Speaker 1: You're listening to AC N A podcast.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to your favorite financial podcast, Money Talks. This
Speaker 2: is Andrea Heng and I'm about to take you through
Speaker 2: yet another episode to help you be smarter with your money.
Speaker 2: I've been adulting for some time now. You know, moving
Speaker 2: from single to married and boy have my financial priorities
Speaker 2: and movements changed. If you're still a swinging single, you
Speaker 2: can go listen to the episode that we had with
Speaker 2: tiktok Sensations. The wee blinks, they actually gave some pretty
Speaker 2: nifty tricks on how to spend and save wisely as
Speaker 2: a single.
Speaker 2: If you're in a relationship or you're married. There's a
Speaker 2: special series as well by my colleague Elizabeth Neo. Check out,
Speaker 2: am I adulting? Right? It sits exclusively in the Money
Speaker 2: Talk Stable and there are some great real life experiences
Speaker 2: and examples there. So, you know, you're not alone in
Speaker 2: your financial journey. We will never leave you alone.
Speaker 2: Now, today's episode doesn't discriminate, it affects everyone because we
Speaker 2: all have to pay our taxes. Now, I know tax
Speaker 2: season isn't for another few months, but as we collect
Speaker 2: our year end bonuses, we cash out our gains for
Speaker 2: the year. It's as good a time as any to
Speaker 2: calculate how much we should put aside. Ok.
Speaker 2: It never hurts to be a bit Kia. So here
Speaker 2: and plan ahead and know how much you can actually
Speaker 2: save on taxes. Yep. That's right. You can save on taxes.
Speaker 2: It's something that I'm only just learning about and I'm
Speaker 2: getting the help of one man who managed to get
Speaker 2: thousands of dollars in tax deductions. Talk about the ultimate
Speaker 2: life tag, right? Let's wait no longer and get him
Speaker 2: to talk to us. His name is Josh Tan,
Speaker 2: better known as the astute parent on youtube. He's also
Speaker 2: a financial advisor. Welcome to Money Talks. Josh, thank you.
Speaker 2: It's great to be here. It's great to have you.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you carved out the time to talk
Speaker 2: to us about this. So I saw your video on
Speaker 2: youtube on how you managed to get tax deductions to
Speaker 2: the tune of $90,000. No offense. But please tell me
Speaker 2: this is a Clickbait. Is it really possible?
Speaker 2: You know, the only thing that's a certainty is death
Speaker 2: and taxes, right? So we should always start off on
Speaker 2: the ground because as you earn more, you naturally see
Speaker 2: a bigger and bigger tax bill.
Speaker 2: So this whole concept of getting more reliefs, getting more
Speaker 2: deductions away from your tax view will definitely impact your
Speaker 2: wallet at the on the day. So 90,000 of course,
Speaker 2: comes with certain donations and hopefully everyone listening in is
Speaker 2: inspired to donate a bit more, but there's actually a
Speaker 2: relief cap that maybe we will touch on in a
Speaker 2: quick while. We will indeed.
Speaker 2: Ok. So on average, how much time do you actually
Speaker 2: spend every single year? Right. Working out all these taxes,
Speaker 2: the reliefs that you can claim that you're eligible for.
Speaker 2: More importantly, how much time do you spend sitting there
Speaker 2: connecting all the dots? I think for someone who
Speaker 2: hasn't looked at taxes too much, usually it's too busy.
