The Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (“Tax Administration Act”) came into effect on 1 October 2012 (save for certain provisions that are still to come into force). This important piece of legislation seeks to incorporate into one Act all those administrative provisions (except for customs and excise) that are generic to all tax Acts and that were previously duplicated across all the different tax Acts ...
The Budget Plan unveiled by the Quebec Government as part of the Budget Speech of last June 4 includes many initiatives to increase venture capital financing. The 2014 2015 Budget presented by the Minister of Finance, Carlos Leitão, provides for several measures to make $560 million available to finance businesses and venture capital funds, including the establishment of a $375 million fund to invest in venture capital funds ...
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has introduced a new, shorter form of the exemption application for Section 501(c)(3) status—the Form 1023-EZ. Previously, most organizations seeking federal income tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) were required to complete the full 26-page (plus attachments) Form 1023, regardless of their anticipated funding or the complexity of their activities ...
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently issued Revenue Ruling 2014-18 (the “Ruling”) allowing the deferral of compensation from offshore hedge funds through the use of stock options (“Options”) and stock-settled stock appreciation rights (“SARs”) without running afoul of Section 457A of the Internal Revenue Code (“Section 457A”) ...
On 19 March 2014, the government issued Regulation No.22 of 2014 on Amendments to Government Regulation No.41 of 2014 on Tax on Motor Vehicles which are subject to Luxury Tax. The new regulation came into force 30 days after the date of its issuance. The amendments affect luxury goods sales tax (Pajak Penjualan Barang Mewah or PPnBM) for vehicles with certain specifications. Before the issuance of Regulation No. 22, the tariffs ranged from 10% to 75%. Under Regulation No ...
The Serbian Parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax and the Law on Mandatory Social Security Contributions on 30 May 2014. The amendments primarily prescribe tax relief for the employment of new employees. The incentives will become applicable on 1 July 2014 and will also introduce new contribution rates for pensions, disability insurance and health insurance, but the overall rate for social security contributions will remain unchanged, i.e. 37.8% ...
As part of the June 4, 2014 Budget Speech, the Quebec Government announced an immediate 20% reduction in the rates of some business tax credits. The mining exploration tax incentives in Quebec did not escape this reduction. Flow-through share regimeThe flow-through share regime currently allows investors to deduct in the calculation of their income an amount equal to 100% of the subscription price ...
Members of the Zimbabwe ruling party’s decision making body told Bloomberg in April 2014 that Zimbabwe is considering the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar as it struggles to meet its monthly wage bill. In May Zimbabwe’s Treasury postponed the pay dates for its 230 000 public workers the second time in two consecutive months, after having awarded civil servants a 23% increase in April to honour a 2013 election promise made by President Robert Mugabe and the Zanu PF ...
On June 9, 2014, Mr. Moshe Asher, the General Director of the Israeli Tax Authority, announced at the CPA Association Conference that the Israel Tax Authority (the "ITA") will be launching a new voluntary disclosure program enabling taxpayers to report their concealed capital in Israel and abroad (the "new campaign") ...
CONTENTS Proposed General Anti-treaty Shopping Rule : Private Investment Funds Will Need to Play it SafeRegistration Requirements of Venture Capital and Private Equity Fund Managers in Canada : A Favourable Regulatory FrameworkBill 1 : New Requiremetns for Public Calls for Tenders LAVERY: A LEADER IN MONTREAL IN THE PRIVATE EQUITY, VENTURE CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INDUSTRYCreating and setting up private equity and venture capital funds are complex initiati
The Lower House of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is considering in the first reading the Supplementary Agreement amending the Social Security Agreement between the Czech Republic and the USA. As soon as it takes force and effect, the Social Security Agreement between the Czech Republic and the USA will also cover health insurance ...
Introduction This is the first in a series of articles on venture capital companies, a tax-favoured investment vehicle regulated by section 12J of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (“ITA 1962”). The venture capital company (“VCC”) scheme, introduced in 2009, is a tax-based scheme designed to encourage individual and corporate investors to invest in a range of smaller, higher-risk trading companies by investing through the VCCs ...
Most employers are aware that a travel allowance may be granted to an employee where it is anticipated that the employee will be required to undertake business travel by virtue of the duties of his/her employment and that a travel allowance should not be merely used as a mechanism to reduce an employee’s employees’ tax (“PAYE”) liability ...
VAT vendors who make taxable supplies of goods or services are obliged to issue tax invoices to the recipients of such supplies within 21 days of having made such a supply. A valid tax invoice is of utmost importance because without such a document a vendor, being the recipient of a supply, is not entitled to claim any input tax deductions in respect of goods or services acquired in the course or furtherance of making taxable supplies ...
It has a long been a principle of company law that the debts of a company are not the debts of its shareholders. It may be a surprise to some that this principle does not apply to certain tax debts thanks to section 181 of the Tax Administration Act No.28 of 2011 (“section 181”). This section allows shareholders to be held jointly or individually liable for the tax debts of their company. At first glance it seems unfair to punish those who do not manage the day-to-day running of a company ...
Many taxpayers are generally aware that there is a prescription provision contained in our tax law. However it is not always understood that the prescription provisions apply only if certain statutory requirements are met. In this regard it is not uncommon for SARS to assess taxpayers beyond the prescription period of three years ...
On 21 February 2014 the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, (‘the Convention’) as amended, by the provisions of the Protocol amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters which entered into force on 1 June 2011 was published in the Government Gazette. The Convention was approved by Parliament in terms of section 231 of the Constitution and the Convention took effect on 1 March 2014 in South Africa ...
The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) has extensive powers in terms of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (“the TAA”). In terms of section 46(1) of the TAA, SARS may, for the purposes of the administration of a tax Act in relation to a taxpayer (“Taxpayer”), require such taxpayer or another person (“Third Party”) to submit relevant material that SARS requires within a reasonable period. SARS may require such relevant material to be submitted orally or in writing ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 31 of 2013 (the “TLAA”) introduced with effect from 1 April 2014, a new section 8F into the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) in order to reduce the opportunity for the creation of equity instruments that are artificially disguised as debt instruments (“hybrid debt instruments”) ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, No 31 of 2013 introduced amendments to the VAT registration provisions contained in the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 (“the VAT Act”), aimed primarily at streamlining the VAT registration process. These amendments came into force on 1 April 2014 ...
