UK: 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 MoreSingapore: Changes to Transfer Pricing Guidelines
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) published the third edition of the e-Tax Guide on the transfer pricing guidelines on 4 January 2016. The latest changes are summarized as follows: Amended guidance on the cost-plus method (CPM);
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 MoreWTO: Ministers Agree Nairobi Package
A number of measures have been implemented by Ministerial Decisions issued at the Tenth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that concluded in Nairobi on 19 December 2015. Preferences for LDC services The waiver period
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 MoreOECD: Mutual Agreement Procedure Statistics for 2014
On 24 November 2015 the OECD released the statistics on the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) for the 2014 reporting period. For OECD countries there were 2,266 new MAP cases in 2014. The inventory of MAP cases at the end of the reporting period was
See MoreOECD: Latin America and Caribbean Countries Discuss BEPS
A regional meeting was held in Costa Rica on 17 and 18 November 2015 to discuss the outcomes of the action plan on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). The participating countries explored ways of participating on an equal footing in the
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 MoreNigeria: Implications of BEPS proposals
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has incorporated into its tax audit procedures certain of the recommendations included in the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project. For instance, the tax authority is scrutinizing
See MoreG20 leaders approve final BEPS package
The leaders of the G20 group of countries approved the final package of measures to combat base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) at their meeting on 15 and 16 November 2015. The BEPS package is based on the fifteen action points addressed by the
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