E-filing for income tax

The closing date for the Income Tax BE form to be returned is closing near (April 30th). The government has launch e-filing recently. This is very easy with few click of the buttons on the website for the BE form to be submitted.
The advantages of submitting the income tax online is because it will save our precious time of going to income tax dept in order to submit that form, and it will not waste the traveling costs such as fuel and parking fees as its more expensive than submitting it online.
But some people claimed that by submitting the income tax online will be risky and dangerous because they said that other people can access their details. This is up to them to protect their details from been seen by people. After the income tax form has been submitted, the person should logout from the screen and clear the browser's cache.

It is a good for all the working adults to be responsible to submit their income tax on time or before the dateline. I notice that Malaysian has the habit of doing things at last minute, this is a trend already since long ago.

For those who has not submitting the income tax form should do so, please go to get your pin number from Income tax dept, or those of you have received the BE form, there is a pin already allocated to you on the cover page. Please use that pin to reset and create a certificate. This is very easy than eating "kacang"...:-)

Barclays to acquire ABN Amro for $91B

ABN Amro to Be Bought by Barclays for $91 Billion; Largest Takeover in Financial Services

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- ABN Amro NV agreed Monday to a 67 billion euros ($91.16 billion) takeover by Barclays PLC and to sell its U.S. assets, holding off a bid by three banks that would have carved up the Netherlands' largest bank.

The proposed chief executive of the new group, Barclays CEO John Varley, called the deal "the largest merger ever in global financial industry," and said it holds out the promise of growth at a rate twice as fast as global gross domestic product.

A combination of the two companies would create one of the world's largest banks by market capitalization.

Barclays offered 36.25 euros ($49.25) for each ABN share, slightly below Friday's closing price. Varley said the deal represented a 33 percent premium from ABN's price when talks began last month.

Though ABN Amro said the Barclays offer is the best one on the table, it refused to rule out alternative bids and said it would welcome a proposal from a consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis NV.

But the consortium canceled a meeting set for Monday afternoon after the Dutch bank announced early Monday that it had reached a deal to sell its U.S. unit LaSalle Bank to Bank of America Corp. for $21 billion in cash -- an unexpected move that seemed to catch the consortium off guard.

"The banks do not consider it appropriate to meet with ABN Amro today," the Scottish bank, which had hoped to acquire ABN's U.S. assets, said in a statement.

In view of the LaSalle sale, the consortium asked ABN to inform it by the end of the day "the circumstances under which this sale can be terminated." The deal for LaSalle included a $200 million termination fee.

ABN Amro spokesman Jochem van de Laarschot said the bank was prepared to listen to the consortium but would make no proposals of its own.

He said the Barclays offer was "the best deal going forward and the best opportunity for growth."

The consortium intended to split up ABN and each would get parts of its operations.

"They still have time to come with an alternative proposal," said Ton Geitman of Petercam Financial Intelligence in Amsterdam. But unless they could block the sale of LaSalle, the partners would have to renegotiate among themselves how to split up the Dutch bank, he said.

Varley said ABN Amro shareholders, who meet this week, faced a stark choice: To either deconstruct ABN by opting for the competing consortium's bid, or to form one of the world's largest banks by accepting Barclays takeover.

ABN Amro shares initially rose Monday but closed down 1.4 percent to 35.77 euros ($48.63). Barclays shares fell 2.3 percent to 733 pence (10.81 euros; $14.67) in London.

For each share, ABN Amro shareholders will be offered 3.225 ordinary shares in the new group, to be called Barclays PLC. The companies said the deal would create a single bank with 47 million customers worldwide.

The new group will be based in Amsterdam -- seen as a negotiating concession to the Dutch -- and Varley said he would base himself in the Dutch capital. But the group said it would remain a British "tax resident."

Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos, who must approve the deal, said the merger "would fit in the consolidation that is expected to take place within the European banking sector."

The group said it expected to see 3.5 billion euros ($4.8 billion) in annual cost savings by 2010. Some 12,800 jobs will be trimmed from the combined work force of 217,000, and 10,800 others would be shifted to cheaper locations, the banks said.

Both banks said they would recommend the deal to their shareholders, with both also due to hold annual shareholder meetings Thursday. The merger is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of this year, the banks said.

ABN Amro had appeared to be entrenching its position as the No. 1 Dutch bank after winning a long takeover fight to acquire Italy's Banca Antonveneta last year.

But the TCI hedge fund, which owns a 2 percent stake in ABN, complained that the bank's shares were underperforming and applied pressure earlier this year to break it up and sell off the parts. TCI said Monday it was studying the proposed deal.

Varley said the combined power of ABN Amro and Barclays would provide a solid platform for expansion.

"This is the start, not the end. We are assembling a group uniquely qualified to compete for business all around the world," he said. He singled out Asia as one area for growth.

Alongside proposed chief executive Varley, Bob Diamond -- head of investment banking at Barclays -- will be president. The new board will initially consist of 10 members from Barclays and nine members from ABN Amro. Arthur Martinez, chairman of ABN Amro's supervisory board, will be nominated as chairman.

Rijkman Groenink, ABN Amro's CEO for the last seven years, would move to a non-executive directorship position.

The deal must be approved by financial regulators, but the banks have been consulting with the regulators during the negotiating process.