A Tax Strategy That Will Surprise You

Financial Professional Content Many college students receive scholarships of one sort or another when they go off to college. The nice thing about scholarships, other than reducing the cost of college, is that they are generally tax-free when used to pay tuition and fees, or when used to pay for books, supplies, and equipment required by the curriculum. What most people don't know is that students are sometimes better off claiming their scholarship as taxable income, if permitted to do so. Special considerations come into play for families with 529 plans. Here's how it works. The American Opportunity Tax Credit is a valuable tax incentive for those who qualify: The first $2,000 of tuition and related expenses comes back dollar-for-dollar as a tax credit. Of the next $2,000 of eligible expenses, 25% comes back as a tax credit. That's a maximum credit of $2,500 on $4,000 in eligible expenses. Up to 40% of the credit is refundable for qualifying taxpayers with zero tax liability. RELATED: Ask an expert: Can I use 529 plan funds to pay for college and get the American Opportunity Tax Credit? However, some parents may not be able to claim the credit due to the income phase-outs if their income is too high. So instead, they may find it beneficial to push the credit onto the student's tax return. Be careful, though, as a student receiving a tax-free scholarship must reduce tax-credit expenses by the scholarship amount. In some situations, this will actually increase the overall tax burden. The solution in these situations is to claim the scholarship, or some portion of it, as taxable income. If the student is allowed to use the scholarship for room and board, transportation, or other non-qualifying expenses, doing so will create taxable income and avoid the downward adjustment to the American Opportunity Tax Credit. This strategy will also increase the pool of qualified higher education expenses for purposes of withdrawing funds tax-free from a 529 plan. However, that won't usually provide a net tax benefit even if it means avoiding a non-qualified withdrawal from the 529 plan. Remember: the 10% penalty is not assessed under either treatment, since the penalty is waived on non-qualified withdrawals attributable to scholarships. Taxes are complicated, and many of the complications of this particular strategy, including eligibility rules and tax dependency issues, have not been described in this column. Publication 970 from the IRS is most helpful. Your clients should also consult with a qualified tax professional. Originally posted 2014-07-23 Financial Professional Content Many college students receive scholarships of one sort or another when they go off to college. The nice thing about scholarships, other than reducing the cost of college, is that they are generally tax-free when used to pay tuition and fees, or when used to pay for books, supplies, and equipment required by the curriculum. What most people don't know is that students are sometimes better off claiming their scholarship as taxable income, if permitted to do so. Special considerations come into play for families with 529 plans. Here's how it works. The American Opportunity Tax Credit is a valuable tax incentive for those who qualify: The first $2,000 of tuition and related expenses comes back dollar-for-dollar as a tax credit. Of the next $2,000 of eligible expenses, 25% comes back as a tax credit. That's a maximum credit of $2,500 on $4,000 in eligible expenses. Up to 40% of the credit is refundable for qualifying taxpayers with zero tax liability. RELATED: Ask an expert: Can I use 529 plan funds to pay for college and get the American Opportunity Tax Credit? However, some parents may not be able to claim the credit due to the income phase-outs if their income is too high. So instead, they may find it beneficial to push the credit onto the student's tax return. Be careful, though, as a student receiving a tax-free scholarship must reduce tax-credit expenses by the scholarship amount. In some situations, this will actually increase the overall tax burden. The solution in these situations is to claim the scholarship, or some portion of it, as taxable income. If the student is allowed to use the scholarship for room and board, transportation, or other non-qualifying expenses, doing so will create taxable income and avoid the downward adjustment to the American Opportunity Tax Credit. This strategy will also increase the pool of qualified higher education expenses for purposes of withdrawing funds tax-free from a 529 plan. However, that won't usually provide a net tax benefit even if it means avoiding a non-qualified withdrawal from the 529 plan. Remember: the 10% penalty is not assessed under either treatment, since the penalty is waived on non-qualified withdrawals attributable to scholarships. Taxes are complicated, and many of the complications of this particular strategy, including eligibility rules and tax dependency issues, have not been described in this column. Publication 970 from the IRS is most helpful. Your clients should also consult with a qualified tax professional. Originally posted 2014-07-23

Fast Facts About Ancient Ephesus

