Tax-news.com News Headlines

Green Light For German Govt To Purchase Data Disc, by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels Last updated 13 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended the government’s highly controversial decision to purchase the stolen data disc, containing the names of around 1,500 Germans believed to hold bank accounts illegally in Switzerland. [ FULL STORY ]

US Senators Seek Wall Street Bonus Tax, by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York Last updated 12 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
US Senators Barbara Boxer and Jim Webb (pictured) have proposed legislation that would impose a tax on large bonuses paid by Wall Street banks and other firms that benefited from billions of dollars of taxpayer assistance in 2009. [ FULL STORY ]

China Complains To WTO On EU Shoe Tariffs, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Last updated 8 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
China has followed through on its threat last December to lodge a formal complaint against the European Union with the World Trade Organisation about the extension of anti-dumping duties on Chinese made shoes. [ FULL STORY ]

Nevis Ready To Become Major Player In Financial Services, by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com Last updated 8 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
Speaking recently, Nevis’s Finance Minister Laurie Lawrence reiterated the government’s commitment to establishing the territory as a major international player in the world of financial services. [ FULL STORY ]

Germany's Rüttgers Rebels Against Govt Tax Cut Plans, by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels Last updated 10 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister, Jürgen Rüttgers, has expressed his fierce opposition to the tax cut plans of the German coalition government, three months ahead of the state elections. [ FULL STORY ]

China To Enforce Tax And Registration System For E-Commerce, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Last updated 9 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
In accordance with 'Internet Information Services' (State Council Order No. 292), the Beijing Bureau of Industry and Commerce, responsible for business registration and regulation in China, said it wishes to revive 2008 plans to register and tax e-commerce in order to 'standardize its regulation and combat illegal Internet activities, promoting the integrity of the system'. [ FULL STORY ]

ANZO Points To Investor Concerns On Proposed NZ Property Taxes, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Last updated 9 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
The management board of AMP NZ Office Trust, New Zealand’s largest listed investor in prime commercial office property, while announcing its interim results, has expressed concerns about the impact of two of recommendations included in the recent report by New Zealand’s Tax Working Group. [ FULL STORY ]

DTA Between IOM And Malta To Enter Into Force, by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London Last updated 9 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
The Isle of Man government has announced the imminent entry into force of a comprehensive double tax agreement signed with Malta on October 23, 2009. [ FULL STORY ]

Ireland Meets Minimum International Transfer Pricing Standards, by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London Last updated 9 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
Irish Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has included in his 2010 Finance Bill measures to regulate transfer pricing, bringing it into line with 1995 OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations, and updated to include revisions such as the those on intangible assets. [ FULL STORY ]

Taiwan's President Wants FTA With Japan This Year, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Last updated 9 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
At a meeting with the new Japanese representative to Taiwan, President Ma Ying-jeou said that, together with a further strengthening of bilateral ties in a number of fields, he hopes Taiwan and Japan can conclude a free trade agreement this year. [ FULL STORY ]

Interest Free Loan In Breach Of Arms Length Principle, Says Indian Tribunal, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Last updated 9 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
The Delhi Income Tax Appellate has decided in the case of Perot Systems TSI (India) Ltd. that an interest-free loan to associated enterprises would not be consistent with the arm’s length principle of the transfer pricing provisions and a notional arm’s length interest can be imputed on the loan and taxed. [ FULL STORY ]

Pakistan Hopes To Obtain EU GSP+ Tariff Concessions, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Last updated 9 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
Zafar Mehmood, Federal Secretary for Commerce, at a meeting with the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has disclosed that Pakistan is to apply to the European Union for tariff concessions for its goods exports under the Generalised System of Preferences Plus arrangements. [ FULL STORY ]

Lenihan Outlines Raft Of Tax Changes In Irish Finance Bill, by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London Last updated 15 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
Irish Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan has published the Finance Bill 2010, which gives effect to numerous taxation measures announced in last December’s budget, including a 0.5% cut in value-added tax and the introduction of a 'domicile levy'. [ FULL STORY ]

Deutsche Bank To Pay UK GBP200m In Bonus Tax, by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London Last updated 15 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
German banking group Deutsche Bank has announced that it intends to pay around GBP200m (EUR225m) to the British government as a result of the new bank payroll tax. [ FULL STORY ]

Australian Government Refuses To Release Henry Tax Review, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Last updated 15 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
Australia’s Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, has made a statement to parliament confirming that the government has no intention of releasing the report of the Henry tax review at this stage. [ FULL STORY ]

