On March 28 2014 Law 642/2013 - a milestone of the government's anti-corporate raider policy - entered into force. Revival of the bill, which had previously gathered dust in parliamentary committees for several years, was a response to numerous calls from the international community to take measures to counter illegal takeovers and acquisitions of businesses ...
On 7th March 2014 the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered judgment in the as yet unreported case of Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings (Pty) Ltd, (966/2012) [2014] ZASCA 4 (7 March 2014) which dealt with the deductibility of audit fees incurred for a dual or mixed purpose and the apportionment thereof for tax purposes in light of section 11(a) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, as amended (‘the Act’) read with sections 23(f) and 23(g) of the A
Times have certainly changed. Ten years ago a tax query from a SARS assessor would find its way to the desk of the financial director or in-house tax advisor who would send it off to their auditors. The auditors would, in turn, give it to their tax department who would draft a reply to SARS and hope the matter went away. If not, an informal meeting between the financial director and tax advisor at the audit firm would usually settle the dispute ...
In Roshcon (Pty) Ltd v Anchor Auto Body Builders CC (“Roshcon”) the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”), in a unanimous judgment drafted by Wallis JA, has clarified the issues caused by its previous decision in SARS v NWK Limited (“NWK”). Roshcon was not a tax case; it concerned supplier and floorplan agreements relating to the sale of trucks, with a reservation of ownership to a finance house as security until the trucks were fully paid for by the purchaser ...
Each of the Common Monetary Area (CMA) Member States presented their 2014/15 Budgets during February 2014. An overview of the Budgets of Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland reveals Namibia as the only country proposing fiscal amendments of any significance. A common theme of these Budgets is a concern about the increased uncertainty regarding the future of the South African Customs Union (SACU) and a firm intention to reduce reliance on SACU revenue ...
On April 9 last, the Superior Court of Québec issued its judgement1 on a motion for a declaratory judgment pertaining to trademarks in the English language on public signs and posters. The applicants, Magasin Best Buy Ltée, Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd, Gap (Canada) Inc., Old Navy (Canada) Inc., Corporation Guess? Canada, la Compagnie Wal Mart du Canada, Toys “R” Us Canada Ltée and Curves International Inc ...
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bridge Trustees in 2011 (see further here), the Government announced that it would legislate to directly counteract the effect of the judgement and make it clear that benefits under a pension scheme cannot be regarded as money purchase benefits if it is possible for a funding deficit to arise in respect of any of those benefits ...
The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has temporarily suspended the issuance of private letter rulings on master limited partnership (“MLP”) “qualifying income” under Internal Revenue Code Section 7704(d) during the pendency of an internal committee review of existing rulings in that area ...
The new EU Procurement directive was published in the Official Journal of the EU today (28 March 2014) and will come into force on 17 April 2014. This article summarises some of the key changes from the new Directive which are likely to be of interest to both the public and private sector. The UK will have 2 years to implement the Directive but the government has suggested that it will be implemented in a shorter timescale ...
The Executive Branch announced days ago the 3 main investment projects which will be promoted under the Public-Private Partnership regime in Paraguay. With the enactment in the month of March of the Regulatory Decree of the Public-Private Partnership Law (Law 5102/2013), the projects are expected to be advanced immediately ...
NEW CVM DECISION SIMPLIFIES TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN PUBLIC EQUITY (PIPEs) At a meeting held on January 7, 2014, the majority of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (“CVM”) Board (Colegiado) accepted the appeal lodged by João Fortes Engenharia S.A., within the context of CVM Proceeding No ...
On 3 March 2014, the Government presented the bill ”Enhanced competition supervision” (Sw: “Förbättrad konkurrenstillsyn”) (Governmental Bill, prop. 2013/14:135) which contains several suggested changes to the Swedish Competition Act which relate, inter alia, to leniency and the possibility to suspend time limits during merger control assessments ...
A payroll tax reduction with potential savings of up to SEK 2,760,000 per annum is available from January 1st 2014 for companies conducting research and development (R&D) on a full or part time basais. According to the new rules, the payroll tax amount for the associated salaries for persons working in R&D can be reduced by 10 per cent which equates to SEK 230,000 per month on a group level (SEK 2,760,000 per annum) ...
As we indicated a few months ago, the partial reform of the intellectual property law continues its journey towards the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament. On Friday, February 14, the Cabinet approved the text of the preliminary bill, which must now get the green light from the consultative bodies and be debated in Parliament as a bill before its definitive approval. The main lines of the approved text are those we advanced in our previous post: 1 ...
As the end of another tax year approaches, now is a good time to consider your financial position and check whether you have taken full advantage of the tax reliefs and exemptions that are available. This note is intended to provide a brief guide to the opportunities that we believe may be worth considering. There are many tax-saving measures available and we detail below a number of steps that can be taken to improve your tax position, without significant effort ...
The recent amendments to the VAT legislation introduced by the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, No 31 of 2013, gives effect to government’s proposal that all foreign businesses supplying e-books, e-music and other digital goods and services in South Africa be required to register as South African value-added tax (“VAT”) vendors ...
Following a period of consultation, the Government has confirmed that legislative changes will be made to ensure that “protected persons” will not be affected by the statutory amendment power being introduced as part of the abolition of defined benefit contracting-out ...
For the Portuguese tax authorities to grant the status of the non-habitual tax resident, it is necessary to meet the following conditions: The applicant cannot have been taxed as tax resident in Portugal in any of the five preceding years; The applicant must be considered as a tax resident in Portugal and residence in Portugal for tax purposes may be acquired in any year, among other situations, when the taxable person ...
Most marketers and retailers know that the consumer protection laws require that their advertising claims be substantiated, truthful and not misleading. But the new year is a good time to take stock of advertising campaigns, practices and procedures to make sure they pass muster under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) latest guidance. The FTC’s recent enforcement actions provide a starting point ...
While helpful, California’s Board of Equalization has not exactly taken the most pro-renewable energy position in their new guidance on the effect of the installation of a solar power system on tax-exempt property. In what appears to be a fairly common acquisition structure, for example, a solar power company installs a solar power system that it retains ownership of, and the nonprofit provides the space for installation and then leases the system from the solar company ...
On January 13, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA" or "the Agency") announced the availability of a much-anticipated draft guidance on its intended regulation of product promotion conducted via social media, titled Fulfilling Regulatory Requirements for Postmarketing Submissions of Interactive Promotional Media for Prescription Human and Animal Drugs and Biologics ...
On December 20, 2013, the Quebec Department of Finance and the Economy issued Information Bulletin 2013-14 (the “Bulletin”), announcing inter alia changes to various tax measures specifically applicable to the natural resources industry ...
