Portugal: Tax law changes affecting corporate and individual taxpayers

24 February, 2014

The recently enacted changes following the 2014 budget proposals include some key changes to the corporate taxation regime as well as other tax law provisions: Reduction in the rate of corporate income tax, from 25% to 23%, for 2014; Expanded

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South Africa: Revenue Service increases Transfer Duty Refund System

24 February, 2014

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

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Singapore: New guidance on GST and income tax treatment of virtual currencies

24 February, 2014

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has published guidance on GST and income tax treatment for virtual currencies. For GST purposes, virtual currencies will be treated as a supply of services, which does not qualify for GST

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Namibia: Budget for 2014/15

24 February, 2014

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

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Denmark: Modifications to cash payment incentive for research and development

24 February, 2014

The Danish parliament adopted Bill (L 103) on 29 January 2014, under which companies may apply for a maximum cash incentive amounting to 24.5% of DKK 25 million for qualifying R&D costs from 2014. The cash incentive is to be computed on a

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Austria’s Finance Minister clarifies FTT Start in 2016

24 February, 2014

Austria’s Finance Minister has clarified that a European Union (EU) financial transactions tax (FTT) will not come into effect until at least 2016. Austria’s State Budgets for 2014 and 2015 will reflect the delays and will not make provision for

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Vietnam: Individual Income Tax Guidance for 2013

23 February, 2014

General Department of Taxation in Vietnam has confirmed the guidance in January 2014 on personal income tax for 2013 providing methodologies on how to calculate taxable income and tax liabilities for net and gross employment contracts. Tax

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US: Proposes tax break for investment in infrastructure fund

23 February, 2014

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

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US: Internal Revenue Service (IRS) loses appeal on the reforms of legislation for tax preparers

23 February, 2014

The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has lost its appeal on the reforms of rules for tax preparers against the ruling by the court that ordered to stop enforcing regulatory requirements on tax return preparers. The ruling is important

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Ukraine: Reduces corporate income tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) rates

23 February, 2014

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

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UK: National audit office reports unrecovered tax debt of GBP15.1bn

23 February, 2014

National audit office of UK has reported that that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is owed at least GBP15.1bn in unpaid debt. The report also adds that the Government should revise this responsibility and thus the recovery of tax credit over payments

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UK: publishes draft legislation to eliminate stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

23 February, 2014

HMRC has published for consultation a draft Statutory Instrument and a Tax Information and Impact Note on 17 February 2014. It was intended to abolish of stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax on transfers of interests in Exchange Traded Funds

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UK refuses to reduce tourism VAT rate

23 February, 2014

The UK Government has refused to reduce tourism VAT rate with an argument that there is no connection between tax subsidies and the number of tourist. The Members of Parliament who supported the proposal of reducing VAT on tourism have said that the

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Spain: National court decides intra-group debt transaction as fraud of law

23 February, 2014

The Spanish National Court decides the case of Sabic Innovative against the tax administration (Appeal 367/2010) as fraud of law. The Court ruled that the intra-group debt transaction is usually tax-driven and did not have an economic or business

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Slovak Republic: plans to raise its tax revenue by 0.3% of GDP in 2014

23 February, 2014

Slovak Republic has planned to raise its tax revenue in 2014 than previous year forecast. The government forecast to collect 189 million Euros ($259 million) or about 0.3 percent of GDP which is more than it forecast in the budget as the government

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Singapore – Budget 2014 to be presented on 21 February 2014

23 February, 2014

Singapore's annual budget is prepared for each financial year, which begins on 1 April of every calendar year and ends on 31 March of the next calendar year. The budget includes the revised government revenue and expenditure projections for the

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Russia: Clarification regarding tax treatment

23 February, 2014

On 18 December 2013 the Russian Ministry of Finance (MoF) published Letter No. 03-08-05/55702, clarifying the tax treatment of contractual penalties paid by a Russian company to a Ukrainian company for violation of the contractual terms. According

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Russia: Clarification regarding residence rules of partnership income

23 February, 2014

The Russian Ministry of Finance (MoF) allotted Letter No. 03-08-05/1229,on 17 January 2014, clarifying whether income received by a US partnership may be subject to tax according to the Russia–United States Income and Capital Tax Treaty (1992).

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