Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China which is governed by the Basic Law which forms a mini constitution for Hong Kong. Under the Basic Law, Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy except in relation to matters such as defence or foreign affairs. It has its own executive, legislative and independent judicial power including that of final adjudication ...
In Nicaragua, we did not have a Tributary Code as a unique legal body, the attributions of the Tributary Administration and the regulation of the different tributary procedures, the rights and duties of the contributor, were dispersed in our legislation existing in several cases, inapplicable norms, conflicts of application of the same, lack of adaptation to the actual technological recourses, among others ...
In the past days, two very important events at the Regional and National Level, honored the ADR mechanisms, specifically the mediation and arbitration proceedings. We refer to the First Central American Congress on Mediation and Arbitration organized by the Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce and the Third National Congress on Mediation organized by the Office of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Division (DIRAC) of the Supreme Court of Justice ...
Background The return to democracy in October of 1982 arrived with a “social debt” derived from the days of the Siles Zuazo government, which, by giving way to the workers’ demands, caused Bolivia to enter into a hyperinflationary downward spiral. The Government of Siles Zuazo ended one year before the end of its term (as Mesa did), allowing Dr. Víctor Paz Estensoro to come to power through the general elections of 1985 ...
Irish Shell Limited v JH McLoughlin (Balbriggan) Limited, unreported High Court, 4 August 2005, Mr Justice Clarke This case is a good illustration of the application of the legal principles involved in granting an injunction while a related trial is pending (known as an interlocutory injunction). Facts: The plaintiff (Shell) sold a filling station in Balbriggan, County Dublin, to the defendant company in 2004 ...
BRITISH COLUMBIA LEGAL UPDATE Prepared for 39th Annual Canadian Property Tax Association National Workshop Cross Canada Legal Panel September 25 – 28, 2005 INTRODUCTION The following is an overview of legislative changes and caselaw developments in British Columbia property assessment and taxation since last September’s session. The review is not intended to be exhaustive, but instead to provide a cross-section of topical cases which may be of interest both to the B.C ...
The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the Notice on the Issue of the Levy of Individual Income Tax on Income Derived by Individuals from Stock Options on 31 March 2005 ("Notice"). The Notice, which entered into effect on 1 July 2005, provides a number of guidelines regarding the taxability of such schemes. Taxable event The Notice applies to stock options granted to employees of listed companies or their holding companies ...
The State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") issued the Notice on Relevant Issues in Adjusting the Method for Calculation of Individual Income Tax Annual Lump Sum Bonus Etc. Received by Individuals on 21 January 2005. The Notice, which took effect on 1 January 2005, repeals two SAT Notices issued in 1996 and addresses the issue of the calculation of individual income tax ("IIT") on annual bonuses ...
As mentioned in our information bulletin of June 8, on June 7, 2005 the Federal Official Gazette published an “Executive Order to Amend the Value Added Tax Law” which altered the procedure for calculating the crediting of valued added tax by removing operations not taxable ...
It is quite common in Hong Kong for employers to arrange an employee's employment by using dual contracts to take advantage of the tax position. Under Hong Kong law, only income derived from Hong Kong is taxable and earnings under a foreign employment contract with non-Hong Kong entity in respect of duties carried out outside Hong Kong are not taxable. However, the benefits under this arrangement may reduce following a recent UK guideline ...
Amendments made to the Quebec Professional Code in 2001 authorize professional orders to allow their members to exercise their professional activities within the framework of a limited liability partnership, or a joint-stock company. In 2002, the Ordre des comptables agréés (Order of Chartered Accountants) was the first professional order to adopt a regulation to this effect. The Quebec Bar and the Ordre des comptables généraux licenciés (Certified General Accountants) followed suit in 2004 ...
On June 7, 2005, a Decree amending, enacting and repealing various provisions of the VAT Law was published at the Mexican Federal Register. These amendments, to a large extent, merely renumber and relocate various provisions of the VAT Law, leaving their content unaltered. Nonetheless, it is quite important to underline that these amendments repeal any reference to “activities which fall outside the scope of this tax” in the provisions dealing with creditable VAT ...
Mexican tax laws, rules and regulations are subject to amendments on a regular basis. Herein we intend to provide our friends and clients a general overview of the most recent and significant changes to our tax system[1]. Rule JG-SAT-IE-1-2005. - Debt Forgiveness for Certain Taxpayers ...
In case of a dispute arising between the parties, it may be advisable initially to solve it without the recourse to the courts, i.e. through sending a letter - claim or a warning, signing the court approved settlement agreement, obtaining an executive record of the notary public according to promissory notes or cheques, whether protested or not, or by seeking compromise through negotiations, etc. If the parties fail to solve a dispute amicably, the dispute may be referred to the courts ...
Inheritance tax is often assumed to be a rich man's concern, but the recent housing boom means that this is no longer the case. The sharp rise in house prices has completely outpaced tax thresholds, meaning that there has been a huge increase in the number of families who could face large bills for Inheritance Tax (IHT) when the homeowner dies ...
MAJOR INDUSTRY USE AND CLASSIFICATION ISSUES I.Introduction A.General Principles of Classification Under s. 19(14) of the B.C. Assessment Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 20 (the “Assessment Act”) and the Prescribed Classes of Property Regulation (B.C. Reg. 438/81) (the “Classification Regulation”), real property in B.C ...
EQUITY AND CONSISTENCY IN ASSESSMENTS I. General Principles of Equity A hallmark of the assessment and taxation of property in B.C. is the principle of equity: taxing authorities must deal even-handedly with all taxpayers in a municipality or rural area, and all taxpayers with a class must be treated in the same way. Equity in the context of the property assessment in B.C ...
The Benefits of Using a an Unlimited Liability Company (1) Introduction Unlimited Liability Companies (“ULC”) have become useful vehicles for the acquisition of a Canadian business by a U.S. investor. This paper summarizes the advantages of using a ULC, the treatment of a ULC in Canada and in the U.S. and the use of a ULC in a factual setting involving the acquisition of a Canadian business. Until recently, only Nova Scotia offered the possibility of incorporating a ULC ...
The Fifth Circuit has issued an important opinion on Section 11 of the Securities Act which may limit the potential exposure of issuers and other participants for alleged misrepresentations and omissions in public offering registration statements. The Court’s opinion in Krim v. pcOrder.com, Inc ...
Introduction: A Second Union is a “Marriage” of Competing Interests As a general rule, individuals who enter into a second marriage or a second union are more than 40 years of age, have accumulated their own property and have enjoyed a standard of living that they want to maintain or even improve upon ...
This article was originally written for the April 2005 issue of The Negotiator, the magazine of the Canadian Association of the Petroleum Landman. Protected by Copyright 2005 ...
By Eduardo A Trueba C. January 2005 Corporate subsistence, in an economy that each day becomes more competitive, dynamic and integrated to the global world in which we live, has exponentially increased corporate mergers and alliances, together with similar transactions, such as stock acquisitions from one company for another’s capital, company, know how, and royalties transfers, among others ...
The first legal issue to consider is whether your company has the power to carry out non-commercial dealings such as making political or charitable donations. The company's constitution should be reviewed to ensure the company is expressly empowered to make such donations. If no express power exists you could consider putting a relevant amendment of the constitution to a shareholders' vote ...
