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Anne Bennett On February 22, the South African Minister of Finance delivered the 2017 budget, which proposed raising an additional ZAR 28 billion ($2.2 billion) primarily by collecting ZAR 16.5 billion more in personal taxes and ZAR 6.8 billion through an immediate increase in the dividend withholding tax rate from 15% to 20%. Apart from any treaty relief, profits extracted from South African companies will now suffer an effective rate of 42.4% (up from 38.8%) once 28% corporate tax and 20% dividends tax is accounted for.

As the EU takes the first major step towards introducing public country-by-country reporting (CbCR), many are asking what the EU’s plan really means. Keith Brockman considers the vision of the latest proposal.

Maria Sarantopoulou Zoe Kokoni Cyprus adopted the "start-up visa" plan (start-up permit scheme) on February 15 2017 for third country nationals interested in residing and investing in innovative businesses in Cyprus.

Gonzalo Gallardo At the end of 2016, a provision appeared in Royal Decree-law 3/2016 of December 3, introducing important changes to the Corporate Income Tax Law. Prior to that, Royal Decree-law 2/2016 of September 30 2016, had amended the prepayment system relating to this tax, establishing a minimum advance payment based on the income per books rather than the tax base. Both of those provisions are aimed at reducing the public deficit by immediately increasing the amount collected for corporate income tax, and mainly affect companies with high revenues and multinationals operating in Spain (large enterprises). In this commentary, we will highlight the three most relevant changes brought in by the new provision.

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.

Burçin Gözlüklü Ramazan Biçer Turkey introduced a new law (the law) on March 8 2017 on the restructuring of certain public receivables and amending certain laws and Cabinet Decrees.

Janina Fornalik The amendments to the Polish VAT Act, binding since January 1 2017, introduced new regulations regarding the reverse charge mechanism applicable to domestic supplies between two VAT payers consisting of construction works. However, additional specific conditions should be met, which in practice create a number of interpretation problems.

Panayiotis Diallinas Recent important amendments to the Bulgarian Law on VAT became effective on January 1 2017. The amendments are related to mixed supplies of assets and immovable property, the tour operator margin scheme, the obligation for VAT registration in cases of inheritance, and changes in the rules for supplies made by a person acting in his own name but for the account of another person.

The first agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion between Hungary and Iran entered into force on January 1 2017. Iran has concluded more than 40 tax treaties, but very few of them provide for zero withholding tax rates on rental income and consulting fees. Thus, this specific tax treaty can be a good platform for multinationals looking to invest into Iran.