On July the 27th 2016, Law No. 20.936 that establishes New Power Transmission Systems and creates an Independent Coordinating Body for the National Power System (the “Transmission Law” or “New Law”) was published. Its stated objectives are to ensure that transmission does not become an obstacle to power generation, increase competition in the electrical market and boost the development of non-conventional renewable energies ...
The Act of 22 July 2016 Amending the Energy Law and Certain Other Acts was published on 2 August 2016. The act is intended to eliminate the black market in fuels, strengthen competition on the market, and improve Poland’s energy security. The amendments introduced by the act primarily concern the market for natural gas and liquid fuels ...
For far too long, Africa has been plagued by the demon of conflict minerals, which have played a key role in fuelling conflict and extensive human rights violations. The terrible scenes in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remain vivid in the mind. In the history of conflict minerals, diamonds occupy the highest spot. They are valuable, portable and easily tradeable ...
It is common practice for suppliers to deliver the goods that they supply at the premises of their customers on the customer’s request. The suppliers then either deliver the goods themselves or they contract the services of third parties to deliver the goods on their behalf, for which they charge a delivery fee ...
The Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill of 2016 was released for public comment on Friday 8 July (the “2016 TLAB”). It proposes certain amendments to the rules currently contained in the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) dealing with employee-based incentive plans ...
general principles Legal professional privilege applies to communications between a client and legal advisor, where the legal advisor is acting in a professional capacity and is consulted in confidence for the purpose of the client obtaining legal advice (other than advice facilitating crime or fraud), and where legal professional privilege is claimed by that client ...
The Israeli Tax Authority (the "ITA") has recently published a draft circular ("Draft Circular") on the tax treatment of holdback payments and reverse vesting mechanism in the context of merger and acquisition transactions. According to the Draft Circular, subject to certain conditions as will detail below, the sale of shares to which holdback payments and reverse vesting mechanisms apply would be subject to a capital gains tax rate of 25% (30% in case of controlling shareholders) ...
The Mexican government announced the second bid of Round 2 on August 23, 2016. This will be the seventh upstream bid round in Mexico since passage of the energy reform in mid-2014. The new bid round (named Round 2.2), comprises 12 onshore blocks for exploration in the Burgos and Southeastern Basins, covering collectively 5,006 km2 , with prospective resources of approximately 643.2 million barrels of crude equivalent and an original volume of approximately 93 ...
An interesting piece of news in the sphere of tax law has recently been provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision that found Portuguese withholding tax rules to be breaching EU law.The case concerns a loan given to Auto Estradas do Litoral SA ("Brisal"), a Portuguese company by the Irish bank – KBC Finance Limited ...
According to recent media reports, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications in Serbia's newly formed government, Rasim Ljajic, stated that a free trade agreement between Serbia and the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) should be signed come November, while outlining that at this stage, the matter is out of Serbia's hands and fully dependent on the EEU ...
Corporate income tax (CIT) incentives granted during the period 2009-2013 have increasingly been challenged by tax authorities and particularly by state auditors with an inclination towards reassessment of such incentives ...
On taxation of electronic services from 2017 Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, The law “On Amendments to Parts I and II of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation” comes into force on January 01, 2017. Pursuant to the adopted changes, starting from 2017 foreign companies which do not have permanentestablishment in Russia and provide electornic services to individuals inRussia will be required to register with the Russian tax authorities and pay VAT in Russia. 1 ...
In the last few weeks, the General Department of Taxation (GDT) has issued two Notifications (No. 12723 & 13466) reminding owners of immovable property to file their annual Property Tax declaration and pay Property Tax before the deadline of 30 September 2016. Notification No ...
On 24 August 2016, the Davis Tax Committee (“DTC”) released its long-awaited report on estate duty, which was submitted to the South African Minister of Finance (“the Minister”) for consideration on 28 April 2016. The report takes into account public commentary and submissions received following the release of the committee’s first interim report ...
An interesting trend can be noticed recently as the Serbian Tax Administration and Tax Police have raised their level of activity in conducting routine tax inspections in companies across the country ...
According to latest media reports, the governments of Serbia and Bulgaria have agreed on the formulation of a new memorandum for the task of building a gas pipeline between the two countries, during a recent meeting of the group for gas connections in Central and South East Europe that was held in Budapest ...
contingency fees VAT inclusive or exclusive The High Court, Gauteng Local Division, considered in a recent case (case No 2012/21359, 31 August 2016) whether an agreement in terms of which a legal practitioner charged contingency fees to a client under the Contingency Fees Act, No 66 of 1997 (the “CFA”), is valid ...
Global Transfer Pricing Risk Management The realities of the business environment in which multinational groups operate today consist of a shrinking domestic market and an ongoing pressure to reduce costs. In addition, multinational groups are also faced with the different expectations of different stakeholders and the increased disclosure requirements of financial data ...
No Looking Back for Section 13sex of the Income Tax Act Various building allowances are available for both owners and lessees of buildings under the Income Tax Act, No. 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) for erecting buildings or for effecting improvements to buildings ...
The Davis Tax Committee Issues Its Second Report on Estate Duty The Davis Tax Committee (“DTC”) released its much-anticipated second (and final) interim report (the “Report”) on estate duty on 24 August 2016. The Report has been published with amendments taking into account the public’s comments that were submitted in respect of the first interim report ...
The South African Taxation of Trusts Recent Developments The Davis Tax Committee’s (“DTC”) first interim report was released in July 2015 (the “First Report”) and made various significant recommendations to the Minister of Finance regarding (among other topics) the taxation of trusts in South Africa ...
In the past several years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and other government bodies have mandated recall of hundreds of products from the market.In some cases, companies have voluntarily recalled products due to their potential for risk of injury ...
The Series Limited Liability Company (“Series LLC”), a variation of the traditional limited liability company (LLC), is the newest entity enterprise on the business scene today.1 Within this legal entity, separate “series” or “cells” can be created and established under the umbrella of a single LLC ...
By way of -providing guidelines for implementing the Tax Law No.106/2016/QH13 (Law 106) effective from 1 July 2016, the government has issued Decree 100/2016/ND-CP (Decree 100) on 1 July 2016 and the Ministry of Finance has issued Official Letter 10315/BTC-TCT dated 25 July 2016 (OL 10315) and Circular 130/2016/TT-BTC dated 12 August 2016 (Circular 130) ...
