applicable from 1st April, 2008.
• Tax-payers can make electronic payment of taxes
through
o the internet banking facility offered by the
authorized banks.
o internet by way of credit or debit cards.
What is e-Payment
• e-Payment a facility provided to the taxpayers to
make income tax payments through internet using
net-banking facility.
• You must have a bank account with net-banking
facility, and Your bank is amongst the banks that
provide the e-tax payment facility.
Procedure for e-payment
• Log on to the NSDL-TIN website. Click on the icon 'Pay
tax online'
• To pay taxes online the taxpayer will select the
relevant challan :
- ITNS 280: Income Tax
- ITNS 281: TDS / TCS
- ITNS 282: STT / Wealth Tax
- ITNS 283: FBT / BCTT
• Enter the following details
o PAN for non-TDS payments and TAN for TDS
payments
o Name and address of the taxpayer
o Assessment Year
o Major Head Code
o Minor Head Code
o Type of Payment
• If PAN/ TAN is valid the taxpayer will be allowed to fill
up other challan details
• On submission of data entered a confirmation screen
will be displayed. If the taxpayer confirms the data
entered in the challan, it will be directed to the netbanking
site of the bank.
• TIN system will direct you to the net-banking facility of
your bank. You will have to log on to the net banking
site of your bank using the login ID and password/PIN
provided by the bank. The particulars entered by you
at the TIN website will be displayed again. You will
now be required to enter the amount of tax you intend
to pay and also select your bank account number from
where you intend to pay the tax. After verifying the
correctness, you can proceed with confirming the
payment.
• On successful payment a challan counterfoil will be
displayed containing CIN, payment details and bank
name through which e-payment has been made. This
counterfoil is proof of payment being made.
• You can verify the status of the challan in the "Challan
Status Inquiry" at NSDL-TIN website using CIN after a
week after making the payment.
Benefit of e-Payment
• You are not required to personally visit the bank to
make the payments. Payment can be made
electronically at your convenience from any place
where an internet facility is available e.g. your office,
residence, etc.
• You get the Challan Identification Number (CIN)
online, which is required by you when you file your tax
return / eTDS Statement
Banks offering e-Payment Facility
Axis Bank State Bank of India
Punjab National Bank Indian Overseas Bank
Canara Bank Indian Bank
Bank of India Corporation Bank
SBBJ State Bank of Travancore
State Bank of Indore Vijaya Bank
HDFC Bank Oriental Bank of Commerce
State Bank of Patiala Bank of Baroda
IDBI Bank. Union Bank of India
More banks may be added in future
INFLATION
.............CONTINUED FROM YESTARDAY
Controlling inflation
There are a number of methods that have been suggested to control inflation. Central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve can affect inflation to a significant extent through setting interest rates and through other operations (that is, using monetary policy). High interest rates and slow growth of the money supply are the traditional ways through which central banks fight or prevent inflation, though they have different approaches. For instance, some follow a symmetrical inflation target while others only control inflation when it rises above a target, whether express or implied.
Monetarists emphasize increasing interest rates (slowing the rise in the money supply, monetary policy) to fight inflation. Keynesians emphasize reducing demand in general, often through fiscal policy, using increased taxation or reduced government spending to reduce demand as well as by using monetary policy. Supply-side economists advocate fighting inflation by fixing the exchange rate between the currency and some reference currency such as gold. This would be a return to the gold standard. All of these policies are achieved in practice through a process of open market operations.
Another method attempted in the past have been wage and price controls ("incomes policies"). Wage and price controls have been successful in wartime environments in combination with rationing. However, their use in other contexts is far more mixed. Notable failures of their use include the 1972 imposition of wage and price controls by Richard Nixon. In general wage and price controls are regarded as a drastic measure, and only effective when coupled with policies designed to reduce the underlying causes of inflation during the wage and price control regime, for example, winning the war being fought. Many developed nations set prices extensively, including for basic commodities as gasoline] The usual economic analysis is that that which is under priced is overconsumed, and that the distortions that occur will force adjustments in supply. For example, if the official price of bread is too low, there will be too little bread at official prices.
Temporary controls may complement a recession as a way to fight inflation: the controls make the recession more efficient as a way to fight inflation (reducing the need to increase unemployment), while the recession prevents the kinds of distortions that controls cause when demand is high. However, in general the advice of economists is not to impose price controls but to liberalize prices by assuming that the economy will adjust and abandon unprofitable economic activity. The lower activity will place fewer demands on whatever commodities were driving inflation, whether labor or resources, and inflation will fall with total economic output. This often produces a severe recession, as productive capacity is reallocated and is thus often very unpopular with the people whose livelihoods are destroyed.
