Latest Finance Headlines

 
 

February 8, 2010


Irish Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan has published the Finance Bill 2010, which gives effect to numerous taxation measures announced in last December’s budget, including a 0.5% cut in value-added tax and the introduction of a 'domicile levy'.

February 8, 2010


German banking group Deutsche Bank has announced that it intends to pay around GBP200m (EUR225m) to the British government as a result of the new bank payroll tax.

February 8, 2010


Singapore and Japan have signed a protocol to incorporate into their existing double taxation agreement the new internationally-agreed Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes.

February 8, 2010


A new pan-European business survey, released on February 1, 2010, has shown that the Ireland continues to lead the way in Europe as a hub for private and family-owned enterprises involved in investing in innovation, and in developing new products.

February 8, 2010


Despite being welcomed by Britain's creative and research-intensive industries, a leading think thank has argued that the government's proposed 'patent box' regime will fail to encourage innovation.

February 8, 2010


Australia’s Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, has announced that negotiations to update Australia's double taxation agreement with Austria will take place in March 2010.

February 8, 2010


Faced with a budget deficit rising from 5.9% to 6.8% of GDP in 2010, the Russian Ministry of Finance has set up a working group to report by March 1 on the affordability of zero export duties on oil from East Siberia and other means of incentivising development in the East.

February 8, 2010


The US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law has sat to discuss 'State Taxation: The Role of Congress in Defining Nexus.' The Tax Foundation advocated a physical presence standard in written testimony, especially in an age of e-commerce.

February 5, 2010


Estimated at around EUR360m, the product of the windfall tax levied on bonuses, issued by France to market operators, is to be transferred in its entirety to Oséo, the public bank working to support small- and medium-sized enterprises, under an amendment put forward by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

February 5, 2010


UK Treasury minister Lord Myners has said that the government expects revenues from the new 50% top rate of income tax will be much lower than expected as taxpayers arrange their affairs to avoid paying it.

February 5, 2010


The European Commission has assessed Greece's Stability Programme, and has approved the ambitious budget-deficit reduction targets outlined, as well as the fiscal measures and structural reforms contained in the programme.

February 5, 2010


With the end of tax year approaching, commentators are predicting a bumper year for UK Venture Capital Trusts in light of the forthcoming increase in the top rate of income tax in the UK, as well as the reduction in pensions tax relief for higher earners. In fact one commentator predicts demand to surge by 70% on the previous year.

February 5, 2010


Following a IDR2.1 trillion tax arrears claim on Bakrie Group in January, the Indonesian Directorate of Taxes warns that it will commence a program of transfer pricing audits on selected groups.

February 5, 2010


The Qatar Financial Centre Authority has announced a new strategic focus for 2010 and beyond, with the creation of three specific hub strategies concentrating on Asset Management, Reinsurance and Captive Insurance.

February 5, 2010


With regard to the current tax dispute between the Bureau of Customs and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines has requested that the country’s tax regulations are applied with consistency so as not to discourage future investment.

February 4, 2010


While President Barack Obama's proposals to cut tax and create additional investment incentives for small business have been welcomed, representatives of America's largest companies complain that other aspects of the 2011 budget proposals will undermine the President's goals of accelerating the US economic recovery by impeding their ability to invest internationally.

February 4, 2010


Eager to maintain the special flat rate tax privilege accorded to wealthy foreigners, Switzerland’s cantonal Finance Directors have announced that the existing system of taxation is to be reformed, and that the conditions determining the application of the tax are to be toughened.

February 4, 2010


Despite emphatic calls from German Opposition groups, the Social Democratic Party and the parliamentary Left group, for the introduction of an international financial transactions tax, as well as measures designed to curb both speculation and excessive banking bonuses, their request has found little support from either the Free Democratic Party or from the Christian Democratic Union.

February 4, 2010


Bermuda’s Minister of Finance, Paula Cox has announced the signing of a bilateral agreement with Japan for the full exchange of information in criminal and civil tax matters, under an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development model Tax Information Exchange Agreement.

February 4, 2010


As the Australian government reintroduces its proposed emissions trading scheme into parliament for a third time, Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition, has released a climate change plan that, he says, would reduce carbon emissions without taxation.

 

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