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By Rafael Sayagués, Ernst & Young, San José/New York

Slobodan Mihajlovic, of Eurofast Global in FYR Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia, says the tax authorities in the Western Balkans are modernising VAT regulations to attract more investment and to prepare themselves for the goal of EU membership

By Jack Grocott

The new provisions in the Corporate Income Tax Act will introduce restrictions for increasing the tax value of fixed assets to their market level (step-up).

Elena Kostovska On July 6 2010, FYR Macedonia and Belgium signed an income and capital tax treaty which replaces the 1980 treaty between former Yugoslavia and Belgium. With this new treaty, provisions of the agreement signed between FYR Macedonia and the Belgium/Luxembourg Economic Union in 1999 will cease to be applicable to taxes covered by the new treaty, namely taxes on income and capital. The convention covers personal income, profit and property tax in FYR Macedonia as well as individual income, corporate income, legal entities income, and non-resident income tax in Belgium.

Eva Sorgato According to Legislative Decree no. 40 from March 25 2010, Italian VAT-taxable persons are required to file an electronic communication on supply of goods or services carried out from July 1 2010 onwards with economic operators which are resident in black-list countries. On March 30 2010 decree no. 30 also defined timing, content and penalty aspects of the disclosure process.

Simeon Grigorov Rossitza Koleva Usually amendments and supplements to tax acts and regulations are stipulated annually with the aim to introduce certain policies, to take new rules from EU legislation, to illustrate the undertaken engagements before European partners, including regarding penal procedures, and to upgrade the legislation structure and correction of any inaccuracies that have been located in the process of the real application of the acts.

With an ever-increasing tax litigation backlog, India last year introduced its new dispute resolution panels to reduce the workload. But with the first round of orders being issued imminently, Rajesh Kapadia of GM Kapadia & Co questions the effectiveness of this new option.

Philippe Durand Jean-Marc Priol Since March 1 2010, French taxpayers involved in legal proceedings before a court have had the option to plead that a statutory provision infringes the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the country's constitution. Such a plea may be put forward in disputes between taxpayers and the French tax authorities at any stage of the proceedings and before both administrative and civil courts in France. In the absence of a separate plea submission and reasoned documents, the plea will be inadmissible. Whether the question was raised in ordinary or appeal court, the QPC (la question prioritaire de constitutionnalite) has to go through the Conseil d'Etat or the Cour de Cassation (depending on the case) which then submits it to the Conseil Constitutionnel when the three following conditions are met:

Janne Juusela On May 25 2010, Finland and China signed a new double tax treaty and protocol in Beijing. The governmental bill was sent to the Finnish Parliament for approval on July 16 2010. Once in force, the new treaty will replace the Finland-China income tax treaty of May 12 1986 as amended by the 1995 protocol. Although the new treaty generally follows the 2008 OECD Model Convention, some provisions of the new treaty could have effect on structuring business activities between Finland and China.