France: Government publishes draft second Amendment Financing Act for 2017
On 15 November 2017, a second draft amending Finance Bill for 2017 was submitted to the French Council of Ministers and was submitted to the French Parliament. The draft law emphasized the following tax measures for the coming year. Anti-Evasion
See MoreChina passed a draft law to reinforce VAT reform
On 30 October 2017, the State Council executive meeting decided to abolish the business tax, which has been in force for over 60 years and decided to put an end to the provisional regulations on business tax and revise the provisional regulations on
See MoreChina: Tax benefits to boost small businesses
On 6 November 2017, according to a joint announcement by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, tax incentives will be expanded in China to reduce costs for agriculture-related and small-scale businesses, encouraging bank
See MoreItaly: Updated annual VAT declaration from 2018
Italy updated their annual VAT declaration process that will be effective from 2018. Italy changed the reporting frequency of VAT invoice listing submission from quarterly to bi-annually. There will also be various specific clarification on the
See MoreUK: Survey of business attitudes to VAT registration
Research commissioned by HMRC into business behaviour in relation to value added tax (VAT) registration looked into reasons why businesses register for VAT and their awareness of various aspects of VAT. The survey found that VAT registered
See MoreHungary: Proposal of increasing VAT registration thresholds
Hungary is working out a plot to strengthen its VAT registration threshold from HUF8 million to a hefty HUF12 million. This will be effective from 1 January 2019. The threshold will not be applicable for non-resident businesses, which must be
See MoreIndia: GST rate reduced to 18% from 28%
On 10 November 2017, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council reduced the tax rate on 178 items from 28% to 18%. GST Council also brought all AC and non-AC restaurants in the 5% GST bracket without the input tax credit (ITC). Only 50 items, mostly
See MoreUAE: MoF announces Executive Regulation for VAT
The Finance Ministry (MoF) announced the Executive Regulation for the Federal Decree-Law No. (8) of 2017 regarding Value Added Tax (VAT) at a Cabinet meeting on November 7, 2017, directed by the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Sheikh
See MoreMalaysia: Prime Minister announces the Budget for 2018
On October 27, 2017, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak presented the budget for 2018, outlining government plans to combat rising costs and limit the country's fiscal deficit. Some of the key fiscal tax measures are summarized as follows: Tax
See MoreArgentina: Treasury Minister announces tax reform plan
The Treasury Minister, Nicolas Dujovne, on October 31, 2017, announced a tax reform plan. This proposed tax reform includes tax procedure law, corporate income tax reduction, criminal law, individual income tax, social security contributions,
See MoreItaly: Cabinet approves 2018 budget bill
The Council of Ministers of Italy approved the draft Budget Law for 2018 on 16 October 2017. The main tax measures according to the approved Budget law are as follows: -incentives specifically on the temporary accelerated depreciation regime, the
See MoreSwitzerland reduces e-book VAT
As of January 1, 2018, Switzerland is to reduce the value-added tax on e-books from 8% to 2.5%. This means that the VAT rate for electronic books will be the same as in printed books. The standard VAT rate will also reduced from 8% to 7.7% on the
See MoreNorway: Proposal to increase VAT rate
Norway has proposed to increase the reduced rate of VAT, as from 1 January 2018 by 10% to 12%. Reduced value-added tax is applicable to the public transport, hotel accommodation, and access to cinemas, museums and amusement parks, but the standard
See MoreNetherlands: The new Dutch Government publishes Policy Paper
The new Dutch government published its Policy Paper on 10th October 2017. The paper highlights the policy of the new Dutch government for the next four years. The new four-party coalition government was formed after extensive negotiations after the
See MoreUAE: Free Zones not VAT free automatically
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Free Zones have been confirmed as not profiting from automatic VAT free status on the introduction of the new indirect tax from January 1, 2018. There are more than 40 Free Zones in the UAE. It generally locates at ports,
See MoreUAE: Penalties for noncompliance with VAT Law
The Council of Ministers adopted new fines and penalty fees for non-compliance with Value Added Tax (VAT) Law on October 2, 2017. These fines are imposed on businesses that don’t follow the new rules. Penalties for failing to follow to tax laws
See MoreMalta: Budget for 2018
On 9th October 2017, the Minister for Finance, Edward Scicluna presented the Budget for 2018. In this budget no new direct or indirect taxes were introduced, existing ones were left untouched. Major issues of budget for 2018 are following:
See MorePhilippines: Tax reform bill expected to be approved before year end
According to Filipino tax experts, the tax reform program of the tax administration may be passed into law before this year ends after it got the Senate's approval. The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) Bill is the first tax
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