Asia Pacific Tax And Business Fundamentals 2012

The Asia-Pacific region provides unique opportunities and challenges for businesses and individuals operating in its diverse economies. 0Updated annually, this book provides an overview of direct and indirect taxes levied on corporate and individual income and on capital in 20 selected countries in the region, as well as information on various aspects of doing business in these countries. The book is a valuable reference tool for those businesses and individuals with an active interest in the Asia-Pacific region. 0This guide provides descriptive overviews of direct and indirect taxes levied in selected countries in the region, as well as information on various aspects of doing business in these countries, all presented in a concise and standard layout that allows quick and easy comparisons between countries. It also contains tables that provide a simple tool to quickly determine and compare tax rates and domestic and treaty withholding tax rates on dividends, interest and royalties.

The increase in global trade and foreign direct investment has seen a large rise in companies operating across national borders. The growth of these multinational companies (MNCs) has been closely followed by the issue of inter-company transfer prices being used to reduce taxable profits. Today, transfer pricing is one of the most important issues facing MNCs as they attempt to fairly distribute their profits amongst each company in the group while dealing with tax authorities who are implementing transfer pricing regulations and strengthening enforcement in order to prevent a loss of revenue. The result of which is that transfer pricing controversies have become a major tax issue for companies.

This user-friendly book aims to summarize the principal topics of Chinese Taxation and offers readers a general overview of the Chinese Taxation and informative updates on tax changes. The book provides a variety of facts, figures, graphs and data in an easy-to read table format. Firstly, the book proposes an introduction to taxation and to the Chinese tax system, secondly, it focuses on direct taxes, indirect taxes and other taxes and, in the end, it covers international taxation. Moreover, the book offers a quick overview of the Chinese M&A taxation and of the Chinese Free Trade Zones.

The People’s Republic of China’s tax policies and international obligations are as multifaceted and dynamic as they are complex, developing closely with the nation’s rise to the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Today, after decades of reform and the entry into the World Trade Organization, China has developed regulatory systems that enable it to provide stable administration, including a tax structure. China’s main tax reform can be attributed to the enactment of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2008. Chinese tax regulations include direct taxes, indirect taxes, other taxes, and custom duties and from a collection point of view, China’s tax administration adopts a very devolved system, with revenue collected and shared between different levels of government in accordance with contracts between the different levels of the tax administration system. With respect to international treaties, China has established a network of bilateral tax treaties and regional free trade agreements. This publication describes in detail China’s complex tax system and policies, as well as major bilateral treaties in which China has entered into using country-by-country analysis. Lorenzo Riccardi is Tax Advisor and Certified Public Accountant specialized in international taxation. He is based in Shanghai, where he focuses on business and tax law, assisting foreign investments in East Asia. He is an auditor and an advisor for several corporate groups and he is partner and Head of Tax of the consulting firm GWA, specializing in emerging markets.

The unprecedented progress of East Asia Pacific is a triumph of working people. Countries that were low-income a generation ago successfully integrated into the global value chain, exploiting their labor-cost advantage. In 1990, the region held about a third of the world’s labor force. Leveraging this comparative advantage, the share of global GDP of emerging economies in East Asia Pacific grew from 7 percent in 1992 to 17 percent in 2011. Yet, the region now finds itself at a critical juncture. Work and its contribution to growth and well-being can no longer be taken for granted. The challenges range from high youth inactivity and rising inequality to binding skills shortages. A key underlying issue is economic informality, which constrains innovation and productivity, limits the tax base, and increases household vulnerability to shocks. Informality is both a consequence of stringent labor regulations and limited enforcement capacity. In several countries, de jure employment regulations are more stringent than in many parts of Europe. Even labor regulations set at reasonable levels but poorly implemented can aggravate the market failures they were designed to overcome. This report argues that the appropriate policy responses are to ensure macroeconomic stability, and in particular, a regulatory framework that encourages small- and medium-sized enterprises where most people in the region work. Mainly agrarian countries should focus on raising agricultural productivity. In urbanizing countries, good urban planning becomes critical. Pacific island countries will need to provide youth with human capital needed to succeed abroad as migrant workers. And, across the region, it is critical to ‘formalize’ more work, to increase the coverage of essential social protection, and to sustain productivity. To this end, policies should encourage mobility of labor and human capital, and not favor some forms of employment - for instance, full-time wage employment in manufacturing - over others, either implicitly or explicitly. Policies to increase growth and well-being from employment should instead reflect and support the dynamism and diversity of work forms across the region.

First systematic study of Chinese taxation, applying novel legal and economic analyses - an essential reference on the subject.