Business and Money Tips

Everyone knows the PIC ( Productivity and Innovation Credit ) scheme, which started in 2010, will end in 2017.  You can read our 7 blogs on this PIC by searching for 'PIC' at our blog ( Successful Sales Strategies is on 11 Sep 2014)  Today I will talk about 5 finer points of PIC that most people may not take note: PIC Bonus will definitely expire by December 2014 or your financial year end in 2014, WHICHEVER IS EARLIER.  There is no extension to PIC Bonus scheme All PIC Cash Claims must be done using online form and no other manual forms will be accepted from 1 August 2014 onwards. The IRAS site to get the form, plus how to use the form are found here   Equipment List: you need to follow the list of equipment by industry and any equipment not found in the list will need to apply for approval first. Click here for details Training fees: you can only claim PIC for training done for employees. Employees include part and full time employees, local and fo...

There are 5 things that every trainee is looking for in an external training program: Enhance their thinking , for it is the thinking capability that determines our work performance. That's why most trainers like to ask provocative questions to broaden the minds of the trainees.  Sometimes to make an impact trainers would purposely give the wrong information to ' wake people up ' Get Inspiration and Motivation .  As we know, the typical working life is full of stress and people usually get motivated when it's time for bonus or increment.  The fact that trainers help trainees to see things from another perspective will inspire people to do more.  Furthermore, trainers are external professionals that have no personal interest in the trainees, thus they can offer motivate people easily without being mistaken as phony Get Solutions to their Problems.  This is a very common and useful outcome of training, where trainees get answers to their current work proble...

With the PIC Grant , companies can claim up to $10,000 a year on internal training, i.e. their own people conducting training for their own people.  A good example would be HR Department doing Induction for new staff.  Other than that, it has become something as common as buying stationery when companies send their staff for external training .  This is because under the PIC Bonus scheme, companies get 160% of what they spend on training.  Before you sign up for your next public course , or get the trainer to come to your premise to conduct an in-house training , make sure that your next training program has the following 5 key attributes: Mix New School with Old School .  If what the trainer is doing is to replay old school principles, there won't be much value in today's context as the world is changing rapidly.  A phrase we often use in our training in describing what needs to be today in 2014 is a "time tested tactics blended with time relevant con...

Over the past few days, I poured over 20+ pages at IRAS website and managed to sniff out the 7 changes to this PIC (Productivity and Innovation Credit) Scheme .  Know them and you'll be able to take advantage of them.   If you are ignorant, you will lose out at least $375,000 .  The 7 Key Changes are: PIC is now extended to 2017 (originally to end in 2014).  This means that companies have more time to plan and take full advantage of this very general and generous scheme; Cap for Tax Deduction claims are now increased from $400,000 to $600,000 a year, effective for years 2013 to 2017.  This new scheme is called PIC + .  For cash payout, the cap remains at $100,000 per year; Website design and creation, including the registration of domain names, now qualify for IT claims, also effective for years 2013 to 2017.  Note that Search Engine Optimization (SEOs) will also qualify for this if SEOs are done as part and parcel of website creation . This m...