Austria: Parliament and Federal Council approve Tax Reform Act 2015/16
The parliament (Nationalrat) and Federal Council (Bundesrat) approved the “Tax Reform Act 2015/16 (Steuerreformgesetz 2015/16)” with minor changes on 23 July
See MoreFrance introduces withholding tax on benefits from employment
On 17 June 2015, the Ministries of Finances and Budget declared that a withholding tax system for fringe benefits will be introduced in France and will come into effect from 1 January 2018. It is expected that the withholding tax will be processed
See MoreHong Kong: Exemption for offshore funds
The Hong Kong government has Gazetted the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No.2) Ordinance 2015, which seeks to extend the profits tax exemption for offshore funds to private equity funds. With the implementation of the Amendment Ordinance, transactions
See MoreCyprus: Parliament Enacts Tax Law Amendments
On 9 July 2015 the House of Representatives of Cyprus enacted into law a number of significant tax law proposals. The laws were published in the Cyprus Government Gazette on 16 July 2015. A number of changes to the Cyprus corporate and personal
See MoreWorld Bank and IMF announce further support for developing country tax administrations
The World Bank and the IMF announced on 10 July 2015 that they are launching an initiative to support developing countries in strengthening their tax administrations. Research has suggested that there is potential for lower income countries to
See MorePakistan: Budget for 2015/16
The Budget for the fiscal year 2015/16 (tax year 2016) was presented on 5 June 2015. The Budget proposals will basically take effect from 1 July. The proposed measures are summarized below: Corporate Tax: The corporate income tax rate is to be
See MoreKenya: 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 More