The Ontario government announced in its March 26, 2009 budget
that it plans to harmonize the 8% Ontario retail sales tax (RST)
with the 5% federal goods and services tax (GST) to form a 13%
harmonized sales tax (HST), effective July 1, 2010. With
certain exceptions, which are set out in more detail below, the HST
will generally apply in the same manner as the GST to goods and
services provided in Ontario. Like most tax policy changes,
the harmonization of the RST with the GST has created some winners
and some losers.
THE GOOD
Administrative Relief: Many businesses and
economists have been pushing for a single, harmonized sales tax for
years. The primary benefit of the harmonized tax is a decrease in
the administrative costs of having to comply with two separate sets
of tax laws....
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For many years there has been a debate as to whether a company can incur a cost in relation to the acquisition of an asset or the incurral of operating expenditure, where it pays the supplier by issuing its own shares.
The ATO Compliance Program for 2010-11 released earlier this month identifies a focus on globally mobile executives and other highly paid individuals. This focus, in the context of recent significant legislative changes in the areas of foreign employment income and employee share schemes, creates significant risks for those individuals identified and their employers. Now is the time to undertake a compliance review and get the house in order before the ATO comes knocking at your door!
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that a license to use canned software is a license to use tangible personal property and is therefore taxable for Sales and Use Tax purposes.
The European Commission has decided to refer Finland to the European Court of Justice because of failure to comply with a Reasoned Opinion on its legislation which discriminates against foreign pension funds.
The Danish tax system comprises of direct and indirect taxes. Direct taxes include income tax and property tax, while the principal indirect taxes are value added tax (VAT), customs, green taxes and excise duties.
The importance of economic relations between the countries has increased with the ever-growing mobility of capital in the globalised world. In the current conditions, where international investments significantly rise, companies wish to maximize their profits.
On March 18, 2010, a majority of the Illinois Supreme Court held that a religiously affiliated Illinois hospital was not entitled to an exemption from property tax because it failed to establish that it was a charitable institution.
In May, the House of Representatives passed legislation (Section 413 of H.R. 4213) that would subject non-wage earnings of certain S corporation shareholders to the self-employment tax for the first time.