Speaker 2: They are employee is going to do it. Partner is
Speaker 2: going to do it right. Someone's going to do it
Speaker 2: for me. Yeah. So that's one of equation. So I
Speaker 2: don't always look at my tax bill, but end of
Speaker 2: the year, I think this is a fantastic time to
Speaker 2: bring it up because everything that you like to
Speaker 2: clock for your relief, you have to do it by
Speaker 2: 31st of December. So the IRS knows it's within this
Speaker 2: financial year. See, it's very important this timing. So you
Speaker 2: don't actually sit down on like, ok, maybe not on
Speaker 2: 31st December, but maybe in November sometime you start sitting
Speaker 2: down
Speaker 2: and you look, do you really sit down and like
Speaker 2: at the table with all your receipts, all your donations made,
Speaker 2: everything that you're eligible for is ok. I'm eligible for
Speaker 2: that and that, do you actually sit down and do
Speaker 2: that or actually for myself? I work with clients. And
Speaker 2: what I do is I schedule calls back to them
Speaker 2: in November and in December, some of them may be
Speaker 2: traveling December. I'll give a call to them in November,
Speaker 2: vice versa. So year end is a period last quarter already.
Speaker 2: So this is time to dig up everything. Have you
Speaker 2: made contributions?
Speaker 2: Are there still gaps that you can fill in to
Speaker 2: get more reliefs? Because any other day, like what I mentioned,
Speaker 2: you're going to save on money and that is a
Speaker 2: definite plus. Yeah, indeed. Ok. So talk to us about
Speaker 2: the in a very basic way, the concept of tax claims.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's things like deductions, there's reliefs, there's rebates,
Speaker 2: help us sort of filter all of that and tell
Speaker 2: us what tax claims really are. That's a good question.
Speaker 2: What many have assumed is that the employer will be
Speaker 2: in charge of filing all these reliefs maybe for someone
Speaker 2: who is the first year in workforce, they've heard of stories,
Speaker 2: employers going to file it, but employer is only in
Speaker 2: charge of sending in what you've actually earned, right? So
Speaker 2: on your own, you have to add in other forms
Speaker 2: of relief that you are actually qualifying for. So on
Speaker 2: that front, how I usually suggest is there are some
Speaker 2: things that are automatically given.
Speaker 2: For example, if you contribute the SRS account, which is
Speaker 2: supplementary scheme that itself will be automatically sent in by
Speaker 2: the bank, right? If you contribute the CPF we do
Speaker 2: top ups. They are eligible. They will automatically be contributed,
Speaker 2: submitted by CPF. But there are other parts that you
Speaker 2: can put in like cost fees. They are eligible course fee. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there are certain things that they are within it cost fees,
Speaker 2: parent relief, parent relief. I've heard of. Yes. Ok. Those
Speaker 2: are things that
Speaker 2: sometimes if you don't pay attention, you are actually missing
Speaker 2: out on. I give you an example. Sure. I've actually
Speaker 2: seen before a recent case on actually grandparent relief. Also
Speaker 2: there's also grand grandparent relief. So what I question that
Speaker 2: person say, why are you claiming this is there
Speaker 2: because she's actually reached that relief cap ready, right? And
Speaker 2: maybe let's share it is 80,000 relief cap. Sure. And
Speaker 2: we'll get to high 90,000. Sure. Yes, please. So for
Speaker 2: this case, I was asking her, isn't this grandparents relief
Speaker 2: wasted if it was fault in your case, because some
Speaker 2: other grandchild would be eligible to claim it, right?
Speaker 2: So in that instance, understanding whether you have reached a
Speaker 2: cap or passing that really to someone else, if you
Speaker 2: have a sibling or there's earning way more than you,
Speaker 2: maybe as a family, you're better off passing away that
Speaker 2: parents lie to them, right? So these are decisions that
Speaker 2: if you look through and you are willing to cooper
Speaker 2: with your family, see how you can optimize it as
Speaker 2: a family. Why there are actually steps that you can
Speaker 2: change and optimize. That's really interesting. I didn't think of
Speaker 2: it that way because you don't realize there's a cap
Speaker 2: to things which we'll get into a little later in
Speaker 2: the conversation. So, as you said, right. Rightfully. So you're
Speaker 2: a salaried employee, your income tax is what typically
Speaker 2: gets automatically computed for you. As you said, you have
Speaker 2: to sort of figure out manually what else you are
Speaker 2: eligible for. So, how do you go about filing these
Speaker 2: manual claims and for relief? Just to be a back story. Sure,
Speaker 2: I studied accounting. Ok. Most of my friends went to
Speaker 2: audit someone to Texas, look at where you are,
Speaker 2: you're still talking about money. So I went to the sales,
Speaker 2: I went to self employed and in self employed, we
Speaker 2: have to file our net profit. So it's slightly different, right?
