Economy

If you have already unsubscribed from Netflix Or are you still angry about what you pay per month in Spain By any plan, you’re not the only one. However, prices vary a lot from country to countryso while some places, like Switzerland, pay significantly more for their subscription, others pay much less like Argentina.

In February 2023, Netflix cut its prices in more than 100 countries, especially for basic plans in African and Asian countries. This coincided with its announcement that it was starting to crack down on password sharing outside the home, with countries like Canada, New Zealand, Spain and Portugal being the first to see these changes.

Knowing this, how have these cuts affected prices and restrictions to the profitability of Netflix? And where in the world is a subscription to Netflix more expensive and cheaper?

Depending on where you live, you may get a better price per subscription. This can be reviewed at VPNwiki, which has produced a complete analysis of the prices around the world of the different Netflix subscription plans.

These are the countries in the world that pay the most and the least for a Netflix subscription

The data reveals that Pakistan is the least expensive place in the world to get Netflix in 2023, with a monthly subscription to the Standard plan that amounts to $3.67 (3.48 euros) and Argentine subscribers pay $4.64 (4.40 euros) per month.

The most expensive Netflix is ​​in Switzerland and Liechtenstein with $18.96 (almost 18 euros), United States 15.49 dollars (14.70 euros), Israel 15.39 dollars (14.60 euros) and Denmark 14.85 dollars (one 14 euros). We leave you an indicative table with conversion to euros.

“The price difference between Basic and Standard fares is, on average, 37%, but the differences between countries are significant. This is partly due to the chosen pricing strategy and rounding in local currency. As a result, the difference between Standard and Premium is, on average, 26%”they explain from VPNwiki.

Due to its incredibly cheap prices on all three plans (no ads), Pakistan, India, Egypt and Turkey are the most profitable countries to watch Netflix. But with its large libraries of movies and series (500+ more than average), Pakistan and India perhaps offer the best value for money, as they seem to get more for less.

However, if you love movies, there is a country that stands out for its value for money. Thanks to its recent price reductions and a total library size of 8,272 titles (including 5,969 movies and 2,303 series), Bulgaria is one of the best places to get a Netflix subscription.

On the opposite side are several African countries, Fiji and Guernsey, where neither of their plans is profitable, despite recent price reductions in most of these countries. After these, Liechtenstein, Israel and Switzerland are the least profitable countries.

It is important to highlight the figure of The United States, which is also listed as one of the least profitable countries in all of its plans. This is due to the average size of their library and above average monthly costs. It is positioned as the 20th least profitable country in its basic, standard and premium plans.

Of course, the concept of prices with respect to the purchasing power of the population cannot be left behind either, something that Netflix seems to emphasize. In short, in Switzerland or Spain people are willing to pay more than 11 or 12 euros for the Standard plan, but in India, the same price would be too high for the majority of the population.

Steve Jobs, the creator of Manzanaand his ostentatious life today allows us to recover an episode that we could classify as genius when it comes to obtaining extra financing for his new company, NeXT.

And it is that, if we talk about this great character, we all know that Steve Jobs (died 2011) was relegated as the leader of the company he founded, Apple, and eventually decided to leave the firm and pursue other brands, before returning to his roots with iPhone a few years later.

one of them was NeXT, a much smaller company founded in the late 1980s. To do this, he invested $12 million of his own money. However, Jobs’s outlay was not enough and the company needed more financing.

A little more investment was needed and Ross Perot was the one to make his rookie bloom even more company.

“Randy, we have to hide the Porsches”

This whole story stems from Randy Adams who sat down one day and told Forbes. This is a software engineer who had just sold his company for a good deal of money, and Steve Jobs convinced him to join NeXT.

Jobs proposed a job offer to Randy Adams, which he initially turned down because he was not yet ready to return to work after selling his software development company.

A few days passed after Steve Jobs’s offer, when the Apple co-founder insisted by leaving a message on his phone’s answering machine: “You’re ruining it Randy. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and you’re wasting it”. Randy Adams reconsidered the offer and eventually became part of NeXT’s roster.

