See also
Look up honorarium in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
An honorarium is an ex gratia payment, i.e., a payment made, without the giver recognizing themself as having any liability or legal obligation to the recipient for their volunteered services, or for services for which fees are not traditionally required. It is a common remuneration practice in schools or sports clubs, for teachers and coaches. [1] [2] [3] Another example includes the payment to guest speakers at a conference meeting to cover their travel, accommodation, or preparation time. Services for funerals and/or memorial services are often paid by honorarium, as the clergy and other people such as musicians who commonly have roles at these events, out of care, do not have a set fee for services to grieving families. [4] [5] [6] Likewise, wedding officiants are sometimes paid through honorarium. [7] [8] When required, honorariums may be termed altarages, although an altarage may be paid to a church or parish rather than a person.
An example of this is the payments made by Australian schools to their sporting coaches. [9] They are ostensibly receiving a reimbursement for their costs in their voluntary roles as coaches. The concept of an honorarium has a tax implication. In Australia, recipients of these funds make a tax declaration (known as the hobbyist form) [10] to the tax office and therefore do not have to include this money in their annual tax return.
In Canada, honoraria are considered salary and thus, taxable income under the Income Tax Act. [11] In the case where a gift is substituted for honorarium (gift in lieu of money), it is still classified as a taxable benefit by Canada Revenue Agency. [11]
In cases where an honorarium is paid to an individual who is not a resident of Canada, the honorarium is still subjected to income tax withholding (usually 15%) unless prior approval was obtained from Revenue Canada. [12]
Honoraria are subjected to taxation under HK Laws. Chap 112 Inland Revenue Ordinance and also subjected to the Mandatory Provident Fund, a compulsory saving scheme for retirement. [13] [14]
Under Indonesian National Laws, honorarium recipients are subjected to withholding tax under Income Tax Article 21. [15] [16]
When honorarium is paid to an employee, such as mayors, chairpersons, and local clubs and societies, it is not subject to withholding tax but is subject to income tax. [17] However, if the payment was not made to the above-mentioned category of people, it is subject to withholding tax rate between 33c to 48c. [18]
In Sri Lanka, remuneration received by Government Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) are considered by the President as Honoraria. As such deemed by him to be not subject to PAYE as MPs have honorific before their names as such receive honorariums and not salaries from the State. [19]
Honoraria to employees are subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions under PAYE. [20] [21] However payments are made based on services required and not bound by any contractual arrangements.
The British spy agencies euphemistically call a bribe an "Honorarium" or "King George's cavalry". [22] [23] [24]
An honorarium paid to a U.S. resident for services performed within or outside the U.S. is subject to federal (and in some cases state) income tax. [25]
Members of the United States Congress are prohibited by law from accepting honoraria for things such as speeches or articles. [26]
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them. Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Taxation rates may vary by type or characteristics of the taxpayer and the type of income.
A pay-as-you-earn tax (PAYE), or pay-as-you-go (PAYG) in Australia, is a withholding of taxes on income payments to employees. Amounts withheld are treated as advance payments of income tax due. They are refundable to the extent they exceed tax as determined on tax returns. PAYE may include withholding the employee portion of insurance contributions or similar social benefit taxes. In most countries, they are determined by employers but subject to government review. PAYE is deducted from each paycheck by the employer and must be remitted promptly to the government. Most countries refer to income tax withholding by other terms, including pay-as-you-go tax.
Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees, and are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the employer, but almost all economists agree that the true economic incidence of a payroll tax is unaffected by this distinction, and falls largely or entirely on workers in the form of lower wages. Because payroll taxes fall exclusively on wages and not on returns to financial or physical investments, payroll taxes may contribute to underinvestment in human capital, such as higher education.
A payroll is a list of employees of a company who are entitled to receive compensation as well as other work benefits, as well as the amounts that each should obtain. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time worked or tasks performed, payroll can also refer to a company's records of payments that were previously made to employees, including salaries and wages, bonuses, and withheld taxes, or the company's department that deals with compensation. A company may handle all aspects of the payroll process in-house or can outsource aspects to a payroll processing company.
A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a type of direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities. The tax is usually imposed at the national level, but it may also be imposed at state or local levels in some countries. Corporate taxes may be referred to as income tax or capital tax, depending on the nature of the tax.
A tax refund is a payment to the taxpayer due because the taxpayer has paid more tax than owed.
