It is the long-standing practice of traders and service providers to grant customers extended payment terms for the goods or services they supply as a means to enhance turnover. Where the credit provided is interest-free, the question that arises is whether the provision of such credit impacts on the entitlement of the supplier to claim input tax for value added tax (“VAT”) purposes ...
What is BEPS?Much has been said in both professional and commercial circles on the imminent introduction in Hong Kong of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) regime for the automatic exchange of tax information between participating jurisdictions. There is, however, a much lesser awareness of the commitments undertaken by the Government to the new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standard to combat base erosion and profits shifting (BEPS) ...
In a unanimous decision rendered on May 16, 2016,1 the Québec Court of Appeal confirmed that the delivery of ophthalmic lenses purchased online from suppliers who are not members of the Ordre des optométristes (Order of Optometrists) (?Order?), or the Ordre des opticiens d?ordonnances (Order of Dispensing Opticians), does not violate the Optometry Act 2(?OA?) or, by necessary extension, the Dispensing Opticians Act ...
On May 10, 2016, the Québec Court of Appeal1 confirmed a Superior Court decision allowing an application for authorization of treatment and placement to a patient. The application had been brought by the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, commonly known as the Douglas, or the Douglas hospital ...
For the past several years, the healthcare industry has been targeted by union organizers hoping to add nurses, physical therapists and others to their ranks. In the first half of 2015, there were more than 150 union elections in the healthcare industry, with unions winning more than three-quarters of these elections ...
The home health industry could see its profit margins shrink further as a result of proposed updates to the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this week. This is the fourth and final year of payment reductions mandated by the Affordable Care Act in response to perceived Medicare overpayments to home health agencies. Profit margins are estimated to average 17.2% for the home health industry, and $17 ...
Late last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule intended to prohibit hospitals operating certain off-campus provider-based departments (PBDs) from billing under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). In an effort to implement Section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, CMS says the proposed rule will save about $500 million a year by refocusing payments on the patient rather than the clinical setting ...
The Health Care Arbitral Tribunal (Arbitral Tribunal) has pronounced a decision on a dispute between an independent medical specialist and a Medical Specialist Company (MSC) for the first time since the introduction of the comprehensive rates on 1 January 2015. Although neither party has terminated the existing (membership) agreement between them, the Arbitral Tribunal is of the opinion that termination of membership and deregistration of the specialist from the members' register are justified ...
On July 7, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule intended to prohibit hospitals operating certain off-campus provider-based departments (PBDs) from billing under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). In an effort to implement Section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, CMS says the proposed rule will save about $500 million a year by refocusing payments on the patient rather than the clinical setting ...
In our blog post from July 25, 2016 we highlighted the provincial government’s introduction (effective August 2, 2016) of the new 15% property transfer tax (the “Foreign Entity Tax“) on foreign buyers of residential property in the Greater Vancouver Regional District (“Metro Vancouver“). The Foreign Entity Tax has been introduced by way of an amendment to the Property Transfer Tax Act (British Columbia) (the “Act“) ...
As per Notification No. 039 issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) on 21 July 2016, a working group consisting of representatives from both the General Department of Taxation (GDT) and the Phnom Penh Municipality will begin to collect data from all enterprises in Phnom Penh from August 2016 onwards. Representatives of the working group will physically visit all enterprises in Phnom Penh for the purpose of: 1. Gathering the enterprise’s statistics; 2 ...
On July 25, 2016, China Food and Drug Administration (“CFDA”) published the latest "Measures for the Administration of Drug Registration (revised draft)” (“Latest Revised Draft”) for public comments1 ...
Generally when a successful business is acquired, whether by an asset acquisition or an equity acquisition, the assets will includeboth tangible and intangible property. When an entity conducting a business is liquidated, the tangible and intangible assets of the entity are distributed to the owners. Often, one very valuable intangible that does not appear on the balance sheet is goodwill ...
TAXPAYER REGIME A REGIME B METHOD FOR EXERCISING THE OPTION Public Corporations, Closed Corporations and “Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones”. N/A Mandatory regime. N/A Individual Companies and Individual Limited Liability Companies. Applicable provided the owner of the company is: (i)an individual domiciled or resident in Chile; and/or (ii)an individual or entity domiciled or resident abroad (together as “Final Taxpayers) ...
In October 2015, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) published its final reports on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) project, including the final report on BEPS Action 13, Transfer Pricing and Country-by-Country Reporting(“Action 13 Report”) ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Bill 2016 has been released for public comment. It introduces various interesting amendments to South Africa’s tax law, which include the following: Use of trusts In circumstances where an interest-free loan has been advanced to a trust by a connected person (which includes a beneficiary or a relative of a beneficiary), it is proposed that a market-related rate of interest (currently 8%) is deemed to be paid on that loan ...
One of the key elements addressed in the Draft Reviewed Broad Based Black-Economic Empowerment (“BBBEE”) Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry, 2016 (the “draft reviewed Mining Charter”) is the issue of ownership. The Department of Mineral Resources (“DMR”) seeks to achieve the ownership requirement through broad-based employee share option plans (“ESOPs”), which are likely to have an impact on both mining companies and their employees from a tax perspective ...
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 ...
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) ...
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 ...
