With effect from 1 April 2016, the categories of foreign workers which can be exempt from work permit has been expanded.

In line with the recommendations contained in the OECD BEPS report on Action 13, South Korea has adopted new documentation requirements of master file and local file for income years beginning on or after 1 January 2016.

On 16 January 2017, the MOF and SAT jointly released the Draft Law of the People's Republic of China on Cultivated Land Occupation Tax for public consultation.

The Union Budget 2016 introduced a special 'royalty tax' which the tax rate on income earned from patents is 10% (vs. 30% after deducting expenses).

On 16 January 2017, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan, on behalf of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region...

On 10 January 2017, the Ministry of Finance ("MOF") issued a Circular to extend the duty-free shopping policies to visitors departing from Hainan Island by train.

•With all remaining sectors (real estate and construction, financial service, hospitality, food & beverage, healthcare, education, cultural & entertainment services, etc.) transitioning from Business Tax ("BT") to Value Added Tax ("VAT") nationwide with effect from 1 May 2016, VAT has now completely replaced BT in China.

On 8 April 2016, the Manpower Minister of Singapore announced in the Parliament that new criterion will be introduced in approving work pass applications aiming at strengthening the competitiveness of the Singapore workforce.

With the passage of the 2016 tax reform bills on 29 March 2016, the effective corporate tax rates for a company which is liable to size-based business taxes will be reduced.

On 12 January 2017, Mr. Wang Jun, the Director of State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") announced that the annual tax revenue of China for 2016 is RMB11.5878 trillions, an increase of 4.8% over 2015.

In June 2016, a Tax Bill has been passed to attract multinational and mainland enterprises to establish Corporate Treasury Centres ("CTCs") in Hong Kong.

Australia in its 2016/17 Budget announced that the company tax rate for all companies will decrease from 30% to 25% over the next 10 years beginning with the year 2016-17.

In August 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the first edition of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Implementation Handbook...

Welcome to issue 39 [2016] of Weekly Alert covering technical development in taxation around the globe.

Welcome to issue 35 [2016] of Weekly Alert covering technical development in taxation around the globe.

In this tax flash, we aim to provide you with updates and summarize the key points of the Standard.

The Financial Secretary, Mr. John Tsang, delivered the 2016-17 Budget Speech at the Legislative Council on 24 February 2016.

Welcome to issue 2 [2017] of Weekly Alert covering technical development in taxation around the globe.

Welcome to issue 5 [2017] of Weekly Alert covering technical development in taxation around the globe.

As the governments of various jurisdictions around the world have each taken steps to enhance transparency in their own jurisdictions as well as to improve international tax cooperation...