Solution Matrix • Cost-Benefit-Analysis

Operating expenses / OPEX

Operating expenses (OPEX) are non-capital expenses incurred by a company in normal operations: salaries and wages, insurance costs, floor space rental, electricity, computer maintenance contracts, software maintenance contracts, and so on. In brief, almost all routine expenditures a company makes are operating expenses, except for a few special non-operating expenses (such as costs of financing a loan, or one-time costs for closing a plant), and except for capital costs (see assets and capital budget).

Operating expenses do brings some tax savings. The expense is subtracted from income, and that means less tax. Specifically

Tax Savings on Expense = Expense x Tax Rate

For example, a company taking in $100 on revenue with a 30% rate on operating income, would pay taxes of $30 if it had no expenses. But if it had expenses of $60 to produce that income, the 30% tax would be applied only to $40 (That is, $100-60), for a tax of $12. That is a tax savings of $30 - 12 or $18, or:

Tax Savings on Expense = $60 x 30% = $18

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