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Income Tax in India (FY 20–21)
By: Ashish Thakale
Tags: Income Tax, Gst In India, Income Tax Slabs, Taxes, India

Income tax is a type of tax that governments impose on income generated by businesses and individuals within their jurisdiction.

Income tax is the source of revenue for Government. there are two types of taxes one is personal income tax and another one is corporate tax.

Personal income tax is levied on an individuals wages, salaries and other types of income.

Business income taxes apply to corporations, partnerships, small businesses, and people who are self-employed.

In this article we will be focusing on only Personal Income Tax

Income Tax Slab

In India, where all the individuals earn an income in very large and diversified range, levying a tax on all individuals at a specific rate would not be a fair policy. The Act, therefore, segregates income ranges and levies tax at different rates as per the segregation. These groups are thus known as tax slabs.

The slabs also vary based on age if the taxpayer is an individual and as per the classification of entities. Income tax slabs are amended and revised each year during the Central Government’s Budget Session.

There are three age based categories are made

Individuals within the age of 60 years or less, which includes residents as well as non-residents.

Senior citizens with age above 60 years but below 80 years.

Super senior citizens with age above 80 years.

Income tax slab for individual below 60 years of age for FY 20–21 & FY 19–20 is shown in below table

As per Government of India One can opt for new regime as per above table in FY 20–21 or else he/her can stay with the old tax regime as per FY 19–20.

If any individual opt a new tax regime then he/her can not claim any income tax exemptions. like

Leave Travel Allowance (LTA)

House Rent Allowance

Conveyance

Daily expenses in the course of employment

Relocation allowance

Helper allowance

Children education allowance

Other special allowance [Section 10(14)]

Standard deduction

Professional tax

Housing loan interest (Section 24)

Deduction under Chapter VI-A (80C, 80D, 80E, and so on) (Except section 80CCD(2) — NPS contribution by the employer and 80JJA)

Important Things to Remember while Opting for the New Tax Regime If any individual stays with the old tax regime then he/her can alive all the above mentioned tax exemptions during FY 20–21 Income tax slab for individual above 60 years and below 80 years of age for FY 20–21 is shown in below table

Surcharges for Resident Individuals

The options to be exercised on or before for every previous year where the individual or the HUF has no business income.

In case a taxpayer having a business income, an option once exercised cannot be taken back. Further, in case the taxpayer withdraws the option, it will be an irreversible option as he/she won’t be able to opt-in for the option again.

For the FY 2019–20, new surcharge rates have also been introduced on the income of the rich people. The table below shows how it applies.
7 Simple Small Business Tax Tips
By: Milani Valentine
Tags: Taxes, Business Tax Filing

Here are seven ways for owners of small businesses to save money on their taxes.

1. Incorporate Yourself: If you`re still a proprietor or partner of a business, it`s time to incorporate yourself. Not only will you limit your liability, but you may enjoy lower tax rates on small business income and other tax advantages as well.

2. Be Home Based: If possible, continue (or switch to) being a home based business. Not only will you keep your overhead down, but you will be able to write-off (or deduct) the business use of your home.

3. Income Split: Pay reasonable wages to your spouse and children. In this way, you can legally divert income taxed at your higher rate to your family members that are in a lower tax bracket.

4. Rearrange Your Affairs For Maximum Tax Savings: Can you make some changes to turn your hobby into a moneymaking business? Can you use that extra room in your house as a home office for your business? Can you arrange to use your car more for business purposes? Can you arrange for more of your entertainment expenses to be business related?

5. Document Your Expenses Well: Do you document your expenses well so that they would survive a tax audit? Have you kept a mileage log so that you can prove the percentage business use you claim for your vehicle? Have you kept receipts for all your entertainment expenses and listed the business purpose on the back of each receipt?

6. Be Punctual: File all returns and pay all taxes due (income, payroll, sales, et cetera) on time. This way, you avoid expensive late filing (and payment) penalties and interest.

7. Develop a Tax Planning Mindset: Some people only worry about their taxes during tax season. However, you will save a fortune in taxes, legally, if you make tax planning your year-round concern. Do you make business and personal purchases, investments, and other expenditures with tax savings in mind?
Understand Your IRS Tax Appeal Rights
By: Milani Valentine
Tags: Tax Returns, Taxes

Are you in the middle of a disagreement with the IRS? One of the guaranteed rights for all taxpayers is the right to appeal. If you disagree with the IRS about the amount of your tax liability or about proposed collection actions, you have the right to ask the IRS Appeals Office to review your case.

