Invest Hong Kong, Hong Kong's inward investment agency, has encouraged Mainland Chinese companies to make use of new tax incentives in Hong Kong.

China intends to implement numerous changes to its trade tariffs from January 1, 2018, to ensure domestic businesses have access to inputs and equipment and to implement changes in prior international agreements.

Hong Kong has relaxed the rules for those buying residential property, with the publication in the Official Gazette of The Stamp Duty (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 on January 19, 2018.

On March 9 Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department gazetted the Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2018, containing measures worth HKD30bn (USD3.82bn) announced in the Budget.

Hong Kong's 2020 Budget includes plans for a one-off reduction of profits tax, salaries tax, and tax under personal assessment.

Switzerland has released a report on its efforts to resolve tax disputes, noting that the average time to complete mutual agreement procedure cases was 13 months in 2018, significantly below that required under the BEPS minimum standards.

According to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, France and the United States will in the next two weeks attempt to reach a compromise over their ongoing dispute regarding France's new digital services tax.

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority has newly launched a number of VAT compliance tools and further confirmed how the value-added tax regime, introduced at the start of the year, should operate.

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority has announced that it will waive late registration penalties for businesses that have not yet registered for VAT, on the condition that they do so by April 30 of this year.

The OECD is seeking input from taxpayers on dispute resolution mechanisms in place in Aruba, Bahrain, Barbados, Gibraltar, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Oman, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, as part of follow-up work under BEPS Action Plan Action 14.

The United Arab Emirates's amended excise tax regime entered into force on December 1, and now covers sweetened drinks and electronic smoking devices and liquids.

Japan's proposed sales tax hike is expected to go ahead as planned in 2019 after a landslide win by incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In introducing its new 2017 International Tax Competitiveness Index, the Tax Foundation, a US tax policy think tank, notes the importance of simple but effective tax regimes and highlights New Zealand as the country that has implemented particularly positive reforms.

The OECD is seeking taxpayers' input on the mutual agreement procedure frameworks in place in the fourth batch of countries that will now be peer reviewed under the base erosion and profit shifting project: Australia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, and Portugal.

The fifth round of tariff cuts under the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement have entered into force.

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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has automatically registered 95,000 businesses for its simplified import procedures, allowing most UK traders up to six months to pay import duties and submit customs declarations, if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on October 31, 2019.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that his party intends to cancel a planned cut to the corporate tax rate, which was scheduled for April 2020.

The OECD has launched a review of dispute resolution mechanisms in place in Aruba, Bahrain, Barbados, Gibraltar, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Oman, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, as part of follow-up work under BEPS Action Plan Action 14.

On March 9, 2020, United States President Donald Trump revealed that the Administration would begin discussions with Congress on potential tax measures to ease the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, including a payroll tax cut.

The OECD on March 12 released a third round of peer reviews of countries' efforts to implement the BEPS minimum standard on improving tax dispute resolution mechanisms.

An agreement has been reached between the European Union and the United Kingdom on Brexit, which, if approved by UK lawmakers, would establish a transition period, until the end of 2020, during which EU law would continue to apply to the UK.

The Isle of Man Treasury has warned that time is running out for taxpayers who have failed to declare all their taxable income.

The UK's Chancellor, Philip Hammond, delivering the Spring Statement earlier this month, announced a number of upcoming VAT reform projects.

Legislation to reduce Australia's small business tax rate received Royal Assent on October 25.

On January 20, 2020, the Dutch Ministry of Finance announced the list of countries with which the Netherlands intends to negotiate new or amended double tax treaties in 2020.

The Irish Government is holding a public consultation on the Special Assignee Relief Programme and the Foreign Earnings Deduction, as part of a broader independent review of the reliefs.

Ireland has released a responses document on an ongoing consultation on an update to the country's transfer pricing rules.

EU member states have been unable to reach an agreement on proposals to release to the public information on multinational enterprises' tax affairs.

Ireland's governing party Fine Gael has published its election manifesto, which includes proposals to reduce the income tax burden and reform the taxation of SMEs.

Switzerland and South Korea have signed a joint declaration on the automatic exchange of tax information from 2018.

The Swiss Federal Council has launched a consultation on a proposed new Ordinance on the International Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters.

HM Revenue and Customs, the UK tax authority, has welcomed a ruling in its favor against a contrived tax avoidance scheme involving an entity in Jersey and the Cayman Islands.

South Africa, Jersey, and Belgium are among a handful of territories that have recently announced an extension to the due date for country-by-country reports under the new frameworks being introduced under Action 13 of the OECD's base erosion and profit shifting Action Plan.

On December 17, 2019, the Dutch Senate approved numerous tax measures as part of the 2020 Tax Plan, including changes to corporate, individual, and value-added taxes.

The German Ministry of Finance has outlined a number of tax changes that are due to take effect in 2020 and 2021.

Hong Kong's 2020 Budget includes plans for a one-off reduction of profits tax, salaries tax, and tax under personal assessment.

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On April 15, 2020, a government-commissioned report on the taxation of multinationals was submitted to the State Secretary of Finance recommending various changes to make the Dutch tax system fairer while maintaining the jurisdiction's tax competitiveness.

Brazil's tax agency announced import tax cuts for certain items needed to tackle COVID-19.

On April 23, 2020, the National Treasury of South Africa provided further details of the additional COVID-19 tax support measures first announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 21.

According to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, France and the United States will in the next two weeks attempt to reach a compromise over their ongoing dispute regarding France's new digital services tax.

On February 19, 2020, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz issued a statement to say that he remains "committed" to the introduction of a financial transactions tax at European Union level along the same lines as that proposed by the German Government last month, despite opposition from within the EU, notably from Austria.

The OECD has released new stage two peer reviews on seven countries' implementation of the BEPS Action 14 minimum standard, on improving tax dispute resolution, covering Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Sweden.