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See who has done the tax work on this month’s biggest deals

The new EU legislation changing the place of supply of business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic services, telecommunications and broadcasting to the country of the consumer has been the VAT story of the year. Joe Stanley-Smith speaks to Dermot Donegan, head of VAT policy at the Irish tax authority (Revenue), about how the plans were finalised during the Irish presidency of the EU Council, his thoughts around their implementation and the possibility of expanding the mini one-stop shop (MOSS) to cover goods and other services.

Dajana Topic The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Srpska (RS) held its 191st regular session on December 22 2014. During this session, in accordance with constitutional and legal frameworks, decisions were made on the compliance of laws and other legal acts with the constitution and laws of RS. The Constitutional Court has ruled that certain regulations of the special methods of debt payment, which stipulate that the tax debt can be settled by payment of the entire amount of the principal debt in cash with the write-off of interest, are not constitutional, as well as converting the tax debt into equity in the assets of the tax debtor.

Philippe Jeffrey

Rossitza Koleva A public listed company in Bulgaria is a joint stock company (AD) which is initially entered in the Trade Register to the Entry Agency, later on in the Register of Public Companies, and supervised by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). Even though the procedure of setting up a new entity in Bulgaria is fast and well organised, the listing process is time consuming, complex and difficult. The application for listing must go through the approval of a prospectus for a public offering from the FSC.

Chris Van Loan

Erion Lena Individuals who are foreign citizens, employees, employers or self-employed in registered entities for fiscal purposes in the Republic of Albania, are secured and protected mandatorily under Albanian legislation. The Council of Ministers, by decision no. 77 dated January 27 2015 (published in the Official Gazette No 9 on February 3 2015) excluded the following foreigners working in Albania from paying obligatory contributions and benefiting from the social insurance and healthcare system:

Elena Kostovska On February 26 2015, the Kazakhstan Senate approved the double tax treaty signed with FYR Macedonia on July 2 2012. Given that the FYR Macedonian Parliament had already ratified the treaty on December 4 2012 and the ratification was published in the Official Gazette 154 on December 7 2012, it is expected that the treaty will be applicable as of 2016.

Fiona McClafferty In a region famous for its oil and the perception of widespread tax-free living, international tax agreements have generally made little difference to those in the Middle East. However, times are changing. The effects of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and soon, the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), championed by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, will mean much more cross-border information exchange.

Because tax doesn’t have to be taxing. A less-than-serious look back at some of the quirkier tax stories from the past month.