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Country facts Area: 65,200 km2

Country facts Area: 45 277 km2

Vienna

Current Member States Standard VAT rates Accession member states Standard VAT rates Austria 20% Cyprus 15% Austria (Jungholz/Mittelberg) 16% Estonia 18% Belgium 21% Hungary 25% Denmark 25% Latvia 18% Finland 22% Lithuania 18% France 19.6% Malta 15% Germany 16% Poland 22% Greece 18% Slovakia 19% (1) Ireland 21% Slovenia 20% Italy 20% Czech Republic 22% Luxembourg 15% Netherlands 19% Portugal 19% Spain 16% Sweden 25% United Kingdom 17.5% (1) Rate applicable as from 1st January 2004 (replaces the current rate of 20 %)

Country facts Area: 20 253 km2

Country facts Area: 64,500 km2

Country facts Area: 9,251km2

The EU VAT rules will apply to 10 new member states from May 1. Enterprises trading in all 25 countries of the new EU must prepare for this expansion. Ariane Beetschen of CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre says enterprises must promptly harness their resources because of the importance of the task to be completed.

The Australian commissioner of taxation, Michael Carmody, recently penned a letter to the chairperson of all publicly listed companies, reinforcing the messages in the document that he released in June last year - the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) Large business and tax compliance booklet.

Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a new tax break for the film industry in his March 17 2004 Budget. The measure will replace the so-called section 48 incentives, which will expire on July 1 2005.