In the United Kingdom, a tax return is a document that must be filed with HM Revenue & Customs declaring liability for taxation. Different bodies must file different returns with respect to various forms of taxation. The main returns currently in use are:
Taxation in Ireland in 2017 came from Personal Income taxes, and Consumption taxes, being VAT and Excise and Customs duties. Corporation taxes represents most of the balance, but Ireland's Corporate Tax System (CT) is a central part of Ireland's economic model. Ireland summarises its taxation policy using the OECD's Hierarchy of Taxes pyramid, which emphasises high corporate tax rates as the most harmful types of taxes where economic growth is the objective. The balance of Ireland's taxes are Property taxes and Capital taxes.
Tax withholding, also known as tax retention, pay-as-you-earn tax or tax deduction at source, is income tax paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than by the recipient of the income. The tax is thus withheld or deducted from the income due to the recipient. In most jurisdictions, tax withholding applies to employment income. Many jurisdictions also require withholding taxes on payments of interest or dividends. In most jurisdictions, there are additional tax withholding obligations if the recipient of the income is resident in a different jurisdiction, and in those circumstances withholding tax sometimes applies to royalties, rent or even the sale of real estate. Governments use tax withholding as a means to combat tax evasion, and sometimes impose additional tax withholding requirements if the recipient has been delinquent in filing tax returns, or in industries where tax evasion is perceived to be common.
Taxation in Indonesia includes income tax, value added tax and carbon tax.
Superannuation in Australia, or "super", is a savings system for workplace pensions in retirement. It involves money earned by an employee being placed into an investment fund to be made legally available to members upon retirement. Employers make compulsory payments to these funds at a proportion of their employee's wages. From July 2024, the mandatory minimum "guarantee" contribution is 11.5%, rising to 12% from 2025. The superannuation guarantee was introduced by the Hawke government to promote self-funded retirement savings, reducing reliance on a publicly funded pension system. Legislation to support the introduction of the superannuation guarantee was passed by the Keating Government in 1992.
Taxes in New Zealand are collected at a national level by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) on behalf of the New Zealand Government. National taxes are levied on personal and business income, and on the supply of goods and services. Capital gains tax applies in limited situations, such as the sale of some rental properties within 10 years of purchase. Some "gains" such as profits on the sale of patent rights are deemed to be income – income tax does apply to property transactions in certain circumstances, particularly speculation. There are currently no land taxes, but local property taxes (rates) are managed and collected by local authorities. Some goods and services carry a specific tax, referred to as an excise or a duty, such as alcohol excise or gaming duty. These are collected by a range of government agencies such as the New Zealand Customs Service. There is no social security (payroll) tax.
Salaries tax is a type of income tax that is levied in Hong Kong, chargeable on income from any office, employment and pension for a year of assessment arising in or derived from the territory. For purposes of calculating liability, the period of assessment is from April 1 to March 31 of the following year.
Inland Revenue or Inland Revenue Department is the public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the government on tax policy, collecting and disbursing payments for social support programmes, and collecting tax.
Under Article 108 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the taxation system in Hong Kong is independent of, and different from, the taxation system in mainland China. In addition, under Article 106 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, Hong Kong has independent public finance, and no tax revenue is handed over to the Central Government in China. The taxation system in Hong Kong is generally considered to be one of the simplest, most transparent and straightforward systems in the world. Taxes are collected through the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).
The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) is the government agency of Tanzania, charged with the responsibility of managing the assessment, collection and accounting of all central government revenue in Tanzania.
Taxation in Greece is based on the direct and indirect systems. The total tax revenue in 2017 was €47.56 billion from which €20.62 billion came from direct taxes and €26.94 billion from indirect taxes. The total tax revenue represented 39.4% of GDP in 2017. Taxes in Greece are collected by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue.
Taxation may involve payments to a minimum of two different levels of government: central government through SARS or to local government. Prior to 2001 the South African tax system was "source-based", where in income is taxed in the country where it originates. Since January 2001, the tax system was changed to "residence-based" wherein taxpayers residing in South Africa are taxed on their income irrespective of its source. Non residents are only subject to domestic taxes.
Taxation in Estonia consists of state and local taxes. A relatively high proportion of government revenue comes from consumption taxes whilst revenue from capital taxes is one of the lowest in the European Union.
Taxation in Sri Lanka mainly includes excise duties, value added tax, income tax and tariffs. Tax revenue is a primary constituent of the government's fiscal policy. The Government of Sri Lanka imposes taxes mainly of two types in the forms of direct taxes and indirect taxes. As of 2018 CBSL report, taxes are the most important revenue source for the government, contributing 89% of the revenue. The tax revenue to GDP ratio is just about 11.6 percent as of 2018, which is one of the lowest rates among the upper-middle income earning countries. At present, the government of Sri Lanka also face major challenges regarding the continuous budget deficits where government expenditures have exceeded the government tax revenue.