Well, after this episode, one day at the NeXT offices in Palo Alto, California, Jobs ran up to Adams and told him that they had to move their cars. Because? Well basically both, with their millions, they had bought a Porsche 911. Between the two they occupied three parking spaces, to avoid friction, at the doors of the company.

“Randy, we have to hide the Porsches”Jobs allegedly told Adams. “Ross Perot is coming in and he’s thinking about investing in the company, and we don’t want him to think we have a lot of money.”

They went out and moved their Porsches to the back of the NeXT offices and it turns out that thanks to this curious movement Ross Perot made an investment of 20 million dollars in the company. Of course, it is undeniable that Steve Jobs business vision was a success no matter how you look at it.

We have written and talked a lot about cryptocurrencies as non-State assets. We have even explained how cryptocurrencies are declared in the Income statement. It’s not like having bills under your mattress anymore.

The Tax Agency has made it clear in the Official State Gazette that during this year “the actions to locate new assets subject to seizure actions will be promoted, with a special focus on crypto assets and virtual currencies.”

In other words, the Spanish Tax Agency this year will strengthen its actions to locate and seize cryptocurrencies and virtual currencies, when there is a tax commitment to pay. if you owe him money to the Spanish State and you think you are safe with your wallet cryptosYou couldn’t be more wrong.

This location and embargo will be carried out by the Collection Area of ​​the Tax Agency, following the guideline of investigating the use of virtual currencies on Spanish soil. It is money and we must begin to understand it that way.

How the Treasury will act before your Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptos

According to the Tax Agency, the seizure of cryptocurrencies to taxpayers will be executed in a similar way to that of an action. This means that a crypto asset wallet will be seized.

This is how the office will request the custody keys from a bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, or a wallet provider, and will order the freezing of the wallet so that transactions cannot be carried out.

Once this is done, it will be when the Tax Agency will request the liquidation of the assets in the purse to be seized and that said funds be transferred to the Ministry of Finance in euros, for the amount that the cryptoactive is listed for at that time, they explain in El Español.

Beyond the embargoes, the Tax agency established in its action plan for this 2023 an investigation to learn about the use of cryptocurrencies in the digital economy. The purpose is to “detect assets whose origin may be linked to criminal activities.”

As we announced, the Rent 2022/23 It is almost around the corner, the Tax Agency has already published the official dates and now is when a multitude of doubts arise, especially when we talk about platforms such as Bizum or even cryptocurrencies.

And it is that these novelties, especially the famous Bizum application on which we want to focus today, generate a lot of uncertainty. As it is a banking service, the movements carried out in this application may be notified by the bank, but only if Tax authorities it requires. For this reason, the Tax Agency can demand that this money be declared.

It is obvious that bizum is having a brutal success, and is that, who does not use it as a payment method with friends, family and even in some stores? But what you may not have known is that there are some specific cases in which these movements should appear on your 2022/23 Income Statement.

Following the current regulations of the Tax Agency, if our situation meets any of the three cases that we are going to specify and we do not, this could end with sanctions against us. Tell you that you will be penalized with a fine that could reach 20% or 30% of said surcharge, to which interest would also have to be added.

When is it mandatory to declare your operations with Bizum to the Treasury: three cases

It must be taken into account that, as a general rule, it is not necessary to declare those bizum carried out sporadically, but if they are linked to certain activities or a certain number is exceeded, the scenario changes. These are the three exceptions that do require your declaration:

1. If the annual figure exceeds 10,000 euros. Be careful because in this case it will be your own bank that informs the Treasury. We must reflect it in the declaration so that all the data is balanced.
2. If you use Bizum as a tool to receive income with economic profitability. This is the case, for example, if you have a house or garage for rent and you receive your payment with this system.
3. If you are a self-employed worker (autonomous) and you charge for your services or sales through Bizum, since it is an economic benefit linked to your activity. In this case, the income must be accompanied by the corresponding VAT and personal income tax.

In the case of the self-employed, reference is made to the payment of the corresponding economic activity through Bizum. That is to say, If as a freelancer you receive your salary via Bizum, you must declare it, since it is a benefit resulting from a professional activity.

