2021 Goals

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Dustin, Dec 19, 2020.

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  1. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I try to move on but it's still such a disappointment.
    The woman who conducted my interview kept a pokerface and when I asked her what her first impression of the interview was at the end, she said : '' it may be because I get older but my impression is that applicants look younger and younger. You're a spring chicken. That's my first impression. '' Then she continued with : '' I wish you luck in your studies and try to enjoy the holidays despite the current circumstances going on in the world. ''

    That's when I should have known things didn't go according to plan.

    She tested my knowledge about accounting and corporate taxes.

    She asked me : '' If you don't have much information about a company and you need to fill out their tax return, how would you go about that? "
    I replied : '' I would look in the National Belgian Bulletin, because most countries corporations are obligated to publish their statutes in the National Bulletin of their country or an organ that fulfills that function for their country. This information needs to be publicly accessible after all. ''

    Then she asked me what were important considerations when assessing a corporation.

    I replied that the important considerations were the amount of employees, the annual revenues. That these factors would determine whether we deal with a small or a large corporation.

    If we are receiving a dividend, does it matter were the company is located that we get the dividend from, was her next question.

    I replied that it mattered because when that other company is located in a tax haven, we will be subject to the corporate tax in the country with the least favorable tax regime (the receiving country) as a measure to correct the construction that has been set up.
    I added that corporations can easily circumvent this by using a transit country as a middle man, to pay out the dividend.
    For example : Monaco is a tax haven. You could avoid being busted, by paying the money from Monaco to a country that does not sanction tax havens and then from there on pay out to the country that you want to receive the dividend (Belgium in this case). That way it will be much more difficult for the Belgian government to trace back that the dividend was initially paid out by a corporation residing in a tax paradise.

    Then she asked me whether dividends are always subjected to taxes.
    I said that if the corporations are very closely related (90 % investment interest in each other) that the dividend would not be subjected to taxes.

    Then I said that when receiving a dividend it's also important to check the countries that are on the OESO list and that currently only Trinidad and Tobago is still on that list.

    Then she asked me about the corporate tax reforms that have taken place in Belgium and which ones I personally favor most.

    I replied that I found it a good idea that the Belgian government reduced the corporate flat fee tax from 33,99% to 25% because 33,99% is way too high and you want to make your country attractive for corporations to settle in.

    Then I mentioned that the Belgian government has taken actions to reduce the tax deductibility that was applicable on so called '' false hybrid cars ''. Those cars that are claimed to be hybrids but that are actually having a low autonomy and also have a regular motor that is more likely to be used. I said that I was very much in favor of sanctioning those. Until 2020 these were deductible for 120% and now they are sanctioned by no longer being deductible if bought after 2018.

    She asked what department would carry away my preference. I said that the compliance area would carry away my preference because I love to be busy with exact sciences and that that's the reason that I prefer tax and fiscality over other law branches like criminal law and civil law, which are more grey area law branches, while the fiscal law branch is more of an exact science.

    Those were my answers to her questions.
    I apparently must have said something wrong :-(
     
  2. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    Less time on Political Discussions forum :).
    Maybe revisit in 2 or 4 years.
     
  3. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Thanks :)
    That video was actually quite wholesome.
    It's just difficult to be positive when you get this message in the middle of studying for the exams :-(
    My postgraduate study is also in taxes and I just got rejected by one of the big 4, so now it feels pointless that I'm studying taxes :-(
    It kind of feels like I'm too incompetent to ever get hired, despite having quite a few qualifications on my resume already.
    Maybe I'm just unhireable, don't know.
     
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    This is probably not much consolation, but those answers sounded good to me.
     
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  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Yup - me too. I read them very carefully. I think you really know your stuff, Vincent. Somebody who can do something for you is definitely going to see that. Hang in there!

