Thursday, October 29, 2026
Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance announced a consultation on 22 October 2026 on the draft Tax Amendment Act 2026 (Abgabenänderungsgesetz 2026, or AbgÄG 2026) on 21 October 2026. The bill would amend 22 federal laws, with the Pillar Two global minimum tax rules at its centre. Pillar Two safe harbours Changes to the Minimum Taxation...
New Zealand’s tax authority, Inland Revenue (IR), opened consultation on 16 October 2026 on an exposure draft, PUB00535 (Draft QWBA QB XX/XX), which clarifies how the loss carry-forward rules apply when ownership continuity is breached. Titled “Income tax: Continuity of business activities – carrying forward losses arising in the income year of ownership continuity breach”,...
Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has launched new functions on its Pillar Two Portal from 26 October 2026. A Part 4AA entity of an in-scope MNE group can now file a top-up tax return and view and download notices of top-up tax assessment electronically. The functions apply to fiscal years beginning on or after...
Switzerland’s Federal Council adopted the amendment at its meeting in Bern on 21 October 2026. It implements two parliamentary motions with identical wording, which called for the guidance to apply in Switzerland one year later than the date scheduled internationally. What changes The amended ordinance stipulates that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)...
The Cyprus Tax Department has updated its Transfer Pricing webpage with Circular 5/2026, issued on 12 October 2026, revising the minimum or maximum rates set out in paragraphs 14, 18, and 25 of Circular 6/2023, which covers minimum transfer pricing documentation requirements and safe-harbour measures for taxpayers exempt from preparing a Local File. These safe...
Hungary’s government has presented a draft 2027 budget that pairs higher corporate and sectoral levies with tax relief for workers and families, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said in a speech before the agenda in Parliament on 19 October 2026. Magyar said the government would build a “fairer, developing and humane homeland” in place of a...
EU customs administration operated on dual tracks this week, processing 23,802 TARIC change records dominated by sweeping technical condition overhauls and forward-dated agricultural quota pipelines. At the operational border, authorities executed targeted trade-defence measures, activating a 15.800% duty on South Korean heavyweight thermal paper and specific duties reaching 531.20 EUR per tonne on Chinese preserved...
Austria’s Federal Council approved on 22 October 2026 a protocol amending the income and capital tax treaty with Qatar, signed on 3 May 2026. The protocol amends the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Austria and the Government of the State of Qatar for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of...
Targeted trade-defence action defined the UK Global Tariff this week as authorities enacted immediate import controls on suspension and mass polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from China, Mexico, and South Korea while allowing existing remedy measures on Chinese excavators to lapse. Outside the trade remedies sphere, regulatory movement remained concentrated in technical nomenclature maintenance across organic chemicals...
Germany’s diesel drivers are receiving only part of the temporary fuel-tax cut introduced by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government this month, according to an analysis by the Ifo Institute published on Thursday. The institute found that about 14 euro cents of the 17-cent-per-litre reduction had been passed on to diesel drivers over the past seven days....