In summary, you will be obliged to declare your bizum in the event that they are related to your professional activity or that they offer you some profitability, or exceed a limit (10,000 euros). This means that you can continue using Bizum as normal as you do almost daily without reporting any problems with the Treasury or for the 2022/23 Income.

Only 11% of consumers fully understand their electricity bill. Many users are unaware, for example, if they are on the free or regulated market, among other things, because the utilities themselves have been encouraging this confusion for years. Or they tell us from the OCU.

Nor do all customers know that the invoice pays for services to two companies, the distributor and the marketer. How do you have to pay two companies? Yes, now you are going to see how they have it set up.

The marketer charges what is properly the cost of the energy, while tolls and charges are paid to the distributor, even though the rate includes all items. And of course, there are the majority of those who are not clear about what the concepts that are included in the invoice mean.

The electricity bill is made up of two main concepts: a fixed cost for having electricity, which is paid for each kW of contracted power, and, on the other hand, the cost of the electricity consumed in the different time slots that our rate has.

Let’s see, quickly, what two electricity bills we can receive in our mailbox depending on whether we are in the free market or in the regulated one. Without further ado, we are going to explain both in order to understand them and understand if they are not cheating in some way.

The electricity bill in the free market

The OCU explains that the invoices of the free market do not conform to a specific model, but a series of concepts that must necessarily appear. We take one of them as a reference to decipher the concepts that include:

1. Name. If you don’t know if you are in the free or regulated market, look at the name of the company: if it is Iberdrola Clientes, Endesa Energía, Naturgy, Repsol, TotalEnergies… you are in the free market.
2. Power. It is essential to know what peak and valley power (now you can choose different powers) you have contracted. You will also be able to see the contracted power in the details that you are billed.
3. Billing period. It includes the old date and the new closing date. The billing period is usually monthly or bimonthly, but the specific days can vary from one invoice to another.
4. Invoice Number. It is relevant information that will help you identify the invoice if you have to claim.
5. Evolution of consumption. All invoices in the free market must include at least one graph that allows you to compare the consumption of the last invoice with the consumption in the same period of the previous year. This invoice includes the graph with the history of monthly consumption and other additional information.
6. Hourly consumption details. The meter records consumption hour by hour, day by day. This information is available on the distributor’s website. Among the information that must appear on the bill is the identification of the distributor and the website where you can register to monitor your consumption.
7. Billed power. This is the fixed term that is paid based on the peak and valley power that has been contracted. The price of the power is usual to appear detailed with a daily price.
8. Billed energy. The invoice must include the kWh consumed and the total price. Nor do they have the obligation to detail the cost of each of the concepts. In this reference invoice, a single price is applied for 24 hours.
9. electricity tax, It is usually 5.1127%, but temporarily, due to the energy crisis, it has been reduced to 0.5%, as the invoice should indicate.

With all these concepts, you should now be able to interpret your bill and check if you have been overcharged, either because the rate is higher than the real one or because you have been assigned a higher billed consumption than you have actually used.

The electricity bill in the regulated market

1. Name of the company. It is the key to know if you are in the free or regulated market.
2. invoice number. This number will help to correctly identify the amounts claimed if you are going to file a billing claim.
3. Consumption period. It must be monthly, except for exceptions (adjustments of late consumption, rate changes, analog meter…).
4. Transportation and distribution toll. All contracts of less than 15 kW (both in the free and regulated market) are with the 2.0TD rate.
5. Hired potency. Currently it is possible to have 2 contracted powers, one for the peak period and one for the valley, and both will be displayed here. Adjusting the power well to your needs is one of the measures to reduce the bill.
6. Power consumption information: the graph shows your consumption of the last 14 months in each time slot. The color keys indicate whether they are real or estimated consumption. The black line shows your average monthly consumption.
7. current reading. With an indication of whether it is real or estimated. Only the current reading is displayed. To see the previous reading and verify that the consumption is correct, you must consult the invoice of the last month.
8. Consumption in each hourly section. Next to each meter reading appears the billed consumption for that period during peak, flat and off-peak hours.

With this information on the electricity bill of the regulated market, you will already it will be easier to know if your electric is deceiving you with unrealistic consumption or with false and inflated electricity prices.

