World news
American import duties: a trade war and accumulating WTO complaints
A few months have passed since the USA introduced duties on the imports of steel, aluminium, solar panels and washing machines. Currently, no end is in sight for one of the modern history’s greatest trade conflicts. The number of import duties is…
Rosy prospects for green investments
In May 2018, the European Commission (EC) presented a package of legislative proposals aiming to promote sustainable finance. The package includes a regulation on disclosures concerning the sustainability of investments, and a regulation on the…
Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement signed
Representatives of the EU and Japan met in Tokyo to sign an agreement on economic cooperation. It aims to create new opportunities for the import of agricultural products from the EU, remove Japanese customs duties on products such as cheese or wine…
Brexit: three customs arrangement options after Britain leaves the EU
If the present agreement remains unchanged, Great Britain will leave the European Union upon the lapse of the transition period, on 1 January 2021. At that time, it will most likely have to give up one of the greatest economic advantages of EU…
The end of the present EU VAT system approaching?
Late in May this year, the European Commission submitted a proposal to amend the VAT Directive, outlining the definitive (final) VAT system. The new system should unify the principles applicable in the VAT area across the European Union, simplify…
MLI enters into force
On 1 July 2018, the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty-Related Measures to Prevent BEPS (‘Multilateral Instrument’ or ‘MLI’) entered into force. On that date, three months have elapsed from the end of the calendar month in which the MLI…
OECD issues release on reviews conducted within BEPS
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has issued a release that updates the results of preferential regime reviews conducted by the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP) in connection with Action 5 under the Base Erosion…
Crowdfunding under regulator’s scrutiny
The proposal for a regulation on crowdfunding platforms in the EU is currently subject to a comment procedure. Such platforms allow the public to invest in projects using relatively small amounts of funds, while the final collected sum may amount to…
New digital economy taxation rules
In March, the European Commission issued two draft directives on the digital economy: the first one proposes to introduce a tax on digital services; the second one the concept of a virtual permanent establishment.
Tax planning may be subject to reporting duty
In mid-March, the ECOFIN Council reached political agreement on the rules requiring intermediaries (tax advisors, attorneys, other advisors) or taxpayers to disclose information on potentially aggressive cross-border tax planning arrangements. This…
EU Court of Justice rules in Deister Holding and Juhler Holding cases
At the end of 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a long-awaited judgment in the joined cases Deister Holding and Juhler Holding, concerning the application of the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive and involving a dispute…
First country-by-country reports handed in – what’s next?
The first round of country-by-country reporting (CbCR) is over. Each group subject to the reporting duty had to provide selected financial and non-financial data, for the group and broken down by individual jurisdictions, in a special format.