Kenya: Finance Bill for 2015
The Finance Bill 2015 was presented to the National Assembly on 11 June 2015. The Bill contains far reaching improvements to different laws and regulations as well as introducing new tax laws. Corporate taxation The corporate tax rate for a
See MoreUK: New budget announcements for 2015/16
On 8 July 2015 the UK government announced a further set of budget proposals for 2015/16. This summer budget 2015 follows the general election and contains revisions and additions to the original budget proposals presented in March
See MoreRussia: Federal Council accepts amendments on CFC rules
The Russian Federation Council has accepted draft law, No. 714002-6 on 3rd June 2015 that contains changes to the Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules and the tax residency idea. It was signed by the President and officially published on 8th June
See MoreCyprus: Sweeping tax reforms to encourage foreign investors
Cyprus has announced a series of tax reforms which aim to sustain Cyprus as an even more attractive choice for Individuals and companies aiming to structure their worldwide investments using Cyprus as the jurisdiction of choice for holding
See MoreNigeria: ECOWAS common external tariff to be implemented
The Nigerian Customs Service has issued a circular on 23rd June 2015 for accepting the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (CET) 2015-2019. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana,
See MoreBangladesh: New Tax Provisions in Finance Bill 2015 Passed by Parliament
The Bangladesh Parliament passed the Finance Bill 2015 on June 29, 2015 with some changes in the tax provisions. The Finance Minister has increased the minimum amount of income tax for individuals residing in Dhaka and Chittagong. This year the
See MoreOECD publishes analysis of taxes on energy use
On 25 June 2015 the OECD published “Taxing Energy 2015 – OECD and Selected Partner Economies”. This analyses energy use in the 34 OECD countries and in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. For the purpose of the
See MoreMauritius signs Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters
On 24 June 2015 the OECD announced that Mauritius has signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention provides a framework for cooperation between tax authorities to exchange tax information,
See MoreUK: HMRC allocates more resources to customer service functions
The UK tax administration HMRC has announced the allocation of GBP 45 million to improve aspects of its customer service functions. Three thousand additional staff are enlarging the customer service teams, as well as two thousand staff that are
See MoreIMF comments on Australian fiscal policy
On 24 June 2015 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a concluding statement at the end of discussions with Australia under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. The strong income growth of the past two decades has slackened off
See MoreAustralia publishes reports on international tax issues
On 4 June 2015 the Australian Treasurer published certain reports on international tax issues for comment. These cover potential areas of tax reform including the following: The advantages of adopting the authorized OECD approach (AOA) in relation
See MoreCyprus outlines tax reforms in letter of intent to the IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published on its website a Letter of Intent from Cyprus, together with a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies and Technical Memorandum of Understanding, in connection with a request for financial
See MoreEU: action plan for fair and efficient corporate taxation
On 17 June 2015 the European Commission presented an Action Plan for fair and efficient corporate taxation in the EU. This sets out initiatives to address tax avoidance, ensure sustainable tax revenue and thereby improve the corporate tax
See MoreUganda: Budget for 2015
Uganda’s Finance Minister has presented the Budget for 2015. The Budget proposes raising the presumptive tax threshold from UGX 50 million to UGX150 million to develop tax compliance and increase tax certainty among small businesses. Thin
See MoreWTO reports on G20 trade measures
The World Trade Organization (WTO) issued its thirteenth trade monitoring report on G20 trade measures on 15 June 2015. The report shows a slowing down in the implementation of new restrictive trade measures in G20 countries. It is not clear if this
See MoreIMF issues concluding statement on consultations with the Netherlands
On 15 June 2015 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a concluding statement following consultations with the Netherlands government under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. The statement notes that the Netherlands economy
See MoreIMF discussion note on causes of income inequality
A staff discussion note was published on the IMF website on 15 June 2015 with the title “Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality: A Global Perspective”. The analysis finds that the gap between rich and poor in advanced economies is the
See MoreNew Zealand: Minister of Finance presents the Budget for 2015/2016
The Minister of Finance presented the Budget for 2015/2016 to Parliament on 21 May 2015. The Budget 2015/2016 deals only with domestic tax issues. The Budget contains the following proposals: Strengthening the tax rules applicable to property
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