During their contact with taxpayers, IRS employees are required to explain and protect these taxpayer rights, including the right to appeal. The IRS appeals system is for people who do not agree with the results of an examination of their tax returns or other adjustments to their tax liability. In addition to examinations, you can appeal many other things, including:

1. Collection actions such as liens, levies, seizures, installment agreement terminations and rejected offers-in-compromise,

2. Penalties and interest, and

3. Employment tax adjustments and the trust fund recovery penalty.

Internal IRS Appeal conferences are informal meetings. The local Appeals Office, which is independent of the IRS office, can sometimes resolve an appeal by telephone or through correspondence.

The IRS also offers an option called Fast Track Mediation, during which an appeals or settlement officer attempts to help you and the IRS reach a mutually satisfactory solution. Most cases not docketed in court qualify for Fast Track Mediation. You may request Fast Track Mediation at the conclusion of an audit or collection determination, but prior to your request for a normal appeals hearing. Fast Track Mediation is meant to promote the early resolution of a dispute. It doesn’t eliminate or replace existing dispute resolution options, including your opportunity to request a conference with a manager or a hearing before Appeals. You may withdraw from the mediation process at any time.

When attending an informal meeting or pursuing mediation, you may represent yourself or you can be represented by an attorney, certified public accountant or individual enrolled to practice before the IRS.

If you and the IRS appeals officer cannot reach agreement, or if you prefer not to appeal within the IRS, in most cases you may take your disagreement to federal court. Usually, it is worth having a go at mediation before committing to an expensive and time-consuming court process.
Taxes and Corporate Investment Decisions
By: Al-Hamd Group
Tags: Financial, Taxes, Investment, Investors, Financial Decisions

Picture Source: Tax Matrix

Companies work hard and put their best possible efforts in an attempt to optimize their tax liabilities. This not only helps them in making safe financial decisions but also maximizes firm value. Investment decisions have a substantial impact on corporate valuation as they influence corporate growth. Value enhancement has been central to financial management though, taxation strategies carry a distorting effect as to corporate investment and financing decisions.

Investment plans rely on taxation strategies for the most part. As corporate taxes apply to the companies’ profits, hence, the after-tax profits determine the amount and the avenues of investments and the way investment planning shall be carried out.

Moreover, investments call for ample cash flows generated internally. While it is sure that internal cash flows are affected mainly by the corporate taxes applied. Clearly, firms cut investments when they are giving more in taxes. This is particularly true when the capital markets are in such conditions as they greatly lean on internal investment sources.

There are several independent opinions of experts about the relationship between taxes and investments. The most worthwhile being the use of debt financing to make any investment. This has manifold benefits. First, the managers in a particular company tend to invest more sensibly because the funds have been borrowed and are under the supervision of a financing institution. Second, the shareholders are also at ease because of the supervision of a third-party financier. Third, the borrowed funds that are invested more often result in the value maximization for the shareholders because of prudently choosing what projects to invest in. Finally, the most important benefit is that the use of debt results in reduced corporate taxes as the interest paid on a debt has a trickle-down effect on corporate profits (Princen, 2012).

Reference

Princen, S. (2012). Determining the impact of taxation on corporate financial decisionmaking. Reflets Et Perspectives De La Vie Économique, LI(3), 161.

https://doi.org/10.3917/rpve.513.0161
Заполнение налоговых деклараций — экономим время и нервы!
By: Анна Петрова
Tags: Business, Taxes, Accounting, Company

in In Bitcoin We Trust
Why Are So Many Millionaires Buying Private Jets?
By: Ryan Fulton
Tags: Money, Politics, Taxes, Finance, Economy

The ‘tremendous’ tax changes

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

I’m sure you’ve heard of this act before. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 lowered income taxes by a few percent for all income brackets and cut the corporate tax rate down to 21%.

The TCJA was intended to help boost the economy in multiple ways, and that includes changes to the way specific expenses can be deducted. One of those changes is called bonus depreciation.

Bonus Depreciation

Usually, when a business purchases a piece of equipment, the depreciation cost is amortized (spread across multiple years) until its end-of-life date. With bonus depreciation, companies are allowed to expense 100% of the cost of certain assets. This was previously 50%.

CARES Act of 2020

The CARES Act of 2020 was one of the largest spending packages passed in US history and for understandable reasons. This was passed to stimulate the rapidly declining economy.

Specific tax relief programs were put in place to help businesses stay afloat. Of course, there will always be individuals who take advantage of this aid and use it for their own personal gain.

One important part of the CARES Act was the allowance of net operating loss carryback.