    And as for not feeling like preparing for your exams, don't fall into that trap. I felt that way a few times when I went back to school in my 40s/50s. I used to take a breath and say "Aaah - I'll just learn the crap - whether I like it or not, doesn't matter." When I did - it worked. I never liked financial math - annuities, capital asset pricing, sale-and-leaseback etc. But I liked my marks!
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2020
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  6. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    (cont'd) You KNOW you can do this! :) It's soon over -and your work will pay off. Big time. I have no doubt of that.
     
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  7. Acolyte

    Acolyte Active Member

    I’m sure it was terribly disappointing, but that does NOT mean you did anything “wrong” - there can be several good candidates for any position, and many “right” fits for any job. That one maybe just didn’t go your way. We tend to get caught up in believing that everything is earned, and nothing is by chance or luck or happenstance-or that there is a mystical higher purpose at work, some things are “meant for us” while others are not. Much of this is emotional attachment, and a deep seated need for approval and validation. I think it is natural to seek this out, and we often lose track of exactly when those value systems were ingrained into us- but if we accept that randomness and chaos are also at work, and we can recognize and put aside our emotional responses, sometimes we can learn from these things- set new goals, and pursue a productive way forward. That may not take the initial sting out of a defeat, but it provides a framework for progress- much like our pursuit of formal education. I’d follow up and see if you could get some feedback.
     
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  8. asianphd

    asianphd Active Member

    My personal goals in 2021:
    1. Learning quantum computing up to intermediate level
    2. Publish at least 1 academic paper in reputable Journal
    3. Finish my ENEB degree
    4. Fluency in Spanish or French at least B1 Upper
    For point 1, I am not sure what is the measurement. Will think about it later.
     
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  9. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    She replied with feedback :-(
    She said that I have a dynamic personality and that they liked that but that when I explain something that I have a tendency to talk a lot and that a tax consultant needs to come to the point without too many wording.

    By the way, thanks to all of you for the kind words. It really helped to cheer me up :)
     
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  10. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

  11. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

  12. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Too much wording I meant. Saw a grammar mistake in my initial post haha.
     
  13. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    While you might not have gotten the job, I'd say you have been given some extremely valuable feedback. In due time you might be able to look back on this experience, not as the greatest disappointment in your career, but as the moment that everything started looking up for you.
     
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  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I think you have to know how to exist in several states at the same time. :)

    (I'm trying for Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, myself. Lot of music I like, there!) :)
     
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  15. GregWatts

    GregWatts Active Member

    I would also reflect carefully on the feedback, if you were a "chatter-box" it is one thing but another person may have responded... "Yes, we are preparing an offer. Most tax people we interview are geeky introverts but you have a dynamic personality... the type of person who will be able to sell tax services and make Partner."

    It is random.
     
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  16. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

    ...er... you hit my link, yes? PwC has almost as many controversial issues as *insert name of your local political party*!!
     
  17. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    One more resolution. I will not be posting at DI - at least not in 2021. This is it. Reason: - Let's just say I'm getting better money elsewhere. The pay scale here sucks. So, to steal from Richard Nixon (now there's a novel idea!) "they won't have 'Johann von Biersaufen' to kick around, any more."

    And for Jolly Old Saint Levicoff: I can speak German (albeit very imperfectly) and I take pride in my attempts at the Mamaloshen (i.e. "the Mother Tongue" - Yiddish) as well. I get along with most Germans and I get along with most Jews. Third Reich talk is not my talk - or that of my friends - German or otherwise - so get off it. As I said then, we must all remember it - so it will never happen again. And we do so at appropriate times. Not to bust up Christmas greetings for sport, as you did.

    That's all, folks.
     
  18. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Are you really leaving? :-(
    I will miss you so much :-(
     
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  19. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

    Where is the don't-like-button? :-(
     
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  20. Thorne

    Thorne Active Member

    :(
    Best of luck with your future endeavors, but you will be sorely missed. Your comments, whether intentional or not, tend to make me laugh and brighten my day whenever I read them. Good snark is in short supply these days!
     

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