Company News

The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued on April 6, 2012 the “Circular on Measures for the Pilot Project of Assessment and Deduction of Input Value-added Tax (VAT) on Agricultural Products in Certain Industries (caishui[2012] No.38, hereafter referred to as ‘Pilot Project Circular’).

The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) published a notice regarding the “Working Guidelines on Replying to Specific Tax Matters (Trial) (guoshuifa[2012] No. 14, hereinafter referred to as ‘Guidelines’)” on February 10, 2012, which took effect from March 1, 2012.

Following the pilot value-added tax (VAT) reform and the issuance of the “Circular on the Application of Zero VAT Rate and VAT Exemption on VATable Services (caishui[2011] No. 131, hereinafter referred to as ‘No. 131’),” China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) on April 5 issued the “Announcement on Promulgating the Administrative Measures on Applying Tax Exemption, Offset and Refund on Taxable Services of Zero Value-added Tax Rate in Pilot Areas for Value-Added Tax in Lieu of Business Tax (Interim) (SAT Announcement [2012] No. 13, hereinafter referred to as ‘Announcement No. 13’).”

Jim Zimmerman, the China managing partner of U.S. law firm Sheppard Mullin, is a good friend of China Briefing and is also both the Chairman Emeritus of Amcham China and the author of the China Law Deskbook– considered by many to be the bible of China law.

On March 28, China’s General Administration of Customs decided to revise Article 6 of the “Provisions on the Implementation of the Rules of Origin for Trade in Goods under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Mainland China and Hong Kong (haiguanzongshuNo.107, modified under No. 142 and No. 198),” which is effective from April 1, 2012.

The Delhi High Court, in its ruling on the case of Commissioner Income Tax vs. EKL Appliances Limited (Taxpayer), has given its decision on the transfer pricing aspects of a royalty payment by the Taxpayer to its associated enterprise.

In an attempt to soften the blow of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR), India’s Finance Ministry is considering postponing the implementation of the new regime and may completely exempt small firms and individuals.

In a recent interview, Vice Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management Nguyen Dinh Cung said that the role of the State has to conform to the requirements of the market, the corporate sector, plus other stakeholders.

Vietnam’s government has made some important changes to the country’s tax regulations over the first four months of 2012, and has issued Circular 06, which took effect from March 1, providing a detailed guidance on some key changes to VAT rules.

On April 10, 2012, the State Bank of Vietnam promulgated Circular 09/2012/TT-NHNN stipulating the payment methods for disbursing loans of credit institutions and foreign bank branches (hereafter collectively called “banks”) towards their customers.