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Elena Kostovska On February 3 2014, the FYR Macedonian Parliament has ratified the tax treaty with Bosnia & Herzegovina signed on September 24 2013 in Sarajevo. The ratification law was published in the Official Gazette No. 29 of February 6 2014. Pending ratification of the treaty by Bosnia & Herzegovina and its subsequent entry into force, the agreement provisions will be effective from the following calendar year. The treaty covers the personal income tax, property tax and profit tax in FYR Macedonia and the tax on income of individuals, tax on profit and tax on property in Bosnia & Herzegovina. As usual, the agreement is mostly harmonised with the OECD model with the below specifics that are of interest in the treaty's content.

John Gu, Paul Ma, Chris Mak and Yvette Chan, of KPMG China, argue that lack of compliance is not the problem with the Circular 698 indirect offshore disposal tax rules, but the consistency and transparency with which the circular is applied throughout the country.

Tracy Zhang, Eileen Sun, David Ling, Grace Xie and Adam Zhong, of KPMG China, discuss how taxpayers should respond to the efforts of the tax authorities to reform, particularly in the area of tax risk management.

There are only a few weeks before another new year. Now is an opportune moment to review your tax strategy and to consider whether Dutch tax laws require your company to take action before January 1 2015. The next few weeks can also be used to prepare for anticipated new tax legislation in the Netherlands.

Lone Star emerged as a winner for the second time in a case against the Korean tax authorities in the Seoul district court in late November. The court ruled that the Namdaemun District tax office owes the American-owned private equity firm $159 million (177.2 billion won) of previously collected capital gains tax on the company’s sale of its 51% stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) in 2011.

The European financial transaction tax (FTT) is unlikely to be implemented by January 1 2016 as planned.

On November 26 2014, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled, through a contradiction, that taxpayers should be granted a suspension for the obligation to upload their accounting records electronically until the constitutional appeal (amparo) against such obligation is decided.

The average standard VAT rate in the OECD has risen 8.5% in the past five years and will reach an all-time high of 19.1% in January 2015.

Ethan Harris, who became a counsel at Shearman & Sterling in March 2012, has now become a partner of the firm's tax group in its Washington, DC office.

More than ever, tax authorities around the globe are required to work together to tackle cross-border tax avoidance and evasion issues. Satoru Araki explains how this could happen better in Asia-Pacific.