Despite everything, we know that it is not easy and companies will always try to ensure that the client does not understand their invoices, since it is easier to deceive the less informed client. Or so they have been denouncing from the OCU for years.

As we all know, the great energy alternative that came in to replace traditional light bulbs was the leds. LED bulbs are very energy efficient, but maintain the look and feel of an incandescent bulb.

And it is that, technically, LED bulbs are not bulbs: LED stands for “light-emitting diode”. They are tiny semiconductors (diodes) wrapped in plastic to protect the elements and focus the light. light.

When we talk about a “traditional light bulb,” we mean an incandescent light bulb, the kind that has been around since Thomas Edison patented his invention in 1879. These light bulbs they have filaments that glow, producing heat and light when energy flows through them.

LED lights, on the other hand, have electrons that flow to create photons – light that we can see. Photons generate almost no heat. LED lights also require much less energy to create the same amount of brightness as incandescent lights, and they last much longer.

LED bulbs use 75% less energy than traditional lighting. At low power levels, the difference is even greater. However, today we are not here to talk about the advantages of LED compared to lightning traditional.

Today’s topic focuses on how the LED boom has caused us all to go crazy and completely change the lighting in our homes, businesses and all kinds of establishments, but really we are only increasing consumption.

Despite LED efficiency, we may not be saving as much as we thought

According to data consultancy IHS Markit, LED lights use much less energy per lumen produced. LED lighting uses an average of 40% less energy than fluorescent lamps, and 80% less than incandescent lamps to produce the same amount of light.

The big problem comes when we make the big change to this novelty and begin to illuminate our rooms, whatever they are, with more light than we really need. Lighting is cheaper now, but we are making exorbitant use of these new forms.

A study published in the journal Science Advances used photos from space to show that we are using more lighting than ever. The artificially illuminated surface of the Earth at night increases in luminosity and extent. Of course here, a picture is worth a thousand words.

“While a central goal of the lighting revolution is lowering energy consumption, the goal could be undermined by a rebound effect of higher energy use in response to lower cost of light”they explain.

We may be fighting against air pollution, but to this battle we must now add a new opponent: light pollution. And of course, logically this for manufacturers is a bottomless pit of benefits that they are not willing to give up.

To this we must add the “problem” of tolerance to play with the values ​​of their products. To understand, the tolerance in terms of measurement, is the difference between the maximum and minimum dimensions of the errors that are allowed.

The European tests for light bulbs allow a tolerance threshold of 10% (there can be a lag of up to 10% between what it indicates and reality)which means that a bulb rated at 600 lumens, a measure of brightness, might actually be 540 lumens, but then again, they’re charging you more.

Indeed, the life time of the bulbs must also be taken into account, since manufacturers promise more than 1,000 hours of use in incandescent bulbs, although there are some that have been working for 120 years.

Manufacturers of LED bulbs such as Philips guarantee their LED bulbs for 15,000 effective hours of use and 20,000 starts. But not all manufacturers have the same guarantees.

In the writing of ComputerHoy we have seen how LED bulbs from other brands have blown in our homes long before those 15,000 hours of use, so the supposed savings are in question.

Another of the big problems that favors manufacturers and electricity companies

To all this, as if that were not enough, we must add that the only real winners of this boom are manufacturers and power companies. On the one hand, manufacturers are interested in this new system since instead of selling traditional bulbs, they can now sell LED replacements inflated by excessive marketing, although their prices are no longer an issue.

On the other hand, power companies have a faulty infrastructure if we consider a power grid at its maximum. It would cost them billions to revamp the entire system so they encourage businesses and governments to spend their money on new LED lighting.

In a nutshell, LED lighting has its undeniable advantages.. It’s great for the environment and will reduce your carbon footprint, but financially speaking it’s building a business behind which we always end up losing as ordinary consumers, although we’re also not making mature use of this new way of lighting our homes and companies.

The countdown begins for the start of the Campaign of the Rent 2022/23 and the Tax Agency has already announced the key dates to present the declaration. Many residents in Spain are required to declare their income, and Personal Income Tax (IRPF).

A part of their salary is withheld from each worker, the percentage of which depends and the declaration adjusts it applied to the yields that have finally been obtained. April 11 will be the date from which taxpayers will be able to start filing their returns online, according to the calendar of the Tax Agency.

