New Zealand / Chile: NZ Tax Change Causes Cost to Increase for Chilean Operations

A delay in Greymouth moving forward with oil and gas production for over a year, and an intervening change in New Zealand tax law (as it relates to offsetting exploration costs in other countries against their New Zealand…

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Ireland: Easiest Courty to Pay Business Tax

According to The Paying Taxes 2010 report, which was compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the World Bank and IFC, covering 183 countries and looking at all taxes paid by businesses, Ireland ranked as the easiest country in Europe to pay…

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Jordan: Prime Minister Encourages Foreign Investment

Samir Rifai, Jordan’s Prime Minister, in speaking with the Jordan Security Commission, said the new income tax law will encourage local and foreign investments and will not be a law focused on “collection”, adding that there will be…

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UK: Bankers with Few Options

With the rise in UK taxation, and an ever more onerous regulatory environment, UK bankers are looking for options.  The conventional thinking was that other options existed, and that Westminster had better move carefully on suppressing City activity. …

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Chile: OECD Compliant Tax Transparency

Chile has enacted legislation enhancing access to bank information for the purposes of improved compliance with OECD standards on tax information exchange and increased transparency in financial transactions. Previously, legal restrictions prevented Chilean tax authorities from obtaining and…

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Ireland: Remains “Pro-Business” in Recent Announcements

The Irish government reaffirmed its commitment to both the 12.5% corporations tax, and the tax holiday for business start-ups.  The minister also announced accelerated capital cost allowance, and reaffirmed his support of R&D tax credits regime. Independent (Ireland)…

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UAE: Forth Best Tax Regime

In stark contrast to the prior post on the state of Russian tax administration, the same Big 4 accounting firm study has determined that the UAE has the forth best tax regime in the world.  While debt obligations…

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Russia: 103rd in Ease of Paying Taxes

The absence of strong constitutional safeguards and basic constitutional rights, including weak legislation in a number of critical areas (e.g. taxation being one significant area of weakness), continues to hinder economic reform in Russia. In a recent study…

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India: Unfair Tax Equilization

While the “mainstream media” is full of commentary, some of which is useful and informative, regarding proposals to curb anthropogenic (i.e. derived from human activities) climate change, it is interesting to view the comments of the news media…

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South Africa: Tax Agency – search and seize without a warrant

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) wants the power, without a warrant, to conduct a search and to seize documents if it believes you are about to destroy records and evidence of fraudulent activities or income earned.  This…

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