US & Mexico finalize agreement on sugar import investigations
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on December 19, 2014 that it had finalized agreements with the Government of Mexico and Mexican sugar exporters to suspend antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on imports of sugar.
See MoreJapan: Consumption Tax on nonresident providers of electronic services from 1 October 2015
Japan is moving forward with proposals to subject sales by non-resident providers of electronic services to consumers to the 8% Consumption Tax from 1 October 2015. The change comes as a result of pressure by local providers who are penalized by
See MoreGreece: Released templates and guidelines for APA Negotiations
The Greek Ministry of Finance has recently released template application forms for preliminary consultations and formal negotiations, as well as additional guidelines on the overall APA procedure and changes on corporate income tax. On 6 September
See MoreFinland: Parliament approves Budget Bill For 2015
The Finnish Parliament approved the Budget of around 53.9 billion euros for 2015 on 19 December, 2014. A summary of the Budget is as follows: Total Budget amount is 53.9 billion euros. Deficit of 4.7 billion euros which will be covered by
See MoreEU Parliament approves Budget for 2015
On December 17, 2014, at its plenary session Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved the draft EU budget for 2015 and a top-up for the 2014 budget with 443 votes for, 250 against and 43 abstentions in the French city of Strasbourg. The
See MoreLatvia: Parliament adopts the State Budget for 2015
The Latvian Parliament adopted the state budget for 2015 on 17 December, 2014. The state budget for 2015 preserves the existing tax policy and does not envisage an increase in current tax rates. The income gap will be reduced by increasing the
See MoreLithuania Accepts the Amendments to the Law on State Social Insurance
The Lithuanian parliament adopted the amendments to the Law on State Social Insurance on 11 December 2014. If the President approves the amendments, they will enter into force on 1 January 2015. According to the amendments, the taxable base for
See MoreUS: Senate Passes Tax Extenders Bill
The US Senate approved the “Tax Extenders Bill” on 16 December, 2014. The bill, which extends the life of a number of tax breaks through 2014, passed the Senate 76 to 16. Only 60 votes were needed for approval. Dozens of temporary tax breaks,
See MoreUkrainian Cabinet Dissolves DTA With Cyprus
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the draft law on the denunciation of the Cyprus - Ukraine Income Tax Treaty (2012), on December 17, 2014. Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatseniuk said that when the convention was signed in 2012, it
See MoreFrance: Assembly Passes Second Draft Finance Bill For 2014
The draft amending budget for 2014 was passed at first reading by the French assembly on 9 December 2014. The legislation also has been passed by the Senate, and enactment is now expected before the end of 2014. This second draft Finance Amendment
See MoreChina: SAT Regulates the Administration of the GAAR
Recently, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) issued the Administrative Measures on the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) to further regulate and clarify various matters, such as applicable scope, judging criteria, adjustment methods,
See MoreNigeria: Tax withheld on dividends from gas operations
A decision of a case entitled “Nigeria Agrip Co. Ltd v. Federal Inland Revenue Service (10th December 2014)” has been issued by the Tax Appeal Tribunal and it states that dividends paid by a gas exploration and production company and paid out of
See MoreNigeria: Non-resident companies has made deduction of recharges
The Court of Appeal has set a decision about a case entitled Federal Board of Inland Revenue v. Halliburton (WA) Limited (CA/L/320/2009) on 2nd December 2014 for determining whether by requiring Halliburton WA to pay tax on the amounts received
See MoreEcuador: Tax Reform Proposed
A Tax Reform bill was sent by the President of Ecuador to the National Assembly for discussion, on 28 November 2014. There are several changes in the proposed Tax Reform Bill to the current tax law. The changes are following: The general
See MoreUK: Government publishes draft tax legislation to implement Budget and Autumn Statement 2014 policies
The government of UK has published draft tax legislation on December 10, 2014 which will implement policies published at Budget 2014 and Autumn Statement 2014. The government has also published responses to related policy consultations which took
See MoreCanada: Exemption of tax for immigrant trusts ends
The immigrated individuals in Canada within the previous 5 years and has built a non-Canadian resident trust prior to their immigration need to be alert that the income tax exemption from immigrant trusts expires after 31st December 2014. According
See MoreKazakhstan: President has signed a Law for amending Tax Code
The President of Kazakhstan has signed a Law No. 257-V on 28th November 2014 for introducing amendments to the Tax Code. The following changes will enter into force from 1st January 2015: Due to calculate corporate income tax, withholding tax at
See MoreUAE: Memorandum of Understanding Signed with Free Zone
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ras al-Khaimah Free Trade Zone, (RAK FTZ) on 17th November, 2014 (WAM). This agreement ensures that the free zone complies with the
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