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Here is a summary of news and updates related to value-added-tax in the European Union during the month of October 2016. Publication of Draft Improvements to Cross-Border VAT Rules On October 7, 2016, the European Council published a set of draft conclusions regarding potential improvements to current VAT rules on cross-border transactions. The Council stated […]

On October 14, tax authorities in the United States and Mexico agreed to a new transfer pricing framework that will ease compliance burdens for some U.S.-based manufacturers with operations in Mexico. Those designated as maquiladoras – a special tax status allowing the tax-free import of materials and equipment used to assemble and manufacture exports – […]

Last year Vermont enacted legislation to be exempted from taxation sales of cloud computing (also known as remotely accessed prewritten software, Software-as-a-Service, “SaaS”, or ASP). A Brief Legislative History In 2010, Vermont issued a technical bulletin that interpreted existing law as imposing tax on prewritten software regardless of how the software was accessed. Act 143 […]

The fight against tax evasion was front-and-center at the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit, which brought together twenty global leaders of the nations with the largest economies. In the wake of the “Panama Papers” leak earlier this year, tax transparency was slated to take on a much more significant role than it had during previous G20 […]

Update from Charles Maniace, Director of Tax Research at Sovos: On October 14, 2016 the Internal Revenue Service issued an announcement stating, “…to ensure a smooth transition, the IRS has decided to delay the October 24 date for requiring e-services users to re-register and validate their identities through Secure Access authentication. “In the next few […]

On September 27, we wrote about the Mexican Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding amparos. While the court granted that these legal stays for eContabilidad compliance could continue, it also ruled that the country’s fiscal email, e-accounting and electronic audits are fundamentally constitutional. We anticipated that the SAT, Mexico’s tax authority, would move quickly to address […]

Overview of common tax gap theme at the recent 2016 Sales Tax Symposium and the 2016 Value Added Tax Symposium, both sponsored by the Institute of Professionals in Taxation I recently had the distinct pleasure of attending both the 2016 Sales Tax Symposium and the 2016 Value Added Tax Symposium, both sponsored by the Institute […]

Update from the IRS as of October 24th Revised Date Information for e-Service Users To ensure a smooth transition, the IRS has decided to delay the October 24 date for requiring e-services users to re-register and validate their identities through Secure Access authentication. In the next few weeks, the IRS plans to have discussions with […]

Overview Sovos Compliance kicked off its networking series with in New York on September 22nd with an event focused on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) reporting. The agenda included a panel discussion with Alex Crenshaw from Wells Fargo, Chris Liguori from State Street, and Josh Herrera from Morgan Stanley. Lani Chou (Pricewaterhouse Coopers) and Fred Cibelli (Ernst […]

Louisiana has two upcoming changes effective October 1 that were not highly publicized. Changes in taxability have become almost routine in Louisiana over the past few months. While most of the major changes were completed as of July 1, 2016, additional adjustments that have not been well-publicized will go into effect on October 1, 2016. […]

When Mexico announced its eContabilidad (eAccounting) legislation in 2014, several multinational companies filed a lawsuit, stating that the requirements were unconstitutional, technically unsound, and unfeasible. Many were granted amparos – legal stays delaying the electronic filing requirement – and the case recently made its way to the Supreme Court. In its July 2016 verdict, the […]

Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) legislation and technical updates are top concerns for financial institutions. The Sovos Compliance Research Team continually monitors new regulations and updates from around the world and publishes them in our tool, Sovos Taxport Compass. Contact us today to start your subscription and have access to all the latest Tax Information […]

Sovos Compliance attended the 14th Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Congress Sept. 14-15 in London. Attendance nearly tripled that of last year’s conference and attendees included representatives from a variety of financial institutions, finance and legal experts, and U.K. and U.S. tax agencies (IRS and HMRC). Topics included changing AEOI requirements, compliance trends and best practices, […]

When it comes to e-invoicing and tax reporting compliance in Latin America, Mexico and Brazil often dominate the discussion as the earliest and most comprehensive to enact such requirements. However, complexities abound throughout Latin America – and Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are no exception.

The IRS plans to migrate to a new schema format for next year’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) filing and the IRS has recently released its long awaited Publication 5124, which is the user guide for the IRS’s FATCA XML schema. While the Publication is listed in draft, the IRS has been clear that […]

A number of countries have started implementing a process for submitting transaction data to taxing authorities. Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T) was initially agreed upon by the 38 member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2005. On July 1, 2016, Poland was the first country to mandate monthly online […]

Accounts payable is a vital function in compliance with Mexico’s eContabilidad accounting requirements. Once a vendor XML e-invoice is accepted by the accounts payable team, the government views it as accurate and complete, then uses this invoice to verify corresponding tax obligations. If an invoice includes errors and tax liability is inaccurate, correcting these mistakes […]

For financial institutions looking to proactively comply with global reporting standards including Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories (CDOT) legislation and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) while minimizing costs and risks, our recent report showed that an Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) solution is key. In evaluating such solutions for […]