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Category: Tax Knowledge
Czech Republic – Electronic evidence of sales as from 1 of December 2016
The President of the Czech Republic signed a new fiscal law “Act No. 112/2016, the Electronic evidence of sales Act”, in March 2016. New legislation will concern those who are taxpayers of a personal or corporate income tax and the payment meets the formal requirements for a registered sale, e.g. it is made in cash, by credit card, cheque, voucher or in any similar way. However, defined payments are not subject to the electronic evidence of sales like payments done via a bank transfer, income which is not subject to income tax, etc.Read More »
Transfer Pricing Perspectives
Transfer pricing is a leading risk management issue for global businesses but probably equally a source of opportunities to “set things right”.
Explore PwC’s Transfer Pricing Perspectives for more HERE.
India – Implementation of GST in 2017
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill was passed in Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha on August 3 and has been approved by the Lok Sabha on the 8th August). It has been ratified by 50% of the states. The government is aiming for an implementation date of 1 April 2017. However based on the feedback received from our colleagues, the industry is hoping that such date could be delayed to July 2017 as a lot remain to be done to allow the implementation. The new GST Law will impact IT systems, accounting processes, contracts and business models. Read More »
PwC Webcast – India’s New Indirect Tax Levy on B2B and B2C Digital Supplies
As part of the changes to India’s tax landscape and in alignment with BEPS Action Paper on the Digital economy (eCommerce, internet businesses, etc), the Government of India has made certain key amendments to the Indirect tax law as applicable to B2B and B2C Online as well as eCommerce companies. Read More »
EU – Taxation trends in the European Union
Tax revenues are continuing to rise in most EU Member States, a study by the European Commission has found. The 2016 edition of the Taxation Trends report takes stock of tax systems in the EU with extensive and comparable data on the different tax structures and rates of Member States. It also provides an analysis on the medium- to long-term evolution of these trends. This staff report, published annually, offers a breakdown of comparative tax levels in the EU and of tax revenues raised from consumption, labour and capital.Read More »
EU – Council adopts proposed improvements to the VAT rules on cross-border transactions
On 8 November the Council adopted conclusions on improvements to VAT rules for cross-border transactions.
The conclusions come in response to certain issues raised in an April 2016 Commission action plan.
Taiwan – registration obligation for foreign companies providing B2C services expected soon
Under current VAT regulations, payment of VAT on provision of services sold by foreign companies to individual Taiwanese customers are the obligation of the individual Taiwanese customer for purchase of services exceeding TWD 3,000 per transaction.
22 of September, a draft amendment of the Business Tax Act concerning sales of cross-border B2C services was approved by the Executive Yuan, where the obligation to report and pay VAT is to be switched to the foreign companies that provide services to individual Taiwanese customers.
The foreign companies would be required to register for VAT purposes in Taiwan and pay VAT. However, many of the key aspects (e.g. VAT registration threshold, definition of a foreign taxpayer etc.) of the new VAT mechanism have not been announced by the tax authority. Moreover, the draft amendments to the Business Tax Act should be further passed by the Legislative Yuan in order for it to be enacted.
For cross-border B2B sales, the current reverse charge mechanism is to remain in place.
Following issue remain open
Uncertainty over definition of foreign taxpayer liable for VAT :
As cross-border digital services are often provided via a platform (e.g. App developer selling Apps through an App platform), whether the App developer or the platform provider would be the taxpayer liable for VAT registration is uncertain. During open discussions with the tax authority, a clear answer was not provided. Therefore, this issue will need to be resolved in the future, possibly through further promulgations by the tax authority or via private tax ruling applications.
VAT registration and exemptions
Under this new mechanism, foreign taxpayers liable for VAT would be required to register in Taiwan. However, as compared with the requirements for domestic companies, it is expected that the registration procedures and requirements for foreign taxpayers would be simplified. Moreover, it is also expected that there would be an exemption threshold, whereby foreign taxpayers with sales under said threshold would be exempt from registration and payment of VAT. However, at what amount the exemption threshold would be set at is currently unclear.
Implications for corporate income tax.
The tax authority has indicated that they have plans to propose corresponding corporate income tax reform for foreign cross-border sellers of services. However, there is currently no official time frame for this as the tax authority has been concentrating its efforts on the new VAT mechanism.
For further details please contact li-li.chou@tw.pwc.com | http://www.pwc.tw.
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UK – compulsory publication of tax strategy for large businesses required
The compulsory publication of tax strategy for large business was introduced by the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2016 and it received Royal Assent on 15 September 2016, so it is now an Act of Parliament (Finance Act 2016 c.24). The relevant provisions for tax strategy are included in Schedule 19 of the Act, attached below at the very end of this blogpost.Read More »
EU – Updated version of the MOSS report published
On 3 November 2016 the Taxation and Customs Union published an updated version of the MOSS report. In this report information on national rules applied in Member States for the use of the mini one-stop shop (MOSS) can be found. Definitions and explanations on the scope of the report can be found in the overview, which also includes a summary table of applicable VAT rates, as well as information on use and enjoyment rules, and B2C invoicing obligations across Member States.
Image source: Wandersmann / Pixelio.de
Michaela Merz 