Insights

Tax affairs used to be a largely private matter between company and tax authority, with very little public disclosure beyond what was available in the report and accounts. Today, the veil of confidentiality is being stripped away.

A recent case involving a Singapore investment bank serves as a reminder of the complexity of tax planning on cross-border transactions and interpretation of tax treaties by local tax authorities.

New technology can free up tax professionals to take on a strategically influential role and generate the analytical insights and real-time information to support this. So how can a tax function take advantage of the changes ahead?

The structure of the VAT rates in China have been simplified into three brackets.

Singapore is amongst the earliest non OECD countries to adopt and consistently implement the OECD BEPS Actions. This signing of the Multilateral Convention is a further commitment towards ensuring that profits should be attributable to the jurisdiction in which the activities occur that give rise to the profits.

After twenty years of development the IASB published IFRS 17 ‘Insurance Contracts’. This new Standard replaces IFRS 4 which was published in 2004.

Family-run organisations make up two-thirds of all businesses around the world.

Business leaders across the Asia Pacific region are at their most confident in nearly two years, with optimism rising from 30% to 39% in the last three months alone. According to the Grant Thornton International Business Report.

As most of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan is made up of best practice recommendations rather than ‘red line’ requirements, it was always going to be applied electively and in different ways from country to country.

In the push to become transparent, businesses are disclosing vast swathes of information about themselves – yet many are becoming more opaque as a result.

Business leaders around the world report a strong increase in optimism heading into 2017. The findings, from Grant Thornton’s most recent quarterly global survey of 2,600 businesses in 37 economies, suggest that business leaders are putting a period of uncertainty around many major issues behind them.

Both IAS 1 ‘Presentation of Financial Statements’ and IAS 10 ‘Events after the Reporting Period’ suggest that a departure from the going concern basis is required when specified circumstances exist. Neither Standard however provides any details of an alternative basis of preparation and how it may differ from the going concern basis.

On International Women’s Day, a new report based on Grant Thornton’s annual survey of 5,500 businesses in 36 economies reveals that the proportion of senior business roles held by women in APAC has risen from 23% in 2016 to 25% in 2017. In Singapore, the number is 30%, moving from 26% last year.

Singapore Budget 2017 observations and analysis: Moving Forward Together seminar, hosted on Wednesday 8 March 2017.

As of next year, beginning 1 January 2018 a non-established of services not solely subject to the place of recipient principle in Switzerland and Liechtenstein has to register for VAT, unless the non-established business can prove that its worldwide annual revenue from supplies is less than CHF 100,000. This revenue threshold was previously limited to the territory of Switzerland and Liechtenstein and is newly extended to worldwide scope.

Finance Minister, Mr Heng Swee Keat delivered the 2017 Singapore Budget yesterday afternoon. We’ve attached a Budget Summary to help you understand the initiatives that have been announced and how we believe it will impact businesses and individuals.