METHODS OF CONTROLLING INFLATION
Open market operations
Through open market operations, a central bank influences the money supply in an economy directly. Each time it buys securities, exchanging money for the security, it raises the money supply. Conversely, selling of securities lowers the money supply. Buying of securities thus amounts to printing new money while lowering supply of the specific security.
The main open market operations are:
Temporary lending of money for collateral securities ("Reverse Operations" or "repurchase operations", otherwise known as the "repo" market). These operations are carried out on a regular basis, where fixed maturity loans (of 1 week and 1 month for the ECB) are auctioned off.
Buying or selling securities ("direct operations") on ad-hoc basis.
Foreign exchange operations such as forex swaps.
All of these interventions can also influence the foreign exchange market and thus the exchange rate. For example the People's Bank of China and the Bank of Japan have on occasion bought several hundred billions of U.S. Treasuries, presumably in order to stop the decline of the U.S. dollar versus the Yen.
TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW...................................
Thursday, July 17, 2008
194C V/S 194 I of Income Tax Act 1961
most common query nowadays is 'Should the TDS be
deducted u/s 194C @2% or u/s 194I @10%?' Naturally,
this dilemma arises due to the overlapping nature of the
provisions appearing in these sections. The confusion has
been created with the amendment of section 194I in 2006
whereby the rent on machinery, plant, furniture,
equipment or fittings has also been brought in its purview.
Earlier only the rent on land and building was liable to TDS
u/s 194I.
The recent Circular no. 1/2008 dated 10th Jan 2008 issued
by the I.T. Deptt. on the issue of applicability of
sec.194I to cooling charges paid to cold storage
owners is a welcome measure. The circular says that it
has been represented to the deptt. that:
• Cold storage owners provide a composite service,
which involves preservation of essential food items
including perishable goods at various temperatures
suitable for specific food items for required periods
and that storage of goods is only incidental to the
activity of preservation.
• The cooling of goods is controlled through mechanical
process. The customer brings its packages for
preservation for a required period and takes away its
packages after paying cooling charges.
• The customer does not hire the building, plant/
machinery etc. in any manner and does not become
tenant.
Deptt. has examined the matter and it is clarified that:
• The main function of the cold storage is to preserve
perishable goods by means of a mechanical process,
and storage of such goods is only incidental in nature.
• The customer is also not given any right to use any
demarcated space/place or the machinery of cold
store and thus does not become a tenant.
• Therefore the provisions of sec. 194I are not applicable
to the cooling charges paid by the customers.
• However since the arrangement between the cold
storage owners and the customers is of contractual
nature, the provisions of section 194C will be applicable.
This is a very clear cut clarification issued by the Deptt.
This will be a great relief to the cold storage owners as
after this circular a TDS of only 2% instead of 10% will be
deducted from their bills.
Other confusing cases of 194I v/s 194C
Car Rental
• If there is an arrangement with the taxi/car operator to
do a particular assignment or job involving car then it
will be treated as a contractual arrangement and
therefore covered under section 194C. But if the car
supplier only provides the car without specification of
the job then TDS is to deducted u/s 194I.
• For example, if there is an agreement to carry the
employee from one place to another i.e. let us say
from home to factory and back, such agreement is
giving a job to the car supplier company and the car
company will get payment only when the work
assigned to it was completed. If he supplies only the
car, the company will not pay the amount because the
contract was for the work of transport of employees.
This type of job is covered u/s 194C.
• However if the company hires the car without any
assignment of job, the car supplier completes the job,
the moment he sends the car. How that car is used is of
no importance for him. He will get paid for car hire.
This type of car hire will suffer TDS u/s 194I.
Hiring Audio Visual equipments
• Whether a particular payment made towards hire of
audio visual equipment will be subject to TDS u/s
194C or 194I will depend upon the facts of the case.
• If the equipment is hired from the hotel for a particular
event like conference or exhibition etc. being held in
the hotel itself for few hours or days, then payment for
such hiring will be covered u/s 194C being a
contractual arrangement to provide the equipments
for a particular purpose or event.
• However if the audio visual equipments are hired by
the company for a particular period say one month,
quarter or year to be used for different purposes
whatever it deems fit, payment for such hire charges
will be subject to TDS under section 194I as this will be
treated as rent of the equipment. Here hiring charges
for a 'period' becomes the key element for bringing it
under the definition of rent.
Shifting of material
• In one case a contract was given for shifting of material
in plant from one place to another by loaders, Trucks,
Bulldozers, Dumpers and Tipplers etc. on rate contract
basis i.e. Rs. /hour, Rs./trip or Rs./ton of material.
