The President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, announced today the Implementation of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, DR-CAFTA, with respect to the Dominican Republic. See press release from The White House http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070301.html#).The implementation of this free trade treaty opens a new era of commercial opportunities between the member countries to the DR-CAFTA ...
February 2007 UK retail sales rose 0.6% on a like-for-like basis against a weak comparative in February 2006, when sales had fallen. The three-month trend rate of growth weakened in February to 0.9% from 1.1% in January for like-for-like sales, but rose to 4.2% from 3.6% for total sales, reflecting the continued growth of retail space.Clothing and footwear were still difficult but food sales improved, helped by Valentine’s Day, after a flat January ...
In our November 2006 Asia IP Bulletin, we reported on a ground-breaking agreement (the "Agreement") signed by the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese Governments, under which they agreed to recognise and enforce judgments made in each others courts. The Agreement followed four years of discussion and legislative changes are now underway in Hong Kong to implement the Agreement ...
Since we are in the season for the distribution of dividends, it is not without use to review and update, our last charter on this issue. It shall be recalled that in 2005 the Portuguese tax system streamlined its rules for the taxation of dividends, by harmonising rates which previously varied in accordance to the nature of the recipient of the dividends ...
On 16 March 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Enterprise Income Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China. The Law harmonises the tax laws applicable to foreign and domestic enterprises. The new law marks a major change in PRC tax policy. Effective 1 January 2008, both domestic enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) will be subject to income tax at the unified rate of 25% ...
On 16 October 2006, the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality promulgated the Regulations of Guangzhou Municipality on Encouraging the Establishment of Headquarters and Regional Headquarters with Foreign Investment. The Regulations, which are effective for five years from the date of promulgation (i.e ...
The State Administration of Taxation issued the Measures on the Self- Declaration of Personal Income Tax (Trial Implementation) on 6 November 2006. The Measures cover the filing process for those who satisfy one of the following conditions:1. Annual income of 120,000RMB or more; 2. Wages or stipends earned from two or more sources within China; 3. Income earned outside China; 4. Any acquired taxable income without withholding; 5 ...
On 27 November 2006, the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the Notice Regarding Several Stamp Tax Policies. The Notice states that:1. Stamp tax will be levied on contracts submitted electronically. 2. Stamp tax will be levied on purchase and sale contracts between power plants and power grid networks and on those between two power grid networks ...
The Ministry of Commerce issued the Provisional Measures on Tasks Related to Complaints from Foreign Investment Enterprises on 1 September 2006. Effective from 1 October 2006, the Measures establish a procedure pursuant to which foreign investment enterprises (FIEs) and foreign investors who feel their lawful rights have been infringed by an administrative agency may lodge a formal complaint ...
Most of the attention at this week's ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Manila focused on the failure of ASEAN to reach a definitive approach on establishing a human rights body for the grouping. The proposed ASEAN Charter is supposed to address human rights concerns through this new entity. Perhaps given the diversity in governance standards among members, this was to be expected ...
When August turns to September, 2007, a new market called NewConnect will open on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). It will support the trading of shares of small and medium-sized companies. The expectation is that issuers entering this new market will not be large companies (of market capitalization around PLN 20–30 million and with a public offer value from PLN several hundred thousand to several million) ...
1. On 31 December 2008, Law 67-A/2007, of 31 December, which enacted the 2008 State Budget, was published. In this booklet, we will discuss the main changes that will take place in our tax laws as a result of this Law, with effect from 1 January 2008. A) PERSONAL INCOME TAX (IRS) i) Capital income – IRS Category E 2 ...
The Bush Administration and House leaders Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican John Boehner reached an agreement on January 24, 2008 regarding a stimulus package. This stimulus package includes tax relief targeted at both businesses and individuals. As discussed below, the Senate may well have additional individual and business provisions before legislation is passed ...
Investors in Scottish commercial property have been warned that the sector may see a zero per cent rate of growth in 2008 as supply continues to outstrip demand.In comparison to the situation just 12 months ago, where there were ten buyers for every commercial property put on the market, now ten sellers exist for every purchaser, new research from industry consultants Drivers Jonas has revealed ...
Several legislative instruments on VAT issues were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 20 February, amending the rules for determining the place where services are supplied for the purposes of VAT: - the general rule will be reversed and services will now be taxed in the place of consumption as opposed to where the supplier has its establishment ...
1. The long-awaited duty requiring users or promoters of operations and transactions whose sole or principal objective is to obtain tax benefits to communicate such operations or transactions to the tax authorities has finally become law in Decree-Law 29/2008 of 25 February. 2. Due to its excessively wide nature, however, the new antiabuse measure raises some very serious doubts ...
In late November 2007, the Supreme Court rendered a judgment on the law of sale in Quebec in the case of ABB Inc. v. Domtar Inc.(1) in which it pointed out important differences between Quebec law and the law of the other Canadian provinces regarding limitation of liability clauses ...
ARGENTINE TAX SYSTEMPOLITICAL CONFIGURATIONThe Republic of Argentina has three levels of Government (Jurisdictions): Nation, Provinces and Municipalities.The government system of the Nation and the Provinces has three powers: The Executive that deals with the Administration, the Legislative in charge of passing the Laws, and the Judiciary responsible for the Administration of Justice ...
Several major changes to the PRC’s Tax Law have come into effect since 1 January 2008. These include the unification of the income tax treatment of all enterprises (foreign and domestic as well as joint-venture companies), resumption of the previous 20 % withholding tax on outgoing dividends to be paid by foreign investment companies to their foreign parent companies, lower effective income tax rates and introduction of the concept of “resident enterprises” ...
The OFT has announced that, for a trial period of 18 months, it will offer cash rewards to individuals that blow the whistle on cartels. Pay outs of up to £100,000 could be made at the OFT’s discretion – but only where the information provided helps the regulator to identify and take action against illegal cartels ...
1. The recently published Decree-Law 55/2008 of 26 March has set out the regulatory provisions necessary for implementing incentive measures for the speedier recovery of areas in Portugal that suffer most from typical inland regional problems, as provided for in the Tax Benefits Statute (EBF) ...
According to statistics, 76% of the leading 100 UK retailers have plans to replace at least one of their core IT systems in 2008. Ensuring that your IT system is up to date is vital. Using outdated software packages often results in poor service delivery and inefficient business management. Many old systems are not capable of meeting current legislation requirements or are not able to deliver reports to demonstrate compliance ...
In one of the first decisions in Quebec since the landmark Domtar case(1), the Québec Court of Appeal has refined the parameters of the liability of a professional vendor and of a manufacturer for a latent defect. In this case,(2), Joseph Élie Limitée (“Élie”) had sold an oil tank manufactured by Réservoirs d’acier Granby (“Granby”), and supplied the oil to its customer, who was insured by Federation Insurance Company of Canada (“Federation”) ...
