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Lam Kok Shang and Gan Hwee Leng of KPMG preview the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) in Malaysia from April 1 2015, comparing it with the equivalent regime in Singapore and explaining what taxpayers must do to prepare for the incoming changes.

Philippe Jeffrey

The latest international updates from our correspondents around the world.

Chris Van Loan

Rossitza Koleva The Bulgarian government promulgated in May 2014 the law amending and supplementing one of the country's key economic laws, the Public Procurement Act (PPA), by introducing a number of changes, some effective as of July 1 2014 and others as of October 1 2014. The main target is to increase transparency and improve the supervision of procedures, as well as to eliminate the possibilities for corruption. The PPA is placed in a very dynamic environment – both at European and national level – and this determines the need for its adaptation. On the one hand the Act regulates the procedures to be followed for spending of public funds for the implementation of state, municipality and other public entity projects, while on the other hand, precisely because of this focus of the law, it could become, if applied effectively and correctly, one of the main levers of market regulation. The manner in which the Act is applied effects whether small and medium-sized enterprises will be encouraged, whether the market competition will increase, whether citizens will feel that public funds are being spent effectively and appropriately for the benefit of the community, and ultimately, whether the confidence in the institutions and the authority of the public sector will increase.

Donald Vella

Michal Spychalski The Polish Ministry of Finance has announced proposed amendments to the VAT Act. The introduction of this package – according to the Ministry of Finance – will increase the effectiveness of the fight against VAT fraud. The new rules will primarily concern the domestic reverse charge mechanism, joint and several tax liability, as well as rules of VAT deduction in case of goods and services used for mixed purposes. The Ministry of Finance is planning to implement these amendments from January 2015. The domestic VAT reverse charge mechanism will be extended and will cover new products, such as mobile phones (including smartphones), portable computers (tablets, notebooks, laptops) and video game consoles. From 2015 reverse charge will also apply to raw gold and certain steel products whose characteristics are similar to products already covered by this mechanism. The domestic reverse charge will only apply if the purchaser is registered as the VAT taxpayer, and – in case of mobile phones – only if daily net amount of sale to one purchaser exceeded 20,000 PLN ($6,000).

David Cuellar

Gabriela Bancescu In response to proposals of the business environment aimed at making the Romanian capital market more attractive and to align with European Union requirements, Romania changed its main tax procedure legislation in June 2014. The changes are of relevance to residents in the EU, the European Economic Area or a country which is part of an international legal instrument signed by Romania for fiscal administrative cooperation, who are not obliged to appoint a Romanian tax agent to fulfill their tax reporting obligations, but may do so if they choose. This comes as an exception to the general rule requiring non-resident entities, irrespective of their country of residence, to appoint a tax agent in Romania to fulfill tax reporting obligations of the non-resident, including those arising from realising revenues from disposal of Romanian equities.

Khoonming Ho