This 2023 Income Campaign, which corresponds to the income obtained in 2022, will be developed from June 1 to 30 in person, but from April 11 you can present the first declarations of the rent for Internetwhich nine out of ten taxpayers in Spain carry out.

This year, the 2022/23 Income Campaign will have some novelties such as the reduction from 2,000 to 1,500 euros in the amount that the taxpayer can deduct from private pension plans or the increase by 500 euros, up to 8,500, the reduction that It is applied if the taxpayer has a company pension plan, among others.

What are the key dates of the 2022/23 Income?

To make a brief summary and everything is perfectly clear, we leave you all dates related to the 2022/23 Rental period. Remind you that to be assisted by the Treasury, both by phone and in person, you must make an appointment online or by phone (91 535 73 26 / 901 12 12 24 or 91 553 00 71 / 901 22 33 44):

• From April 11 to June 30, 2023: Income tax returns can be filed online
• From May 5 to June 30, 2023: the declaration can be made by phone (the period remains open from May 3 to June 29)
• From June 1 to 30, 2023: you can submit your Income Tax return in person (appointment must be requested in advance and the period remains open from May 25 to June 29)
• June 27, 2023: deadline for those who have the result to enter and want to direct debit into their account
• June 30, 2023: end of the 2022/23 Income Campaign

Note that, in the event that you must file the Income Tax return and do so after the deadline, you may find yourself in serious trouble that includes a fine that will depend on how long it has been. Last year it was from exactly 1% plus an additional percentage point for each month of delay.

Finally, mention that, in relation to last year, the declaration lasted until June 30, 2022, and Tax authorities He had time to pay you until December 30, 2022, so, taking into account the dates of the 2022/23 Rent, this year it will happen in the same way.

With barely 7 years of existence, Bizum continues to face the challenge of maintaining its great success based on continuing to increase its users and access possibilities, such as joint purchases to distribute expenses or implement the pay in companies and, of course, it is succeeding.

Despite all its success, today we are going to delve into a subject that surely has happened to someone: receiving a bizum that does not belong to you The big basic problem that the application has here is that, sadly, it does not allow the person who sends it to cancel it. We have all made a mistake at some point in contact and, unintentionally, the money It ended up on someone else’s account.

Here the responsibility lies with the recipient. It must be this person who realizes, if you do not notify him before, and returns your wrong shipment. As stated on the Bizum website, it has 7 days to reject the payment from the website itself. application. In this way, the owner will receive his money back.

“After removing that smile when you see unexpected money, the next thing is to contact your bank. They have made you a Bizum, but you think that it does not correspond to you, so it is time to fix it. The first thing is to call your bank and follow the guidelines to avoid scams”they explain from the web.

All this, logically, refers to a Bizum from someone unknown, not a person from your contacts. From the bank they will be able to provide you with help in order to know the identity of the issuer and they will put you in contact with him to clarify the error.

“It’s time to contact this person and return it. Today for you and tomorrow for me”warns the application itself on its website.

What can happen if I receive a Bizum that does not correspond to me and I keep the money

This is when the problems come. If you suddenly see an unexpected Bizum that has arrived on your account and instead of rejecting it, you decide to keep it, we are talking about a crime named “misappropriation”.

To give you an idea and get rid of the desire, if the other person denounces, you could find yourself involved in a lawsuit that is punishable by prison sentences from 6 months to 3 yearsso think twice before keeping money that is not yours and that you have received via Bizum, they explain from Business Insider.

With bizum can send money to someone elseor receive it, using only the mobile phone. The question is: can it be used? bizum with two banks at once?

As you probably already know, because it is used by 23 million people in Spain, Bizum is a payment system created by the Spanish banking that allows payments between individuals In a simple way.

From the app of your bank just select a phone number from your agenda, or type it yourself, and send the money you decide In the same way, you only have to give your mobile to another person, so that they “make you a Bizum”, that is, they pay you. That money will go to your bank account.

The process is similar to pay in cash, in the sense that if you send money to someone, even by mistake, that money can no longer be recovered, unless they return it voluntarily. This has led to many scams.

