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My preteen daughter was singing the other day, when my wife called her attention. My wife pointed out that the lyrics of the song seemingly don’t align with our family values and principles. The song was about pretending to be good to get what she wants, to get what she thinks she deserves. Our immediate reaction as parents was to tell her not to sing such a song.

The royalties that you pay relating to the goods that you import may be subject to Customs duties as part of the dutiable value of the importation. Have you made this evaluation? Are you paying duties on those dutiable royalties? Is there a risk that this will be uncovered during a customs audit?

Today, we consume a great amount of social media, and we do not expect it to lessen anytime soon, maybe never. As we survey through the different social media platforms, we can see what others have been doing, where they are now, and what kind of life they have been living. With so much information, it is becoming more and more difficult for us to avoid comparing what we are seeing with what we have been doing. Not only do we compare ourselves with our friends and colleagues, we are also exposed to a new breed of individuals whom we feel are having such a great gig: the travel vloggers, the e-sports professionals, and the social media influencers. Heck, we even dream of our kids having their own YouTube channels with millions of subscribers. All these information we are seeing every day are affecting how we are scrutinizing our own lives.

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 37-2019, otherwise known as the Amended Policies, Guidelines and Procedures on the Registration of Employees, to simplify the procedures for registering, transferring and updating employee information through the e-registration system, including the issuance of the Tax Identification Number (TIN) card to employees.

More often than not, employees rely solely on their employers to handle matters involving their registration with government offices, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Unfortunately, employees sometimes find themselves in a situation where they are made to deal with their registration updates on their own rather than their employers doing it for them. This is normally the case when an employee has recently changed employers. If you have not heard the latest updates from the BIR, you are probably bombarding that staff member from Human Resources (HR) now with questions about how you are supposed to update your BIR registration and why it is you, not them, who should handle the update. If your HR team is well versed in the new procedures, lucky you. But what if they are not? You might then have to resort to Googling, hoping to come across a checklist or set of guidelines to refer to. Look no further, because you have just clicked on the right link with the answer to your problem.

Asia Pacific businesses are caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war. No matter how the conflict ends, trade patterns in the region are likely to change permanently and it will be those businesses with the most strategic foresight that stand to benefit.

I was hanging out at an ice skating rink over the weekend, when I noticed this little girl, not older than six, walking back to whom I presumed to be her dad. There was no smile on her face. Her heavy feet, still with her ice skates on, were clunking as they alternately hit the floor. I remembered seeing this girl a while ago. Every time she was on the rink, she would be at the edge, holding on to the railings unless she was holding on to someone else. In one instance, I saw her crying, with fear in her round, misty eyes.

“Options! Options! Options!” – This was one of the lines I would always remember in the movie Four Sisters and a Wedding. The movie revolves around the abrupt decision of CJ, the youngest in the family, to get married to his fiancée, Princess. His four sisters, Teddie, Bobbie, Alex and Gabbie, connived to formulate a plan to stop the wedding from happening. One of which is to provide CJ with other options as the four sisters believed that CJ is only marrying Princess as she was the “best candidate in a diminishing pool of options.”