Ephesus, now Selà §uk in modern Turkey,  was one of the most famous cities of the ancient Mediterranean. Founded in the Bronze Age and important from ancient Greek times, it contained the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and served as a crossroads between the East and West for centuries. Home of a Wonder The Temple of Artemis, constructed in the sixth century B.C., contained wondrous sculptures, including the multi-breasted cult statue of the goddess. Other statues there were constructed by the likes of the great sculptor Phidias. The temple was sadly destroyed for the last time by the fifth century A.D., after a man tried to burn it down centuries earlier. Library of Celsus There are visible ruins of a library dedicated to Proconsul Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemeanus, governor of the province of Asia, that housed between 12,000-15,000 scrolls. An earthquake in 262 A.D. dealt a devastating blow to the library, although it wasnt fully destroyed until later. Important Christian Site Ephesus wasnt just an important city for the pagans of antiquity. It also was the site of St. Pauls ministry for years. There, he baptized quite a few followers (Acts 19:1-7) and even survived a riot by silversmiths. Demetrius the silversmith made idols for Artemiss temple and hated that Paul was affecting his business, so he caused a ruckus. Centuries later, in 431 A.D., a Christian council was held at Ephesus. Cosmopolitan A great city for pagans and Christians alike, Ephesus contained the normal centers of Roman and Greek cities, including a theater that seated 17,000-25,000 people, an odeon, a state agora, public toilets, and monuments to the emperors. Great Thinkers Ephesus produced and fostered some of the brilliant minds of the ancient world. As Strabo writes in his  Geography, Notable men have been born in this city... Hermodorus is reputed to have written certain laws for the Romans. And Hipponax the poet was from Ephesus; and so were  Parrhasius  the painter and Apelles, and more recently Alexander the orator, surnamed Lychnus. Another alumnus of Ephesus, the philosopher Heraclitus discussed important thoughts on the nature of the universe and humanity. Restoration Ephesus was destroyed by an earthquake in 17 A.D. then rebuilt and enlarged by Tiberius.

The Navajo People Are The Largest Native American Tribe

The Navajo people are the largest Native American tribe in the United States, now with over 300,000 members. They are native to a large chunk of Southwestern United States, mostly in New Mexico and Arizona, but also partially in Utah and Colorado. It was sometime between 1100 - 1500 A.D. when a distinguishable Navajo culture began to appear. The first Western contact that is known with the Navajo occurred near 1581 - 1583 A.D. Historians believe that the Navajo were relatively peaceful with their new Spanish neighbors. However there were some times over the centuries after the Spanish settlement in which the Navajo fought Spanish settlers to retain their land. The Navajo’s first contact with the United States came during the Mexican American War. The area where the Navajo lived was seen as a strategic area for the United States military. Troops were therefore brought to Navajo land to form treaties with them. Both sides more or less ignored these treaties. Navajo groups and New Mexican settlers would often clash. The United States government began mobilizing troops to New Mexico, and proceeded to establish military bases there. This initially established a precedence that the government could take advantage of the Navajo people. For the most part, the Navajo wanted to avoid any conflict, and the United States government chose to exploit this. Uranium is a naturally occuring chemical element that can be mined from ore in many parts of the Southwestern United States whereShow MoreRelatedNavajo Traditions1573 Words   |  7 PagesThe Navajo Indian Cultural Anthropology The Navajo Indians of the Southwestern United states have a distinct social organization, kinship, and a both traditional and biomedical way that they approach sickness and healing. Their social organization revolves around their community and the Earth. Kinship for the Navajo is matriarchal and they are a pastoral society. The traditional Navajo have medicine men that the tribe goes to for any sickness and healing that needs to be done. The modernRead MoreArizona State Native American Reservations793 Words   |  3 Pageshome to the majority of the Native American population with over 20 reservations. Some of the most notable reservation is the Hopi, whose villages are at the base and the top of three mesas. Other popular tribes in Arizona are the Tohono O’odham nation, San Carlos Apache, White Mountain Apache, Hualapai, Gila River, Colorado River, Havasupai and Kaibab Paiute Tribe (Nevada Indian Commission). Arizona Tribes have been divided into distinct groups, presumably Arizona tribes are associated with at leastRead MoreNavajo Indians See the Importance of Supporting their Families and Communities622 Words   |  3 PagesThe Navajo nation is the largest U.S Indian tribe. It has more than 250,000 people. They are located in Northern New Mexico, a portion of southern Utah, and part of northern Arizona. They first descended from the Apaches, who came from the Pueblos. Their native language is Athapaskan. â€Å"Navajo† came from the word navahu’u meaning â€Å"farm fields in the valley.