Saturday, October 5, 2019

Tax-Planning Client Letter on Irrevocable Trusts, Gift Tax, and Estate Essay

Tax-Planning Client Letter on Irrevocable Trusts, Gift Tax, and Estate Tax - Essay Example The first thing you need to know is that irrevocable trusts are treated as independent legal entities that own their assets. It is also important to know that in the course of establishing an irrevocable trust is likely involve unexpected tax consequences. Some of the tax consequences are likely to be unfavorable. Since you would like the income from the trust to be paid to your two grandchildren for 20 years, such payment would be accompanied by income tax. In this regard, you will need to complete Form 1041 and file it to report the trust income. This would be required if the trust earns over $600 in the course of tax year. Nevertheless, the income from the irrevocable trusts would be taxed in the same approach as individuals. You, as the trustee, will also be required to file and deliver copies of Schedule K-1 to each of the two grandchildren, who are the beneficiaries, in their first distribution during the tax year (Clausen, Givner, Kavagh, kaye, & Kinyan, 2014 ). There is also the issue of gift tax. In this regard, the transfer of your assets to the irrevocable trust is accompanied by gift tax liability. The only exclusion is a case of $13,000 per annum on each of the beneficiaries. If the gift exceeds $13,000, it is subjected a maximum tax rate of 35%. In such a case, you would be required to file the gift tax by filing Form 709.This would however be necessary if you owe the gift tax. It is important to note that your grandchildren, as the beneficiaries, will not be liable for the gift tax (Clausen, Givner, Kavagh, kaye, & Kinyan, 2014 ). Another case of possible tax liability is estate tax. Estate tax would be imposed after your death. This will be done on the portion of your estate that surpasses the gift tax exclusions in the same year of your death. Your executor after then would be required to file Form

Friday, October 4, 2019

International Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

International Logistics - Essay Example The uniqueness that this store offers and its efforts to make it different and better than what is already being offered have made the retailer a success. When the company emphasizes on being better than ever, this means that they are actually keeping themselves updated with the pace of change that is taking place in its surrounding. Retail industry of UK is very competitive and the industry is facing many challenges currently too. But Morrisons has managed to deal with these challenges in a quite efficient manner. One of the biggest challenges in retail food industry is to provide fresh food to customers and Morrisons has always believed in providing the best quality and fresh food to its customers and they manage it through their efficient supply chain system which also acts as their competitive advantage in retail market (Morrison’s, 2002). Morrisons believes in providing premium quality food to its customers and to achieve this goal, Morrisons is ready to take necessary st eps. The retailer collects freshly produced foods from local markets which are later further processed according to the manufacturing procedures of the organization. This process is done to preserve the freshness of food and to store it safely in warehouse. Morrisons uses its own temperature controlled warehouse to maintain food’s freshness and it has its own packaging plant as well. The prime motive of Morrisons is to deliver the best customer service. Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance for the organization. It serves as a point of difference for their organization as the way they treat their customers simply differentiates them from their competitors (Lovelock, and Wirtz, 2011).. Especially when a company is operating in service sector, then it has to focus on customer service in order to be successful in the long run (Lovelock, and Gummesson, 2004). For the provision of best customer service, employees are trained; employees are always kept motivated so that the y are able to deliver in the working time. Performance benchmarking is done in order to be competitive and to gain greater market share and to perform better than previous performances. All of these steps taken by the organization play a significant role in affecting customer service positively. SITUATION ANALYSIS Morrisons is counted as one of the big names in United Kingdom’s retail sector. Despite of the fact that Morrisons is one of the big names, this year sales of Morrisons faced decline as compared to the sales of previous years. Due to this there is a drop in Morrisons customer’s confWidence. Now these two factors are areas of concern for the management of Morrisons (BBC News, 2012). The market environment is getting tougher day by day. Competitors are constantly bringing up new offers and products to compete successfully in market and to capture greater market share. Competitors are performing better and trying to take and maintain lead in retail business, in such environment, there is a great pressure on Morrisons to deliver more than expected. The reason diagnosed for the decline in sales of Morrisons was their lack of performance in trading market. This reason has resulted the company to lose its market share to 11.5%. The market share of the company was 12% last year (BBC News, 2012). These are some serious issues that need to be resolved in order to be the market leader in retail category and to defeat giants like Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury. Apart from the mentioned

Thursday, October 3, 2019

The Book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Essay Example for Free

