Malaysia: Budget-2018 introduces a number changes to GST

08 January, 2018

Malaysia's 2018 budget introduced a number of changes to the tax regime for goods and services. These include: The sale of newspapers, magazines and books is newly classified as a zero value Exempting municipal services from GST Exempting

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US: President signs tax cuts and jobs act

31 December, 2017

On December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). On 20 December  2017, both the US Senate and the House of Representatives approved the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with some minor changes to comply

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UK: Making Tax Digital – survey of small businesses and landlords

30 December, 2017

On 11 December 2017 HMRC published a survey of the attitudes of small businesses and landlords towards the requirements of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) changes to be introduced in the UK. This research commissioned by HMRC involved a survey of 2,900

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Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia and UAE to implement VAT

29 December, 2017

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are to introduce value added tax (VAT) from 1 January 2018 at a rate of 5%. Their new VAT systems will be in line with the terms of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Unified VAT Agreement. Four other

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IMF publishes report on the economic situation of Belgium

29 December, 2017

On 18 December 2017 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report on Belgium following discussions under article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. The report notes that the economy is recovering with a projected 1.75% rise in GDP

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Belgian Parliament enacts corporate tax reform

28 December, 2017

On 22 December 2017, the Belgian Parliament approved the major corporate tax reform that announced in 26 July 2017. The main proposal was related to gradually reduction of corporate income tax rate. Currently, the normal rate is 33.99% and this will

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IMF report comments on the economic position of Nigeria

23 December, 2017

On 22 December 2017 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a report on Nigeria following consultations under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. Economic activity expanded at an annual rate of 1.4% in the third quarter of 2017,

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IMF report looks at the UK economy

22 December, 2017

On 20 December 2017 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published on its website a report following consultations with the UK under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. The IMF report notes that owing to the aging population in the UK

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World Bank: Project to improve tax collection in Latvia

22 December, 2017

A press release of 18 December 2017 announced that the World Bank is to assist Latvia’s tax administration to increase tax collection by improving revenue mobilization and reducing compliance costs. The project is partly financed by the European

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Australia: New guidance on DPT

21 December, 2017

On 18 December 2017, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published a draft law companion guideline (LCG) 2017/D7 on Diverted profits tax (DPT) for public consultation. The draft Guideline addresses Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment Act 2017

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Portugal: Cabinet approves the Budget for 2018

21 December, 2017

On 27 November 2017, the Portuguese cabinet approved the Budget proposal for

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OECD: Tax Talk Summarizes Progress on Tax Topics

20 December, 2017

On 15 December 2017 the OECD gave an online Tax Talk to summarize the progress made on the various ongoing tax initiatives. Harmful Tax Practices Peer review reports on the exchange of tax rulings were published in December 2017. More than 10,000

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Japan issues tax reform plan for 2018

20 December, 2017

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan accepted a tax reform package on 14 December 2017. Based on the draft, a tax reform bill (The Bill) will be drafted. The bill will be submitted to Parliament and is expected to enter into force by the end

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Iceland: National Budget proposal for 2018

20 December, 2017

Iceland's Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs published an overview of the budget proposals for 2018 on 14th December 2017. The main tax changes in 2018 included in the fiscal budget proposal are as follows: The capital gain tax rate will

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UK: Withholding tax on payments for intellectual property used in the UK

18 December, 2017

On 1 December 2017 the UK published a consultation paper on extending royalty withholding tax in relation to connected persons not resident in the UK. Comments are invited from interested parties with a submission deadline of 23 February 2018. It

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IMF: Report comments on economic and fiscal position of Hong Kong SAR

18 December, 2017

On 29 November 2017 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report on its website following consultations with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. The Hong Kong

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Italy: CbC reporting requirements

17 December, 2017

The Italian Tax Authorities (ITA) issued a Protocol No. 275956 of 28 November 2017, regarding the change in the CBC reporting requirements. The Protocol instructs further implementation rules regarding the Law 208 issued on 28 December

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IMF: Report comments on the economic and fiscal situation of Tanzania

16 December, 2017

On 12 December 2017 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a report following discussions with Tanzania under Article IV of its articles of agreement. A Policy Support Instrument (PSI) program was approved in 2014 and the IMF report notes

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