Speaker 2: Whereas if you are salaried automatically, what you've earned is
Speaker 2: fully calculated. So for self employed, which includes hawkers, taxi drivers,
Speaker 2: you name it, the filing of the net profit still
Speaker 2: needs to be imputed, right manually. So there are expenses
Speaker 2: that are eligible, right? That is a big topic.
Speaker 2: Yes. If we go into that space, it is going
Speaker 2: to take a while, but always look to go with
Speaker 2: the framework. What is claimable and deduct the way to
Speaker 2: file your actual net profit? Then from there, you would
Speaker 2: see your deductibles coming in to reduce that chargeable income,
Speaker 2: which is ultimately what you're gonna be paying for in
Speaker 2: the percentage based on the
Speaker 2: tax bracket. So when you file for all these claims,
Speaker 2: salaried or self employed and you're on the IRS website,
Speaker 2: for example. Right. Are there certain sort of requirements or
Speaker 2: preconditions prerequisites that you have to meet in order to
Speaker 2: make these claims? I think it's stipulated over there, what
Speaker 2: is eligible and what's not? Right.
Speaker 2: So as always, not sure. Give them a call, I
Speaker 2: think they've clarified it pretty well. They've given, given examples
Speaker 2: on what are certain business expenses that are claimable. So
Speaker 2: I guess the equation is very wide.
Speaker 2: Let's look at each example. And if not just as
Speaker 2: we check with Iras, what is eligible on that note,
Speaker 2: I just want to bring up here that there is
Speaker 2: a very good web page. It's actually a pretty cool
Speaker 2: infographic style web page on Iris. It's triple W dot
Speaker 2: Irs dot gov dot SG slash taxes. You'll see a
Speaker 2: section on individual income tax and there's a whole bunch
Speaker 2: of different types of rebates really
Speaker 2: and deductions that you can make. Speaking of which, hey, Josh,
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you, would you be able to
Speaker 2: explain to us the difference between a deduction, a relief
Speaker 2: and a rebate? A rebate is an amount that nets
Speaker 2: off from your final bill? Ok. So for example, if
Speaker 2: your tax bill is $10,000 and you have a kid,
Speaker 2: there's actually a kid rebate, a child rebate. So for parents, yes,
Speaker 2: that is an amount
Speaker 2: you can use to net off that 10,000 tax bill, right?
Speaker 2: So government is actually giving us money, money or having Children,
Speaker 2: correct in certain and between the parents to split, to
Speaker 2: use that amount and the other thing to note. So
Speaker 2: this amount there's no expiry, you can claim it over
Speaker 2: multiple years. So don't rush. So always be aware that
Speaker 2: this rebate nets off the final bill. Sure. So the
Speaker 2: deductible portion is your total
Speaker 2: income. Yes, we all these deductibles and then that's your
Speaker 2: chargeable income, right? And that's the, that net income is
Speaker 2: what gets charged for income tax. Yes. Correct. There's a
Speaker 2: chargeable income. Ok. So our attempts that relieves and deductibles,
Speaker 2: they are actually the same side of the coin, right?
Speaker 2: Is to reduce this chargeable income. Got it to a
Speaker 2: lower bracket because if you see the tax bracket, it
Speaker 2: jumps once you pass 100 180,000,
Speaker 2: as you earn more, you naturally see your tax bill go. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 2: my dear. I'm just suddenly remembering my dad's annual salary
Speaker 2: and the number of years he had been taking care
Speaker 2: of my late grandfather. I don't think he knew that
Speaker 2: there was a parent care, sort of tax relief that
Speaker 2: he could have used to reduce his net chargeable income.
Speaker 2: And on that point, parents staying with you and parents,
Speaker 2: staying away, it's also a different limit. All right. Ok.
