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On the website of the Inland Revenue Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region a guidance for Financial Institutions is available. According to the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department the guidance is intended to aid financial institutions in complying with their obligations under Part 8A of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112). The guidance contains the Department’s views on the due diligence procedures required by the Common Reporting Standard of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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On April 10, 2017 the Japanese Ministry of Finance issued a press release announcing that he Government of Japan and the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark will initiate negotiations for the amendment of the current Tax Convention between the two countries which entered into force in 1968. (Convention between the Kingdom of Denmark and Japan for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income)
Read more: Japan – Denmark: Negotiations for amending the current DTA will be initiated
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As a reaction to the Panama Papers, in April 2016 the German Bundesministerium der Finanzen (German Ministry of Finance) released a 10 step plan to combat tax fraud, devious tax avoidance and money laundering. On April 7, 2017 the German Ministry of Finance gave a status update on the 10 step plan.
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On April 6, 2017 the OECD released an update of its Guidance on the Implementation of Country-by-Country Reporting, which was initially released on June 26, 2016 and that subsequently was updated on December 5, 2016.
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On April 6, 2017 on the website of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) the opinion of Advocate General Kokott in the Case C-132/16, Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i danachno-osiguritelna praktika’ — Sofia versus ‘Iberdrola Inmobiliaria Real Estate Investments’ EOOD (ECLI:EU:C:2017:283) was published.
How close or broad, from the point of view of VAT law, must be the link between the costs, on which VAT is charged, borne by an operator in order to generate revenue and his taxable transactions for deduction of input tax to be possible? Is it sufficient that the costs were beneficial or necessary for the undertaking? Is the mere cause of the costs by notified revenue enough or must the costs be directly and immediately allocated to the undertaking’s revenue liable to VAT?
Is it sufficient, for example, if an undertaking arranges the renovation of the municipal waste-water infrastructure in order to obtain building permits for its buildings, which are to be leased on a taxable basis in future? Or do the renovation costs have to be allocated directly and immediatelyto particular transactions of the undertaking? In the latter case, deduction of input tax by the undertaking for the renovation costs depends on the assessment of the supply to the municipality, as the undertaking supplies the renovation directly and immediately to the municipality in its function as the authority responsible for waste-water disposal.
The Court is called on to consider these fundamental questions in these preliminary ruling proceedings. In answering them, regard must also be had to the Court’s recent judgment in Sveda. That judgment has created some uncertainty in the Member States over the extent of the deduction of input tax. In the present case the Court now has an opportunity to clarify the statements made in that judgment.
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