Net Operating Loss (NOL) Carryback

Net operating loss is calculated using adjusted gross income - deductions. When you have a net operating loss, you are now allowed to “carryback” any additional loss to the previous year’s profits. This wasn’t allowed under the TCJA but was changed with the passing of the CARES Act.
Do you get excited or anxious about tax time and tax returns?
By: The Cash Lab
Tags: Taxes, Small Business Owner, Small Business, Tax Returns, Entrepreneur

Helping contractors and construction-related businesses move from financial chaos to financial compliance, cash flow, profits, wealth and more
Texas Proud 💰
Tags: Elon Musk, Taxes, Texas, Business, Billionaires

“Everything’s bigger in Texas”, at least that’s what they say. As for regulation and taxes, one thing is for sure, Texas is definitely not “big” in those departments. For example, Texas has no personal income tax while California imposes the highest personal income taxes on the rich than any other state in the country.

For businesspeople and money-lovers alike, this sounds like music to their ears. It also begs the question “Why are some of the most prominent celebrities and businesspeople based out of California?”

Founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk is putting his money where his mouth is and has decided to move to Texas, according to an interview he did with the Wall Street Journal. This decision comes after weeks of speculation relating to whether or not Elon will join the list of mega-billionaires leaving California.

Musk’s own words were “California’s been winning for a long time. And I think they’re taking them for granted a little bit. Silicon Valley, or the Bay Area, has too much influence on the world, in my opinion.” It will be interesting to see if any other big names will follow suit after his decision.

I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
Hunting for the best — Single unit residential property vs Multi-unit apartments
Tags: Commercial Property Taxes, Taxes, Property Taxes

Most of the newbies who are stepping into real estate investing will definitely have this question. Either to invest in single-unit residential property or multi-unit apartments. It’s a pretty common question out there and the answer to this depends on the investment to be made. Most people think that going for a multi-unit can be beneficial because when one unit is free another one may be occupied which can bring some income in your business funnel. That’s true but it also has some different results. Let’s analyze which one is the best!

The choice of going with single-unit or multi-unit is basically based on various factors such as

Timing of the year

Financial risk

Experience in the real estate industry

These are some of the things that you need to consider before investing in any property. If you are limited with capital investments then you need to stick on with single-unit residential property because maintenance and other aspects of a property are low when compared to multi-unit properties.

But if you are investing in the property for the first time but have got much more experience then you can definitely give a try for multi-unit.

Location

The location also plays a prior role in investing. Check the comparables sales data of your property location so that you can get a clear picture of sticking onto single or multi-units. If your location is close to the city or complexes then going for a multi-unit will work out fine. If your location is moreover of a residential place then sticking onto residential single-unit can work out.

Maintenance

Either your property can be single or multi-unit, maintenance will travel along from the beginning of your investment. Here is a small check-list of things that you need to keep in mind for a single-unit.

Lawn

Amenities

Water bill

Minor repairs

These are some of the things that you need to check on the single-unit property. And for a single-unit property, you should be the one who is involved in all these tasks. You cannot assign the work to a contractor or some other company who are experts in the same field.

When it comes to multi-unit all these things can be taken by the property management company. There are so many experts who can take care of your property more than how you can take better care. If you are a busy person, then multi-unit will be the right choice for you. It can eventually increase your income and even property management companies can help you in maintaining the property as new as possible.

With all these aspects lining in, it is purely your choice to place your investment either in single-unit property or multi-unit property. If you are looking for some good property listing sites across the USA, then Enriched Realestate can help you out with proper listings. Now, it’s your call to make either to stick on with single-unit or multi-unit. The more you invest in the property, the more you can get out of it. Happy investing!

Visit us: https://www.enrichedrealestate.com/
Scavenger Sale Tax Program Not Working In Illinois
By: Omotayo Hassan
Tags: Fraud, Homes, Taxes, Scavenger Sale, Chicago

Chicago,IL — Dating back to the 1968 riots after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, the black community was burned down leaving vacant lots, falling homes all over the south and west side of Chicago. The Scavenger sale is another property tax system that only gets public attention when it’s used to commit fraud, as you travel around the city of Chicago you notice the same houses and building’s have been vacant abandoned for years, most investors fear the low income areas are a bad investment leaving these homes abandoned for centuries. With high crime in majority of these neighborhoods you can’t blame investors for not putting money into these homes because it is a risk factor that stands out.

Although it takes years for a property to even end up on the Scavenger sale many say the program doesn’t help get back taxes paid or redevelopment.

Home owners who doesn’t pay their tax on time gets 13 months to pay the outstanding taxes with interest, once the owner fail to do so the property is then offered at the annual county tax sale where buyers can pay back taxes charge the owner interest and obtain a lien on the parcel. The owner then has almost three years to pay back the lien holder, but some properties are never purchased at the tax sale so the taxes on them go unpaid. After three years the property finally goes to Scavenger sale. If the buyer from Scavenger sale pay some of the taxes and the previous owner doesn’t pay up the lien holder from the Scavenger sale can take ownership, they also don’t have to pay back taxes or penalties the previous owner let accumulate.

