If your work email account is anything like mine used to be, it will consist of streams of skimmed or unopened newsletters, alerts, industry updates littered between vital emails from colleagues and customers.

One of the most personally rewarding experiences of my involvement in CCH’s latest news and alerts vehicle Tracker – which launched on April 12 – has  been the discovering the benefits of receiving news via RSS (Really Simple Syndication also known as Rich Site Summary).

RSS has been around for at least a decade but its uptake has really exploded in the last couple of years to become a popular tool for the wider population of internet users.

What RSS allows me to do is aggregate Tracker and all my other favourite news feeds so I can view them via a single access point.

Centralising these news sources has enabled me to free my work email box of a lot of newsletters, bulletins and other current awareness emails. It also means I spend less time trawling across various news websites to keep up with issues.

What it boils down to is a more effective way of managing an ever increasing volume of information.

Are there other ways to cut down the time spent managing all this information?

It was reported that U.S Gen. McChrystal has said the unthinkable about PowerPoint presentations.

Aparently, the General said that PowerPoint is dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control.

Clearly, some problems in the world are not bulletizable! 

There is even a reference to hypnotising chickens.

Interestingly, the remark was prompted by a slide showing military strategy which resembled a bowl of spaghetti.

Maybe the General wished for something else in the bowl?

Beware of what you wish for - pasta comes in various forms: swirls, tubes and cylinders!!!

Ever wondered what other people are searching for on IntelliConnect?

Is there something I’m missing?

Is there a particular search term that will reveal the answer to life, the universe and everything?

Never fear, all is revealed below with a list of the top 100 search terms in IntelliConnect this week:

Top 100 search terms in IntelliConnect (week ending 28 May 2010):

1. fbt
2. Division 7A
3. insurance
4. depreciation
5. GST
6. margin scheme
7. superannuation
8. investment allowance
9. debt forgiveness
10. Living away from home allowance
11. non-commercial losses
12. Depreciation rates
13. permanent establishment
14. managed investment trust
15. Capital Gains Tax
16. commercial debt forgiveness
17. finance lease
18. lease
19. car parking fringe benefit
20. rental property
21. stamp duty
22. annual leave
23. residency
24. long service leave
25. redundancy
26. relocation
27. motor vehicle expenses
28. depreciation rates 2010
29. effective life table
30. interest
31. otherwise deductible
32. bamford
33. caveat
34. directors
35. low income tax offset
36. payroll tax
37. minor benefit
38. small business cgt concessions
39. indemnity
40. capital works
41. resident
42. effective life
43. reportable fringe benefits
44. main residence
45. employee share scheme
46. fringe benefits tax
47. retirement exemption
48. minors
49. active asset
50. going concern
51. family law
52. cost base
53. TOFA
54. Trading stock
55. trust
56. sexual harassment
57. share buy-back
58. superannuation guarantee
59. Entertainment industry expenses
60. insider trading
61. trust losses
62. withholding tax
63. income
64. family trust election
65. penalties
66. allowance
67. partnership
68. salary sacrifice
69. thin capitalisation
70. education tax refund
71. Liquidation
72. interest deductibility
73. property
74. Condition of release
75. car parking benefit
76. assessable income
77. superannuation contributions
78. gifts
79. director
80. incurred
81. car parking
82. 40-880
83. personal services income
84. employee share schemes
85. tax rates
86. software
87. reportable fringe benefit
88. “consequential loss”
89. cabcharge gst
90. work test
91. base value
92. car
93. “section 45″
94. distributable surplus
95. deduction
96. ACL_HANDLE ca4-s.48AA
97. “work test”
98. foreign losses
99. principal place of residence
100. ohs

It was only about six months ago that  the furore over the tax outcome of  the Myer float by Texas Pacific Group (TPG) was causing angst in highplaces. 

TPG is back in the news with a takeover bid for Healthscope.

Immediately after the Myer float the tax office released a crucial draft tax determination TD 2009/D18.

According to this draft gains generated when a private equity entity sells an Australian asset will be treated as revenue and not capital gains. 

This would apply to shares in companies held by private equity entities. Under the existing rules private equity managers who are non-resident are not subject to Australian tax in respect of such gains and most managers are non-resident.

The Tax Laws Amendment (2010 Measures No 1) Bill almost ready to come into effect allows the trustees of managed investment trusts to elect to treat gains from disposal of certain assets on capital account, shares included. But private equity mangers will not be entitled to this concession.

Wouldn’t speedy finalisation of the draft tax determination lend certainty to private equity ventures in Australia, given that  we are  a net capital importer?

If a new tax is what we want why not tax e-mails?

I came across this interesting suggestion just a few days after the release of the Henry review and the Government response to it: E- mail.

Tax is touchy and at most times vexing.

Some interesting facts to emerge from the Henry review:

• Australia ranks above the average corporate tax rate in the OECD. Australia’s company income tax rate, which currently stands at 30 per cent, is high relativeto other comparably sized OECD countries.
• The average rate for small to medium OECD economies is currently around 25 per cent.
• Australia’s current company income tax rate is significantly higher than Hong Kong (16.5 per cent) and Singapore (18 per cent) and marginally higher than the average for the Asia-Pacific region (27.5 per cent).
• In the Asia –Pacific region the Australian corporate tax rate is above average only less than that in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Japan.

The recommendation was that the company income tax rate should be reduced to 25 per cent over the short to medium term, with the timing subject to economic and fiscal circumstances.

The Government has agreed to bring down the tax rate to 29 % from 2013/14 and to 28% from 2014/15.

Will Australia lose the competitive advantage in the resources sector now that the Government has decided to impose a super profit tax on resource companies ?

The Canadians certainly think so: Super-profit tax to boost Canada’s competitive advantage, says Jim Flaherty