This Guide is part of a two-volume mini series that includes the legal guide "USA Practical Guide to Investing - Frequently Asked Questions" available at www.machinesitalia.org. This second handbook also stems from a collaboration with ASSOCOMAPLAST (National Association of Manufacturers of Plastics and Rubber Machinery and Molds) with the aim of concisely presenting, to interested companies, the U.S. scale and accounting system.

The U.S. scale discipline is, as a whole, quite complicated and is constantly evolving. It is federalist in nature and is based on the principle of "progressivity" (i.e., taxes grow as income increases), with taxation on three different levels: local, state, and federal. Generally speaking is subject to the scale jurisdiction of the U.S. each sical or legal person who manufactures, sells goods or services or is a member of a partnership or Limited Liability Company.

The mini series enriches the wealth of information already available on the ICE Agency website (www.ice.gov.it) and joins the list of publications edited by the ICE Network in the US. These include the "Practical Guide to Intellectual Property in the U.S." edited by the Intellectual Property Protection and Trade Barriers Assistance Desk at ICE New York.