One thing I have noticed is that some of these places get some work done on them and then it just stops, not sure why but this is also a major problem in black communities leaving home owners to suffer because it brings down their property value when a vacant lot or abandoned building is right next door.
These 3 Freelance Tax Loopholes are a Complete Waste of Time
By: U-Ming Lee
Tags: Money, Taxes, Freelancing, Finance, Personal Finance

1. Opening an Offshore Bank Account

Switzerland has a reputation for being a place where you can move your money and trust that it will be kept far from the prying eyes of tax officials and government agents.

Those days of anonymous Swiss bank accounts are long gone. In 2014, Switzerland agreed to disclose bank account details directly to the IRS with the consent of the client concerned.

The Swiss government is negotiating with the US government to switch to the automatic exchange of information, which means the bank account holder won’t even need to give consent.

This arrangement exists because, in 2010, Congress signed a law called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”). Under FATCA, all banks with a presence in the US, or who had US clients, would have to disclose to the IRS the details and amounts held in the accounts of US citizens.

If you’re a US citizen, you will need to report your foreign bank holdings to the IRS and Treasury. Failure to do so could incur a penalty.

Not a US citizen? You aren’t off the hook.

From 2018, many governments began implementing a Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) for the Automatic Exchange of Information about their citizens’ financial accounts with one another.

Every government that has signed this agreement will report your bank account details and amounts to the tax authorities of every other signatory country in which you have a tax identification number.

If you try opening a new bank account now, your bank will ask you for your tax identification numbers as part of their “know your customer” process. They won’t open your bank account if they suspect you’re withholding any information from them.

The Takeaway

There is no legitimate way that opening an offshore bank account will reduce your tax obligations to your home country.

Banking secrecy is also a myth. Your government will know that you have a foreign bank account because the banks will inform them.

Unless you open a bank account in non-CRS countries, like Syria, North Korea, or Turkmenistan, but I can’t see why you’d want to.
The Weekly Top 3 (12.7.2020)
By: Brad Keithley
Tags: Taxes, Oil, Alaska, Fiscal Policy

Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 — our look at the top 3 things on our mind this week — for the week of December 7, 2020.

The Weekly Top 3 is a regular weekly segment on The Michael Dukes Show. The Show broadcasts on FacebookLive and via streaming audio from the Show’s website weekdays from 6–8am. I join Michael each week on Tuesday’s show, from 6:20–7am, for a discussion between the two of us about the three issues.

This week our Top 3 are these: 1) coming off the Prop 1 debate, some are now suggesting the state should completely eliminate the PFD and divert the money to state government in order to attract investment (2:02); 2) what we will be looking for this coming week as the state issues, first, the Fall Revenue Forecast and then, behind it, the Governor’s proposed FY22 budget (20:12), and 3) we look at whether the feds are likely to enact additional COVID fiscal relief before the end of the year (32:23).

The segment is at the YouTube clip above. For those that prefer the audio version, it is available both on our Spotify and Soundcloud pages. For this and other complete podcasts of The Michael Dukes Show, go to the Show’s Soundcloud page here.
Stop Stealing From Us
By: Jeff Clark
Tags: Politics, Taxes, Colorado, Stealing, Covid 19

Courtesy of VitalSmart

Death and Taxes. Those are two certain things.

But stop stealing it from us. As Americans we want to live, we want to be free. Keep your hands out of our back pockets, out of our lives. What politicians and Washington are doing is not freedom, it’s tyranny.

Taxation is theft. Plain and simple.

You want to tax me to keep the roads safe, the first responders employed, street lights working, community in good shape…go ahead. I’ll pay for those mutual things, because I actually use them (or will need them).

But stealing tax dollars from the people is evil. Stop using it for whatever you want. Stop making improvements to government buildings when the roads are crumbling. It’s stealing.
FALSE: Kenya Revenue Authority is not considering taxing dowry payments as this claim says
Tags: Kra, Dowry, Taxes, Kenya

FALSE: Kenya Revenue Authority is not considering taxing dowry payments as this claim says

The Authority has flagged the claim — which has previously been published by satirical website PostaMate — as fake. PesaCheck Follow Dec 10, 2020 · 4 min read

A tweet showing a screenshot of an article that claims that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is considering taxing dowry payments to raise revenue is FALSE.

The screenshot shows the headline of an article published by Updates.co.ke, but the website account has since been suspended.

Another tweet, published on December 3, 2019, makes a similar claim, and contains the link to the article published by Updates.co.ke.

