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Malta's Commissioner for Revenue (CfR) released its guidelines on the income tax treatment of transactions or arrangements involving distributed ledger technology (DLT) assets in November 2018, providing a framework to assess the tax obligations of individuals who hold cryptoassets as an investment. What does it mean, and what could have been addressed?

Mexican tax authorities are still yet to issue specific regulation surrounding crowdfunding activities, and with new a law addressing the financial technology sector at large, questions still remain surrounding the popular capital raising vehicle.

The US, Mexico and Canada have signed a new modernised trade agreement (USMCA) to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Oscar López Velarde and Daniela Iñigo Arroyo of Ritch, Mueller, Heather & Nicolau discuss the key highlights.

As part of a multidisciplinary strategy by Mexico’s Central Bank (Banxico) and Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) to stimulate the nation’s financial sector, a presidential decree on January 8 introduced several new tax incentives.

Portugal's new state budget brings several changes to VAT in 2019, most notably exploring the distinction between voucher, single-purpose voucher and multi-purpose vouchers

Brazil's highest court has challenged the attorney's office, shutting down an attempt to restrict taxpayers from accessing social security tax credits

Mexico's Secretary of Treasury submitted the 2019 Economic Plan. While the plan does not create or increases taxes, it does include measures to increase the cash flow for tax authorities

On October 9 2018, Ireland's Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe announced budget 2019. On October 18 2018, the draft legislation to implement the budget was published. In furtherance of Ireland's obligations under the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD), Donohoe announced the introduction of a new controlled foreign companies (CFC) regime and an ATAD-compliant exit charge. The exit charge took effect from October 10 2018 and the CFC rules will apply to accounting periods beginning on or after January 1 2019.

Tax transparency and governance has moved up in the hierarchy of key topics and risks for the C-suite to monitor and manage. Tax has changed from simply just being in the exclusive realm of the tax director and being a compliance concern for multinationals, to becoming the more consequential strategic matter it is today. How you communicate on where and how you pay your taxes, and what your narrative is in terms of tax strategy and corporate social responsibility, has become increasingly important. This is due to the large increase in tax transparency requirements that have been mandated at international, EU and national levels. This trend started in 2012 and has intensified since revelations such as 'LuxLeaks', as well as the Panama and Paradise Papers. However, there are still quite a few CEOs, CFOs and tax directors – as well as tax advisors and others – who expect that the current transparency drive will soon blow over post-BEPS. So which one is it for tax transparency? Are we at the beginning of the end, or at the end of the beginning?