The Book â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† Essay The Book â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† has stirred up much controversy over the years after it was published and issued to the public. This work of literature has been argued about for many years. The Book has been attacked for reasons such as racism, bad grammar, obscenity, atheism and low moral tone. But then again others say otherwise such as Lionel Trifling who stated it to be a masterpiece. There are many mixed opinions about this book. These controversies will be explained and explored in deeper detail as we move on. For example, in 1988 a parent of a student attending high school in Tempe Arizona was attempting to sue the school stating that the environment was already racially tense and that the book â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† intensified by it being the required reading list. Many others were requesting for this book to be banned from the required reading list but did not succeed for reasons of that the school district should take steps to reduce racial tension. However, after the board rejecting the ban on the novel for so many times in other areas the book was finally removed from the curriculum in New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois it was removed from the reading lists and school libraries. Arguably the most outspoken opposition to the book is John Wallace a former administrator at the Mark Twain Intermediate School despite this protest the principal refused to ban it but was later overruled by the superintendent who stated it was â€Å"racist trash. † Mark Twain is most shunned for his violent use of the word â€Å"nigger† or the n-word. Large amounts of controversy fall on the fact that schools were segregated when this book was originally printed but now they had been unsegregated the African American students and parents were offended by this text being read to and read by their children. Some students even saying while reading it in class that they felt â€Å"embarrassed† by it. â€Å"I can still recall the anger I felt as my white classmates read aloud the word nigger. In fact, as I write this letter I am getting angry all over again. I wanted to sink into my seat. Some of the whites snickered, others giggled. I can recall nothing of the literary merits of this work that you term the greatest of all American novels. I only recall the sense of relief I felt when I would flip ahead a few pages and see that the word nigger would not be read that hour. † This quote was written in a letter to his school about the Book. As you can see the African American students did not take much pleasure to the disrespect and embarrassment this book came with. The Novel â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† caused an immense amount of controversy over the years. Some still argue the point of its racist and demoralizing factors to this day. Some Parents and teachers still believe it is degrading and embarrassing to the African American students and believe it should no longer be printed. But many others think it is a great example of American heritage and lifestyle of that time period. Should it be banned completely or should anyone with desire to read it be able to do it at will. That’s up to you?