† The Spanish chroniclers first referred to the Navajos as Apaches de Nabajo’ meaning Apaches who farm in the valley. Then the name was eventuallyRead MoreNative American Tribe : The Tribes Of Now Arizona And New Mexico1190 Words   |  5 Pages Starting in the 1400s, the Native American tribe called the Dineh occupied the territories of now Arizona and New Mexico. In their language, Dineh means â€Å"the people†, in which they call their homeland Dinetah. They got the name Navajo from the Spanish so that they wouldn t get confused with the Apache tribe, for they looked very much alike. The Navajo had a unique lifestyle and focused on art, religion, and farming. 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They gathered plants and nuts to eat, hunted animals for meat, and used the skins to keep warm at night as the temperature in the desert drops to below freezing. As times changed the Navajo adapted their skills to benefit them. TheyRead MoreNative American Traditions And Traditions Of Clothing, Shelter, And Food1118 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Navajos did not make war just to steal and kill; they earned their reputation as warriors fighting to protect their lands, properties, and families- and a just cause it was.† The Navajo tribe is one of the oldest and is the largest tribe in the United States and branches from the Apache tribe. Their characteristics and traditions of clothing, shelter, and food are still around today. 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Challenges faced by ADNOC-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Questions: 1.Write down the case synopsis. 2.Discuss in detail how ERP update could help ADNOC in gaining competitive advantages? 3.With reference to the case study, explain the significance of Information Systems in operating business? 4.What lessons can be learned from system upgrades based on the case study? Answers: 1.The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is the oil company owned by the government of United Arab Emirates (Marjanca, 2010). As per the Journal of Oil and Gas, in 2015, the UAE was announced to have the worlds 7th biggest established reserves of oil at 97.8 billion barrels. Approximately every reserve is placed in Abu Dhabi. In terms of production, ADNOC is known as the 12th largest company of oil in the world (ADNOC, 2017). As per the analysis, it has been said that by production and revenue ADNOC Company is the largest energy company in the world. In upstream, midstream and downstream it comprises 16 subsidiary companies. Umm Al Nar and Ruwais are the two oil refineries in which company operates. In the form of LNG (liquefied natural gas) natural gas is exported by the company. Headquarter of ADNOC is situated in Abu Dhabi. In 2015, Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning 1.2.2.4 was chosen by ADNOC in order to deploy and utilize the platform of the latest technology at the middleware layer and infrastructure. ADNOC has the aim to grow the competencies of the business process for the benefits of the end users and to achieve the UAE smart government vision (Business Chief, 2015). Before implementing ERP company was using SAP so that it can support company in overall business transformation strategy. Due to the aim of getting ahead of the competitors functioning in same industry and fall in the prices of oil, they decided to change their strategies from the top level to lower level. Along with this, it was identified that SAP was costly as compared to ERP. Therefore company implemented new and latest technology i.e. ERP by replacing SAP. ADNOC offshore continuously pursues to add worth to ADNOC group by implementing advanced technologies that add worth to its processes and assignments. These comprise smart wells and stimulations, control systems, brownfield monitoring and artificial islands (ADNOC, 2017). The reasons behind selecting Oracle ERP was that it provides relatively less cost than on-premises substitutes, it is a complete resolution for each part of the current ERP puzzle, and it offers a helping hand into the cloud, etc. (Rimini Street, 2018) In 2013, the Oracle ERP upgrade project was started in which more than 40 technical resources were involved from the IT Division of Abu Dhabi National Oil. Along with this, their partners were also involved in this besides 50 main business users for authenticating and enhancing the procedures grounded in the standardization approach. ADNOC face several challenges during the process of upgrade. Initially it faced the challenge of extracting the information from the system of ERP specifically for the department of finance. This is because of the reason that the data warehouse was generating simple data that cannot be utilized for wide-ranging projects. Additionally, Ease Enterprise Resource Planning incorporation of applications planned for deployment is one more challenge. For instance, getting the country RFID to support in gathering complete details on clients and cars entering ADNOC gas station, comprising fuel types, convenience usage, payment information, capacity, and other services usages like vehicle washes and lubricant changes. The ultimate challenge is to reduce the IT assistance cost and high growing data volumes. The upgraded system was a success for the company because the whole platform was mobile-enabled and modern convenience. ADNOC has adopted the ERP implementation strategy i.e. clearly describe the necessities before taking action. This strategy can be applicable to every type of business as those businesses who do not keep a tight focus on particular procedures and system necessities will face additional cost and time in the implementation of ERP (Compudata, 2016). The culture of ADNOC is defined by the enthusiasm, energy, and unwavering passion of the employees of the company. They are more focused towards inventing new solutions, adopting new technologies, raising the standard, and seizing opportunities across whatever they do. This is the reason behind the successful implementation of the ERP upgrade in the company. 