Blog

Panama Releases Further Details about CRS Implementation

The Panamanian Ministry of Economy and Finance has released additional information regarding its implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). A late adopter, Panama has committed to commencing exchanges in 2018. Panama has ratified secondary legislation for the implementation of CRS – the final legislative step in imposing the duty to report on Panamanian financial […]

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UK 2017 General Election Results: Surprise for Prime Minister Theresa May

On Thursday, June 8, 2017, the United Kingdom held its general election for Parliamentary seats, and the election concluded with shocking results, leaving the U.K. with no overall majority in the House of Commons. The report of the results was a disappointment for Prime Minister Theresa May, who was hoping to increase her Conservative Party’s majority, […]

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Senate Leadership Invokes Rule to Fast-Track Healthcare Legislation

Senate negotiations regarding the fate of the American Health Care Act are continuing in spite of the discord among and between Democrats and Republicans on a number of provisions in the bill. Much of the roadblocks at this point are procedural in nature regarding the Reconciliation rules. A failure to comply with Reconciliation requirements would […]

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Pakistan Signs Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement

Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance has joined the Common Reporting Standard by signing on to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), bringing the total number of signatories to 90 countries. As such, Pakistan will aim to begin the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) for its reportable accounts in 2018. By signing on to this agreement, Pakistan […]

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Guatemala Ratifies the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters

The Guatemalan government has adopted the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in a move to demonstrate its commitment to tax transparency and remove itself from a “blacklist” of international tax havens. Once it takes the necessary legislative steps to implement the OECD programs, Guatemala will be able to exchange information with any […]

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Cyprus Opens Data Transmission Portal and Releases FATCA Specifications

The Cypriot Ministry of Finance has announced that its Government Internet Security Channel is now open for the acceptance of FATCA and CRS XML files containing tax year 2016 data. The reporting process consists of the following steps: Subscribe to the Internet Security Channel if you are not already registered Register to the FATCA/CRS/DAC2 service […]

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Curacao FATCA Testing Period Opens Late, Deadline to Be Delayed

The Curacao Financial Data Exchange Portal is now open for the FATCA XML file testing period. The testing period, which was originally scheduled to begin on May 29, was delayed due to technical difficulties. As such, the data delivery functionality and reporting deadlines will also be delayed to dates which will be determined at a […]

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Is India Less than a Month Away from GST?

With less than a month to go to the 1st July target date for GST adoption in India, the question on everybody’s mind is this: will the launch of the much-awaited Goods & Service Tax (GST) be postponed again or is the 1st July deadline definitive? Our team has been monitoring legal developments in India […]

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Rhode Island Removes Annual Reporting Frequency for Employer Withholding Tax

Rhode Island recently updated their reporting frequency schedule to exclude the annual reporting frequency. The update to the 2017 Employer’s Income Tax Withholding Tables and the removal of Form RI-941A from the Department of Revenue website confirm that filers previously on an annual reporting schedule must switch to one of the remaining reporting schedules – […]

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Rhode Island Removes Annual Reporting Frequency for Employer Withholding Tax

Rhode Island recently updated their reporting frequency schedule to exclude the annual reporting frequency. The update to the 2017 Employer’s Income Tax Withholding Tables and the removal of Form RI-941A from the Department of Revenue website confirm that filers previously on an annual reporting schedule must switch to one of the remaining reporting schedules – […]

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Ireland Extends CRS Filing Deadline to August 18th

Irish Revenue has sent correspondence to all interested parties indicating that the deadline for filing CRS returns has been extended from June 30^th^ to August 18, 2017 due to the late delivery of the required business and validation rules – resulting in a delay to the start of filing. Although the submission application is currently […]

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Tennessee Reduces Sales and Use Tax on Food

The State of Tennessee has enacted House Bill 534, also known as the IMPROVE Act.  This legislation is effective July 1, 2017 and reduces the sales and use tax on food and food ingredients from 5% to 4% . Food and food ingredients includes substances that are sold for ingestion or chewing by humans and […]

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Arkansas Increases Local Sales Tax Rates in Five Jurisdictions, Effective July 1, 2017

Effective July 1,2017, five jurisdictions in Arkansas will either increase or decrease their sales and use tax rates. The locations impacted by this change include, the city of Eureka Springs, which is decreasing the sales and use tax rate to 2.25%; the city of Lamar, which is increasing the rate to 2.0%; the city of […]

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India Publishes Final GST Returns and Rules

The Indian Central Board of Excise and Customs has published the final GST return formats and return rules on its website as of June 3rd, 2017. GST return formats maybe found here. GST return rules may be found here. Full implementation of GST in India takes effect on July 1, 2017.   

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Tacoma Washington Plastic Bag Ban

Last July the City of Tacoma, Washington passed Ordinance No. 28367, a “Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance.” This law bans the distribution of disposable plastic bags by retailers and imposes a minimum five cent fee on paper bags.  Retailers (including restaurants), will be allowed to keep this fee. The law does not apply to bags for […]

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Sales and Use Tax Process Benchmarks and Best Practices Webinar Recap

Sales and Use Tax Webinar for Manufacturers – Recap from May 16 Thank you again for joining us on May 16 for our latest Tax Tuesday Webinar, Sales and Use Tax Process Benchmarks and Best Practices for Manufacturers. During this webinar, Mark Christenson and I shared results of a recent Aberdeen Benchmark Study that contained […]

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Croatia Revises Web Application User Manual for FATCA

The Croatian Tax Administration has issued a revision of its Web Application User Manual to be used in conjunction with FATCA transmittals. The Manual has two substantive updates that should be noted: The Manual now includes a link to access the web application’s production environment for transmitting FATCA XML files to the competent authority. The […]

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Hong Kong Publishes Instructions for Occupational Retirement Schemes (ORS)

In response to the submissions made through the OECD disclosure facility, Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department has published guidance for the use of Occupational Retirement Schemes.  In part, the guidance instructs that only those schemes registered under the proper ordinance are considered non-reporting financial institutions.

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