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Cyprus Imposes 19% VAT on Building Land

Published: 19/01/2018 | news

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#Cyprus #Taxes #VAT

From January 2, 2018 in Cyprus, the new VAT Law has entered into force, providing for changes in the main VAT Law No.95(I)/2000. The document introduces VAT at a standard rate for the sale of building land, as well as leasing/rental of business premises on the conditions specified in the law. It also introduces the reverse charge mechanism for VAT-subject supplies of land and property under a loan restructuring/force-sale arrangement, which will mostly influence financial institutions. Imposition of VAT at the standard rate of 19% on building land The standard VAT rate of 19% will be applied in the following cases: transfer of ownership; transfer of indivisible land portion; transfer of ownership via contract or sale agreement or agreement which specifies that the ownership will be transferred in the future or leasing agreement with buyout option. The above shall apply to non-developed building land which is meant for the construction of one or more structures in the course of carrying out a business activity. More clarifications are still needed for the application of the law, such as the circumstances whereby a transfer is not considered to be a part of a person’s...

CMU Has Approved the Concept and Action Plan for Development of Digital Economy in Ukraine until 2020

Published: 18/01/2018 | news

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#Legislation #Reforms #Ukraine

Yesterday, on January 17, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved an order “On the approval of the development concept of the digital economy and society of Ukraine for 2018-2020 and approval of a plan of action for its implementation”. This is reported by the IA “RBC-Ukraine”. The project is mainly aimed at implementing the initiatives of the “Digital Agenda of Ukraine-2020” in order to remove the barriers for the digital transformation of Ukraine in the most promising fields by stimulating the economy and attracting investments, as well as overcoming the digital inequality, deepening cooperation with the EU in the digital sphere and developing innovative infrastructure of the country and digital transformations. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman wrote about it on his Facebook page: “The adopted Action Plan is very ambitious and innovative - it provides for the development of Industry 4.0, smart factory, digital jobs, STEM-education and digital educational services, digital infrastructures for the Internet things, blockchain, eHealth and e-security, etc. Ukraine is obliged today to launch a large-scale digitization of all branches of the economy...

Ministry of Finance Reforms Institution of Financial Liability for Tax Violations

Published: 30/11/2017 | news

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#Cyprus #VAT

Recently the Ministry of Finances of Ukraine, together with the experts from the interactive tax platform TaxLink, has developed a bill “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the improvement of the prosecution system for violation of tax laws”. The essence of the document is to reform the liability for tax violations provided by the current legislation. First of all, the bill introduces more effective mechanisms for the settlement of tax disputes in cases when the violation of tax law happened not due to the fault of the payer. In addition, it is proposed to introduce the principle of fault liability of taxpayers which is inherent in all branches of Ukrainian legislation, in contrast to the current liability of the payer without fault. Therefore, the last one will be considered guilty if found guilty that he was able to comply with the relevant rules and regulations, but did not take the necessary measures for this. In this regard, when considering the verification materials by the supervisory authority, the documents of the taxpayer may be subject to the examination that show his due diligence. Another significant innovation is the introduction of the system of...

Undistributed profit in Latvia is exempt from CIT

Published: 01/09/2017 | news

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#CIT #CIT #Dividends

On the 4th and 11th of July, 2017 the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia approved a number of draft laws providing for the significant changes in the tax legislation of the country which will enter into force on January 1, 2018. The most significant of them will be the application of the CIT 0% rate for the reinvested profits. In other words, the enterprise will be subject to the corporate income tax only if it pays dividends or other payments for the purpose of actual distribution of the profits (conditionally distributed profit). Therefore since 2018, the company's profits are exempted from CIT, but it has to pay 20% of the income tax from the amount of dividends. At the same time, the shareholders will not have to pay personal income tax (PIT). Although, according to the bill, the CIT rate is 20%, and the tax base should be divided by a factor of 0.8, the effective tax rate actually equals 25%. It is notably that CIT will be applied not only to the dividends in the traditional sense, but also to the "deemed dividends", which are considered a new concept in Latvian tax legislation, and comparable with the dividends to the costs. Here it is important to note that the last ones...

Australia needs tax reform

Published: 20/12/2016 | news

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#Australia #Reforms

James Pearson, the CEO of the Australian chamber of commerce and the industry (ACCI) told that the country "needs tax reform on a wide basis, but not gradual approach for the purpose of stimulation of economic growth". The real gross internal product (GIP) as predict, grows for two percent in 2016-17, and for 2.75 percent in 2017-18. The main cash deficit as expect, will fall from 2.1 percent of GDP in 2016-17 to 0.5 percent in 2019-20. The net debt as it is supposed, will reach a maximum in 19 percent of GDP in 2018-19, and then will decrease for the medium-term period approximately to 10 percent. The size on recovery of the budget that took place from a general election in May, costs more than 22 billion Australian dollars (16 billion US dollars). The treasurer Scott Morrison told that for maintenance of economic growth, the government will continue to perform the plan for workplaces and growth that will allow to raise level of living and will support a profit increase. He told that the government remains careful in taxation by high taxes of the Australian economy on the ground that it limits growth and therefore the income. This assumption provides to the government...