Speaker 2: So that is where you need to impute manually. Right?
Speaker 2: So parents staying with you, you'll see the amount is
Speaker 2: higher and if the parents handicap, my own father is
Speaker 2: handicapped patient. So there's also different here. Ok. So, so
Speaker 2: it's follow the amounts because that amount have actually increased
Speaker 2: along the years. And what we mentioned over here you
Speaker 2: might change next year.
Speaker 2: But do is check and the other thing is the
Speaker 2: parents to get that relief, they must not be earning
Speaker 2: active income, right? So if they're earning more than 4000
Speaker 2: a year, then there's not eligible? Sure. Ok. And is
Speaker 2: there any documentation we have to provide in order to
Speaker 2: make sure that we are eligible for this and all
Speaker 2: the other claims? Actually, no need. I haven't seen Iras
Speaker 2: requiring a proof yet on that. So there's no need
Speaker 2: to worry about proving that portion. We just declare it
Speaker 2: a very interesting. Yeah, and that's great because I know
Speaker 2: in the US tax season is a nightmare for my
Speaker 2: American friends because they have to find receipts from like
Speaker 2: an entire year's worth of expenditure. I really,
Speaker 2: that scares me to no end. So I'm glad that
Speaker 2: we don't have to do that. Ok. So there are
Speaker 2: just too many, so many tax reliefs available out there.
Speaker 2: What are some of the key ones that you feel Josh,
Speaker 2: that the average Singaporean should pay attention to? I'm a
Speaker 2: big advocate of SRS supplementary retirement scheme.
Speaker 2: I like it because it's flexible in terms of every
Speaker 2: year you have this limit 15,000 tree. Just keep that
Speaker 2: back of mind.
Speaker 2: And if you want to up your total tax deductibles
Speaker 2: contributing to that space is somewhere you can explore. And
Speaker 2: the good part about it is just in case you
Speaker 2: need back that money, you can actually take it out,
Speaker 2: of course, with penalties. Right. Right. And because you're essentially
Speaker 2: drawing down from your retirement fund, it's meant for retirement, right?
Speaker 2: So the penalties to dissuade you from doing so. So
Speaker 2: in a nutshell, it's a 5% penalty and it adds
Speaker 2: to your annual income for that year,
Speaker 2: but it's still accessible versus contributing to CPF. Right. And
Speaker 2: just I mentioned I'm self employed. So cash, cash is
Speaker 2: king and allocating it to where it can be flexible
Speaker 2: is also a priority. You need something that's liquid. Yes.
Speaker 2: So that's why I've actually contributed
Speaker 2: to my S RS at a very early age. Right now.
Speaker 2: I've actually did a recent sum of it is about
Speaker 2: 260,000 build up over the years and you can guess
Speaker 2: it's compounded year on year, over like 10 years. You
Speaker 2: are the envy of so many right now, I'm sure.
Speaker 2: But this is all for retirement money. You can't spend
Speaker 2: it off, but hopefully it to build a secure future
Speaker 2: for family. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Ok. So I'm going to bring back that course fees. One.
Speaker 2: Tell me about that one
Speaker 2: that I actually didn't tap on myself because I actually
Speaker 2: reached that limit. So, what is the cost fees? Is
Speaker 2: it a rebate or relief or there is a relief relief?
Speaker 2: There are certain causes that are quali, oh, so I've
Speaker 2: seen that in private clients statements, right? And I think
Speaker 2: it's not too difficult to claim, right? So you just
Speaker 2: need to see what kinds of courses are eligible.
Speaker 2: Ok. Ok. So if you're looking to eke out and
Speaker 2: you're looking to upgrade at the same time, don't take
Speaker 2: causes just for relief because you're still spending money. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2: I was just going to say it's not a free
Speaker 2: pass for you to spend more money, right. Ok. What
Speaker 2: about the kinds of reliefs and claims that Singaporeans are
Speaker 2: not necessarily aware of good question brings me to a
Speaker 2: case which I did recently. So couple, I have two kids. Ok.
