As long predicted, now tax on Bitcoin

 

The taxmen are coming. For your Bitcoins. Saw this on Indian media today. Indian Income Tax officials have begun raiding bitcoin exchanges across the country.  Multiple teams of tax sleuths yesterday, investigating virtual currency Bitcoin's investors and transactions, conducted raids at nine cryptocurrency exchanges in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kochi, Hapur and Gurugram.

 

Bitcoin was created as a virtual currency not under the control of any government. But now it seems that definition no longer holds. Exchanges operating in bitcoin will be expected to pay tax just like any other company. And their customers too.

But I think the anonymous miners are still …well, safe. Wondering how they will be taxed.

Does quikr , olx work ?

 

After all the buying online, it was finally time to sell something online for me. I was moving, and wanted to dispose off some things second hand , which were in fairly good condition. Being in the tech city, it was obvious the answer was online. So I installed apps of the two top reselling apps in ‘demand’. And tried my hand on trying to make a little profit instead of giving things away for free.

Well, it did not work. Some did. But mostly not. Instead of what I thought were  intelligent, careful buyers who would ask questions about what I was selling, I was greeted by a horde of deal jumping numbskulls with quick fingers. The only question they asked were: can you reduce the price to zero ? Something very low. You get the point. I had success selling a steel cupboard when I reduced the price to 50% of what I had paid originally. But for everything else, the buyer wanted the product for free. Even when I asked them to come over and inspect the goods to check its quality , to justify my asking price, they flatly refused. All they were doing were judging the quality of the goods on sale looking at the picture. And thats it.

This poses a problem. What you sell must be in good condition, or it will be returned. But if it is in very good condition, you wont get a good price for it. So basically, you can only sell off things in good condition for throw away prices. Basically its a market to dispose of good things at near zero prices.

Some years ago I was building a top CRM product for eBay. You know, the online auction company ? The site which started the whole online auction and marketplace business, now left for dust. I could see production data were customers were debating the quality of items sold. Some customers had clearly been cheaten, sellers sold a box of bricks packaged as UPS batteries and electronics. But there were also lots of complaints of ‘bad condition’ and ‘poor quality’ in them. In most cases, eBay policy meant reversing the sale, and they were loosing money taking care of the logistics expenses. Thankfully I was not a case agent, I was just building the CRM system for the agents. But I could see that they had a lot of work cut out for them, even with all the automation we built for them.

Sites like quikr and olx are quick ways to dispose off your good condition stuff you no longer need. But for dirt cheap prices. Don’t expect to make money off them, specially after their sale commissions.

Well, coming back to my problem, I found success somewhere else. Another new second hand furniture service called gozefo. These guys buy your funiture and appliaces, refurbish and sell them. They will still offer you less, but before arriving at the final price, they send an agent over to inspect the goods. The technician verifiies the goods are in good condition and then quotes a value. They take away the goods in 24 hours, and sell it refurbished via their online marketplace.

Its a much better service, if you want to talk some more sane buyers.

Media is powerless

 

While growing up, we were taught at school that journalism is one of the most important & powerful career choices open to us. Because it takes an army of truth-reporters to breakdown the days news so that it can be understood by the common man. He who wields the pen, the pen is migthier than sword pen, has more power than the forces. Or so were were told. So it is disheartening to see how journalism and media are losing the war. Politiicians, corrupt or otherwise, are growing in power and are in control of the narrative, and media has no other option but to report as mute spectators.

I first came to notice this about 2 years ago, when assaults against reporters were reported in the Indian media. Any paper critical of the party in power or government, would be served defamation cases. Then the free and fair media were denied permission to report from courts etc. Then it became clear that the people who read thorough researched journalism did not vote,  and those who voted, did not read. Every big decision of the governement was criticized, clinically, by supportive facts and figures. But people failed to take notice. And nothing changed.

Demonitization was critcized, but to no avail.

The ill affects of GST were predicted. But no one cared. And the economy fell anyway.

Communal clashes were widely reported. But what changed ?

Rising crime against women were reported. But the crime only grew.

 

Although I speak of Indian media, it is a similiar story everywhere else. The biggest dumbstruck moment in 2016 was when no US-media could predict a Trump victory. All their prediction models and alaytics failed. In the US, its painful to see virtually every channel and talk show criticizing the administrations actions, yet not being able to keep them in check.