Driving Forces For Smartphone Marketing Essay

Driving Forces For Smartphone Marketing Essay The mobile Internet is growing so fast. There is about 500 million people use the mobile internet worldwide in 2009. The Smartphone will be the most popular method to access the internet than PCs in the next few years. There are more and more people want to have Smartphone instead of desktop or laptop. In Egypt and India this is 70 percent and 59 percent of mobile internet users are mobile-only. Even in the US it is 25 percent. (MobiThinking 2010). Now there are about 150 million presently users log in Facebook from mobile devices. People use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.(Mobithinking 2010) These make the reason of the Smartphone growth very fast recently. Product innovation is always the important part of industry life. Customers always want to have the new and efficient products and industry always need to develop and innovate the products that meet the customers needs. In the mobile phone industry, People used to use the mobile phone as oral communication. After that people start to use the mobile phone to memory some of the data such as pictures, songs, phone book and address book. Mobile phone was becoming a small personal memory book. Now mobile phone is also called as Smartphone that combine with operating system and become very small PC in your pocket. Smartphone can be use as GPS, access the internet, download, games, and translate language. Therefore, the Smartphone industry should be always consider innovation as primary objective. (Nokia Corporation, 2011) Changes in who buys the product and how they use it The target market of the Smartphone is young generation. There are two parts of the young generation that are college students and fresh graduates. College students want to have Smartphone. According to the researcher at Ball State University, there are 49 percent students own a Smartphone at college in 2010, compared with 38 percent in 2009. The 97 percent of students use text messages for their primary communication method and 30 percent of students will use email to communicate to each other. There are about 90 percent of Smartphone users that use their phone to surf the internet. About 97 percent of the users will take and upload photos and 87 percent of the owners will look at videos and upload videos by their Smartphone. (Kelly Truong). Fresh graduates need a Smartphone, too. Fresh graduates continue their habits from the college, but they use their Smartphone on the different way. They use their Smartphone for their work in order to have more efficient than others. The Smartph one can help them check their email anywhere, stay in touch with their office and update the news from office quickly. Increasing globalization of Smartphone industry The demand of the Smartphone is growing rapidly worldwide, because of mobile internet becomes more popular. Gartner expects the worldwide touch-screen mobile device market to top 362.7 million units in 2010, an increase of 96.8 percent over 2009 sales of 184.3 million units. (Michelle Maisto). More and more people start to buy a Smartphone, because of the trend market. Smartphone is going to instead of the traditional phone. Changing societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles Smartphone changes the way people used to be. First, the communication between the people is changing. People use social media to communicate to each other. Facebook user base has risen to 430 million year-over-year, roughly the same increase as QQ in China. Twitter, while sporting only 58 million users experienced a 1238% year-over-year growth rate. Facebook now dominates in chat, messaging, video sharing, games, VoIP and more. (MobileBeyond). People want to check the social media instead of text message and give a phone call. For example, Facebook shows a lot of information that people want to express for their days and also upload their photo to their friends. Smartphone can give people to see the latest news from the social media anywhere and anytime. Second, the lifestyle is going to change. People used to go to the bank to make transaction and deposit the check. After we have Smartphone and internet, we can just take a photo with check and upload to your bank. Finally, the atti tude is going to change. People used to buy the products and compare the price in the different stores. It was not convenient and efficiency way to shop. Now you can easily to check the price of the product by using Smartphone that can help you make the right decision to shop. Smartphone is changing our lifestyles, attitudes and societal concerns. Industry life cycle There are five stages of the industry life cycle. In the embryonic stage, the industry starts to begin and develop the product to the public. In the growth stage, the company produces more products and increases the market share. In the shakeout stage, some of competitors start to see the opportunities in this market. In the maturity stage, the product price is stable and more competition comes to market. In the decline stage, the sale of the product decreases until the product innovation or discontinue in the market. (Hill Jones, 2008). The Smartphone industry is in the growth stage. The demand of the Smartphone industry is growing rapidly. The sale of the Smartphone was 174 million units in the 2009; there were 270 million units sold in 2010. In 2011, the sales forecast is going to be double from 2010 to 2011 that means about 500 million units. (Oliver Van Dervoort). The demand of the Smartphone is going up twice than 2010 that make the Smartphone industry is in the growth stage, because of the strong demand of the Smartphone. Internal Analysis Value Chain The value chain is that an organization creates value by performing a series of activities and it represents how each competitive advantage created via an organization adds value to the service or product for each customer. In the HTC Company, RD, Production, Marketing Sales, Customers Service and Human Resource are adding the value to their company. (Hill Jones, 2008). Research and Development HTC extremely concerned about research and development department. In 2009, HTC has nearly one-third of RD personnel which in total HTC personnel. They also invest in R D development about 5% to 7% of the total revenues. HTC also pay attention on their innovation and design. HTC introduced the worlds first Android Smartphone in the Android operating system. After that, HTC also develop the new 4G high speed Smartphone that customer can download or upload their games, picture, video and mobile multimedia fast than before. (HTC Annual Report) In 2010, HTC introduce the worlds first windows phone which is HTC HD2. HTC HD2 has a capacitive touch screen interface and 1 GHz processor. (HTC Annual Report). It allows consumers to enjoy the fast and smooth touch experience and quickly respond to every touch of the action which is a major breakthrough for Windows Mobile phones. It is the worlds first embedded HTC Sense for Windows Mobile; make the phone more intuitive operation. HTC Sense has three core principles for the design -Make it Mine, Stay Close, Discover the Unexpected. The ideal of the HTC Sense is easy to operate in order to attract more customers to buy their Smartphone. HTC develops the product designs to meet china market with China Mobile. In China, TD-SCDMA is Chinas telecommunications industry with independent intellectual property rights of international communications standards. Each of the phones needs to have TD- SCDMA in order to use in china. In 2008, HTC launched their first TD-SCDMA Smartphone in china i n order to extend their market into China. à ¨Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ Ã‚ ½ à ¤Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥Ãƒ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ ©Ã… ¸Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ¦- ¹Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¼Ã‚ Ãƒ ©- ±Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ®Ã¢â€š ¬ à ¥Ã‚ ­-à ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¸ à ¦Ã‚ ªÃ‚ ¢Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¦-à ¨Ã‚ ©Ã‚ ³Ãƒ §Ã‚ ´Ã‚ °Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ­-à ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¸ à ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ©Ã… ¾ attract draw fascinate Production HTC is growing so fast. According to the annual report, with worldwide demand for mobile phones expected to continue rising through 2010, we can expect the tight supply situation to continue as well. (HTC Annual Report) HTC needs to make sure their suppliers to increase productivity in order to meet the demand of the market. HTC also needs more manufacturing plants and facilities to meet the increasing demand of HTC products. HTC pay attention on their quality from each of the product that they produce. HTC introduces their new HTC Hero to the market In June 2009. After that HTC Hero has win a lot of awards which are Stuff Magazines -Gadget of the Year award, Mobile Choices- Phone of the Year, T3 Magazines Phone of the Year. During the worlds largest annual Telecommunications industry event, the 2010 Mobile World Congress, HTC Hero was further recognized with the 2010 Best Mobile Handset or Device Award. (HTC Annual Report) As HTC is growing so fast in order to meet the demand of the market, they still focus on their high quality control. Marketing and Sales HTC business is focus on European and North America markets in 2009. There are 48.8% of revenues from North American, 30.4% from European and 20.8% from Asia and other regions. Especially, the annual growth rate is 28.6% in North America which is the most potential markets. HTC development strategy is the current worldwide brand positioning HTC have a good development and increase HTC brand image in order to create long-term competitive advantage HTC. (HTC Annual Report) HTC has different products to meet the different level of the markets. For example, HTCs HD2 is the luxury and high-end product. Second, they have mid-price products which are HTC Tattoo and HTC Touch2 in order to have competitively in their market segment. HTC focus on the Smartphone industry, wireless communication technologies and become more sophisticated in this market. HTC Cooperate with Telecommunication Company to place their phone in the store in order to increase sale of their phones such as Verizon, Sprint and T-mobile. HTC mobile phone now, through Europe, America, Asia, sales of leading carriers and distributors, and has gradually penetrated into the Smartphone market in developing countries such as the Middle East, Central and South America and Russia. (HTC Annual Report) Customer Service HTC opened the worlds first HTC Care Customer Service Center in Taiwan Taipei in 2007. Fred Liu, Chief Operating Officer of HTC said HTC believes that providing superior after-sales support is important to our continuing success, which is why we place such a high degree of importance on HTC Care. In the future, a number of HTC Care centers will be launched in Taiwan and overseas, allowing our customers to enjoy their mobile lifestyles without missing a call, (HTC Annual Report). Customer service center is very valuable for customers. Customer service center can save time and more efficient to solve the problems from customers. Customers can just walk into the center and get personalized consultations by HTC products, Warranty repairs and buy HTCs products. HTC also provides a loaner phone during repair time. Customers do not need to worry about the alternative phone during that period. Human Resources The most valuable asset in HTC is employees. In recent years, HTC hires recruits outstanding talent to its ranks in the areas of product design, user interface, brand promotion and sales and marketing. HTC also hire the professionals employees from Europe and American that make HTC increases their diversity, challenging, vital and encouraging. As of the close of March 2010, HTC employed 8,948 staff worldwide. The 169 non-Taiwanese staff employed by HTC filled 30% of all HTC managerial positions. Non-Taiwanese managerial and technical staff filled 8.3% of all HTC positions worldwide. Women hold 21.4 %of HTCs 557 current managerial positions. (HTC Annual Report) Functional Analysis RD Production Marketing Customer Service Efficiency High Mid Mid Mid Quality High High Mid Mid Innovation High High Mid High Customer Response High High Low Mid VRIO Analysis Is it Valuable? (V) Is it Rare? (R) Is it difficult to Imitate? (I) Does the Organization use it well? (O) RD- Spend 5%to 7% of total revenue Yes No No Yes Production Increase facilities to meet the market demand Yes No No Yes Marketing- Brand Image Yes No Yes Yes HR Different culture background employees Yes No Yes Yes Customers Service Service center Yes Yes No Yes

