German federal state of NRW will issue new tax assessments to taxpayers to clarify their actual tax burden
From March 2014, the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) will issue new tax assessments to taxpayers to clarify their actual tax burden for 2013, expressed as a percentage of gross income. The tax assessments will provide details of
See MoreFrance- Bank Account Regularization Requests
Almost 16,000 residents with undeclared foreign bank accounts have elected to regularize their tax situation in the last eight months, through a voluntary declaration of non-compliance. As of February 7, 2014 the tax authorities had received 15,813
See MoreCyprus to cut tax appeal waiting time
Cyprus's Justice Minister has promised that a new Administrative Court due to open in September will cut the waiting time for tax appeals. Tax cases currently take two years to process in the Supreme Court, but the time required to hear a case will
See MoreChile: New tax reporting format
The tax authorities have provided a new reporting format for the declaration that Chilean individuals and foreign individuals that have been domiciled or resident in Chile for more than 3 years must file a return by 19 March 2014 to report foreign
See MoreBelgium – Resident companies must file their corporate tax returns electronically
On 14 February 2014 a royal decree was published requiring resident companies to file their corporate tax returns electronically as from tax year 2014. E-filing will be mandatory for nonresident companies as from tax year 2015. An exception will
See MoreSouth Africa: Revenue Service increases Transfer Duty Refund System
The South African Revenue Service’s (SARS’s) will not process manual requests for Transfer Duty refunds after February 17, 2014. This is follows introduction of electronic submission for Transfer Duty declarations and an e-Account for Transfer
See MoreNamibia: Budget for 2014/15
The 2014-15 Budget was presented by the Minister of Finance on 19 February 2014, and includes the following measures: Corporate taxation: The non-mining corporate income tax rate will be reduced from 33% to 32%. VAT: The VAT registration
See MoreUS: Proposes tax break for investment in infrastructure fund
The US is planning a tax break for US companies if they invest in the fund to be set up by the proposed bipartisan Partnership to Build America Act. US companies would be able to repatriate a certain dollar amount in overseas and will be able to
See MoreUkraine: Reduces corporate income tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) rates
Ukraine has reduced corporate income tax and VAT rates from 1 January 2014. The reduced rates are: For corporate income tax: 18% from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014; 17% from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015; 16% from 1 January 2016. VAT
See MoreMalaysia: Flat corporate tax rate introduced for SMEs which merge
On 14 February 2014, the International Trade and Industry Minister announced a flat rate of 20% for 5 years for Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which have merged to form larger entities. Currently, SMEs only enjoy the reduced corporate tax rate of
See MoreLithuania : Loss carry forward limitations, extended incentives and reduced VAT rates
Losses carry forward limitations: Beginning in 2014, the ability of corporations in Lithuania to carry forward tax losses, for corporate income tax purposes, is limited. In calculating their corporate income tax for 2014 and subsequent tax periods,
See MoreColombia – New form for reporting withholding tax information
Colombia’s tax administration has recently released a new form to be used to make monthly information reporting of withholding tax. Form 350 reflects changes from the prior version of the form. Changes contained in the new form include a
See MoreArgentina: Income tax changes relating to share transfers and dividends
Changes have been made in Argentina to the income tax treatment of securities, the transfer of shares and dividend distributions. On 7 February 2014, Decree 2334 was published in the official gazette. This Decree implements income tax changes as
See MoreColombia: Filing deadlines for large taxpayers
Colombia has issued Decree 214/2014, under which taxpayers qualifying as large taxpayers as of 31 January 2014 (previously, 31 December 2013) must file their income tax returns between 1 March 2014 and 24 April 2014 within the deadlines established
See MoreUnited Kingdom – Supreme Court addresses cross-border group losses
The UK Supreme Court on 19 February 2014 issued its judgment relating to three remaining issues in the Marks & Spencer case—i.e., the case addressing a cross-border group relief claims. The Court found that the conditions for the “no
See MoreSouth Africa: Tax Guide for South African Shareholders Revised
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued a revised edition of its Tax Guide for Share Owners, which provides general guidance on the tax consequences of holding shares as trading stock compared to holding them as capital assets. The Guide
See MoreSpanish capital gains tax rules found to be discriminatory by Supreme Court
In a decision on 25 October 2013 in the Brambles France case (appeal No 1374/2011), Spain's Supreme Court ruled that the capital gains tax on non-residents may be discriminatory in some cases. The case involved a French company that sold its shares
See MoreRussia: Ministry of Finance clarifies the transfer pricing rules
The Ministry of Finance Letter No. 03-01-18/53941, issued on 10 December 2013, clarifies the rules to determine the income for controlled transactions purposes. The Ministry of Finance specified that transactions defined in article 105.14 of the Tax
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