Blog

Total Control: Three Ways Global Tax Administrations Are Cracking Down on VAT Liability (Part III: Transitional Systems in the European Union)

In this conclusion to our three-part series on how tax authorities in VAT jurisdictions are using e-invoicing to control the VAT return process, we’ll look at some of the transitional systems E.U. governments are leveraging prior to or in lieu of mandating ex-post remittance/validation or ex-ante/real-time invoice validation. Governments are reporting increased VAT revenues as […]

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Supply Chain Financing: Key considerations for success in LATAM

For multinational organizations operating in Latin America, local supplier stability is crucial because production depends on the availability of resources. When there is a long window to receive payment for materials provided, the resulting impact on suppliers’ liquidity may impact their ability to provide resources in the future. Despite the compliance challenges that abound in […]

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Malta Delays CRS Reporting Deadline

The Maltese Inland Revenue Division has announced that the CRS deadline for tax year 2016 reporting has been moved from April 30, 2017 to June 30, 2017.

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Bahamas Announces Registration and Reporting Dates for 2017

The Bahamas Ministry of Finance has released information regarding the timeline for portal registration and reporting for this year’s filing season. The TIE Portal will open for registration and reporting on July 17, 2017 at 9:00am EST and will close on August 25, 2017 at 5:00pm EST. As a general reminder, FIs were required to […]

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Liechtenstein Releases Additional XML Specifications

The Liechtenstein Tax Administration has released a document containing additional XML specifications, which will supplement the FATCA XML Schema v2.0 and CRS XML Schema that Liechtenstein FIs will use to report account information and receive notifications. Reporting Financial Institutions needs to be mindful that their own jurisdiction is allowed to implement their own changes to […]

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Malta Publishes Revised Guidelines for CRS Implementation

The Maltese Inland Revenue Division has published an updated version of its CRS implementation guidelines for Financial Institutions. There is only one significant change of which filers should take note – regarding trustee-documented trusts: During 2017, consolidated reporting by trustees will only be supported through the upload of CRS XML data files using an IRD […]

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Mexico Updates Electronic Nil Reporting Guidance and Security Protocols

The Mexican Tax Administration Service has published an updated version of its electronic nil reporting guidance. The revised version makes clarifications on some matters addressed in the original publication. Additionally, the Service has updated its presentation on security protocols for creating XML files.

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Massachusetts Adopts an Economic Nexus Standard For Remote Sellers and Vendors

Remote sales continue to be an ongoing concern for vendors trying to stay compliant with state and local taxing authorities.  Massachusetts joins a growing list of states that have adopted their own laws and regulations. On April 3, Massachusetts joined the ranks of states defying the Quill decision with its variation on economic nexus for […]

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United Kingdom: Prime Minister Proposes “Snap” General Election

Prime Minister Theresa May has called for an early general election on June 8, claiming it’s the only way to guarantee certainty and stability in Brexit negotiations. The Prime Minister’s Conservative Party is currently polling far ahead of the opposition Labour Party, and her clear hope is that Conservatives will gain enough seats in Parliament […]

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Spain SII: 7 Similar Characteristics of LATAM Electronic Invoicing

As business-to-government compliance continues expanding across Europe, Spain is following LATAM’s electronic invoicing model as one of the first European countries to adopt automation in efforts to maximize tax collections. Starting July 1, 2017, the “Suministro Inmediato de Información,” known as the SII, will require certain businesses in Spain to electronically submit transactional invoice data […]

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Total Control: Three Ways Global Tax Administrations Are Cracking Down on VAT Liability (Part II: Brazil)

In this article, we turn our focus to the second and most widely used system – ex-ante and real-time invoice validation. In our previous blog, we began discussing how certain tax administrations are implementing new processes to ensure VAT compliance. These tax authorities, of course, want the money they are owed as soon as possible […]

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OECD Publishes Guidelines on Taxation of Services and Intangible Goods

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in newly-published 2017 Guidelines for VAT/GST, has opined on how they believe VAT should be assessed on services and intangibles. Their primary recommendations are that countries adopt regimes which: 1. Tax services and intangibles at the place of consumption; 2. Tax business-to-business (B2B) transactions at the location […]

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Belgium Updates CRS Business Rules and Example Scenarios

The Belgium Ministry of Finance recently published updated Business Rules and Example Scenarios to aid financial institutions in creating compliant CRS XML files for reporting purposes. These most recent updates include changes to important elements critical to a successful transmittal. The Business Rules, which lay out the multitude of requirements for each field in an […]

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IRS Releases Updated Publication 1281, Backup Withholding For Missing and Incorrect Name/TIN(S)

The IRS has released an updated version of Publication 1281, Backup Withholding For Missing and Incorrect Name/TIN(S). There are a couple of changes from the previous revision: • Form 1099-G payments made under IRC 6041 and 3406(b)(3)(A), which include taxable grants and agricultural payments, are now subject to backup withholding o New code for the […]

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Iceland Publishes New FATCA Schema Information and Enacts FATCA/CRS Resolution

The Icelandic Directorate of Internal Revenue has released information about its domestic schema to be used for both FATCA and CRS reporting. There is a new section in the schema, <FatcaCrs í framtalsgögnum> (FATCA CRS tax return data), which is meant to allow for either FATCA or CRS data to be reported. Additionally, there is […]

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Cayman Island Publishes List of Reportable Jurisdictions, Updates Participating Jurisdictions

The Tax Information Authority for the Cayman Islands has published its list of Reportable Jurisdictions in the Cayman Islands Gazette (beginning on page 15). This list is important because it instructs Reporting Financial Institutions which foreign account holders must be reported. In addition, Cayman’s list of Participating Jurisdictions has also been updated.

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Singapore Amends CRS Regulations

New regulations came into effect this week for CRS in Singapore. The Minister for Finance has published Amendments the last year’s Regulations. Many of the Amendments concern due diligence procedures, including the self-certification process. Singapore is a late adopter. Financial Institutions are required to complete the due diligence procedures this year, and then report in […]

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Singapore Releases Nil Return Form

Singapore’s Inland Revenue Authority has released a paper form that Reporting Financial Institutions may use to file a nil report. Nil reports are required whenever an FI does not have any U.S. Reportable Accounts. A Singaporean FI may elect to file an electronic nil through the IDES Gateway, as it would a typical FATCA return. […]

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