The post accompanying the screenshot, which has been written in Sheng’ — a Kenyan urban vernacular — loosely translates to questioning the revenue authority’s intention, which seems to discourage those wishing to marry.

While the screenshot does not show when Updates.co.ke published the post, another article published by satirical website, PostaMate, on November 10, 2020, makes a similar claim.

The satirical article states KRA will collect 15 percent tax on all dowry payments in January 2021, noting that money received as dowry is undeclared wealth, and that the move is meant to plug the country’s fiscal deficit.

However, KRA dismissed both Twitter claims on different occasions; informing a user that the more recent claim is fake and to disregard it, and flagging the post on December 4, 2019, as well.

PesaCheck has looked into the claim that the Kenya Revenue Authority is considering taxing dowry payments to raise revenue and finds it to be FALSE.
Bitcoin Tax Havens
Tags: Taxes, Bitcoin Wallet, Bitcoin News, Bitcoin, Investing

I first started following bitcoin in 2013. It happened out of pure accident at a job I held at the end of 2013. I was working for a middle market bank that used to pump a daily newsletter to all employees of all the important news in the financial and banking world. I thought the entire concept of bitcoin was fascinating.

I met a guy in late 2013 and started telling him about bitcoin in early 2014. I talked it up so much that he asked me how to buy bitcoins. I took things into my own hands, and opened an account for him on coinbase. The irony of this situation is I didn’t own any bitcoins and I didn’t even have a coinbase account. However, I helped this guy I was screwing for the short term get bitcoin instead of helping myself.

By 2015, I was ready to buy bitcoin; however, I was still too afraid to take the plunge. I saw the price go up to $400 and then drop to $200 and then increase to $400 again. I told myself, I would buy when it drops to $200 again. At this time, I didn’t have more than $10,000 in my bank account. I was broke and I didn’t understand taking risks to make money. I was still looking at income as a scarce resource although I was constantly reading Catherine Ponder and Florence Schinn books on abundance. As you know, bitcoin never declined to $200. Fast forward, its the end of 2017 and bitcoin is approaching $20,000. I’m sure there were plenty of people on the sidelines like myself, that missed out on huge sums of income because they were afraid. As the rapper Meek Mill said “scared money, don’t make no money.”

As bitcoin is currently in another bull run in 2020, I pondered where the bitcoin millionaires might be living or hiding, which got me to research countries that don’t tax bitcoin gains. Disclaimer, I’m not a financial advisor, tax expert, or legal person, so please, take this article as entertainment and do your own research!

Countries that don’t tax bitcoin gains are: Portugal, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, Switzerland (duh!), Malaysia, and Malta. These countries can change their stance in the future, but as of right now, its a free for all!
I was thinking about taxes this morning.
By: Anthony Lawrence
Tags: Taxes

I was thinking about taxes this morning. No, not paying my taxes. I was thinking about voluntary taxes.

I’d like to be able to pay additional taxes. That probably caused some snorts of disbelief among readers, but I’m serious about it.

It’s simple enough to do: just don’t take a deduction for something that you could. I’ve done that, but I want to be able to say that I want my donation to go for the Food Stamp Program,or VA hospitals, not buying more tactical missiles or tanks.

I don’t expect my specified allocation to be honored. It would be a vote that Congress could ignore: my money could buy more attack drones. I’d just like it recorded and reported so that we can tell Congress what’s so important to us that we are willing to put up money for it.

That’s it. A simple request, simple to implement.
The cost incurred to Improve can also include the cost of housing to save Income Tax. — Wealth4india
By: Wealth India
Tags: Income Tax, Taxes, Taxation, House, Property Tax Reduction

The Mumbai Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has clarified this in its recent order.

This will allow accurate calculation of capital gains or losses.

The Mumbai Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), in its recent order on the tax on capital gains from the sale of houses, has clarified that if a person spends anything to sell his house or flat can be included in the cost of the house. Apart from this, the cost incurred to increase the facilities of the house can also be included in the cost of the house. It will not be treated as capital gains and you are entitled to tax rebate.

20% income tax is charged on capital gains

If you keep the property for 2 years after buying it and then sell it, then the profits from it will be considered as Long Term Capital Gain (LTCG). On such taxable income you will have to pay 20% tax after the benefit of indexation. In such a situation, it is important for sellers to know what you can do in the cost of purchasing a house so that you can save tax.

What matters?

As per the case, the taxpayer showed long term capital loss on the sale of his flat. In this he included in the total price of his house the money he spent to repair the house or to enhance the facilities. This amount was 9.4 lakhs.

The taxpayer also wanted the benefit of long term capital loss on this. Among the facilities for which additional fees were paid, special waterproofing was done in the toilet, on the kitchen and doors and windows.