Using Bizum in two banks at the same time

bizum It has been a great success since its premiere. They already use it more than 23 million peopleand more than 1.7 billion transactions have been made.

For some time it has also been possible to use it for buy in online stores. They already accept it more than 43,000 stores. And soon, it will be available in the physical stores. Bizum has reached an agreement with Discover, to be able to pay in physical stores.

As we see, bizum works by associating a bank account still mobile phone. But, what if we have money in more than one bank? Many people have an account in several entities.

It’s possible use Bizum with two banks at the same time in the same phone number? Well, as Business Insider tells us, the truth is that no.

this is the big weak point of bizum. for now does not allow to use more than one bank with each phone number.

The only solution, if you want use Bizum with two banks in a single mobile is… use two SIM cards in a mobile DualSIM, each with a phone number. And you use one or the other depending on the bank account you want to use.

It’s not a very elegant solution, but for now it’s the only way to use Bizum with two banks in the same mobile.

Since Netflix made its appearance in Spain back in 2015 with prices ranging from €7.99 for the basic plan and €11.99 for the premium plan, things have changed drastically. And it is that, these prices are far from the current reality with a premium plan that, for example, now costs €17.99.

And it is that, just as we have seen how the price of electricity, gasoline or food has risen, the platform of streaming The most popular has also joined the inflation bandwagon, something that other platforms have decided not to do, such as HBO Max (at least not on a large scale).

This is something that we can see reflected in a latest study by HelloSafe, a financial product comparison platform, which invites us to reflect on the evolution of prices on the platform. Its headline “In 8 years the price of subscriptions to Netflix they have risen 50% in Spain”, it is even scary.

“Netflix was a platform that quickly took over a large part of the market, above all because it offered the possibility of downloading series and movies at the same time that several devices could be connected from a single account. The premium subscription has gone from costing €11.99 in 2015 at €17.99 per month today, which represents an increase of 50%”they explain.

What has changed in Netflix for us to talk about an increase of up to 50% in its prices?

There are many reasons that the platform may have for this crazy price rise and that we are not seeing on other platforms, and, of course, it is not just because many people share accounts as Netflix wants us to see. with your latest statements about your benefits.

In a nutshell, this platform is leaving behind the expansive growth model of the early yearsin which it reinvested all its profits, to now increase spending on the creation of new Netflix original content, which is what we have seen the most in recent months on many platforms.

And it is that, to this we must add that the number of subscribers unsubscribing has increased in recent years (and now more with the purpose of shared accounts), and there are many users who do not want to be paying monthly for a platform and prefer to do so when they want to watch a series or a complete movie and automatically unsubscribe.

This, logically, may seem somewhat counterproductive if we add the rise in prices, but in reality it is one of the reasons why prices have been increasing little by little (every two years). Netflix needs to earn more per user to keep the wheel turning.

Until now, Netflix has been raising prices from time to time on its standard and premium plan, although the basic plan is the one that, for now, has not dared to touchbut surely that very soon it will also do so since it is something that we have seen, for example, in the United States.

Goodbye third-party content and hello to the investment to generate your own content

It is estimated that in 2020 the platform spent 17,000 million dollars creating its own content, something that has become totally necessary to be able to compete with other platforms such as Prime Video or HBO Max that also have their own high-quality original content.

Netflix It is no longer just a platform that serves as a distributor of content for others, that is in the past. The competition is fierce and it may be considered that revenues have to be higher to continue operating in the streaming sector as it has been doing since 2015 (in the case of Spain).

Of course, it is important to note that this rise in prices It has not only been carried out in Spain. The platform has done it in all the countries where it has a considerable presence, because, although it is hard for us to believe, Netflix continues to be one of the most watched platforms in the world, although in Spain there has been a surprise from Prime Videoas shown by Kantar.

In addition, the fact that the trial period (2019-2020) has been canceled has caused many people not to register on Netflix to try it, since they have to pay from the beginning and with those prices…

Of course, it is a very risky bet, especially considering that other platforms have much more competitive prices and even have cheaper annual subscriptions, something that Netflix has not yet considered modifying and we have to wait and see what results it generates in 2023. .