Random Thread

[Torco]

OK, technically I did two different taxes - income and turnover - but they're handled by the same agency, and I did them through the same online interface, so it wasn't that different from doing one tax.

Turnover? So you have a business?

I have a hobby that German tax law classifies as a business, because it involves (very small amounts of) money. I've self-published a book of short essays, and, so far, got paid the princely sum of 22 Euros and 5 cents for it. And since there's apparently no legal minimum for turnover tax...

mein gott...

[hwhatting]

And since there's apparently no legal minimum for turnover tax...

I didn't know that.... that's crazy.
For those who wonder what a turnover tax is, in Germany Mehrwertsteuer (VAT) is also known as Umsatzsteuer (Turnover tax).

[Raphael]

How does the academic year work in Southern Hemisphere countries? Does it run from the middle of the calendar year to the middle of the next calendar year, like in those few Northern Hemisphere countries about which I know something, or does it work differently?

[malloc]

Apparently horse breeders in the UK once banned American horses over concerns that they weren't purebred. I can't help but imagine a stuffy Englishman intoning "I hear these American horses have got a little zehbra in them."

[keenir]

Apparently horse breeders in the UK once banned American horses over concerns that they weren't purebred. I can't help but imagine a stuffy Englishman intoning "I hear these American horses have got a little zehbra in them."

worse: Quarter Horse or...*le gasp* ponies!

zebras were popular in the UK,

[bradrn]

How does the academic year work in Southern Hemisphere countries? Does it run from the middle of the calendar year to the middle of the next calendar year, like in those few Northern Hemisphere countries about which I know something, or does it work differently?

No, it runs from the beginning to the end of the year (generally something along the lines of February to December). The Northern Hemisphere system has always seemed somewhat bizarre to me.

[Raphael]

How does the academic year work in Southern Hemisphere countries? Does it run from the middle of the calendar year to the middle of the next calendar year, like in those few Northern Hemisphere countries about which I know something, or does it work differently?

No, it runs from the beginning to the end of the year (generally something along the lines of February to December). The Northern Hemisphere system has always seemed somewhat bizarre to me.

Thank you! Sounds like it makes switching institutions internationally fairly complicated.

[bradrn]

How does the academic year work in Southern Hemisphere countries? Does it run from the middle of the calendar year to the middle of the next calendar year, like in those few Northern Hemisphere countries about which I know something, or does it work differently?

No, it runs from the beginning to the end of the year (generally something along the lines of February to December). The Northern Hemisphere system has always seemed somewhat bizarre to me.

Thank you! Sounds like it makes switching institutions internationally fairly complicated.

Well, universities here often have new admissions twice a year. I gather that it’s similar in the Northern Hemisphere. So it’s not as difficult as it could be. Worst case, you get a 6-month gap.

For schools, yes, I presume it would be more tricky; I don’t know how that would work exactly.

[Torco]

i intellectually know some people in the northern hemisphere have the school year and the year year out of phase, but i've never gotten into the details... is it about the summer?

[bradrn]

i intellectually know some people in the northern hemisphere have the school year and the year year out of phase, but i've never gotten into the details... is it about the summer?

I believe it is, yes.

[lëtzeshark]

It is about summer: after all, why would you have your kids in school when they could be working the farms?

More seriously, traditionally, school years in most places I've lived/am familiar with start at some point between August and October and finish at some point between May and July, so the Northern Hemisphere summer remains school-free; those on a semester system have the "spring" semester begin at some point in January or February. The exact timings, however, vary from country to country (and even school level to school level).

For example, from what I remember from my schooling, bearing in mind that some of these things are now over two decades ago:
US compulsory schooling: generally end of August/beginning of September through the end of May/beginning of June (in Tex-ass, we always finished before the end of May to reduce the cost of air conditioning), with the second semester beginning either right after Christmas or mid-January; my mother mentioned that high school for her was from Labor Day to Memorial Day
US postsecondary: end of August (right before US Labor Day) to mid-May (often around Mother's Day weekend), with the fall semester ending mid-December and spring semester beginning mid-January; some universities have "Summer" semesters that begin end-May/early June
France: first week of September to first week of July; trimesters, though, rather than semesters
UK (Wales): early September to early July as well, though exams for university normally took up the last four to six weeks of the semester; semester started end-January
Luxembourg: 15 September to 15 July, with the spring semester starting 15 February

[Torco]

hmmm... now i'm thinking, is summer vacation there so that kids can go to dad's farm and harvest the barley or something? here we start the school year by summer's end, but our new year is in the middle of summer, i just assumed it was a decision like "where else are we putting the beggining of the school year? in the beggining of the year, obviously". but now i'm suspecting we're, as in most things, copying you guys.

then again, these things are path dependent. i wouldn't be surprised if, in accounting, or in canon law, or some other arcane thing, the year went to september to september or something.

[hwhatting]

For schools, yes, I presume it would be more tricky; I don’t know how that would work exactly.

In my experience (my daughter had to change school between countries due to my moving between assignments), it's generally the same principle as when moving places inside the country during school years - they just plonk you in the class that corresponds to where you were in the previous school. The only question is which is the corresponding class, which is easier to establish when you move inside the same school system.

