By Mohammed Aweidah, Al Zarooni Tureva, Auditors, Accountants, Advisors
The UAE introduced Value Added Tax (VAT), an indirect tax imposed on the purchase of goods and services, at a standard rate of 5%, effective 01 January 2018. Since then, companies have restructured their business models to include VAT in all of their operations. As a new income-generating factor for the UAE, VAT has helped in the development of the infrastructure and contributed to economic growth of the country.
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By Pasquale Della Corte, COMMA 10
The Italian Supreme Court requested a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of the Articles 2 and 6 of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/ EEC, since Italian VAT law provides that the lending or secondment of staff, in respect of whom only the related cost is reimbursed, shall not be regarded as relevant for the purposes of VAT.
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By Valeria Khmelevskaya, KBK Accounting
In the course of the current tax reform aimed at a review of taxation of IT businesses, IT companies may obtain certain profit tax reductions and a number of other incentives (e.g. reduction of tariffs for social security contributions which are payable in Russia by the employer only). The current reform also covers VAT. In particular, the VAT exemptions have been revised.
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By Siffat Kaur, Ashwani & Associates
VAT and GST all over the world has evolved in a fragmented manner. This has resulted in a variety of models emerging, under which the tax levies are based on different principles in different countries. The ability to trade services across borders is a more recent development and one which is not always easily assimilated into current models. Implementation of GST in India was touted as a tool for accelerating the pace of tax legislation by taxing every value addition. However, taxing the cross-border transactions still continues to place strain on the jurisdictional authorities.
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By Brigitte Jakoby, Jakoby Dr Baumhof
The key question regarding leasing contracts under VAT law always was and still is: Is there a supply of goods or a supply of services?
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By Toon Hasselman, EJP Accountants & Adviseurs
In my VAT practice, I have to deal with cross-border activities on almost a daily basis. These activities range from a simple sui generis B2B service, a straightforward intracommunity transaction with ordinary goods to more complex ones, such as the supply of a so-called “freeze tunnel” to a Belgian french fries factory (factory) by a Dutch business (trader) and by a Dutch construction company (constructor), and delivered on location in Belgium.
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By Manfred Leitinger and Antonio Lukic, Prodinger Leitinger & Partner
On 30 June, the Austrian Parliament aimed to pass a new law reducing the VAT rate to 5%. It was meant to affect all revenues generated from selling beverages and meals, meaning firms with a hospitality trade license. But only one day before the law came into effect, the parliamentary session turned out to also grant tax reliefs to the entire hotel industry, including the supply of accommodation.
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By Artur Plutowski, EFS Group Sp. z o.o.
The Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T) is a concept developed by the OECD and adopted by some EU Members (e.g. Austria, France, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Poland). It is designed to provide tax authorities with reliable accounting data, exported from an accounting system, for a specific time period, easily readable by virtue of its standardisation of layout and format.
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By Steve McCrindle, Haines Watts
The UK has always zero-rated printed matter, including books, booklets, brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, newspapers, journals and periodicals (which include magazines), and children’s picture and painting books. It was HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) policy that zero-rating of VAT only applied to ‘goods’ and not the e-book equivalent, which is a ‘service’. This had been the status quo in the UK for some time.
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By Ingo Prang, KPP Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH
One of the most important measures of the COVID-19 economic stimulus package adopted by the German Federal Government is the temporary reduction in VAT rates from 19% to 16% (standard VAT) and from 7% to 5% (reduced VAT) respectively. This measure applies from 01 July 2020 to 31 December 2020. The same applies in a mirror image from 01 January 2021, when these temporary reductions are removed.
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