On 26 January 2015, President Joko Widodo swore in Mr. Triawan Munaf as the Head of the Creative Economic Board (BEK – Badan Ekonomi Kreatif). BEK is tasked to strengthen the role of creative economic businesses, including protection for Indonesian creative crafts ...
Earlier this month, President Obama announced historic changes to U.S. policy and relevant regulations regarding diplomatic engagement, travel and trade with Cuba. The White House’s new policy represents the most dramatic shift in U.S. policy to Cuba since the enactment of the embargo in 1961. As a result of this new policy, a number of sectors of the U.S. economy are likely to see new opportunities in Cuban trade ...
PRIVATE EQUITY FUND ECONOMICS IN CANADA: AN OVERVIEW OF THE ESSENTIALS Robert La Rosa, Guillaume Lavoie and Philippe DécaryPrivate equity fund economics play an important role in attracting investors to a given fund. Indeed, investors want to know how expenses will be shared, what fees are applicable and how profits will be allocated. The summary below provides a brief overview of the most common fund arrangements with respect to such considerations ...
On 5 December 2014, the Hong Kong Government formally released its draft legislation to waive stamp duty for the transfer of shares or units of all exchange traded funds (“ETFs”). The Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2014 will be introduced into the Legislative Council on 17 December 2014 (“the Bill”). It is expected to have wide support ...
A number of tax figures are adjusted each year for inflation; for 2015, the most significant adjustments for estate and gift taxes are: Unified estate and gift tax exclusion amount. For gifts made and estates of decedents dying in 2015, the lifetime exclusion amount will be $5,430,000 individually or $10,860,000 per couple (up from $5,340,000 or $10,680,000 per couple for 2014). Generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption ...
Professionals dealing with secured lending in Belgium have been looking forward for some time to the new Belgian law of 11 July 2013 on security interests over movable goods (“Wet van 11 juli 2013 tot wijziging van het Burgerlijk Wetboek wat de zakelijke zekerheden op roerende goederen betreft en tot opheffing van diverse bepalingen ter zake” / “Loi du 11 juillet 2013 modifiant le Code civil en ce qui concerne les sûretés réelles mobilières et abrogeant diverses dispositions en cette matiè
Introduction: As noted in our earlier article, foreign investors in Australian entities may be unaware that in some circumstances the Australian Taxation Office can assess them for tax on gains made from the disposal of their Australian investments. In particular, a foreign investor will be liable to Australian tax where they make a gain on the disposal of taxable Australian property ...
The Ministry of Finance announced that an improvement in the online inquiry concerning the value of declared merchandises intends to reduce under-declaration in 20%. For the purpose of establishing better controls on imported merchandises, the National Service of Customs of the Ministry of Finance has intensified and integrated software tools to apply in a more efficient and effective manner instruments of control over the value declared for the entry and exit of goods ...
The approval of amendments to the Tax Code and the creation of new taxes have caused upset and criticism among business sectors in El Salvador, accusations that they will affect competitiveness and a better economic performance, and lead to an increased cost of living ...
Those words were written nearly a decade ago and described, in brief, the complicated and confusing legal world of wills, estates and succession. The Report from which that quote comes recommended a wholesale overhaul of this area of the law. The B.C. Legislature, various interest groups and the legal community have been working on such a revision to this area of the law since ...
Recently, there have been indications that the Israel Tax Authority (the "ITA") is strengthening its ties with foreign tax authorities and banks in order to obtain information on Israelis who hold unreported bank accounts overseas ...
On 25 June 2014 the European Commission announced adoption of the Commission Communication “Notice on agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition under Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (De Minimis Notice).” The De Minimis Notice was published in the Official Journal on 30 August 2014 (OJ C 291/1). The De Minimis Notice follows the existing practice of the Commission and the case law of the European Court of Justice ...
PLMJ has launched the new version of its Portugal Investment Guide, which reflects PLMJ’s experience in handling innumerable investment projects in Portugal in a range of sectors, throughout its 45-year history.This Investment Guide proves that Portugal has increasingly competitive conditions – in terms of technology, workforce, infrastructure, logistics, geography, law and tax – to continue to attract large-scale investment projects ...
After signing the Bilateral Investment Treaties (“BITs”) with Turkey on July 28 and with France on July 10, and ratifying the BIT with Japan on June 25, Colombia significantly moves forward on the protection of foreign investments. These agreements pursue the establishment of a fair, safe and transparent juridical framework in order to draw foreign investors to Colombia and bolster Colombian investments abroad ...
The World Pension Summit (Africa), first of its kind in Africa, was hosted in Abuja on 7 and 8 July 2014. The summit focused on African developments in the pension industry and coincided with the 10th anniversary of the pension reform in Nigeria that led to the enactment of the Pension Reform Act No 2 of 2004 (“the 2004 Act”) ...
Under the provisions of the Tax Administration Act, the Commissioner: South African Revenue Service (‘SARS’) is entitled to request that a taxpayer submits relevant material that SARS requires in terms of section 46 of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (‘TAA’). Section 1 of the TAA in turn defines ‘relevant material’ as meaning: “any information, document or thing that is foreseeably relevant for the administration of a Tax Act as referred to in section 3 ...
The implications of FATCA in South Africa (written exclusively for Bloomberg BNA, Tax Planning International, European Tax Service, volume 16, number 7, July 2014) Written by Hanneke Farrand, director, and Caroline Rogers, senior associate, both in the tax department at ENSafrica. I. Background The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted in 2010 by the USto target non-compliance by US taxpayers using foreign accounts ...
On 3 August 2014, Law of Ukraine "On Amending the Tax Code of Ukraine and Certain Other Legislative Acts of Ukraine" No. 1621-VII which was adopted on 31 July 2014 for creating conditions to increase financial inflow into the state budget (the "Law"), came into force. Implementation of the proposed regulations will provide a possibility to boost in 2014 the resources of Ukraine's unified budget for nearly UAH 10.3 bn ...
Protection of the use of the term “Rooibos” has long been a topical issue. However, an economic partnership agreement between Southern African nations and the European Union (EU) has recently been signed which will secure geographic indicator status for rooibos tea in the EU. This is the latest in a number of acts by the South African government which has secured intellectual property protection for the indigenous brew ...
On 25 July 2014, Cyprus signed and ratified an Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation with the Swiss Confederation, with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital, as well as the relevant Protocol. The Agreement will contribute to the further development of trade and economic relations between Cyprus and the Swiss Confederation, as well as other countries ...
Almost exactly a decade ago, on August 5, 2004, the United States signed the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement ("DR-CAFTA") with the Dominican Republic and five Central American counties (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua)> The DR-CAFTA, which was the very first free trade agreement between the United States and a group of smaller developing economies, entered into force for the United State, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
The Anti-Monopoly Bureau (AMB) of the Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM) has recently published the following provisions and guidelines relating to the review procedure for merger clearance with AMB (AMB Clearance): (1) "Tentative Provisions on Standards for Simple Cases of Concentration of Undertakings " (Standards), published on 11 February 2014; (2) Trial Guidelines on Notification of Simple Cases of Concentration of Undertakings" (Trial Guidelines) , published on 18 April 2014; and (3) R
It is no hidden secret that unemployment in South Africa remains considerably high. According to the World Economic Forum Global Risk 2014 Report, structural unemployment and underemployment appears second overall in the Ten Global Risks of Highest Concern as many people in both advanced and emerging economies struggle to find jobs. The youth and minorities are especially vulnerable ...