The builders are offering various facilities to the home buyers

An income tax department official said that the builders are offering various facilities to the home buyers, usually for which you have to pay an additional cost. These are different from special bathroom fittings, marble flooring, modular kitchens etc. In such a situation, taxpayers should make a proper preparation to avoid a lawsuit to get tax exemption while selling flats later. They should take care of all the bills.

You can adjust other benefits due to loss from selling house

If you earn a long-term capital gain from selling the property, you can also adjust it from the loss on any other property. Capital loss from residential property can be adjusted by carrying forward for the next 8 years. Capital from business property can be adjusted by carrying forward to the next 4 salons. You can adjust it from the short-term loss of other properties to avoid tax on short-term capital gains.
How Kubernetes solve the Problem Of One the Old Telecom Company NOKIA ?
By: Mr Robot
Tags: Infrastructure, Nokia, K8s

Problem Statement :

Nokia core business is building telecom networks end-to-end; its main products are related to the infrastructure, such as antennas, switching equipment, and routing equipment. “As telecom vendors, we have to deliver our software to several telecom operators and put the software into their infrastructure, and each of the operators have a bit different infrastructure. There are operators who are running on bare metal(Base OS). There are operators who are running on virtual machines(VM’s). There are operators who are running on VMware Cloud and OpenStack Cloud. They want to run the same product on all of these different infrastructures without changing the product itself.

So, Nokia company decided that moving to cloud native technologies would allow teams to have infrastructure behavior in their products. So, Teams at Nokia began experimenting with Kubernetes in pre-1.0 versions. The first Kubernetes-based product, the Nokia Telephony Application Server, went live in early 2018. “Now, all the products are doing some kind of re-architecture work, and they’re moving to Kubernetes.”

Kubernetes has enabled Nokia’s foray into 5G. When the Company develop something that is part of the operator’s infrastructure, then it have to develop it for the future, and Kubernetes and containers are the forward-looking technologies. The Nokia team using Kubernetes are already seeing clear benefits. By separating the infrastructure and the application layer, So Nokia team have less dependencies in the system, which means that it’s easier to implement features in the application layer. And because teams can test the exact same binary artifact independently of the target execution environment, then they can find more errors in early phases of the testing, and they do not need to run the same tests on different target environments, like VMware, OpenStack, or bare metal. So that they save several hundred hours in every release.
Docker และ Kubernetes คืออะไร Part 1
By: Guide Tinnapat
Tags: Kubernetes, Technology, Infrastructure, Docker, Application

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2021 rates take effect Jan. 1, study underway to determine next rate schedule
By: Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
Tags: Utilities, Infrastructure, Environment, Cleveland

2021 rates take effect Jan. 1, study underway to determine next rate schedule

The increase is about $6 per MCF (1,000 cubic feet of water used) with a $2 increase in the base rate. Customers who qualify for our reduced Homestead or Affordability rates will see an increase of about $3 per MCF.

Our regional stormwater management fee remains unchanged for 2021. The complete five-year schedule can be found on our Customer Service page.

In a year of challenges, we understand how rate changes affect customers. We continue to offer cost-saving programs including crisis assistance, plumbing assistance, and Affordability and Homestead discounts. You can see how to apply and whether you qualify at neorsd.org/save.

We are conducting a study to determine the rate schedule for the years 2022–2026.
The Metropolitan Environment
By: Francisco X Pineda
Tags: Society, Economy, Development, Infrastructure, Construction

Infrastructure investments are by far the most powerful asset class in terms of economic relevance, and therefore of great interest to society, businesses, and governments. Not only has infrastructure been heavily under-spent since the financial crisis, it also has among the highest economic multipliers as a productivity-boosting and job-creation vehicle.

Underpinned by an additional 2 billion people and a 46% increase in the urban population by 2040, global and national infrastructure needs are daunting. What exactly does daunting mean?

The reports vary in timescales and amounts, but the figures being put forward a range of capital project construction spending from $50 trillion by 2030 (McKinsey Global Institute Report, 2016) to $94 trillion by 2040 (Global Infrastructure Outlook, 2017). The US, which is expected to make up one of the largest swaths of this spend ($11 trillion) is also forecasted to have the single largest infrastructure investment gap — $3.8 trillion, double that of China’s $1.9 trillion. It is no surprise that over the last few years key US regions and states have taken the lead in addressing our aging infrastructure. State and local spending account for more than three-quarters of all U.S. infrastructure spending, driven largely by operation and maintenance. The New York State and New York Metro Region, the largest in the nation, is at the forefront.

