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The tax authorities consider subsidies for canteens operated by a caterer not to constitute remuneration for the operation of the canteen. Ronny Langer of KÜFFNER MAUNZ LANGER ZUGMAIER explains how the court’s view on this differs.

The European Commission plans to slash customs duties on Ukrainian agricultural produce, steel, iron, and machinery imports by more than 98%.

Khoonming Ho

Durval Portela

Rajendra Nayak

Erion Lena The reimbursement of VAT has been a known concern for businesses in Albania. Many Albanian companies have a considerable amount of refundable VAT still un-reimbursed by the tax offices. The Ministry of Finance with Directive no.6 dated February 27 2014 (published in Official Gazette No. 27 dated March 10 2014) aimed at giving a solution to this problem and eliminating delays in the VAT reimbursement which lead to financial problems for the companies and the economic environment in general. Thus, the Ministry of Finance has amended the existing rules stipulating that "VAT reimbursement shall be performed directly by the Treasury system of the Ministry of Finance, a task which until now was performed by the tax authorities".

John Leopardi

Elena Kostovska On February 3 2014, the FYR Macedonian Parliament has ratified the tax treaty with Bosnia & Herzegovina signed on September 24 2013 in Sarajevo. The ratification law was published in the Official Gazette No. 29 of February 6 2014. Pending ratification of the treaty by Bosnia & Herzegovina and its subsequent entry into force, the agreement provisions will be effective from the following calendar year. The treaty covers the personal income tax, property tax and profit tax in FYR Macedonia and the tax on income of individuals, tax on profit and tax on property in Bosnia & Herzegovina. As usual, the agreement is mostly harmonised with the OECD model with the below specifics that are of interest in the treaty's content.

Giuliano Foglia

Tom Seymour Australia's commissioner of taxation recently announced a new offshore voluntary disclosure initiative for 2014 – Project DO IT: Disclose Offshore Income Today. Taxpayers eligible for the initiative will be those who have omitted to declare foreign income or capital gains, or previously over-claimed tax deductions relating to foreign income. The initiative provides taxpayers with a mechanism to make disclosures to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) concerning their international taxation affairs with the ability to take advantage of significantly reduced penalties and a capped number of amendment years. The ATO has further undertaken that eligible Project DO IT taxpayers will not be further investigated for fraud or evasion. Taxpayers eligible for Project DO IT are those who have previously omitted foreign sourced income or capital gains, or taxpayers who have previously over claimed deductions relating to foreign income. A taxpayer who has recently lodged a voluntary disclosure outside of the Project DO IT process may still be eligible to participate in the initiative in circumstances where amended assessments have not yet been issued and there has been no finding of fraud or evasion.