2.A wide system of a Company is ERP which combines with the business's primary applications, comprising every levels and area of an organization. Every application in an ERP suite shares a standard data set which is stored in the main database. The aim of ERP is to offer a backbone for the computing business, combining the major process of management and business in order to offer a view of sky-level. A proper ERP systems implementation helps business in gaining a competitive advantage depending on the company incorporating the ERP system with its own procedures to make it exclusive and the time and cost put in will be balanced by the systems benefits. Moreover, if ADNOC incorporates ERP in human resource, sales, and distribution department then it could help them in easily hiring skilled and experienced people to achieve the sales and distribution target in short time duration. This can result in gaining competitive advantage for the company as hiring skilled labor in the competitive market is a major task. The major advantage of implementing the ERP system in the operation of the company that it decreases the operations, administration, and distribution cost by permitting management to handle operations, delays and prevent disturbances, breakdowns information and assist users in making decisions more quickly. In addition to this, the company can improve the quality of the products that are offered to the customers which lead to customer satisfaction and ultimately the company will be able to acquire large market share. 3.Decreasing the errors of human and increasing the efficiency of work are the important goals of the owner of every company. But it cannot be attained without an outstanding information system which is accomplished by offering the information business requires in small time durations. Investing in the information system is important for every organization, and the reasons are: Organized Data Managing information is very important for the company like ADNOC which is a well-known brand in the market of UAE. With the help of excellent information system, ADNOC is able to organize all the processes properly, able to get fast solutions and making quick decisions in any situation. The management of the company is able to handle complete data and enhance the business processes execution. Information Storing Information systems are suitable when it derives to storing data company needs it in a few years time (Willcocks, 2013). For instance, ADNOC maintains all the details of oil and gas and stores it in a data archive. The data archive can be opened and used by the company later when needed. Maintaining the data or information manually on the hard copies and registers is time-consuming. Along with this searching for any data is also time-consuming therefore ERP upgrades are very good and beneficial decision for ADNOC. 4.From the above case study of system upgrades, it can be learned that whether the company is big or small it has to move and change according to the time. As the time is changing there are many innovations and changes in the technology which is very important to update in the processes of the company. Besides this, implementing new and updated technologies helps in saving a lot of time and cost of the company (Kaglik, 2015). The above analysis reflects that Oracle ERP is very much cost effective as compared to other substitutes available in the market. As per ADNOC Company, it is the complete solution for every problem or puzzle because it works as a helping hand. Further, it has been learned that ERP update can help the company in gaining a competitive advantage because of its efficiency in achieving the goals in short time duration and improving the quality of the product. References ADNOC. (2017). Our History. Retrieved from: https://www.adnoc.ae/en/about-us/our-history ADNOC. (2017). Technology And Engineering. Retrieved from: https://www.adnoc.ae/en/adnoc-offshore Business Chief. (2015). ADNOC Distribution. Retrieved from: https://middleeast.businesschief.com/ADNOC-Distribution/profiles/18/From-Tank-to-Bank:-Adnoc-Distributions-IT-transformation Compudata. (2016). Top 10 ERP Implementation Strategies. Retrieved from: https://www.compudata.com/top-10-erp-implementation-strategies/ Kaglik, D. (2015). 5 Reasons To Upgrade Your Erp Solution. Retrieved from: https://www.sapexpert.co.uk/reasons-to-upgrade-erp-solution/ Marjanca. (2010). United Arab Emirates Oil And Gas Competitive Intelligence Report 2010. U.K: Business Monitor International. Rimini Street. (2018). Why Oracle Database Customers Choose Independent Support. Retrieved from: https://www.riministreet.com/Documents/Collateral/Rimini-Street-White-Paper-Why-Oracle-Database-Customers-Choose-Independent-Support.pdf Willcocks, L. (2013). Information management: The evaluation of information systems investments. Germany: Spsringer.