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In my recent visit to the shrines and castles of the Japanese cities of Osaka and Kyoto, I noticed that elementary pupils, in groups of five to 10, were being guided not just by their teachers but also by elderly persons who appeared to be explaining to them the history or the significance of the places we were visiting. I, of course, assumed that was what the older guides were doing as they gesticulated vigorously while talking (in Nihongo, I suppose). I believe this is how elementary educational field trips should be conducted—focused and in small groups, especially if they involve young and impressionable kids.

The Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS) was developed to provide taxpayers with “top quality and convenient service through a much faster processing and immediate confirmation of filing of tax returns and payment of taxes due thereon.” The system allows the taxpayers to directly encode, submit their tax returns and pay their taxes online. Considering the convenience made by the eFPS, filing and payment can be done anytime and anywhere where Internet is accessible. In spite of such accessibility, taxpayers fall prey to the trifles of the due dates for filing and payment in case these falls on a holiday or on a weekend.

Like many mothers whose child will be joining the first batch of Senior High School students under the K-to-12 program this year, I have already embraced the new policy and placed my trust in our policymakers that these additional years will better prepare my son for his future.

Two trillion pesos. This is the revenue collection target of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for 2016 and much of this represents income tax collected via withholding tax. In 2014 alone, withholding taxes accounted for more or less 40% of total income tax collected by the government. Considering the significance of withholding tax to the government, each and every taxpayer engaged in trade or business in the Philippines is required to withhold on their income payments, unless specifically exempted.

Debt can play a pivotal role in helping to grow a business—but only if you do it right. That means financing your working capital needs with short-term debt—like operating loans and accounts payable, funding capital assets with term financing or leases, and matching repayment terms on your loans with your business’s cash flow ability. These five steps can help you properly structure your debt most effectively:

Majority of businesses are either renting or leasing property. Lease implies a contract to use the property belonging to another party over a period of time for a specified payment. Leasing is mainly a financing medium used by a lessee to possess and use property and equipment as the cash outflow is made over the lease term. Leasing, in effect, allows companies to use their cash to finance their operations, instead of tying such funds up in the purchase of property and equipment. Moreover, leasing allows companies to avoid the issue of obsolescence and to some degree, its maintenance.

We often hear the phrase: “Taxes are the lifeblood of the Government,” as the main reason why collecting them is essential. However, there are instances when this should give way to the taxpayer’s right to claim a tax refund or credit. One such instance is a claim for tax refund or tax credit on input Value-Added Tax (VAT) arising from VAT zero-rated export sales. A taxpayer claiming this type of tax credit or refund must present at least three types of documents.

Imagine if majority of the working population are part owners of the company where they work. Imagine the enthusiasm and excitement this possibility can infuse into the workplace! Aside from an increase in productivity as a result of employees’ awareness of their share in the company’s profit, employee retention may also remain high and result in a stable succession. Employee ownership can be accomplished in a variety of ways: employees can buy shares of stock directly from the company, receive stock options at a specified exercise price, obtain shares through a profit-sharing plan, or this could be awarded as a bonus. Of these avenues, the employee stock option plan (ESOP) is, perhaps, the least popular route to increasing employee ownership. ESOP is a kind of employee benefit plan, similar in some ways to a profit-sharing plan. In an ESOP, a company sets up a trust fund, into which it contributes new shares of its own stock or cash to buy existing shares.