Javed Miandad has always been a pain in the rear for India. Both on and off the cricket field. And now he is getting his son, Junaid, married to the Mahrukh, daughter of Dawood Ibrahim--the most wanted criminal in India, on 23rd of July at Dubai. He seems to be one of those Pakis who loves to hate India for all the wrong reasons and do stuff to antagonise India. The former cricketer is the son-in-law of a leading business family of Pakistan in whose businesses Dawood is believed to have invested heavily; besides ever since Dawood got involved in match-fixing over a decade ago, many Pakistan cricket players were on his rolls. Miandad, in particular, was considered close to him (http://www.rantburg.com/popThug.php?ID=11527&T=Dawood%20Ibrahim).
True unholy nexus.
Invitations for the ceremony has been sent to former Indian cricket captains Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar, and to Asian Cricket Council chief Jagmohan Dalmiya as well as veteran film star Dilip Kumar and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. Hope none of them attend this wedding as the security watch dogs are hawkish.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Taxes and more Taxes!!!
Sometime it's really bewildering to find out how much of your money is sucked by the federal government as part of your taxes. Its so full of inconsistencies for H1Bholders like myself.
Your residency status for tax purposes is completely unaligned from your immigration status. You might qualify as a resident for tax purposes while remaining a non-immigrant alien for immigration purposes. And you end up paying all the taxes of a resident without enjoying any privileges of being one.
A non-resident files a special tax form, pays tax only on U.S. source income, and subject to special rates;conversely, if you are a resident for U.S. tax purposes, you are under the same rules and file the same forms as a U.S. citizen. That means you pay tax on your worldwide income rather than just U.S. source income. More fun is with the Social Security tax.
SS tax cannot be refunded, you can only claim SS benefits if you qualify. Basic qualification is reaching retirement age AND having contributed to SS taxes for 10 years. So a H1Bholder with an ambition of returning back to work in India will have no chances of ever getting back all these SS taxes; they will be enjoyed by the american baby boomers!!!! In today's scenario, the H1B worker gets the same SS benefits as an American worker who stops working in the US before 10 years, which is zero! Isn't that interesting?
Your residency status for tax purposes is completely unaligned from your immigration status. You might qualify as a resident for tax purposes while remaining a non-immigrant alien for immigration purposes. And you end up paying all the taxes of a resident without enjoying any privileges of being one.
A non-resident files a special tax form, pays tax only on U.S. source income, and subject to special rates;conversely, if you are a resident for U.S. tax purposes, you are under the same rules and file the same forms as a U.S. citizen. That means you pay tax on your worldwide income rather than just U.S. source income. More fun is with the Social Security tax.
SS tax cannot be refunded, you can only claim SS benefits if you qualify. Basic qualification is reaching retirement age AND having contributed to SS taxes for 10 years. So a H1Bholder with an ambition of returning back to work in India will have no chances of ever getting back all these SS taxes; they will be enjoyed by the american baby boomers!!!! In today's scenario, the H1B worker gets the same SS benefits as an American worker who stops working in the US before 10 years, which is zero! Isn't that interesting?
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Take me where I belong
How do you know that you have not been online for a long time just for plain surfing? When you forget your blog id's password. And when your IE address bar cache looses the blogspot address. Or may be both. Or may be lack of any comments on my writings took away the incentives from me for writing anything meaningful about my life. Anyway, the long hibernation from writing what-i-like has been very well spent doing other 'meaningful' things.
Most of the time was invested in establishing the credentials at job (client site) however also managed some time for doing many first time stuff in USA, like attending an american (read catholic) wedding, smooches in the back seat of my car (accidental), go-karting (Hot Springs), camping by a creek and kayaking (Camp Tilden). All of them were fun to a certain moment of time before they become boresome. In normal american weddings, they keep you really underfed (compared to a full blown indian wedding). Lack of space at the back seat can be frustrating sometimes. Go-Karting is good if you can go on forever and have your own race tracks..where you dont have to pay for. Camping is marvellous still you have to pack it up all and clear up the space. Kayaking is good till you get tired of being grounded in shallow water and sunburned.
Dont think me of a damned cynic. Its just that all good things must come to an end. Why?! Dont know. They just end. All types of flights (paperplanes, airplanes, birds, bees, kites etc) ultimately end on ground. Iam on ground now. Just a way of thinking may be. Ciao.
Most of the time was invested in establishing the credentials at job (client site) however also managed some time for doing many first time stuff in USA, like attending an american (read catholic) wedding, smooches in the back seat of my car (accidental), go-karting (Hot Springs), camping by a creek and kayaking (Camp Tilden). All of them were fun to a certain moment of time before they become boresome. In normal american weddings, they keep you really underfed (compared to a full blown indian wedding). Lack of space at the back seat can be frustrating sometimes. Go-Karting is good if you can go on forever and have your own race tracks..where you dont have to pay for. Camping is marvellous still you have to pack it up all and clear up the space. Kayaking is good till you get tired of being grounded in shallow water and sunburned.
Dont think me of a damned cynic. Its just that all good things must come to an end. Why?! Dont know. They just end. All types of flights (paperplanes, airplanes, birds, bees, kites etc) ultimately end on ground. Iam on ground now. Just a way of thinking may be. Ciao.
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