If you are considering your career options, you might come across the description of a paralegal. Paralegals work closely with lawyers and justices in their day to day activities. The job of a paralegal can be very rewarding and can offer lots of possibilities.

You might want to click here for more info on how to become a paralegal. If you particularly don’t feel like studying to become a lawyer due to the high requirements set by many universities, know that becoming a paralegal is a lot easier than being a lawyer. You can do it that way: you become a paralegal first, you gain the valuable experience working for a law firm, you become familiar with many aspects of the legal system and eventually you become a lawyer yourself. It is as simple as that.

One of the easiest paths to allow you to become a paralegal is to study in the right type of school. There should be some schools in your area that will enable you to become part of this profession. All you need to do is to find them, enroll in one of their programs, pass the tests successfully, and you are more than ready to start your career as a paralegal.

The job of a paralegal is an interesting one. Not only does it give them the possibility to witness many things first hand, but it is challenging as well as you never know what type of cases you might come across on any given day.

As a paralegal, you will have to do a lot of paperwork, research, and you will have to actively participate in the life of your practice. If this is something you want, you shouldn’t have any problems adjusting to this new routine. In most places, you will be asked about your education as well as experience, so make sure to be ready to present proof that you have both.

Getting charged with a criminal offense can be a very traumatic event. It’s hard to know what steps to take. You need to make sure that you do the right things so that you don’t get a bad outcome for yourself. Here’s what to do.

 

 

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Contact a Criminal Attorney

 

The very first thing that you will need to do is contact a criminal attorney. If you already have one, then they should come to the station where you’ve been charged quickly. And if you don’t have a lawyer, you will have to hire one quickly. Firms like Rogers and Moss deal with criminal cases. When you have an attorney, they will be able to advise you on what you should do next. Everyone who is charged with a crime has the right to see an attorney, so don’t forget that.

 

Read the Prosecution File

 

When you are charged, the police will have to produce a prosecution file. As the person who is getting charged, you are entitled to see this file alongside your lawyer. It’s always a good idea to do this so that you can both know all that you need to know about the charge against you. It’s important to make sure that this is done well in advance of the first court date that you will have to attend. If you don’t, you could be missing out on information that would help you in court.

 

Try to Get Bail

 

You could be kept in remand after being charged or you could be granted bail. Remand is when you are kept in custody until the date of your court hearing. Any time you spend in custody while you wait for your court date will be taken into account when sentencing. Most people will try to get bail though. This is when you are allowed to go home until the date of the hearing. Your attorney will help you get bail, so speak to them about this issue.

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And Don’t Breach Any Bail Conditions

 

If you don’t manage to get bail and return home, you will be given bail conditions. Bail is never unconditional, so it doesn’t mean that you can simply do whatever you want. You will have to agree to attend court when asked, live at a certain address and pay a fee. There might be other conditions that apply to certain types of criminal charge. For example, you might be banned from contacting a certain person while on bail. The police will make all the conditions clear to you.

 

Appear in Court When Summoned

 

When you are charged with a crime, you will be asked to attend a court hearing. There are often two of these. The first one is just a preliminary hearing, and the criminal hearing will come later. But listen to what the court asks of you and then make sure that you comply. If you fail to turn up at court when you’re summoned, you will cause yourself even more problems that you really don’t need.

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All US citizens are required to file a US tax return, whether they are living in the US or living abroad. This applies to individuals who are working jobs located in the US or those who have foreign jobs for a foreign company. However, the US has several exclusions and exemptions that help reduce or eliminate the amount of taxes owed. In addition, there are other requirements such as the FBAR that every American living abroad needs to know.

Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

If you earn under about $100,000 while living abroad then you may qualify for a Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. This amount can reduce your income and therefore reduce the amount of taxes you owe. For those individual who are making less than $100,000 and have no other sources of income, this exclusion may reduce the amount on total income to zero, and therefore the taxpayer will owe no taxes. However, filing a tax return is still required every year.

Foreign Tax Credit

This is a dollar for dollar reduction in taxes owed based on the amount of taxes paid to a foreign country. If an individual pays more taxes to a foreign country than the individual would owe to the US, then the Foreign Tax Credit may help reduce the amount of taxes owed. This credit is most helpful fore individuals living in a high tax country such as the UK, Norway, or Sweden for example. And it may not be helpful for those individuals living in a low tax country such as Saudi Arabia or the Bahamas.

State Taxes

If you are living abroad then you usually do not need to file a state tax return. If however, you own a rental property or a business in any state while you are living abroad, then you likely need to file a state tax return.

FBAR

If you have over $10,000 in aggregate in all your foreign financial accounts, such as bank accounts, securities accounts or pension accounts then you need to file an FBAR. The FBAR is due on June 30th, 2016 and the FBAR is filed with the US Department of Treasury, not the IRS. The Department of Treasury does not give extensions in 2016, however, in upcoming years the Department of Treasury plans to change the filing date and allow for extensions.

Extensions

The Individual tax return, Form 1040, is due every April 15th. However, the IRS gives an extra extension until June 15th, for individuals living outside the country. In addition, there is an automatic extension available until October 15th, for those who file the correct forms before April 15th. All extensions allow more time to file the return, however, if taxes are due, then they must be paid by April 15th or penalties and interest will begin to accrue.

About the Author

Joshua Katz, CPA, is the founder of Universal Tax Professionals, an expat tax and accounting firm dedicated to the needs of Americans living abroad. Feel free to email Josh directly at [email protected].

 

 

It does not matter whether you are saving some portion of your salary in a savings account or not, there are times when things go out of control. For example, medical emergencies are occasions when you have to take out all your savings and if matters are critical, you end up borrowing money from here and there. Even having a pet is enough to cost you thousands of dollars because if something goes wrong with the pet you will either have to lose this loved one or if you get your pet insured, you will have to pay premiums for the insurance.

Among many different methods for obtaining money to meet your urgent and emergency needs, there is one called logbook loan. Logbook loan is probably the easiest of loans to understand. The loan is obtained against the logbook of your vehicle. The logbook gives the proof to the lender of the loan that you are the owner of it. Once you have proved your ownership of the vehicle, these ownership documents are kept by the institution giving you the loan. Against this transaction the loan is forwarded to you in the form of a cheque mostly and cash rarely.

In short, you have given your vehicle to the lender in exchange of money you got as loan. However, that’s not exactly the case with this type of loan. In reality, you will only give the ownership documents of your vehicle and still keep the vehicle. In simple words, you will have the loan amount in your hands and also your vehicle that you will be using just like you did before you obtained the loan. However, if you fail to give the loan back then your vehicle’s ownership that rests with the lender will be used to take the vehicle from you.

This type of loan is often obtained by people who don’t have a good credit score and their vehicle is the only thing against which they can obtain the loan. The loan requires the transfer of ownership of the vehicle to the lender. These lenders can be found on the street or you can use the online method to get this type of loan. The amount that is forwarded to you against your vehicle is mostly the half of what your vehicle is actually worth. However, the interest rates on this type of loan can be quite high so it is best to know them before obtaining the loan.

There are some lenders who will still check your credit and might decline the loan but institutions like ELogbookloan are greatly helping people in making this type of loan easy. For example, they can make their payments earlier without being charged any penalties for doing so. Their weekly installments are very affordable and there are no admin fees involved in the whole transaction. With duration of the loan at 3 years, it is quite easy for borrowers to return the loan at their ease and with very easy weekly installments.