Nouran Ibrahim and Mahmoud Ashraf of Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz – Grant Thornton Egypt say taxpayers required to submit transfer pricing documentation could avoid penalties by acting in response to a recently published law

Rabie Morsy and Karim Adel of Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz – Grant Thornton Egypt summarise three laws designed to facilitate the growth of SMEs and business as a whole through simplified tax procedures and incentives

Nouran Ibrahim and Karim Adel of Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz – Grant Thornton Egypt say mutual agreement procedures will have a vital role to play as the country modernises its tax infrastructure

On August 31 2018, the revised IIT Law was passed by China's Parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC). The revised law will come into full effect from January 1 2019. In advance of this, revised IIT standard personal deductions and tax rates tables have applied from October 1 2018. Following on from this, on October 20 2018 the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), released draft IIT Law implementation rules, as well as the draft guidance on itemised deductions thresholds, both for public consultation. The consultation period has now ended but the final rules are still to be released.

Georgia continues to pursue a business-friendly tax and customs policy, which – along with economic reform – implies a complete harmonisation of the legislation with EU standards. At this stage, work on the new Customs Code project has been completed with the participation of experts from the EU, and fully meeting the EU standards.

In recent months, the trade issues between China and the US have continued to escalate. So far, the US has imposed 10% tariffs on $250 billion out of the more than $500 billion of China exports to the US, and China has responded with tariffs on $110 billion out of $130 billion US exports to China.

The ruling clarifies that Spain cannot restrict VAT exemptions for general services directly necessary to independent groups’ exempt activities, says Fernando Matesanz of Spanish VAT Services

Nils Schmid and Isabelle Berking of KPMG Sweden analyse the possibilities for sovereign wealth funds to claim refunds of Swedish withholding tax following a recent proposal referred to the Council on Legislation

Jian-Cheng Ku and Taco Pennings of DLA Piper Netherlands discuss a recent ruling by the Dutch Supreme Court regarding the calculation of corporate income tax interest

Gabriel Caldiron Rezende of Machado Associados comments on the latest developments related to the beginning of the Brazilian consumption tax reform test phase and considers the next steps

Rodrigo Winter Salgado of PwC Chile outlines the country's proposed foreign investment regime, comparing it with past frameworks and highlighting potential tax and legal protections for local and international investors

Sandra Benedetto and Nicolás Foppiano of PwC Chile explain the country’s new VAT rules for international purchases, eliminating the $41 exemption and requiring foreign platforms to collect VAT on cross-border sales

Chris Hall of Vertex explains how e-invoicing is becoming essential for multinational businesses, enabling compliance, operational efficiency, and friction-free participation in global trade amid increasingly digital tax regimes

Bernardo Mesquita of Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados examines how AI can enhance tax administration efficiency while raising significant transparency, accountability, and taxpayer-rights concerns that governments must address

Dinko Dinev of Deloitte Luxembourg explores how automation is transforming debt pricing studies in transfer pricing, highlighting efficiency gains but also analytical risks that can arise if technology is misapplied