New York City was in the midst of one of its largest building booms in history prior to the Covid. 2019 record levels of investment, employment, and construction activity had been building on five years of increasing construction spending expected to reach $190 billion between 2019–2021 (NYBC, 2019). This would have been the largest by a quantum of 2 in the nation and also the largest per capita by a quantum of 4.

This level of economic activity is exciting but is also harrowing when you consider that 65% of mega projects fail to meet their desired performance outcomes (CII 2017) — for every $1billion invested in the US, $122 million is wasted due to poor project execution (PMI 2016). Delays and cost overruns are the rule, rather than the exception in infrastructure and construction projects. In addition, the construction industry continues to face productivity and management challenges subjecting nearly every project to a varying degree of claims and disputes that can take decades to resolve.

The New York region is one of the very few markets in the world with such a varied concentration of construction project and sector participants. It’s scale and pace, that is both deeply local and distributed globally, makes it one of the richest and most compelling sites for an ambitious applied research agenda. Any fundamental shift in construction productivity gains can result in the sector’s added value by an estimated $1.6 trillion, adding about 2 percent to the global economy. Such a gain is equivalent to about half of the world’s annual infrastructure need (McKinsey 2017).
The insanity of EV infrastructure (as a stumbling block to going electric)
By: Christopher Johnson
Tags: Lifestyle, Sustainability, Electric Vehicles, San Francisco, Infrastructure

Unflappable, I proceed to the next obvious step. I walk over to the EV chargers and read what is on it. It has ChargePoint logo and a local number. So I dial that up…to my surprise the answer on the other ends announces itself as GetAround support. Now, pre-pandemic I do recall there being a number of GetAround spots in this lot but things are fallen in disarray and unclear what is actually happening. I ask about the charging and the support team seems to have no idea what I’m talking about.

Ok…now what…well, it says ChargePoint so certainly that should be easy to verify, right? I pull up the ChargePoint website on my phone and search for the area. Nothing shows. I call their support and they report no knowledge of the chargers in this lot.

How can this be this hard? I am literally at the site of the infrastructure and have already talked to 3 parties who seem to be involved. But I am determined…I have researched and know this is by far my best option for anything close by my home. If only I could find someone who knew about this! So I make it a habit to cruise by whenever I head out from the house on foot or on bike and have an extra minute.

M y next lucky strike is to find the actual parking lot management company on site! Two men were at work. I could tell from the frustrated expressions that the automated pay machines had a problem. I approached and asked if they had any idea how the chargers work…”no” was the curt answer. I realize this is one of those opportunities to open the eyes of people who don’t see the opportunity that the electrification movement represents. As they sort their technical issues, I find a time to share. “Look,” I say, “I would pay you today to get a monthly spot here if I could charge an EV right there,” pointing to the spots right in front of us. “And you could charge money for this, it could be extra revenue for you! And add a solar canopy and it would even make its own energy.” As I’m explaining this, the technician gets excited about all the tech I’m talking about. But clearly the business impact of selling another spot had an impact on the other chap dressed business casual. I am trying to illuminate the money left on the table for this company…and the city!

First attempt to solve for EV charging…failed. But, I’m persistent. I’ll be back with more lessons soon.
インフラエンジニア日記 #57 2020 12/14 ~ 12/18
By: Wataru Shimoda
Tags: AWS, Infrastructure, News, Gcp

With Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), you can launch a logically isolated customer-specific virtual network on the…

This week, the Kubernetes Product Security Committee disclosed a new security issue ( CVE-2020-8554) that affects every…

Authors: Kubernetes 1.20 Release Team We're pleased to announce the release of Kubernetes 1.20, our third and final…

Highly available, secure, and managed monitoring for your containers Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP) is a…

Send feedback This page documents production updates to Cloud Build. You can periodically check this page for…

Users can now create manual triggers to run builds at a specified time. To learn more about how to schedule your builds, see Scheduling your build.
Configure GRE-IPSec to create secured private network between public hosts
By: Habibie Faried
Tags: Network, Security, Ipsec, Network Security, Infrastructure

In previous article, I was talking about using OpenVPN to create similar setup. Despite of automated process of creating users/certs/etc. It is still a hassle if we want to add new node since we need to distribute those certificates. Moreover, the connection seems much slower.

Because of that reason, let’s try another protocol. In this article, we will be talking about using GRE tunnelling protocol with IPSec-PSK encryption. PSK refers to “Pre-shared key”. In which, encryption key is being set up between hosts. We will be using OpenVSwitch for doing this.

Reference: https://docs.openvswitch.org/en/latest/tutorials/ipsec/

Installation

This script is primarily tested on recent debian based system (Debian 10, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04).

