Ditek Corp. provides a defined contribution pension plan for its employees

Ditek Corp. provides a defined contribution pension plan for its employees. Under the plan, the company is required to contribute 3% of employees’ gross pay to a fund trustee each year. Ditek’s total payroll for 2011 was $2,732,864 and the company made all required payments within the year. Prepare a summary journal entry to record Ditek’s pension expense for the year.

Pension Expense........................... 81,986

    Cash..................................         81,986    

     ($2,732,864 X 3% = $81,986)

Different countries have different statutory tax rates. Choose an industry and select five companies that operate in different countries. Access these companies’ most recent financial statements and make note of their statutory and effective income tax rates.
Alternatively, use the railway industry and the following companies:

Canadian National Railway: …………….………………………  Canada

Deutsche Bahn: ………………………….………………………    Germany

East Japan Railway: ……………………..……………………… Japan

NSB Group: ………………………………………………………   Norway

National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak): ……………. United States

Instructions

Access the most recent reports for the five companies you chose. For each company,  identify its year end, country of operation, statutory income tax rates, and effective tax rates. Discuss any similarities or differences found.

Below, is the schedule of information on statutory and effective income tax rates for five companies operating in the railroad industry, but in different countries.

	Country	Year end	Statutory income tax rate	Effective income tax rate
Deutsche Bahn	Germany	Dec 2009	30.5%	26.9%
East Japan Railway	Japan	Mar 2009	41.8%	41.8%
NSB Group	Norway	Dec 2009	28%	37%
Canadian National Railway	Canada	Dec 2008	31%	25.5%
National Railway Passenger (Amtrak)	United States	Sept 2009	35%	0%

From the above, most countries in the list have a similar statutory rate of 30 – 35%, except Japan that has a rate of 41%, significantly higher than the others.  The effective rate was most different from National Railway which decreased to 0% due to valuation allowance and substantial losses from current operations for the company.