Irish Tax Receipts Down 17%, by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London Friday, February 05, 2010
With the dawn of a new year, the Irish government was hoping that the January 2010 tax take figures would spark murmurs of hope for the Republic's financial situation. The recently released figures, however, merely show that tax revenues were considerably lower than in 2009. [ FULL STORY ]

Singapore And Japan Add TIEA Protocol To DTA, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Friday, February 05, 2010
Singapore and Japan have signed a protocol to incorporate into their existing double taxation agreement the new internationally-agreed Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes. [ FULL STORY ]

Ireland Leading Europe As An Innovation Hub, Survey Suggests, by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London Friday, February 05, 2010
A new pan-European business survey, released on February 1, 2010, has shown that the Ireland continues to lead the way in Europe as a hub for private and family-owned enterprises involved in investing in innovation, and in developing new products. [ FULL STORY ]

Think Tank Rubbishes UK Patent Box Plans, by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London Friday, February 05, 2010
Despite being welcomed by Britain's creative and research-intensive industries, a leading think thank has argued that the government's proposed 'patent box' regime will fail to encourage innovation. [ FULL STORY ]

St Vincent And The Grenadines 2010 Budget Presented, by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com Last updated 15 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
The Prime Minister and Finance Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonzalez, delivered his ninth budget speech this month. [ FULL STORY ]

Australia's DTA With Austria To Be Updated, by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Friday, February 05, 2010
Australia’s Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, has announced that negotiations to update Australia's double taxation agreement with Austria will take place in March 2010. [ FULL STORY ]

Russian Ministry Of Finance Considers New Oil Tax Regime, by Tatiana Smolenskaya, Tax-News.com, Moscow Friday, February 05, 2010
Faced with a budget deficit rising from 5.9% to 6.8% of GDP in 2010, the Russian Ministry of Finance has set up a working group to report by March 1 on the affordability of zero export duties on oil from East Siberia and other means of incentivising development in the East. [ FULL STORY ]

US Congress Debates Internet Sales Tax Question, by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington Last updated 15 hours ago \| Monday, February 08, 2010
The US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law has sat to discuss 'State Taxation: The Role of Congress in Defining Nexus.' The Tax Foundation advocated a physical presence standard in written testimony, especially in an age of e-commerce. [ FULL STORY ]

Mexican Water Boss Proposes Green Tax On Water, by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington Friday, February 05, 2010
Jose Luis Luege Tamargo, director of the National Water Commission (Conagua), has joined the debate on tax reform and recommended a tax on drinking water of about 1%, with revenues to be diverted to environmental projects, such as the re-forestation of upper watersheds. [ FULL STORY ]

French Tax On Bankers' Bonuses To Support SMEs, by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels Friday, February 05, 2010
Estimated at around EUR360m, the product of the windfall tax levied on bonuses, issued by France to market operators, is to be transferred in its entirety to Oséo, the public bank working to support small- and medium-sized enterprises, under an amendment put forward by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde. [ FULL STORY ]

More Ambition Needed To Repair UK Public Finances, Study Suggests,
by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London Friday, February 05, 2010

Whoever forms the government after the forthcoming general election in the UK should put in place a fiscal tightening more ambitious over the next Parliament than that set out in last month's pre-budget report, but without putting the recovery at undue risk with significant extra tax increases or public spending cuts in the coming year, researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies have argued. [ FULL STORY ]

Shakeup May Involve Tax Increases, Warns Jersey, by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London Friday, February 05, 2010
The Jersey government has warned that tax increases will likely be an inevitable feature of government proposals to save GBP50m each year, starting in 2011. [ FULL STORY ]

UK Govt Revises Down 50% Tax Revenue Estimate, by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London Thursday, February 04, 2010
UK Treasury minister Lord Myners has said that the government expects revenues from the new 50% top rate of income tax will be much lower than expected as taxpayers arrange their affairs to avoid paying it. [ FULL STORY ]

EU Approves Greek Stability Programme, by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels Thursday, February 04, 2010
The European Commission has assessed Greece's Stability Programme, and has approved the ambitious budget-deficit reduction targets outlined, as well as the fiscal measures and structural reforms contained in the programme. [ FULL STORY ]

Recent UK Tax Changes Spark New Interest In VCTs, by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London Friday, February 05, 2010
With the end of tax year approaching, commentators are predicting a bumper year for UK Venture Capital Trusts in light of the forthcoming increase in the top rate of income tax in the UK, as well as the reduction in pensions tax relief for higher earners. In fact one commentator predicts demand to surge by 70% on the previous year. [ FULL STORY ]