Questions on Green Building Fund, Budgeting, Production Cost, Saving Calculations, and Property Tax

Subsidizing Energy-Efficient Retrofitting with Green Building Fund

Q1 The Green Building Fund aims to subsidies residential buildings, commercial buildings, industrial  buildings and composite buildings and their nearby ancillary facilities by carrying out  retrofitting projects for improving energy efficiency in communal areas. You are the manager of  Grand Villa; the Owners Committee of Grand Villa (OCGL) has planned to replace the lighting system  at the carpark area with LED lighting and would like to apply for the Green Building Fund. Please  take note of the additional information as follows:

 

•  There are 6 technical staffs according to the manpower planning, however, two of them left 6  months ago and the vacancy has not been filled up.

 

• An eligible application from residential buildings is subject to a funding limit of 1 times  HK $500,000 per year. The amount of subsidized funding will be depending on project duration of  whole project completion as below:

 

(a)  What are your considerations on the whether the replacement work to be contracted out or be  carried out by the in-house technical staff?

 

(b)  Since Grand Villa is located in a remoted area, it is difficult to hire both cleaning and  security staff, the OCGL want to hire the existing cleaning and security staff directly instead of  contracting out. Please advise the OCGL from the facility management point of view.

 

(c)  What are the procurement requirements under Section 20 A of the Building Management Ordinance  regarding continuous engagement of the incumbent supplier?

 

Q2 (a)  You are the property manager of La Serene. Based on the income and expenditure statement as at  28 February 2020, prepare the annual budget for 2020/2021 (May 2020 — April 2021). Please take note  of the additional information as follows:

 

•  The Management Fee will remain unchanged

 

•  The income generated from bank interest will be increased by 3%

 

•  The monthly salaries for the direct management staffs will be increased by 8%

 

•  The salary expenses of the security and cleansing staff will be increased by 10% accordingly.

 

•  The General Repair and Maintenance will be increased by 30% as there will be some water pump replacements and improvement works for fire services system.

 

•  The maintenance contract for lift services will be expired on 31 October 2020 and the estimated monthly service charge will be increased by 15% starting from October 2020.

 

Preparing Budget for Property Management

•  The Electricity Expense will be 2/3 of 19/20, as replacement of LED lightening will be completed by 30 April 2020.

 

•  The audit fee will be increased by 5% staring from May 2020.

 

•  The Manager's Remuneration will be unchanged while Head Office Allocation will be increased by 4% starting from May 2020.

 

•  The miscellaneous monthly income and other monthly expenses will be the same as 2019/2020.

(b)  You received a letter from Mr. Brown, a tenant of La Serene, he requested for a copy of the  Budget (2020/2021) and all bills, invoices, vouchers and receipts related to the Income and Expenditure Account of January 2020 which had been posted on the notice board.

 

(i)   Will you provide the copy of the Budget? and Why (please quote the relevant legal requirement.) 

 

(ii)   Will you provide the copy all bills, invoices, vouchers and receipts related to the Income and Expenditure Account of January 2020? Why (please quote the relevant legal requirement.)

 

(c)  What are the procurement requirements under Section 20 A of the Building Management Ordinance regarding continuous engagement of the incumbent supplier?

 

Q 3 Nippon Corporation currently produces both Blu-ray CD cases and Blu-ray CD for commercial use. An  increased demand for Blu-ray CD is projected, and Nippon is deciding between increasing the  internal production of empty cases and Blu-ray CD or purchasing empty cases from an outside vendor. If Nippon purchases the cases from  a vendor, the company must also buy specialized equipment to load the Blu-ray CD, since its current  loading machine is not compatible with the cases produced by the vendor under consideration. The projected production rate of Blu-ray CD is 79,815 units per week for 48 weeks of operation per year. The planning horizon is seven years. The accounting department has itemized the annual costs associated with each option as follows:

 

Note the conventional assumption that cast flow occur in discrete lumps at the ends of the years, as shown in figure below) Assuming that an interest rate for the analysis is 14%, calculate the unit cost under each option.

 

Q4 (a) A couple with a new-born daughter wants to save for their child's college expenses in advance.  The couple can establish a college fund that pays 7% annual interest. Assuming that the child  enters college at age 18. The parents estimate that an amount of $40,000 per year (actual dollars)  will be required to support the child's college expenses for four years. Determine the equal annual  amounts the couple must save until they send their child to college. (Assume that the first deposit  will be made on the child's first birthday and the last deposit on the child's 18th birthday. The  first withdrawal will be made at the beginning of the freshman year, which also is the child's 18th birthday)

 

(b) A credit card company wants your business. If you accept their offer and use their card, they will deposit 3% of your monetary transactions into a savings account that will earn a guaranteed 6% per year. If your annual transactions total an average of $12,000, how much will you have in this savings plan after 10 years? 

 

Q5 (a) Ocean Garden consists 5 residential blocks comprising 1,500 units and a commercial block comprising 20 units and a carpark area of 600 parking space. The Incorporated Owners of Ocean Garden (IOOG) leased the roof of the commercial block to One2Free Network Ltd. for antenna installation. One2Free Network Ltd. then paid IOOG $800,000 as license fee for 5 years  in June 2019. The total undivided shares Greenview Garden is 100,000, and the undivided shares among the  residential portion, commercial portion and carparks portion are 60%, 20% and 20% respectively.

 

(i)   Will all the owners of Ocean Garden be entitled to have the income of license fee?

 

(ii)  What are the reasons for it?

 

(iii)  Please calculate the income of the license fee receivable for carpark portion.

 

(iv)  Please calculate the assessable value of profit tax for 2019/2020

 

(b) If a property was let on 1 July 2019 for $40,000 per month and rates paid by the owner(s) were $18,000. Please compute the property tax for 2019/20 given the standard tax rate to be 15%.

 

(c)  What are the three types of direct taxes in Hong Kong?

 

(d) Taxpayers who are subject to salary tax may claim deductions for certain expenses. Please name any four of them.