Flight from Singapore to Munich costs $886. Although you can book for any date in 2009, but you have to book by today

In recent days, there has been an uprising of discussion among Indonesian who stays in Singapore about new tax regulations in Indonesia. The tax regulations itself is not new, it has been there since 2007, and year 2008 was meant to be the one full year where people learn about it.

Unfortunately, Indonesian who are residents in Singapore have just been briefed about this new tax regulations last week, a mere 5 weeks before it will take effect 1 Jan 2009. There has been lots of emails circulating, rumors, and tons of other unclear directions on what people should and should not do. I’ve done some checks, even visiting Tax Revenue Authority of Indonesia’s website, but alas, no clear information there too.

The whole aim of Indonesian in Singapore finding the information is to avoid double taxation. We are currently already paying tax in Singapore, and to pay tax to Indonesia again is well … odd, not to mention the crazy amount we need to pay.

Put it simply, people in Singapore who earns up to S$40,000 a year only hit 5% tax bracket. In Indonesia, 5% tax bracket only is only meant for those who earn about S$3,500 a year, less than $300 a month, how to live in Singapore like that? Then, what if you earn $40,000 a year? In Indonesia tax regulation, anyone earning more than roughly S$25,000 a year falls under the highest tax bracket, an astonishing 35%. Do I need to repeat that? A crazy 35% !!! Not that we, earning S$25,000 a year, are super-rich people here in Singapore.

Now you can see what makes Indonesian in Singapore crazy about this tax regulations, and why it’s best we should avoid it. It’s in the tax treaty between Singapore and Indonesia anyway. The method to avoid this double taxation has been described in emails around Indonesian here, without anyone have a firm answer on what need to be done. I know about “Certificate of Residence”, what else?

There will be a lot of people going back to Indonesia for Chinese New Year end of January 2009, and it seems like we no longer have free 4 times of fiscal tax. That means we probably have to pay S$200 of fiscal tax if we can’t provide the necessary proof that we are already paying tax here. There has been even rumors that amount could be raised 400% to S$1000.

Now, can you see the messy regulations we have? Couple that with only 5 weeks people generally have now (even much less for those who are going back soon in December, and coming back to Singapore by early January 2009) to settle for any necessary documents, don’t be surprised to see IRAS overwhelmed by requests for “Certificate of Residence”.

Now, I wonder how many people will change their citizenship because of this?

However, there has been no confirmation what those 20 countries are. Digital Life edition yesterday mentioned (or speculated) that Singapore is one of the 20 countries and SingTel will start selling iPhone 3G in Singapore come August 22nd.

We’ll see. Anyone can’t wait already?

AsiaOne reported

Few points I picked up from the article:

- Depending on the subscription plan and length, iPhone 3G could cost you nothing upfront. Beware of the potentially expensive subscription plan though. Equivalent prices around Asia are about S$104 in Australia or S$86 in Hong Kong, so expect similar prices to get iPhone 3G for free.

- Starhub and M1 will launch iPhone 3G later after SingTel has taken their customers who move to SingTel because they want iPhone 3G so badly.

- By selling iPhone at $0, a lot of consumers will snap the phone without a second though, only to realise later that they need to pay $100 a month subscription plan.

I still have my contract with Starhub until November 2008, so until then, I’m not in market for a new phone.

So, will you or will you not join the queue to get iPhone 3G when it comes out in Singapore?

After a quick search, apparently, there has been a flash fire explosion in Singapore Power Building here at Somerset. Seems like a major problem that even traffic lights in Orchard Road stopped working. Hopefully the situation will be resolved soon, and injured persons are alright.

As expected, felt VERY sleepy in office from morning, hahaha…… my fault nonetheless :p

Later tonight, Federrer vs Hewitt at Wimbledon, must be a good match !!

This thing that looks like a zoomed out version of a rock found on the road side, turns out to be one of the two moons Mars has, Phobos.

Check here to see all stunning photos taken from Mars. I like the blue-ish sunset photos.

Random facts picked up from http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/april-monotone/ They said: 30% of pageviews go to blogs in languages other than English. The most popular? Spanish, Portuguese, and Indonesian.

Maybe I can try switching to Indonesian language some time

What about Starhub’s customer? Can get or not?

Scored the most goals, conceded the least, has the league top scorer in Cristiano Ronaldo, worthy champions once again