Taiwan: Cabinet approves draft amendments to Income Tax Act
The Executive Yuan (Cabinet) approved draft amendments to the Income Tax Act on 12 October 2017. The draft proposals include the following: Corporate income tax rate increases from 17% to 20%. Standard dividend withholding tax rate raises from
See MoreIndia: Clarification guidelines for establishing place of effective management
The Central Board of Direct Taxes recently issued a circular (No. 25 of 2017) on 23 October 2017. This circular clarifies that, as long as the regional headquarter operates for subsidiaries/group companies in a region, within the general and
See MoreSwitzerland: Automatic Exchange of country-by-country reports enters into force
On 18th October 2017 during its meeting, the Federal Council decided to bring a law on the International Automatic Exchange of Country-by-Country Reports of Multinationals into force on 1st December 2017. Under the new law, CbC reporting obligations
See MoreNew Zealand: The Council strengthens smokefree policy
Auckland Council has strengthened their Smokefree Policy to make all al fresco dining on footpath and Beaches areas smokefree. The new policy, which will come into effect from November 2017, requires all cafés and restaurants with licenses to
See MoreBelgium: Corporate tax reform
On 27 October 2017, according to a press release, on the proposal of the Minister of Finance, the government approved the corporate tax reform. The corporate tax reform process would take place in two phases, 2018 and 2020. Under the tax reform,
See MoreOECD: Comments published on tax challenges of digitalisation
On 27 October 2017 the OECD published comments received on the tax challenges of digitalization. A request for input had been published on 22 September 2017 inviting responses from interested parties with a deadline of 13 October 2017. Despite this
See MoreOECD: Implementation guidance for VAT on cross-border sales
On 24 October 2017 the OECD issued new implementation guidance on collecting consumption taxes on cross-border sales. The document is entitled “Mechanisms for the Effective Collection of VAT/GST Where the Supplier is Not Located in the
See MoreRussia: Government proposes to introduce an environmental tax on cigarettes
The Ministry of health of Russia proposed to introduce an environmental tax on cigarettes for manufacturers, according to a draft of the “concept of state policy on combating tobacco consumption for years 2017-2022 and beyond”. This is
See MoreItaly: Cabinet approves 2018 budget bill
The Council of Ministers of Italy approved the draft Budget Law for 2018 on 16 October 2017. The main tax measures according to the approved Budget law are as follows: -incentives specifically on the temporary accelerated depreciation regime, the
See MoreIndia extends due date for filing of CbC report for the accounting year 2016-17 to 31.03.2018
On 25 October 2017, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued Circular No. 26/2017 of 25 October 2017 stated that it will extend the due date for multinationals to furnish a country-by-country (CbC) report for the accounting year 2016-17
See MoreSwitzerland reduces e-book VAT
As of January 1, 2018, Switzerland is to reduce the value-added tax on e-books from 8% to 2.5%. This means that the VAT rate for electronic books will be the same as in printed books. The standard VAT rate will also reduced from 8% to 7.7% on the
See MoreTurkey: Revenue Administration publishes draft Communiqué 3 on APAs
The Revenue Administration published draft General Communiqué No. 3 on October 24, 2017 regarding transfer pricing. This provides amendments to Section 6 of General Communiqué No. 1. According to draft General Communiqué No. 3, definitions of
See MoreNorway: Proposal to increase VAT rate
Norway has proposed to increase the reduced rate of VAT, as from 1 January 2018 by 10% to 12%. Reduced value-added tax is applicable to the public transport, hotel accommodation, and access to cinemas, museums and amusement parks, but the standard
See MorePakistan: SME and export sectors are exempted from regulatory duty
On 16 October 2017, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has said that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and export-oriented units are exempted from paying regulatory duty levied through SRO 1035(I)/2017 on the import of raw material and
See MoreUAE: MoF still works with VAT regulations
The Ministry of Finance is still in the process of preparing the executive VAT regulation, in coordination with the concerned authorities. The Finance Ministry is committed to working with the highest levels of transparency and disclosure
See MoreNetherlands: The new Dutch Government publishes Policy Paper
The new Dutch government published its Policy Paper on 10th October 2017. The paper highlights the policy of the new Dutch government for the next four years. The new four-party coalition government was formed after extensive negotiations after the
See MorePortugal: Budget for 2018 presented to the Parliament
The Portuguese Budget Bill for 2018 was presented to the Parliament on 13 October 2017. The most important features of the Budget Bill are as follows: -Gains derived from the transfer of shares or rights of non-Portuguese entities, with more than
See MoreOECD: Report on peer reviews of preferential tax regimes
A report released by the OECD on 16 October 2017 noted that countries are dismantling or amending almost 100 preferential tax regimes as part of the implementation of standards under the project on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). The report
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