Speaker 2: And what I usually observe is like if both are
Speaker 2: high income earners
Speaker 2: usually first kid or maybe daddy takes second kid, maybe
Speaker 2: mommy takes and over the years, they didn't actually realize
Speaker 2: that in 2018, there's this relief cap of 80,000 which
Speaker 2: we have been hinting throughout our episode. Ok. So what
Speaker 2: happens is mommy actually has hit that relief cap and
Speaker 2: that child's relief is actually wasted. Each child is 4000
Speaker 2: relief wasted because that whole change in total tax relief.
Speaker 2: $80
Speaker 2: really impacted working moms. Of course, that is the most
Speaker 2: powerful tax relief. I know it is like 15% for
Speaker 2: 1st 2nd kid, 20% 3rd kid is 25% also have
Speaker 2: more kids, then you get more tax relief. So what
Speaker 2: happened was previously some high income moms with 34 kids
Speaker 2: who pin next to nothing in those of taxes. So
Speaker 2: I guess they were the groups that were the most impacted, right?
Speaker 2: And what happens is when you get busy, you have kids,
Speaker 2: you don't see your tax bill. You assume status quo
Speaker 2: is fine and didn't realize this 4000 can be transferred
Speaker 2: to hubby. Yeah. So if mommy is wasting that relief
Speaker 2: because if you got 100,000 of total relief is only
Speaker 2: going to be 80,000, right? So you should give away
Speaker 2: your grandparent leave. You should give her your parents, you
Speaker 2: should give your child waste it. It's there for you
Speaker 2: to take. Exactly. Wow. So give us a call,
Speaker 2: change the name. I think you can do it online also.
Speaker 2: I'm not too sure. The steps. Right. I'm sure they'll
Speaker 2: make it easy for you to do it. I realized
Speaker 2: those parents have neglected optimizing such things. And if you're
Speaker 2: on a high tax bracket you r 4000 times a percentage,
Speaker 2: a lot, you know, it, it adds up to a
Speaker 2: scary number.
Speaker 2: Ok. And there was this grandparent relief that you talked
Speaker 2: about also that I found interesting.
Speaker 2: I did some digging of my own and I found
Speaker 2: that there was something called a helpers relief. Talk to
Speaker 2: us about that one. I think I don't have a
Speaker 2: helper to start with. Ok. I think that is automatically
Speaker 2: imputed if I'm not wrong because once you hire a helper,
Speaker 2: it goes through the system. That's true. Everything is all
Speaker 2: because it's legalized. Everything is run through the same system,
Speaker 2: the same way pass gives us access to everything, right?
Speaker 2: So that comes in, right?
Speaker 2: Ok. There's also for those interested, there's also a qualifying
Speaker 2: child relief or handicapped child relief. So it's pretty inclusive
Speaker 2: ns men, wife relief. Who knew that having your husband
Speaker 2: having been an NS man before benefits you as the wife. Right. Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So for this, if I know it's also auto imputed
Speaker 2: for guys I've seen in my wife's statement also, I
Speaker 2: don't know,
Speaker 2: I found this super long ago I've done with my
Speaker 2: national service, but every year we do see it once. Ok.
Speaker 2: So let's get back to that CPF topic. Ok. And
Speaker 2: I know you did say that you have a preference
Speaker 2: to top up your sr topping up your CPF. But
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean that there isn't a tax relief that
Speaker 2: comes out of it when you do top up your CPF.
Speaker 2: And I actually know that people don't know about this,
Speaker 2: that topping up your CPF, you can actually sort of
Speaker 2: claim it back in a way, right?