• The main condition of the contract were:
o That the party would deploy so & so number of
equipments for a particular work.
o In some cases diesel is provided to party i.e. rate is
excluding diesel.
o There is penalty clause in the contract for nonavailability
of the equipment.
• Despite above conditions in the contract, such type of
contract will certainly come under section 194C only.
• Section 194I is definitely not applicable in this case
because even if there is a written agreement for
employing certain types of equipments and vehicles,
the work is to be done by the contractor. This is not a
simple case of taking machinery on rent. The stringent
conditions have been put regarding use of specified
machines, only to maintain quality of work.
Conclusion
From the discussion of above cases, following two broad
criteria (but not conclusive) emerge. We have to check
the facts of a case and analyse:
a. If there is any kind of 'work contract', section
194C is applicable; if the payment is for the 'use
for a certain period' of the things specified in
section 194I then section 194I will be applicable.
b. Section 194I is applicable when the possession of
an asset in question is given to the hirer so that he
may use it the way he wants. In case the possession
is not given but retained by the person letting it on
hire, provision of section 194C shall apply.
2 Forgotten Rules of Investing
here are two rules we should already know and should never forget again:
The rule of 72 -- double your money, double your funThis is my favorite rule of finance because it forces you to look at what you have -- right now, today -- and then focus on what you can reasonably achieve given your return expectations.The Rule of 72 will tell you how long it takes for an investment to double in value, assuming interest is paid annually and reinvested in the same account. To get your result, simply divide the number 72 by the interest rate you expect to earn on your investment.For example, if you put your money in an investment earning 8%, dividing 72 by eight will tell you that your money will double in nine years. Consequently, if you earn 9% on your money, it will take eight years to double, and 10% will get you there in 7.2 years. If you're expecting a more modest 6%, 12 years will pass before you see double dough.This rule itself is not a prediction, but a simple mathematic fact. Of course, the predicting part comes in when you assume what you'll earn on your investment. (If it's Treasury securities, you probably know, but if it's stocks, you're making an educated guess).For that reason, you had better err on the side of caution. Though stocks -- as measured by the S&P 500 -- have returned just north of 10% since 1926, there have been 10-year periods where returns were substantially lower or virtually nonexistent. So, be conservative but realistic, depending on your time horizon.The great power of this rule may be that it has a tendency to get folks excited about investing -- especially teenagers who have such long periods of time in which their money can grow. Given that, you'll be doing them a real favor if you teach it to your children and grandchildren.If that's still not powerful enough to make them lenders instead of borrowers, teach them the oft-forgotten flip side of this rule, as it will also tell them how long it will take for their debts to double in size at a given interest rate. With consumer debt at an all-time high, this side of the coin may prove the better lesson for your college-aged kindred.For example, if you have $10,000 in debt and you're paying 7% interest on that balance, you'll owe $20,000 in just over 10 years. Of course, this assumes that no payments are required, but many student loans work this way (i.e., the interest simply accrues and is capitalized, so the debt builds until you begin making payments).Even if we're talking about credit card debt -- where you're required to make minimum monthly payments -- the rule still suggests how quickly debts can become burdensome. Indeed, today's minimum payment requirements often have little more impact than zero payments, though, the balance is at least going in the right direction in this case.
In any event, this rule can teach a powerful lesson about how quickly one can grow their bank balance, or their debt balance, as they choose.The rule of asset allocationFolks in the financial realm are often pressed to come up with simple tools to help investors weigh their financial decisions. Many are simplistic, and therefore, often worthless.
Now, this next forgotten rule is about as simple as they come, but despite that, it's actually uncanny how often this rule finds the mark for investors. At the highest level, it can be used to determine how much of your money should be invested in stocks, and how much should be invested in bonds.The rule says that you need only consider your age as a percentage, and then use that percentage to loosely represent your bond allocation. For example, a 40-year-old investor using this rule would have about 40% of their portfolio invested in bonds (i.e., 40/100). The remaining 60% would be allocated to stocks.As far as the rule is concerned, it's as simple as that. However, here I would offer a little more guidance, and toss in a requirement of my own. This rule has been around for quite some time, and a few things have changed since it was put forward. For one thing, we're living longer, and that means we need to invest aggressively enough to outpace inflation and keep our earnings intact.After all, what good is it to walk down the aisle at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) with $1,000 in our pockets if a gallon of milk costs $1,001? Therefore, when using this rule, I would lump cash and other short-term investments into the resultant bond allocation. If you don't do that, you run the risk of being too conservative and being outpaced by the inflation bogeyman.
T