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Dear Colleague,
This week:
I hope you find this update useful.
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Kind regards,
Kate James
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Tax-News.com
Headlines
WTO Talks End Without
Agreement,
by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels Thursday,
July 31, 2008 |
| WTO Director-General
Pascal Lamy announced on Tuesday that ministers attending trade
talks in Geneva had failed in their efforts to agree on blueprint
agreements in agriculture and industrial products. [
FULL
STORY ] |
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Court To Hear Evidence
In Tesco Tax Avoidance Case,
by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London Thursday,
July 31, 2008 |
| A High Court judge
has ruled that the Guardian newspaper can file evidence which
claims to show that UK retail giant Tesco set up a series of
offshore holding companies to avoid paying UK corporate tax.
[ FULL
STORY ] |
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FATF
Issues Mutual Evaluation Of Hong Kong,
by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong Thursday,
July 31, 2008 |
| The Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) has completed an assessment of the implementation
of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards
in Hong Kong, it was announced this week. [
FULL
STORY ] |
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IMF Calls On Japan
To Raise Consumption Tax,
by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Wednesday,
July 30, 2008 |
| While welcoming the
efforts being made by the Japanese government to balance its
budget by 2011, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on
Tuesday that consumption tax may have to be raised to curb public
debt and absorb rising social security costs. [
FULL
STORY ] |
 |
New Corporate Tax
Rules On Late Interest Payments Proposed In UK,
by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London Wednesday,
July 30, 2008 |
| The UK tax authority,
HM Revenue and Customs, has issued a consultation on proposed
changes to the laws relating to the deduction of interest on
late payments between connected companies, in the light of recent
judgments by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). [
FULL
STORY ] |
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Australian
Government Lauches Consultation On Fringe Benefits Tax,
by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong Wednesday,
July 30, 2008 |
| Australian
Assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen, has announced the launch of
a consultation by the federal government into certain aspects
of new Fringe Benefits Tax rules. [
FULL
STORY ] |
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| Onshore
Greece
Generally
speaking, Greece is not an attractive location for individuals or
companies seeking to limit taxation; the mainstream corporate income
tax rate used to be 35%, although it was reduced in stages to 32%
in 2005, 29% in 2006 and 25% in 2007. There are however some particular
features of the Greek tax system which are attractive for certain
individuals or companies in certain situations.
A new,
general-purpose development incentive law was promoted by the government
in 2005 and was received very warmly by the business community.
In the first ten months of its implementation (end of March 2005
till the end of January 2006) 1,234 applications were submitted
accounting for €2.47bn.
The law
offers a combination of incentives and corporate tax breaks and
is aimed at sectors of the economy that are open to international
competition, such as tourism, information technology, financial
services, and quality agricultural exports.
Learn more in our full Greece
Knowledgebase.
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Directory
For Visitors
Our aim is to offer you the ability to locate a service
provider specialising in the field of your choice, in the jurisdiction
of your choice, with just a few clicks. We only list confirmed entries
to reduce the number of dead-ends and strictly enforce categorisation
criteria to ensure that you find exactly the service you are after.
As of September 2007 we have begun to implement a new, expanded
format to make the directory even more user friendly and comprehensive.
Click
here for the new directory home page.
For Service Providers
The Lowtax Offshore Service Provider's Directory offers
firms the ability to highlight their services to one of the web's
largest specialised tax, legal and offshore audiences. Our visitors
include large numbers of corporates and HNWIs. Standard entry in
the directory is free as long as your details are kept up to date.
Premium entry options are available. Please contact diectory@lowtax.net
for further details.
Click
here for the new directory home page.
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| Onshore
The
Netherlands
Although
the Netherlands has a sophisticated tax system with high tax rates
some aspects of its fiscal system are extremely attractive and make
it the ideal location in which to base international trading operations.
Attractive fiscal incentives are further enhanced by a complex network
of double taxation treaties (few of which contain any anti avoidance
provisions) and by the existence of a procedure of advance tax rulings
whereby the tax authorities who are autonomous and approachable
can at short notice specify the fiscal consequences of certain business
structures provided that material financial interests are involved
and the propositions are reasonable.
The Dutch
government announced in 2004 that it would cut the country's corporate
tax rate to 31.5% in 2006 from 34.5%.
Presenting
the last budget prior to the election on November 22, 2006, Holland's
long-serving Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm stated that the government
would continue to cut the rate of corporate income tax, which fell
to 25.5% in 2007 from 29.1%, putting it below the European Union
average. This represents a 5% cut in corporate tax since 2005.
In anticipation
of confirmation of the Marks & Spencer ruling on cross-border
loss relief by the European Court of Justice, the government proposed
to allow relief for losses incurred in other EU Member States. In
addition, participation rules would be relaxed by eliminating the
nonportfolio and "subject to tax" requirements. For "passive"
participations, a "sufficient" tax rate test (possibly
10%) would be introduced.
Ruling
in December 2005, the ECJ stated that companies could offset losses
incurred by foreign subsidiaries as long as there was no "real
possibility" that these could be absorbed at the local level
at the time the claim was made.
According
to the ruling, M&S could therefore claim tax relief for losses
outside its home market, with the proviso that loss-making subsidiaries
were unable to claim tax relief in their country of establishment.
Learn more
in our full The
Netherlands Knowledgebase.
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