OECD: Tax policy developments after the financial crisis
A new OECD working paper entitled “The Tax Policy Landscape Five Years after the Crisis” published on 9 September 2013 looks at developments in tax policy in the five years since the financial crisis. The paper points out that in 2008 and 2009
See MoreOECD reports to G20 on tax matters
The OECD Secretary General submitted a report on tax issues to the G20 meeting on 5 and 6 September 2013. The first part of the report relates to progress made by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes; and the
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 MoreChina: OECD publishes working paper on China’s tax policy
An OECD working paper titled “Tax policy and tax reform in the People’s Republic of China” was published on 9 September 2013. The paper makes a comparison between OECD tax policies and those in China and looks at the ratio of tax to GDP and
See MoreKenya: The Revenue Authority adduces “force of attraction” rule
Kenya’s tax treaties generally follow the provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention. However despite the expectation under the OECD Model that only profits acquire or accumulate from Kenya and attributable to the permanent establishment should
See MoreOECD: Mutual agreement procedure statistics
Each year the OECD makes available statistics on the mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases in member countries and in some other partner economies that make these statistics available. The statistics for the 2012 reporting periods have now been
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 MoreOECD issues a report on managing service demand
The OECD’s Forum on Tax Administration has published a report on Managing Service Demand. This document sets out guidance for tax administrations on providing services for taxpayers, looking at how limited resources may be directed to service
See MoreOECD issues report on cooperative tax compliance
The OECD’s Form on Tax Administration has issued a report called “Cooperative Compliance: A Framework” setting out the progress made by various countries in implementing a cooperative approach to tax compliance and setting out the next steps
See MoreUN: provisional agenda for meeting of the committee of experts on international taxation
The UN’s Economic and Social Council has released the date and draft agenda for the ninth session of the UN committee of experts on international cooperation in tax matters. The meeting is to be held in Geneva from 21 to 25 October 2013. The
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 MoreOECD releases action plan on base erosion and profit shifting
Further to the previous work by the OECD in respect of base erosion and profit shifting and the consideration of this work by the G8 group of countries, the OECD has now produced an action plan of measures to combat the shifting of profits across
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