It had been reported that Boris Johnson’s UN General Assembly appearance would be dominated by announcements of “rolling out the red carpet” to investors, particularly from the United States, with a proposed reduction in the corporate income tax rate to 17% planned to set the cat among the European pigeons, post-Brexit, and a trade deal with the US hoped to be on the cards.

However, the major Boris Brexit Blockbuster speech was somewhat derailed by events in the courts back home, and his speech on technology matters (a key planned focus area once freed from European regulatory and tax ‘shackles’) as delivered to the UNGA was – by all accounts – both perplexing and perplexed, taking in limbless chickens, Greek mythology and malevolent household AI.

Matters of tax and economics have remained mostly off the table since the Prime Minister’s earlier than anticipated … Read More »

In Ireland, on September 11, the Irish Finance Department revealed that given the lack of clarity regarding the timing and format that the UK’s exit will take, and with the Budget just four weeks away, the Government has decided to formulate the Budget on the basis of a disorderly Brexit.

The Irish authorities have reported that they are committed to a budgetary package of EUR2.8bn, EUR2.1bn of which has been pre-committed to spending measures. This leaves about EUR700m for tax-side measures.

The Department said that the Government is taking a “twin-track” approach to the Budget. This involves funding services and making progress on particular policy areas and supporting sectors and regions most exposed to Brexit-related disruption.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe explained that: “A no-deal Brexit will have profound implications for Ireland on all levels. These include macroeconomic, trade, and sectoral challenges, both immediately … Read More »

In early September, the Government of the Czech Republic received from the Ministry of Finance draft legislation for the introduction of a temporary digital services tax, which was first announced in April 2019.

According to the Finance Ministry, the scope of the tax is based largely on the European Commission’s proposals for an temporary EU digital tax, which will apply to revenues from online advertising, the sale of user data, and intermediation services, by companies with a global turnover of EUR750m (USD825m) or more and realizing sales in the Czech Republic of at last CZK50m (USD2.1m) per year. The DST will only apply to revenue from intermediation services if the platform has in excess of 200,000 users, will be imposed on a calendar year period, and will be payable three months after the end of the tax year, the ministry said.

The … Read More »

In Europe, on August 29, legislation was signed into law providing for numerous changes to value-added tax rules.

The legislation included the introduction of a mandatory VAT split payment mechanism on certain supplies, whereby when a taxable person acquires goods or services from another taxable person, the portion of the payment to the supplier that is VAT will be deposited separately and automatically to a dedicated account of the seller, in order to satisfy the VAT that is required to be remitted to the tax agency.

Under this mechanism, it was announced, split payments will be mandatory for supplies that are currently subject to the reverse charge mechanism, including:

steel;
fuel;
construction services;
European Union emissions trading allowances;
automotive parts and accessories;
coal and coal products; and
electronic machinery and equipment and their parts.

The legislation also includes numerous measures intended to simply VAT rules, including through:

the use of the … Read More »