Kazakhstan: VAT withdraws

25 September, 2015

Kazakhstan has accepted plans to withdraw its VAT regime next year and it will be substituted with a simple sales tax. This sales tax will be levied at 12% regarding cash payments. To discourage non-disclosure, there will be a 7% discount on this

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Czech Republic: Filing date VAT ledger statements

25 September, 2015

The government has revealed its plans to amend the tax law and it seems the changes would not totally affect the income tax law. All taxpayers who claim for value added tax (VAT) deductions will have to file VAT ledger statements that means

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Namibia-Proposed VAT and Income Tax Amendments

24 September, 2015

The Namibian Minister of Finance submitted the Value-Added Tax (VAT) Amendment Bill and the Income Tax Amendment Bill to the National Assembly on 22 September 2015. The changes to the VAT Act will become effective from the first day of the month

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UK: Summary of responses to penalties discussion document

21 September, 2015

On 17 September 2015 HMRC issued a summary of responses to a discussion document on penalties. The original discussion document published on 2 February 2015 put forward five principles that should be the basis for any tax penalty regime. These are

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UK: Research Report on Effect of the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings

19 September, 2015

Although most residential property in the UK is owned directly by individuals in some cases the property is owned by a company or other corporate structure. The property can then be said to be enveloped in a corporate wrapper. Until 1 April 2013

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UK: Research into company investment decisions

18 September, 2015

A research report on profit distribution and investment patterns of unlisted companies was published on the HMRC website on 17 September 2015. The quantitative and qualitative research looks at the reasons for company behaviour including tax

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Ireland explains approach to VAT and portfolio management services

17 September, 2015

Following the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in the Deutsche Bank case concerning the value added tax (VAT) treatment of portfolio management services the Irish Revenue issued an eBrief on 4 September 2015 to explain its approach to the

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UK: HMRC Publishes Results of Large Business Panel Survey 2014

08 September, 2015

The results of the Large Business Panel Survey for 2014 have been published on HMRC’s website. The survey of large businesses was performed in late 2014 and early 2015. The aim was to track and assess the views of businesses on the services

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ECJ: decision on time of supply of services for VAT purposes

06 September, 2015

On 3 September 2015 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a decision in the case of Asparuhovo Lake Investment Company. The case had been referred to the ECJ by the Administrativen sad in Bulgaria and concerned the time of the chargeable event

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ECJ: decision in Groupe Steria case on freedom of establishment

05 September, 2015

On 3 September 2015 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a decision in the Groupe Steria case which concerned the application of the principle of freedom of establishment under EU law. In the relevant years the parent company of the group was

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Austria: Reduced VAT rate increase in 2016

05 September, 2015

Austrian government announced in the 2016 Budget that the reduced VAT rate will increase to 13% from 10% on the following services: Cultural events, including entrance to public museums and galleries Domestic air travel Sales of certain

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UK: HMRC issues updated guidance on accelerated payments

25 August, 2015

On 20 August 2015 the UK tax authority HMRC published on its website a fact sheet containing updated information on the requirement to make accelerated payments in connection with tax avoidance schemes. A tax avoidance scheme is defined for this

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China: Tax incentives for small and low-profit enterprises

23 August, 2015

On August 19, State Council of China decided to improve the tax breaks available for small and low-profit enterprises. Small and low-profit enterprises can pay their income taxes at the rate of 20% with following conditions: any industrial

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Romania: Parliament confirmed VAT rate cut to 20% 2016

21 August, 2015

The Romanian Parliament yesterday agreed the standard VAT rate would be reduced from 24% to 20% on 1 January 2016. The rate would be reduced again to 19% in January 2017. The Government plan to cut VAT rate 19% in 2016 but IMF and EU was opposed to

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UK: taxation of dividend income of individuals

20 August, 2015

On 17 August 2015 the UK tax authority HMRC issued a fact sheet explaining the new rules for taxation of dividends received by individuals. With effect from April 2016 the current dividend tax credit is to be scrapped and a dividend allowance of

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Spain: IMF conference call considers tax policy issues

18 August, 2015

On 14 August 2015 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the transcript of a conference call held to clarify issues arising from the discussions with Spain under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. As Spain’s public debt is

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UK: Increase in tax cases going to litigation

18 August, 2015

The number of tax disputes going to litigation in the UK has hit record levels, with the number of tax cases waiting to go to a tribunal more than doubling over the last five years. The statistics for 2014 show that there were 29.566 appeals to the

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Saudi Arabia: IMF comments on economic and fiscal policy

18 August, 2015

On 17 August 2015 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a report following the conclusion of consultations with Saudi Arabia under Article IV of the IMF articles of agreement. Real GDP growth is estimated to slow to 2.8% in 2015 and to 2.4%

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