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Emotion vs. Intellect in Ode to a Nightingale and Since Feeling is Firs

Emotion vs. Intellect in Ode to a Nightingale and Since Feeling is First  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  We must look for guidance from the emotions†¦not the mind. This romantic philosophy is portrayed in the works of both John Keats’s "Ode to a Nightingale" and E. E. Cummings’s "Since Feeling is First." Each poet addresses the complex relationship of following one’s emotion and passion as opposed to one’s thought. Whereas Cummings supports living life fully in order to escape the confines of thought, Keats suggests death as the only possible means of overcoming this human consciousness. Cummings’s "Since Feeling is First" compares the inadequacy of mental analysis with the beauty of emotional spontaneity by "argu[ing] feeling and the abandonment of inhibition to larger forces" (Heyen 133). For the poet, acute perception comes from feeling, not thinking, which only allows us to "see" indirectly. In other words, the beauty of the experience is, in and of itself, proof of the power of beauty. Thus, Cummings desires the reader "to render the image of what we see, forgetting everything that existed before us" (Cohen 42). Such a statement is not a condemnation of rationality, but instead an affirmation of the mystery of things, which is more compatible with feeling than with knowing, supposing the latter to be a form of measuring that lacks love. For Cummings, mind is only a villain when it becomes dissociated from feeling. Yet, with his first line, it is very important that he convince his reader of his premise that "feeling is first." For, Cummings is writing a s eduction poem. He is telling the woman in the poem, in a carpe diem manner reminiscent of seventeenth-century style, to make good use of time, to act from feeling, to abandon her "syntax" in... ...raff, Gerald. Poetic Statement and Critical Dogma. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1980. Heyen, William. "In Consideration of Cummings." Southern Humanities Review Spring. 1983: 131-42. Jarrell, Randall. "The Profession of Poetry." Partisan Review Fall. 1950: 724-31. Knight, G. Wilson. The Starlit Dome-Studies in the Poetry of Vision. New York: Barnes and Noble Inc., 1960. Maurer, Robert E. "Latter-Day Notes on E. E. Cummings’s Language." E. E. Cummings: A Collection of Critical Essays. 1972: 79-99. Vivante, Leone. English Poetry and its Contribution to the Knowledge of a Creative Principle. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. Wesolek, George. "E. E. Cummings: A Reconsideration." Renascence Autumn. 1965: 3-8. Williams, Meg Harris. Inspiration in Milton and Keats. Totowa: Barnes and Noble Books, 1982.      

