problem of double-double accounting for expense account

[hendrik at topoi.pooq.com]

On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 09:08:20PM +1000, Elizabeth Dodd wrote:
> On Tue, 9 Jun 2009, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
> > Hello. In China we often have this financial difficulty:
> >
> > Invoices are taxed. To enforce this, tax law requires:
> >
> >    1. Seller must use invoices printed by tax office on special paper
> >       and return a copy of issued invoice back to the tax office. It is
> >       illegal to print your own invoice;
> >    2. When purchase you must ask for tax-office-printed invoice too,
> >       only expense covered by such invoices are calculated as expense in
> >       tax office.
> 
> 
> I comprehend your problem.
> People in my country do keep double sets of books, one for the "tax man" and 
> one for themselves. They would never admit to it publically because then the 
> "tax man" would call to see them.
> I presume that you would need to follow the system of having two sets stored 
> in different places, just like people in Australia who do it deliberately to 
> hide stuff from the "tax man".

I just want to make a point that it may be necessary to maintain two 
sets of books even if there's nothing to hide from the tax man.  The 
rules used in the taxman's set of books are prescribed by law.  The 
rules used in your own set of books are determined by your own business 
policies, your own understanding of what makes your business grow.  They 
may have nothing to do with one another.

-- hendrik