Late night shows in US have to demean themselves by making fun of….the first lady ! . Because they are…helpless ? There are numerous jokes about the first lady trying escape. There are jokes about ties (suit ties, not russian ties), hair and makeup, and food choices (fried chicken) even fat shaming (Chris Christie) and age shaming (Mitch McConell looks like a tortoise) representatives. Yes, they do report the news, but why do they have to bow so low themselves ?

Of course they can get away with these acts because they have absolute freedom of speech. Something we can only dream of here.  Its much worse this side. Journalists are now relegated to tweet reporters, busy reporting what is happening on social media. Everybody on twitter is angry anyway, so they just report their anger. This post go these many retweets…etc etc.

Pathetic.

Now they have started reporting on a new financial law, using which failing banks can take away citizens hard-earned money. Something tells me the law will be passed anyway, with no one having power to oppose it.

Low standards of journalism could be another reason why subscriptions of newspapers have also decreased.

Why pay for nonsense ?

With no power, comes no responsibility …, right ?

 

A point about the 189 visa application

My journey to securing the 189 Australia visa was full of ups and downs. Mostly downs. There are so many things changing about the EOI and the lodgement, and so few of the details are documented, thousands of clueless aspirants are just waiting for things to happen. There are forums, hundreds of forums, where people are just swapping and sharing ‘what they know’. There are so many aspirants who have submitted an EOI (expression of interest) with the basic 60 points. And are waiting, just waiting patiently, for more than one and a half years. I didn’t know people had that kind of patience.

So here is an important point about the application process. The points matter, both for the EOI process, as WELL as for the visa grant application. There are those buffoons who will tell you that the points you score matter only for the EOI. And that once the visa application is submitted, the points dont matter, and things will take time on their own.

As Donald Trump declared , wrong.  Maybe this is not true for all trades in the list, but there is a lot of competition for software engineers . Most of the aspirants are flooding the system with the bare minimum points. No problem there, but you will end up waiting a long time. Some for years.

I submitted my EOI with 80 points, it was accepted the next week for the 189 indepenant visa. Later I submitted my visa application,and visa was granted on the 37th day. Direct grant. Without any correspondence from the case officer. Having a higher score allowed me to cut queues and get there sooner. And no, I did not engage an agent.

If you are serious about getting the visa and moving to Australia permanently, I only have one point to contribute. Try and increase your point score. Don’t be satisfied with the basic 65 points application. Keep on trying to increase your point score. This will result in your EOI getting picked up faster, and you will get your visa sooner. Contrary to popular beliefs, your EOI score matters for the visa grant application.

The way the rules are currently setup, the only part of the application the aspirant can easily control is the English language test. The points for experience will take time, as the aspirant has to actually spend those years gaining experience. The points for age…is ..err..ditto. Same for higher education. But the english language test can be beaten. With some hard work, of course. If you score the minimum of 50+, you will qualify for the minimum 65 points. But score higher, and your overall points can be increased. And chances improved. So do not be satisfied with the minimum. Try and improve your score.

Good luck. See you on the other side.

Australia 189 visa independent migratoin GSM EOI points trick hack tip improve score

COK has a huge International Lounge

 

If you are flying out of Cochin International Airport (COK), be sure to visit its international lounge. Its on the second floor, and almost nobody knows about it. I happened to drop by during my recent trip to Colombo, and it took me by surprise. I was expecting to see one of those crowded and loud lounges usually seen in Bangalore and Chennai, but here the ambience was much more quiet.

Its on the Airside, so after immigration and security, take the elevators up the second floor. The Earth lounge is tucked into one of the corners towards the airstrip side.

 

There is restuarant style seating easily for more thant 120 people, and plush chairs still to spare. There is a play area for kids, and showers are free to use. Indian and Arabic style cuisine was on offer, with plenty of vegetarian options too. And…I think the gentlemen will love this, two alchololic drinks free on every visit. There was also a live counter to server the local favourites, though I had to decline as I was already stuffed.

But immediately struck me was that the place was almost deserted. Less thant 5 visitors where in there , even though there was one international fight taking off every one hour. Mainly to the middle east.I talked to some of the staff and got to know that the place was redone and reopened in April this year, and they have also revamped the lounge in the domestic section of the airport. Missed it !

I should also mention that most international flights are priced cheaper when flown out of Cochin, and that was the reason I chose too. So with lesser charges and smaller crowds, COK seems perfect for family/group travel.