ECJ: Advocate General’s Opinion on Surtax on Large Pensions
On 28 January 2016, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued an opinion in Case C involving a supplementary tax on large pensions. The case was referred to the ECJ by the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland. The
See MoreECJ: Ruling on VAT exemption for serviced residence
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a decision in the case of Les Jardins de Jouvence SCRL v. Belgian State on 21 January 2016. An application was made in July 2014 by the Court of Appeal in Mons for a preliminary ruling from the ECJ. This
See MoreECJ: Advocate General issues opinion in BRE Ubezpieczenia case
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued an opinion on 23 December 2015 in the case of Minister Finansow v BRE Ubezpieczenia Sp z.o.o. This case concerned a Polish insurance company (Aspiro) that provided insurance services
See MoreUK: Memorandum of Understanding on Northern Ireland Corporation Tax
A Memorandum of Understanding on the Northern Ireland Corporation Tax (NICT) was published by HMRC and the Department of Finance and Personnel for Northern Ireland (DFPNI) on 7 January 2016. The transfer to the Northern Ireland Assembly of the
See MoreAzerbaijan: Parliament Approves Tax Code Amendments to Introduce Excise Tax
Azerbaijan has introduced excise tax on precious metals, and set new tax rates for imported cars, imported yachts, and domestically produced alcohol and tobacco. Excise on imported diamonds will be set at AZN200 (USD255) per carat, at AZN2 per gram
See MoreECJ Rules in Fiscale Eenheid case
On 9 December 2015 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a decision in the case of Staatssecretaris van Financiën v. Fiscale Eenheid X N.V. Fiscale Eenheid X NV was the name of a fiscal unity in the Netherlands, one of the companies of which
See MoreECJ: Advocate General’s opinion in the Gemeente Borsele case
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has issued an opinion in the Gemeente Borsele case. This concerns the question of whether a local authority should be treated as a taxable person for value added tax (VAT) purposes where it
See MoreFrance-Approved Finance Bill 2016 and amended Finance Bill 2015
The French Parliament approved the Finance Bill for 2016 and and the amended Finance Bill for 2015 on 17 December 2015. The Finance Bill enacts the country-by-country (CbC) reporting requirement into the legislation of France. From 1 January 2016
See MoreUK: VAT changes following Le Credit Lyonnais case in the ECJ
A change to the VAT regulations in the UK will affect partly exempt businesses that have establishments both inside and outside the UK. The changes have been made in response to the ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the Le Credit
See MoreMexico-Publishes new Income Tax Law regulations regarding corporate taxation
The new regulations to the Income Tax Law were published in the Official Gazette on 8 October 2015. The main changes included in the regulations are summarized below: Corporate taxation: - Informative returns must be filed for donations exceeding
See MoreJapan: 2016 Tax Reform Outline
Japan’s ruling party released the 2016 Tax Reform outline on 16 December 2015. The Outline includes a further corporate tax rate reduction and introduction of a new transfer pricing documentation rule. A tax reform bill will be prepared based on
See MoreUK: Consultation on draft regulations for Innovative Finance ISA
The UK government has published in draft form the Individual Savings Account (Amendment No 2) Regulations 2016 introducing a new type of Individual Savings Account (ISA) called the Innovative Finance ISA. Comments on the draft legislation may be
See MoreIsrael signs convention and protocol in tax matters
Israel joined the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters on 24th November 2015. The Convention came into existence on 25th January 1988 and the amending protocol was signed on 27th May
See MoreIndia: Government Press Release on phasing out the plan of deductions under the Income-tax Act
The Finance Minister in his Budget Speech for 2015 indicated that the rate of corporate tax will be reduced from 30% to 25% over the next four years along with the corresponding phasing out of exemptions and deductions. The Central Board of Direct
See MoreFinland: IMF comments on economic and fiscal policy
On 11 November 2015 the IMF completed its consultations with Finland under Article IV of its articles of agreement. The economy has been in recession for three years but a slight recovery is projected for 2015 and expected to strengthen in 2016.
See MoreBulgaria: Budget for 2016 published
The Finance Ministry (MoF) has published the Budget for 2016 on 26th October 2015. The MoF included the following measures in this budget: The income tax rate, withholding tax rate, and VAT rate will remain unchanged for 2016 through
See MoreHungary: Draft bill for tax law changes in 2016
The government of Hungary recently presented to the Parliament a draft bill with proposals for tax law changes which would take effect as from 2016. The proposed draft bill creates a classification system for taxpayers based on the level of risk
See MoreThailand- Corporate tax rate of 20% becomes permanent
The Royal Cabinet of Thailand ruled on 13 October 2015 that the corporate income tax rate will be permanently kept at 20% effective from 1 January 2016. Previously the rate was reduced to 23% from 30% for the tax year 2012 and temporarily to 20% for
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