US agrees to tax talks with India under mutual agreement procedure

09 February, 2014

Following an approach by India the US tax authorities for finding a solution to tax cases of about 100 US companies that have opted for the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP), the US has now agreed for a meeting next month to discuss MAP, advance

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United Kingdom – Proposals related to tax disputes and identifying scheme promoters

09 February, 2014

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has issued consultation documents which include proposals for taxpayers to make accelerated payment of tax that is in dispute or subject to enquiry and for identifying “promoters” of tax avoidance schemes. The

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United Kingdom – Councils to Retain Tax Revenues from Shale Gas Developments

09 February, 2014

On 13 January 2014, the UK Prime Minister announced that the local councils in the U.K. that approve shale gas developments will be able to retain 100 percent of business rates collected from local shale gas sites, doubling the current 50 percent

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Turkey Raises Consumer Taxes

09 February, 2014

Turkey intends to increase state revenues by raising indirect taxes, fines and fees. An announcement by the Council of Ministers of Turkey on 1 January 2014 will increase purchase taxes on cars, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and mobile phones, as

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Spain extends latest deadline for cash accounting

09 February, 2014

The opportunity for Spanish companies to join the new cash reporting VAT scheme has been extend to 31 March 2014. The Spanish VAT cash accounting scheme was announced last year to help small businesses better manage their cash flows.  It enables

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Singapore levies Goods and Services Tax on Bitcoin

09 February, 2014

The Singapore tax authorities have recently issued guidance that the virtual digital currency, Bitcoin, is subject to Singapore goods and services tax (GST) at 7%. Although some financial services are exempt from VAT Bitcoin is regarded as a service

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Russia Considers Tax Break for Landlords

09 February, 2014

Russia's Economic Development Ministry has recently proposed cutting tax rates for citizens who lease their apartments. This measure aims to reduce the numbers of unregistered landlords. The proposal involves reducing the tax on rent revenues to

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OECD: BEPS-related transfer pricing documentation, country-by-country reporting draft guidance

09 February, 2014

On 31 January 2014 the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released an initial draft of revised guidance on transfer pricing documentation and country-by-country reporting. This is related to Action 13 under the Base

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Netherlands – Revised rules for employing foreign workers

09 February, 2014

A new law in the Netherlands (“Foreign Nationals Employment Act”), effective from 1 January 2014, concerns changes to the current labor market rules. The new law was followed by a re-write of the implementation rules. The law generally affects

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Netherlands – Planned pension changes

09 February, 2014

On 20 January 2014, a proposal was presented to amend pension accrual rates and impose a limit on “pensionable” income. The following measures are included in the proposed amendments: An adjustment to the maximum pension accrual rates; A cap

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Mexico settles issues with Maquiladoras

09 February, 2014

The President of the National Council of the maquiladora industry has commented that the sector has largely settled its differences with the Mexican government over tax issues, following the changes to the Mexican Government's tax reform bill which

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Italy: Law Decree published regarding voluntary disclosure procedure

09 February, 2014

On 29 January 2014 Law Decree No. 4 of 28 January 2014 was published in the Official Gazette. This Decree provided clarifications with regard to the voluntary disclosure procedure. The Law Decree entered into force also on 29 January 2014 and will

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India: Improvements to VAT compliance and administration procedures

09 February, 2014

Some improvements to the Indian VAT compliance and administration procedures have been announced to help traders. India’s VAT is a state level tax on the sale of goods.  The changes include plans to reduce the number of Indian VAT audits, the

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France – New VAT rates for 2014

09 February, 2014

With effect from 1 January 2014, the rates of value added tax (VAT) in France have been changed and are now as follows: The standard VAT rate is increased from 19.6% to 20%. The intermediary VAT rate which is applicable to the food service

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Switzerland: Safe harbor rules apply to intra-group interest rates

09 February, 2014

Under a Circular of 30 January 2014 the safe harbor interest rate on loans received by shareholders or related parties denominated in CHF are 1.5% on loans financed through equity, or for loans financed through debt the safe harbor rate is the

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Brazil – Social Security Tax on Exports to Trading Companies

09 February, 2014

The tax department has issued guidance clarifying that revenues from the sale of products to trading companies for the purpose of export are subject to social security taxation. Normative Instruction 1436 (IN 1436) released on 9 January 2014 was

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Belgium increases quarterly VAT return threshold

09 February, 2014

The normal rule is that VAT returns are submitted on a monthly basis in Belgium.  There is however a quarterly filing option for smaller businesses whose turnover is below a certain threshold.  The annual turnover threshold for companies

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Colombia: Thin capitalization provision

09 February, 2014

Under the Decree 3027 of 27 December 2013, the thin capitalization provisions interest is fully deductible up to a debt to equity ratio of 3:1. This applies to domestic and foreign loans from related or unrelated

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