On November 15, President Biden signed the more than USD 1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. Despite substantial criticism and various attempts to amend the bill while it was under debate in Congress, the Infrastructure Act includes two changes to provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that deal with reporting obligations for certain digital assets transactions. Although one of these changes received much more attention than the other.
In the aftermath of COVID-19 and the resulting low-yielding environment, sovereign actors are looking more than ever to real estate, infrastructure, private equity, private debt and other alternative assets for strategic investment opportunities.
Our Banking & Finance, Competition & Antitrust, Mergers & Acquisitions and Trade partners in Johannesburg outline ten reasons to turn your attention to African trade and investment opportunities in the coming year. Some of these reasons include the rise in commodity prices, shifting patterns and alternative financing, digitization and competition law and enforcement.
The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations limiting the IRS’s ability to hire private attorneys as contractors. The final regulations, published on 7 September 2021, finalize proposed regulations published on 7 August 2020.
In a curated Roundtable session, hosted by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow, representatives from large multinationals across a diverse range of sectors joined the EDB and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore to discuss global tax reforms led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and future differentiations in Singapore’s economic strategy.
This series of ESG-focused thought leadership webinars will share insights and practical guidance for businesses considering what ESG means for them in the context of the current crisis and beyond. For the 21 October 2021 Special edition, Caitlin McErlane, Ilona Millar and Graham Stuart speak on “Setting the scene – what does the forthcoming COP26 mean for you and your business?”
On 8 October 2021, 136 member jurisdictions of the OECD’s Inclusive Framework signed up to a revised Statement on a Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy. The Statement confirms a number of issues left outstanding from the previous statement on 1 July. Notably, it confirms the amount of residual profits to be redistributed under Pillar One, the rates of tax under the new Global Minimum Tax regime and subject to tax rule, the calculation of the substance based carve out, and the timing of the implementation of the plan. The Inclusive Framework has been able to reach near unanimous political agreement on the broad architecture of the Two-Pillar solution and will now turn to the technical challenges of agreeing the finer details ahead of publication of implementation instruments.
Following the National Assembly’s adoption of the Law on Tax Administration, the Vietnam Ministry of Finance just issued Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC to provide implementing guidelines on the Law on Tax Administration and Government Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP. One of the important provisions under Circular 80 is tax administration with respect to e-commerce business, digital-based business and other services of overseas suppliers without having a permanent establishment in Vietnam.
All but four of the OECD G20 Inclusive Framework members, including South Africa, have signed an agreement that will reform the world’s tax system. Two African countries – Kenya and Nigeria – have not yet signed the agreement. The new two-pillar system will set out a reallocation of taxing rights as well as a global minimum tax rate for certain organizations. It is expected that these changes will address global tax revenue imbalances, which is expected to benefit African countries.
The WU-Baker McKenzie conference “Tax in the European Union: What happened and what’s next?” will take place on Thursday, 4 November. This Conference is jointly hosted by the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Baker McKenzie and will welcome guest speakers from the European Commission. The purpose of the conference is to give the business community and other interested parties an update on the hottest topics within the EU tax world and on what you need to know to stay on top. Insights will be shared from the European Commission, the academic world and practices.