Search results for

Corporate tax rates across the EU Existing members Austria 34% Belgium 33% Denmark 30% Finland 29% France 29% Germany 20% Greece 35% Ireland 12.5% Italy 34% Luxembourg 22% Netherlands 34.5% Portugal 30% Spain 35% Sweden 28% United Kingdom 30% New members Cyprus 10% Czech Republic 28% Estonia 35% Hungary 18% Latvia 15% Lithuania 15% Malta 35% Poland 19% Slovakia 19% Slovenia 25% Source: Ernst & Young's Worldwide Corporate Tax Guide (as at January 1 2004). Note the method of calculation varies from country to country The Franco-German push for harmonized corporate tax rates across the EU's 25 members gained momentum on May 18 2004 when Robert Verrue, director-general of taxation and customs union, gave support to a single, EU-wide company tax base.

The National Tax Service of Korea (NTS) plans to cut back on the number of corporate tax audits and shorten their length this year. NTS commissioner Lee Yong-sup announced the plans on May 21 2004 as part of the government's efforts to reduce the compliance burden for companies with clean tax records.

In March 2004 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) invalidated a French statute that taxed the unrealized appreciation inherent in corporate stock held by long-term French resident individuals upon transfer of their tax residence from France to another country (Hughes de Lasteyrie du Saillant - Case C-9/02).

Regulatory changes have made the creation of a holding company in China more attractive. However, investors still need to be aware of the tax and foreign exchange rules, cautions Wendy Guo of KPMG

The first three multilateral advance pricing agreements have been concluded in Europe. Similar agreements are likely to grow in popularity, according to Dave Rutges, Eduard Sporken, Dirk Van Stappen and Pascal Luquet of KPMG

The Israeli Ministry of Finance's plan to cut the country's corporate tax rate from 36% to 30% government will occur over four years and introduce investment incentives for both foreign and domestic companies. The existing investment incentive regime will be replaced with three new regimes to encourage investment in specific regions and sectors of the economy.

The pressure to repeal tax-break legislation is now on the House of Representatives after the Senate approved the Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS) Act by 92 votes to 5 on May 11 2004.

Mark Penney, a tax partner at rival big-four firm Ernst & Young, joined KPMG in London on May 7 2004 to head-up the firm's international tax group. Penney specializes in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and advised on Walmart's acquisition of Asda and Scottish Power's purchase of PacifiCorp.

Although Irish tax law imposes an obligation on companies generally, and on others who pay interest to persons whose usual place of abode is outside Ireland, to withhold tax from certain payments of interest, there are extensive carve-outs from this withholding obligation in the case of outbound interest payments. Among these carve-outs, sections 246(3)(ccc) and (h) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA) provide that withholding tax is not to be deducted from certain interest payments where the recipient of the interest is, by virtue of the law of a relevant territory, resident for the purposes of tax in the relevant territory. A relevant territory means a member state of the European Community (other than Ireland) or a territory with which Ireland has a double taxation treaty, for example, the US.