Thailand raised alcohol excise taxes
In Thailand the excise taxes on liquor, beer and wine will increase by 7 -15% effective on 4 September 2013. The price will be higher particularly for
See MoreGermany: New VAT invoice requirements
Germany has approved a new Act to implement changes to bring German VAT compliance rules into line with the EU VAT Directive and with a number of recent court cases. Under the new Act changes to German VAT invoices include: The obligation to
See MoreCroatia amends the General Tax Law
Amendments to the General Tax Law have been published in Official Gazette No. 73/2013 and they entered into force on 26 June 2013.EU law with effect from 1 July 2013, Some EU directives have been implemented into Croatian legislation like- Mutual
See MoreECJ: Referral in respect of vendor reclassified as taxable person
The Romanian Court of Appeal has referred a question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in respect of a supply of immovable property by a vendor who was later reclassified as a taxable person. The questions relate to the taxable amount of the
See MoreAustralia wants to expand excise duty on tobacco
The Government of Australia wants to expand excise duty on tobacco to raise an additional A$5.3 billion ($4.7 billion) in income. An organized 12.5 percent rise in the excise duty will be acquainted from 1 December 2013 to help the budget to surplus
See MoreEuropean Commission: Private VAT rulings in relation to cross-border situations
According to European Commission information notice a number of EU member states have agreed within the EU VAT Forum to take part in a test case in connection with private VAT rulings. According to the agreement, taxable persons who are planning a
See MoreEU: Regulation on Customs enforcement of intellectual property rights
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (EU) on 18 July 2013 published a Regulation (EU No 608/2013) on customs enforcement of intellectual property rights. The situations where the regulation is particularly relevant are as
See MoreEU: Countering “carousel” VAT fraud
The Council of the European Commission affirmed on 22 July 2013 that the appropriation of measures to empower EU Member States to address VAT fraud, with directive provisions that take into account fast response and in addition a particular measure
See MoreCroatia: New excise duty imposed on energy products
Croatia has recently passed a number of new laws and regulations in connection with its entry to the European Union (EU). On 23 July 2013, the Ordinance regulating excise duty on energy products entered into force in Croatia. With its entry to the
See MoreBelgium: Approval of “Fairness tax” on corporations
The tax measures under the budget control proposals previously announced by the Belgian government were adopted on 18 July 2013 by Parliament.The new “fairness tax” is included in the measures. Imposition rate of the fairness tax will be 5.15%
See MoreEU: Applications for customs duty relief
For enterprises which want to claim relief from customs duty regarding imports of specific goods into the European Union (EU), the following due date for filing applications is 31 July 2013. This relief from import duty normally applies to imported
See MoreECJ: Decision in the Ocean Finance case
The case of Paul Newey (trading as Ocean Finance) concerned a UK loan broker arranging loans between lenders and borrowers within the UK. Mr. Newey set up a Jersey company called Alabaster (CI) Ltd and gave this company the right to use the trading
See MoreCroatia joins European Union
Croatia became the 28 member of the European Union on July 1, 2013. For customs purposes, goods in free circulation in Croatia at the moment of accession are in free circulation throughout the enlarged EU, subject to transitional provisions in
See MoreECJ gives a preliminary ruling on the place of supply of storage services
RR Donnelly Global Turnkey Solutions Poland supplied services related to the storage of goods to companies located inside and outside the EU. The Polish government considered that the services were liable to VAT in Poland because they were services
See MoreECJ rules on relevance of contractual terms in VAT supply
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has reached a decision in the case of HMRC v Paul Newey t/a Ocean Finance (C-653/11). This case concerned the relevance of contractual terms to the identification of the supplier and recipient of services for the
See MoreECJ: Advocate General issues opinion on VAT and educational services
A question was referred to the ECJ by the Supreme Court of Poland in respect of VAT on educational services. The Advocate General has now issued an opinion on the case, which is however not binding on the ECJ which will issue its decision at a later
See MoreECJ: Finland refers a question on VAT on electronic publications
The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland on 23 April 2013 asked for a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in respect of the neutrality principle and its implications for the Finnish VAT on books in electronic form. The question put
See MoreGermany: Amendments to the taxation of portfolio dividends
A new law in respect of dividend taxation was published in the Federal Gazette on 21 March 2013. This law has been introduced following a decision of the European Court of Justice in 20 October 2011 which required a review of the taxation of
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