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

The Industrial Revolutions: The effects on Europe and the World :: European Europe History

The Industrial Revolutions: The effects on Europe and the World The Industrial Revolution affected life in Europe during the 19th century very greatly. Cities in Great Britain were growing rapidly, this was known as urbanization. Many cities such as Glasgow and Berlin more than doubled in size. The Industrial Revolution was having a positive affect on Great Britain. From the outpour of people into cities looking for work, things were so rapidly paced that there was no order in these cities. Unsanitary and unsafe buildings were being built all over to home all of the workers. There was less than adequate education and police protection for the ever-growing population. Many people had to live in shelters due to the lack of housing; many families lived in a single room. Many people died of cholera from the poor living and working conditions. The main goal that factory owners wanted was to keep their production a constant, working for the better part of a day. Since the owners wanted to save as much money as possible, the factories were rarely cleaned or well lit. Coalmines posed the biggest danger from the constant inhalation of coal dust and the collapse of the mines. Workers had a life expectancy 10 years less than of another worker. Even though the Industrial revolution brought problems to life quickly, through the long run a number of positive effects arose. It provided jobs for workers and it aided in technological progress and invention. It raised the standard of living from increased production of good and it in the improvement in people's lives. Better housing and cheaper mass-produced clothing helped people become healthier. From the strong demand of engineer's and professional workers, education became very profuse. For the lower class workers of the Industrial Revolution, their life slowly but surely improved during the 19th century, through earning higher wages, shorter hours, and improved working conditions.

Explanation of Hamlet’s Mystery (by: Ernest Jones)

pg. 101: Explanation of Hamlet's Mystery by Ernest Jones Much as he hates him, he can never denounce him with the ardent indignation that boils straight from his blood when he reproaches his mother, for the more vigorously he denounces his uncle the more powerfully does he stimulate to activity his own unconscious and â€Å"repressed† complexes. He is there- fore in a dilemma between on the one hand allowing his natural detestation of his uncle to have free play, a consum- mation which would make him aware of his own horrible ishes, and on the other ignoring the imperative call for ven- geance that his obvious duty demands. He must either realise his own evil in denouncing his uncle's, or strive to ignore, to condone and if possible even to forget the latter in continuing to â€Å"repress† the former; his moral fate is bound up with his uncle's for good or ill. The call of duty to slay his uncle cannot be obeyed because it links itself with the call of his nature to sla y his mother's husband, whether this is the first or the second; the latter call is strongly â€Å"repressed,† and therefore necessarily the former also.It is no mere chance that he says of himself that he is prompted to the revenge â€Å"by heaven and hell,† though the true significance of the expres- sion of course quite escapes him. Hamlet's dammed-up feeling finds a partial vent in other directions, the natural one being blocked. The petulant irascibility and explosive outbursts called forth by the vexa- tion of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, and especially of Polo- nius, are evidently to be interpreted in this way, as also is in part the burning nature of his reproaches to his mother. In- deed towards the end of the interview with his mother the hought of her misconduct expresses itself in that almost physical disgust which is so often the manifestation of in- tensely â€Å"repressed† sexual feeling. â€Å"Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed; Pinch wa nton on your cheek; call you his mouse; And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses, Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers, Make you to ravel all this matter out. † His attitude towards Polonius is highly instructive. Here the absence of family tie, and of other influences, enables him to indulge to a relatively unrestrained degree his hostility towards the prating and sententious dotard.