Btw, I’m directly using its master branch, because of, none of the release version supports the latest version of the strongswan config. You will see an error related on its generated config with release version. This is based on my own experiment installing some particular version.

Please correct me if I’m wrong about my statement above

Topology

Here is the topology for our setup right now

Btw, based on my experiment again, we cannot create any topology other than star topology. “star” refers to only 1 node that connected to every node. If you are confused, then check this reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_network

Setup

Now let’s go into action, let’s configure node 161.97.158.40 first. SSH login to root user and follow these steps

Configure bridge

Add br-ipsec bridge by issuing this command. And also, set the bridge IP to 192.168.1.1/24. This IP will be this host’s IP too.

ovs-vsctl add-br br-ipsec

ip addr add 192.168.1.1/24 dev br-ipsec

ip link set br-ipsec up

Add port that will connect to node 2 (161.97.158.38)

Add port interface tun1-2 and set that interface to GRE protocol with its PSK swordF1sh. You can set the port’s name to anything.

ovs-vsctl add-port br-ipsec tun1-2

ovs-vsctl set interface tun1-2 type=gre options:remote_ip=161.97.158.38 options:psk=swordF1sh

Add port that will connect to node 3 (161.97.158.37)

ovs-vsctl add-port br-ipsec tun1-3

ovs-vsctl set interface tun1-3 type=gre options:remote_ip=161.97.158.37 options:psk=swordF1sh

Set MTU

You need to configure the correct MTU. Let’s try to set it to 1420 and see that later

ovs-vsctl set int br-ipsec mtu_request=1420

Setup on this node is finished!
(Trilha LPIC): Parte 1 — Planejamento de Capacidade com Linux
By: Amaury Souza
Tags: Unix, System, Command Line, Linux, Infrastructure

Linux Professional Institute LPIC-2

LPIC-2 is the second certification in the multi-level professional certification program of the Linux Professional…
Part of this article is outdated.
By: Chris Coolsma
Tags: Buttigieg, Transport, Transitions, Build Back Better, Infrastructure

Part of this article is outdated. Buttigieg is appointed as Secretary of Transport. He has to create jobs, invest in improvement of the outdated infrastructure of the country, lead the Corps of Engineers, initiate innovation and transition of the fossile transport system.

If you ask me, this is one of the feasible, visible and promising projects of mending wounded America. I am only a European observer from the other side of the Atlantic Plastic Soup, but believe me: this could pay off.
TechRebels é finalista no IT Blog Awards 2020 da Cisco
By: Giuliano Barros
Tags: Cisco, Infrastructure, It, Techrebels

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Management Bug
By: Eduardo Espinheira
Tags: Human Management, Investment, Infrastructure Management, Infrastructure, Management Bug

Here is your weekly dose of Human Management with some more food for thought to leverage your growth.

Since we believe the Management Bugs are common and typical, every description is created and adapted from articles, blog posts, and definitions from other sources and authors.

A MngtBug is a problem, cause, or impact in a human manager’s decision, which produces an incorrect or unexpected result. Every other week we share a little bit of our knowledge base on social media and our newsletter. This week’s MngtBug is…

© 2021 HumanMngt, All rights reserved www.eduardoespinheira.com

Details

By definition, infrastructure is the basic systems and services, such as computers, offices, and utilities that an organization uses to work effectively. (1)

Infrastructure is an essential foundation for businesses to deliver employment, growth, and prosperity. Poor infrastructure is a major frustration for a business that’s trying to get on and do its jobs. (2)

Another factor to remember is that investment is necessary to keep a company moving forward whether or not it is making improvements. All businesses undergo wear and tear, aging, and equipment malfunctions. Minimum capital investment is required to keep the business going as is over a while.

If companies aren’t even making this minimal investment, their production will eventually fail, and the economy will falter and decline because of it. (3) Failure to invest means failure to grow and develop. (4)

Here are five negative effects a lack of infrastructure investment has:

1. Reduces your disposable income;

2. Increases maintenance costs;

3. Lowers productivity;

4. Increases prices for goods;

5. It creates a domino effect on all aspects of the organization. (5)

Usual Solutions

© 2021 HumanMngt, All rights reserved www.eduardoespinheira.com

Before you go…

Want to know more?

Check out previous Management Bugs and Fixes

https://medium.com/@eduardoespinheira

Have a lovely week, and remember…

Human Managers should be open to being inspired and inspire others!

Extracted and adapted from…

(1) https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/infrastructure

(2) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/sme-home/importance-of-infrastructure-for-smes/

(3) https://bizfluent.com/info-10010620-investment-affect-productivity-economic-growth.html

(4) https://www.bbc.com/news/business-11642433

(5) https://news.asce.org/5-ways-underfunding-infrastructure-affects-you/