EU Council approves the following actions of international tax reform

Published: 09/12/2016 | news

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#EU #Reforms

On December 6 meeting, the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) approved a number of measures for improvement international observance of the tax legislation. Specifically, the ECOFIN provides access for tax authorities to information, held by authorities responsible for prevention of money laundering; reached a consensus on the Directive project that aimed at closing of “hybrid mismatches” with the taxation systems of three countries; also made the decision concerning the offer to recommence the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). The Directive on exchange of information on beneficial owners of the companies it is intended to support tax authorities controlling the correct application of tax rules, thereby helping to prevent tax avoidance and tax fraud. At the second stage after the intensive discussions, Council agreed to stabilize the document for the majority of provisions Directive's plan about hybrid mismatches, leaving only two questions to solve them on the next weeks: rules that would allow Member States to apply the limited benefits and date of realization. “This directive will prevent corporate taxpayers for exploiting...

Australian pension tax reforms are approved

Published: 01/12/2016 | news

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#Australia #Reforms

On November 23 the amendment of Treasurer laws (fair and stable pension) the bill of 2016 and contributions to the pension fund (excess tax balance transfer) taxation bill in 2016 was adopted. In joint release, the Treasurer Scott Morrison and the minister of the income Kelly O'Dwyer told: "The package of proposals on reform of pension fund contributions, the best purpose of tax benefits to make our pension system fair and stable as aging of the population and tax difficulties increase." The legislation performs following operations: allows for pensioners to make, "approximation" to concessional contributions with balance below 500,000 Australian dollars; introduce the maximum amount of the transfer balance of 1.6 million Australian dollars, sets the amount of restriction, which person can transfer into the pension phase of the non-taxable income; removes "10 percent rule" (the profitable test) to provide equal conditions for access to pension fund contributions of tax benefits, irrespective of a situation of employment person; introduces tax compensation of the pension low income. Such measures will come into force since July 1, 2017. "Ninety six percent of people...

Kevin Brady:” The American tax reform won’t influence the income of the state”

Published: 18/11/2016 | news

Tags:

#Reforms #USA

The representative of the budget committee Houses of Representatives Kevin Brady pointed out, that the American tax reform, which he expects to offer at the beginning of 2017, "will break even" on a dynamic basis of winning, which is additional revenue from increased economic growth. During a television interview with Fox News on November 16, Brady discussed how the Republican faction and president-elect Donald Trump will "co-operate to ensure for pro-growth tax reform." He explained that "we provide tax code so honestly and simply, that 95 percent of Americans will be able to use a file with a card system. Second, we reduce the rates for our local businesses and redesigning the way they are taxed, so that they can compete and win anywhere in the world, but especially here at home. And finally ... we propose to destroy the IRS, to redesign it in a much smaller, bespoke agency focused on customer service. This is our 'Built for Growth' tax plan." He told that the plan instead of reducing the tax revenue and to increase the American financial deficit, "will become profitable within the budget, knowing that from it the economy will grow. By our estimates, it will raise economy...

The Swiss government supports corporate tax reform

Published: 31/10/2016 | news

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#Reforms #Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Council announced its support for the proposed changes to the corporate tax base in Switzerland, known as - Corporate Tax Reform III (CTR III), on the eve of a referendum on the issue, which will be held early next year. CTR III cancel corporate tax arrangements, which are no longer in line with international standards. These primarily include the cantonal tax status, for possession of residential and mixed companies. "With regard to measures of tax legislation, the focus is on the promotion of innovation," said Federal Department of Finance on 27 October. "In general, the reform will allow Switzerland to remain an attractive location for companies, and for each canton, the ability to adapt their fiscal policies in the economic and financial situation," said a department statement. "Reform will prevent a mass exodus of existing companies with the status and thus, the possible tax losses amounting to more than CHF 5 billion (USD 5 billion) for the Federation, the cantons and communes." Author: Sergey Panovmanaging partner Finance Business...

The German parliament approved the reform of inheritance tax

Published: 18/10/2016 | news

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#Germany #Reforms

The upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat (Federal Council) approved a bill to tighten eligibility criteria for inheritance tax incentives for family businesses. These changes mean that the tax exemption will be abolished inheritance in excess of EUR 90 million (USD 98.7 million). In total, the exemption from inheritance tax will be applied in most cases, but only if the company has been working for at least seven years, and retains the same level of employment. Companies in which five employees are working, or less, will be automatically exempt from inheritance tax without any limitation, as compared to 20 employees in accordance with the existing rules. The new law will be applied retrospectively (ex-post), with the July 1, 2016. Changes in the rules of inheritance tax in Germany, was caused by the decision of the Constitutional Court in 2014, stating that the existing rules violate the principle of fiscal equality. Inheritance tax benefited thousands of family firms, which employ more than 50 percent of the German workforce. However, they also talk about the consolidation of inequality and the accumulation of wealth among a relatively small number of...

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