Stt

#1
Hi there,

I'm an old hand at trading, but looking to change the way I do my taxes. Briefly, my accountant doesn't inspire confidence on how to deal with these transactions, so I'm looking to do them myself, using tally.

I found a very, very useful thread on Traderji - highly recommend it to anyone in my position http://www.traderji.com/taxation-matters/30837-accounting-entries-taxation-stocks-f-o-thread-settling-these-issues.html

I've followed the advice on there and got a skeleton structure going, but I have two questions for anyone more familiar on taxing matters.

One - how's STT really meant to be treated? My understanding is that it was once a form of advance taxation, but there's no tax benefits that accrue to STT any more. Would that mean that under the current tax code, STT is simply expensed like anything else? Or am I missing something?

Two - using the Mark-to-Market Futures Trading A/c, I arrive at my annual profit. The rule for an audit is the net total of the absolute value of your overall Mark-to-market. Now, does this value need to show up anywhere on the P&L? If so, what entries should I follow?

I'd really appreciate an answer to these if anyone knows. Or if you treat your account differently - chip in with how you treat your Futures & Options transactions.

Cheers.
 
#3
Thanks umesh. Any idea on whether the MTM figure needs to go through the P&L somehow? I'm a confused as to how to disclose overall trading volume, given that it's meant to be total of absolute value of profit/loss.