Speaker 2: So we've had a number of guests on money talks,
Speaker 2: mentioned this. So talk to us about CPF Relief, how
Speaker 2: it works and how it works in tax gains. Basically,
Speaker 2: maybe let's start with CPF Relief because that's different from
Speaker 2: retirement sum up, correct. So CPF Relief, you have to
Speaker 2: understand there are two segments. One is if you are employed,
Speaker 2: which is fed by company, yes, you see there's a
Speaker 2: cap on the amount that you contribute yourself, right? That
Speaker 2: cap is 20,400 on the self employed front. That's where
Speaker 2: you have
Speaker 2: the full voluntary contribution that you can claim. So don't
Speaker 2: confuse the two segments. If for most of us listening in,
Speaker 2: I guess you're not employed segment. So that is automatically
Speaker 2: filled up to 20,400. We have a high income that's Right.
Speaker 2: That brings us to the next topic of some topping up,
Speaker 2: you know, recently there's this change
Speaker 2: that allows you to get relief if you contribute to
Speaker 2: either the special account or the Medisafe account. Right. So
Speaker 2: either or so, you know, high income friends who are
Speaker 2: in their forties, usually they have their full amounts in
Speaker 2: their special account. They can't top up to that front.
Speaker 2: But little did they know this change allows them to
Speaker 2: pump in money to Medisafe and still get tax relief? Oh, wow. Ok,
Speaker 2: Medisafe is used all that. You know, you have the
Speaker 2: one that moves. Right. Exactly. So baby born
Speaker 2: deductions mom goes to hospital. Anytime that falls below, there's
Speaker 2: a term for basic health care sum. Anytime it falls below,
Speaker 2: that's your opportunity to top it up to top it
Speaker 2: up with cash. Of course, make sure that you're ok
Speaker 2: with that cash flow. You don't need it because money
Speaker 2: send in. You're not gonna see for a while. But
Speaker 2: the idea is if you have spare cash, you like
Speaker 2: that 4% interest from Medisave and a lot of people do. Yes.
Speaker 2: Might as well. You pump it in, you get your
Speaker 2: tax relief, you get your 4% compounding
Speaker 2: and that money will be there for you when you
Speaker 2: need it for medical needs. There you go see. It's
Speaker 2: a win win situation. Ok. So we've covered CPF we've
Speaker 2: covered the SRS and we've covered the different types of
Speaker 2: rebates and reliefs and deductions out there now enters the
Speaker 2: big shadow of doubt. Are there any limits or caveats
Speaker 2: including eligibility, which we kind of mentioned a little bit earlier?
Speaker 2: Any limits of caveats restrictions? Perhaps we should keep in
Speaker 2: mind when claiming all these tax reliefs, I think the
Speaker 2: restrictions will be based on each individual relief. Like what
Speaker 2: we mentioned parents relief, there's a 4000 income limit. So
Speaker 2: do check on each individual and read the terms and conditions.
Speaker 2: But in total, that total relief is $80,000.
Speaker 2: So you see your CPF contributing to your SRS relief
Speaker 2: and as men relief, etcetera, I mean, children's relief. And
Speaker 2: once you hit that 80,000 us, you can't get more
Speaker 2: deductions how to reduce the tax bill further. So I've
Speaker 2: actually shared on my channel that I've actually made a
Speaker 2: pledge to a Bursary in my alma mater. And so
Speaker 2: I'm committed to donating an amount. Yes. And as you
Speaker 2: can see, government actually gives that incentive, which is a
Speaker 2: 2.5 times why you donated?
Speaker 2: That's a lot. Correct. Yeah, so 90,000, if you work backwards,
Speaker 2: that means that donation to me is $4000 4000 times,
Speaker 2: 2.5 gets you that 10,000. So that is how I
Speaker 2: actually did my 90,000 total. Ok. So donating it, it's
Speaker 2: not just for giving back to society and I think
Speaker 2: I can
Speaker 2: elaborate a bit more on what it does for an individual.
Speaker 2: Please do. Yes. So I've in that process, help to
Speaker 2: needy students in NTU. Wonderful, met them through Zoom just
Speaker 2: to hear beyond their story. And hopefully my little bit
Speaker 2: of help can bring them to a better place. That
Speaker 2: is fantastic. That's such
Speaker 2: great story, Josh. And I also realize in that process,
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of times we buy expensive stuff
Speaker 2: to make ourselves feel good and sometimes we don't need it.
