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Luxembourg has transposed the EU's Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) into its domestic law, with the rules applying for financial years starting on or after January 1 2019.

Mexico’s northern border has always been a contentious zone given its proximity to the world’s largest consumer market: the US. Roberto Padilla Ordaz and Jorge Ramón Galland Ríos of Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa outline the latest taxpayer incentives introduced in the region.

Switzerland's Tax Reform and AHV Financing Bill (TRAF, formerly known as Swiss Tax Reform 17 and Swiss Corporate Tax Reform III) will officially be subject to a referendum, as a largely left wing alliance made up of junior green and socialist parties has secured more than 50,000 signatures against the proposed law. The public vote is now scheduled for May 19 2019.

Croatia and Japan celebrated their 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2018. This milestone was further marked with the signing of an agreement on double taxation avoidance (DTA) on October 19 2018. The official document was concluded in English and is yet to be ratified and enforced by the respective states.

Poland has introduced a series of changes to income taxes from January 1 2019, cutting the corporate income tax (CIT) rate for small business and IP box cases, while addressing key areas of concern including the withholding tax (WHT) rate, exit tax, and the status of trusts and family-owned companies as controlled foreign companies.

New Zealand is changing the goods and services tax on low-value imported goods.

On December 19 2018, Indonesia's Minister of Finance (MoF) issued regulation No. 167/PMK.03/2018 (PMK-167) regarding the provision of food and beverages to all employees, and compensation in the form of benefit in kind (BIK) in certain regions that can be deducted from gross income. PMK-167 replaces the previous regulation: MoF Regulation No. 83/PMK.03/2009 (PMK-83). The benefit in kind that can be deducted from the employer's gross income are as follows.

At the very end of 2018, Federal Law No. 424-FZ was passed, seeing several significant changes to Russian tax legislation regarding the beneficial ownership concept.

Hong Kong and Australia have successfully concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) and a new investment agreement (IA) on November 15 2018. The FTA and the IA negotiations between Hong Kong and Australia commenced in May 2017, bringing the 18-month negotiation to a close.