GLOSSARY. Tax –money compulsory levied by the state or local authorities on individuals, property, or businesses.

Tax –money compulsory levied by the state or local authorities on individuals, property, or businesses.

Corporation tax – tax imposed on the profits of a company.

Depreciation – a decrease in the value of property, the decline in value of an asset over a period of time.

Accelerated rates of depreciation – the rates in different countries vary, and some have a specially low rate for small companies (or for companies that make small profits, which may not be the same thing). Countries also differ in the way in which they calculate the profits on which the tax is imposed. Adjustments have to be made to the company's profit as calculated by its accountants before arriving at its taxable profit. Governments allow this in order to encourage capital investment.

Value added tax – a simple-to-collect tax imposed on consumption.

Tax inspector – someone who prepares an individual’s (or company’s) tax return.

Exchange rate – a rate to define the value of one currency in terms of another currency.

Spot exchange rate – the rate on the date.

Forward exchange rate – the rate at some specified future date.

Progressive tax – a tax levied at a higher rate on higher incomes.

Regressive tax – a tax with a ratio of taxes to income that reduces as a person's income increases. Poor people therefore pay a larger proportion of their income in taxes then richer people. In an absolute sense, this is a tax in which the rate falls as the taxable base increases, as with early Social Security. In a relative sense, it is a rise in total taxes paid as a percentage of one's income, as with most property and sales taxes.

Laundering money – is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source and destination of the money in question. In the past, the term “laundering money” was applied only to financial transactions related to otherwise criminal activity. Today its definition is often expanded by government regulators to encompass any financial transaction which is not transparent based on law.

Gross national product – is the dollar value of all goods and services produced in a nation’s economy, including goods and services produced abroad; the value of a country’s final output of goods and services in a year. The value of GNP can be calculated by adding up the amount of money spent on a country’s final output of goods and services, or by totaling the income of all citizens of a country including the income from factors of production used abroad.

Excise tax – a tax levied on the manufacture, sale, or consumption of certain (particular) non-essential goods or services, e. g airline tickets, gasoline, alcohol, tobacco, etc. An excise tax is levied on a particular product in contrast to sales and use taxes, which are levied because sales occurred, rather than on the product purchased. A tax on consumption of a particular good.

Sales tax –a levy on a vendor's sale by an authorized level of government. Sales tax is a tax that is to be collected by all retailers and certain service providers when they make taxable retail sales.