Having children available for work was important in agricultural societies; here in Germany, there are also longish vacations around Easter (having to do something with field preparation and sowing, I assume) and two weeks in autumn (those used to be called Kartoffelferien, because they coincided with the potato harvest).
BTW, in Germany, the school year used to go from Easter vacations to Easter vacations in many states; only in the mid-1960s all states converted to starting after the summer vacations.

[lëtzeshark]

Minor random: I love the longer periods of daylight as summer approaches, but it still feels strange when it doesn't get dark until 21:00 or later, even after having lived in Europe now for... about 10 years in this stretch.

[Lērisama]

then again, these things are path dependent. i wouldn't be surprised if, in accounting, or in canon law, or some other arcane thing, the year went to september to september or something.

Some Sardinian names for September derive from Lat. CAPUT ANNI, i.e. the head of the year, and I think this used to he more widespread, but I can't find my reference just now.

[lëtzeshark]

And since there's apparently no legal minimum for turnover tax...

I didn't know that.... that's crazy.
For those who wonder what a turnover tax is, in Germany Mehrwertsteuer (VAT) is also known as Umsatzsteuer (Turnover tax).

That is crazy. In Luxembourg, there is at least a floor of about €50K annual turnover before MwSt/USt/TVA collection becomes mandatory: below that, you're considered "exempt". (And that explains the two abbreviations I've seen, especially as a kid. :P)


Random: Regarding my tax declarations/returns, because the US is still in the Stone Age in many respects, I had to mail the declarations in (because my situation makes online declarations extremely challenging). One of them, the Federal one, made it (and I saw it on the tracking); the one for North Carolina, though, went missing on the tracking after about 6 March. Very strange, but because I'd sent them registered with advice of delivery, I went to the post office to file a claim.

About two weeks after I filed the claim, though, I got the advice of delivery, stamped with a date on it, but no signature (and it's supposed to be signed!). I reported this to the post office, but they still went forward with the claim (because the tracking, again, went dark) and, in the end, refunded me the maximum insurance amount (~€35), much more than I paid to mail it... and it looks like the declaration did make it to the final destination. I think.

Either way, a very good €2 spent on the advice of delivery; makes sure I don't have to re-prepare and re-send the declaration. Wish they'd had that service in the Netherlands...

[Glenn]

A few additional thoughts on the discussion of school calendars:

hmmm... now i'm thinking, is summer vacation there so that kids can go to dad's farm and harvest the barley or something?

I believe that this was historically part of the reason (and that the timing of the agricultural cycle in different places may have had an impact on the details of the school year's schedule), but in the present day, when only a small fraction of the population actually works on a farm, summer vacation is associated more with recreational activities (summer camps for kids, non-school-related athletics, general time off) and travel. (For example, when I was a child in the 70s and 80s, summer was when our family would drive from Ohio to South Dakota to spend time with relatives there; the distance is about 1200 miles (1900 kilometers) each way, so we would set aside two weeks or so for the trip.)

The summer vacation also provides a break for teachers (although their break usually starts a bit later and ends earlier, and some do coursework or training during the summer, or teach summer school for students who need to catch up.) My wife was an ESOL teacher for elementary school students for 20 years, until she was forced to take early retirement due to health issues (including a mini-stroke during her penultimate year of teaching that left her temporarily paralyzed). In her case, at least, the work she did, including teaching children in multiple grade levels, preparing lessons and materials, increasing layers of reporting and bureaucracy, earning a master's degree online while teaching full-time, and (from Covid lockdown onward) preparing online teaching materials, meant that she was working 60-70 hours a week or more on a regular basis. If she had been required to keep up that kind of schedule year-round, she would have ended up in the hospital much sooner than she did.

then again, these things are path dependent. i wouldn't be surprised if, in accounting, or in canon law, or some other arcane thing, the year went to september to september or something.

This is also true as well. In the Roman Empire, the fiscal year began on September 1 for tax purposes, even if the year itself was considered to start on January 1. In premodern Russia, the New Year was celebrated on March 1 until 1492, then on September 1 until 1701, when Peter the Great moved it to January 1.

[Torco]

no, sure, only having 9 or 10 months of class in the year, as opposed to the 12 months, makes perfect sense: we're talking about children, after all [though it would be also reasonable for adults to have that kind of vacation time]. that's nothing to do with having them in the middle, beggining, or end of the year.

but yeah, one of my closest friends is a teacher, and they'd probably go crazy working year-round.

[Raphael]

then again, these things are path dependent. i wouldn't be surprised if, in accounting, or in canon law, or some other arcane thing, the year went to september to september or something.

This is also true as well. In the Roman Empire, the fiscal year began on September 1 for tax purposes, even if the year itself was considered to start on January 1. In premodern Russia, the New Year was celebrated on March 1 until 1492, then on September 1 until 1701, when Peter the Great moved it to January 1.

Don't forget England and the British colonies, where the year used to start on March 25th.

[Richard W]

Don't forget England and the British colonies, where the year used to start on March 25th.

In the Julian Calendar. For the Gregorian calendar, that was moved to the tax year starting on 6 April, while the year number now always changes for 1st January.

Thinking of that change, it may be of interest that the 3rd day of September 1752 was 14 September.