Speaker 2: Most times we don't need and maybe they're feeling good
Speaker 2: is just very momentarily instant gratification. I realized that you donating,
Speaker 2: you actually
Speaker 2: tell yourself this very important message that you have enough.
Speaker 2: You prove to yourself, of course, you've given it away.
Speaker 2: It's a mindset and you're not only giving it away,
Speaker 2: you're making a difference. The ultimate reward is the fact
Speaker 2: that you make a difference in someone else's life, a
Speaker 2: positive difference. Yes. So wins on three fronts, you get,
Speaker 2: you help someone and more importantly, you told yourself that
Speaker 2: you're ok financially. If not, you wouldn't have pressed that button,
Speaker 2: send in that check to make that payment, which you
Speaker 2: will never see again. So I through this discussion, urge
Speaker 2: everybody to think a bit deeper on donating. I think
Speaker 2: that's something that
Speaker 2: is under mentioned. We can all do a bit more.
Speaker 2: We always hear about philanthropist donating big amounts, but actually
Speaker 2: everybody can tap on this. I was just about to
Speaker 2: say every little bit counts. Ok. My final question to you, Josh,
Speaker 2: I guess as a parting shot, why should we take
Speaker 2: the time just like you do every single year to
Speaker 2: commit to tax relief claims? What is the biggest benefit
Speaker 2: of all money aside?
Speaker 2: I guess the best outcome from looking at tax bills
Speaker 2: is you bring yourself back to be more aware of
Speaker 2: your finances. Tax bills are just an output of your income,
Speaker 2: of your expenditure of where money have gone to or
Speaker 2: who you have relieved as entitled belonging to you. So
Speaker 2: I guess it's still an exercise to see your entire
Speaker 2: budgets to be in touch with your own financial
Speaker 2: goals. So tax is just an outcome. But see this
Speaker 2: exercise to really look at your own financial situation where
Speaker 2: you stand sometimes, you know, peace of mind is just
Speaker 2: knowing that after I've done my taxes, this is my budget.
Speaker 2: How much am I going to allocate to next year's taxes?
Speaker 2: It's a nice financial health review in a way. Right. Yes.
Speaker 2: Rather than seeing a shock that comes along and you
Speaker 2: are not prepared for it. Plan ahead for next year.
Speaker 2: You would find that this whole
Speaker 2: tidying up would help you a lot in your mental space. Yes,
Speaker 2: that is fantastic advice. Freeing up that mental space is
Speaker 2: a way to give you a clean clear head start
Speaker 2: to the following year. Yes, here's to a fantastic 2024 Josh.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Same to you.
Speaker 2: Alright listener. You've been just served a silver platter of
Speaker 2: tax hack here on money talks. Be sure you bookmark
Speaker 2: this episode for tax season, but don't wait till the
Speaker 2: 31st of December, right? As Josh says, try and plan
Speaker 2: it a little bit ahead. No,
Speaker 2: remember is a good time. So you know, you can
Speaker 2: spend your final month of the year free and easy
Speaker 2: in your celebratory mood. Christmas and New Year and then
Speaker 2: you have a clean slate for 2024. Thanks so much
Speaker 2: Josh for taking the time to spell it all out
Speaker 2: for us.
Speaker 2: And thank you to you, our listener. Did you enjoy
Speaker 2: this episode of Money Talks? We have always got more
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Speaker 2: Tell us what you think of this episode or even
Speaker 2: others that you've listened to better yet
Speaker 2: suggest some topics you'd like us to cover. I will
Speaker 2: be looking forward to those ideas. The team behind Money
Speaker 2: Talks is Jacqueline Chan, Joanne Chan Tiffany, Ang, Christina Robert,
Speaker 2: Sa Wint Jesselyn Tan and I'm Andrea Heng, be the
Speaker 2: master of your money.