Hong Kong will grant taxpayers a waiver of up to HKD10,000 (USD1,290) of profits tax, salaries tax, and tax under personal assessment, the territory announced in its 2021-22 Budget.

Hong Kong tabled the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 in parliament on March 24.

Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department has explained COVID-19 tax concessions available for taxpayers struggling to pay their tax dues and has highlighted upcoming property tax obligations.

The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS has published the outcome of more reviews into territories' preferential tax regimes and on tax dispute resolution through the Mutual Agreement Procedure.

The Australian Government has confirmed that it will amend its offshore banking unit regime after it was designated a harmful tax regime by the OECD and the European Union.

The Swiss Federal Department of Finance has announced the launch of a new online tool for individuals taxpayers, which is being developed also for legal entities.

The Swiss Federal Council intends to end the obligation to sign electronic tax returns and to introduce new e-filing requirements for certain documents.

The Swiss Finance Department has said that changes to tax law are not currently needed in response to developments in distributed ledger technology and blockchain.

Switzerland has signed protocols to its double taxation agreements with Cyprus, Liechtenstein, and Malta to implement minimum standards developed as part of the OECD's BEPS project.

On July 20, 2020, the French Government published in the Official Gazette a decree to expand the list of jurisdictions exempt from local filing reporting requirements under the country's country-by-country reporting regime.

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the text of an arbitration agreement between the US and Switzerland, in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2020-35, published August 24.

On August 26, 2020, the Swiss Federal Council ratified a new double taxation agreement with Bahrain and a Protocol to revise its DTA with Kuwait.

Russia's Ministry of Finance has announced that it signed a Protocol to amend its double tax agreement with Cyprus on September 8, 2020.

Russia's Government has approved wording for a draft Protocol that it will seek to conclude with Malta, to revise their double tax agreement to increase withholding tax rates at source for cross-border dividends and interest income.

The Swiss Federal Council has approved proposed legislative changes to alter how the country interprets double tax agreement provisions.

On November 17, 2020, Luxembourg's tax authority published Circular LG – Conv. DI no. 66, outlining the changes made by the BEPS multilateral instrument (BEPS MLI) to the double tax agreement in place with Switzerland.

Germany and Pakistan have deposited their instrument of ratification with the OECD to bring into force the BEPS multilateral instrument for their networks of tax treaties.

As part of its commitment to fighting cross-border tax evasion and profit shifting, Switzerland sent information on over 3m financial accounts in 2021, according to a new review of the Swiss financial center by the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters.

Saudi Arabia has announced its decision to increase its headline value-added tax rate to 15 percent from five percent, in a surprise break from the Gulf Cooperation Council's harmonized value-added tax framework.

Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne viral disease affecting humans globally. In 2019, the World Health Organization identified dengue as one of the

The district health department of Gurugram is on alert to screen for dengue and malaria cases at the border, after increase in the number of cases. The

Novel device developed can be clipped onto a smartphone to rapidly test for Zika virus in a single droplet of blood, reveal researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya are on the rise. The months of September, October and November often see an increase in

Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao revealed that Bengaluru has recorded 4,427 medlinkdengue/medlink cases this year. He also announced the launch of a monitoring app for these cases.

The number of reported dengue fever cases in Bangladesh this year has reached 187,725, with the death toll exceeding 900 individuals, according to data from the health department.

In Uttar Pradesh the DEN-2 variant of dengue is increasingly common among people who have tested positive for this mosquito-transmitted disease (!--ref1--).

Starting from October 1, the health department of Tamil Nadu will conduct 1,000 medical camps dedicated to screening for medlinkdengue/medlink, said Health Minister Ma Subramanian.

The medlinkdengue/medlink outbreak in West Bengal has escalated significantly, surpassing 50,000 reported cases. While the health department hasn't

Over the past week, an alarming surge in new medlinkdengue/medlink cases has been observed in Kolkata, causing concern among health authorities as the Durga Puja celebrations approach next week.

In the past 24 hours, an additional surge in medlinkdengue/medlink patients has pushed the total number of cases in Bihar beyond 13,000, stated officials (!--ref1--).

VESTA insecticide paint, applied to homes in vulnerable neighborhoods, kills iAedes aegypti/i mosquitos by 98% for at least a year, offering a potential

The Bali regional government in Indonesia is advising foreign tourists visiting the resort island to receive dengue vaccinations due to the current rise

Chinese scientists found that anomalies in tropical Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures can forecast the severity of global medlinkdengue outbreaks/medlink (!--ref1--).

In the past 24 hours, Bihar has reported 24 new medlinkdengue/medlink cases, pushing the total count of vector-borne diseases to 299 this year. The

The number of dengue cases in Patna has been rising over the past few days, with 15 to 20 people admitted to hospitals daily. On Thursday, the city commemorated

The hospitalization of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, due to West Nile virus last

Tax revenues fell in 2019 in two-thirds of economies across Asia and the Pacific as a result of an economic slowdown prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new OECD report.

As part of its commitment to fighting cross-border tax evasion and profit shifting, Switzerland sent information on over 3m financial accounts in 2021, according to a new review of the Swiss financial center by the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters.

On May 4, 2020, a bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives to limit the impact of the Global Intangible Low Tax Income regime on businesses based in US territories and possessions.

On May 7, 2020, the United States Internal Revenue Service issued a reminder to employers affected by COVID-19 about the tax credits made available to them under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

On May 15, 2020, the United States House of Representatives approved the HEROES Act, which amends previous COVID-19-related stimulus legislation by changing loss carryback rules and providing further tax support for businesses and individuals.

On July 13, 2020, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a progress report on the last two years' work of the J5 group of five advanced countries, who are working collaboratively to tackle cross-border tax fraud.

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the text of an arbitration agreement between the US and Switzerland, in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2020-35, published August 24.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is optimistic that an international agreement on taxing the digital economy will be reached this year.

Cyprus has announced that a deal for the exchange of country-by-country reports between the territory and the US is expected to become effective and cover reporting years starting on or after January 1, 2020.

The Government of the British Virgin Islands has announced that it will seek to boost tax collections by modernizing tax administration, not by imposing new taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding US citizens, resident aliens, and any domestic legal entity that the deadline to file their annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) is still April 15, 2021.

The European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into a Belgian "tax shelter scheme" which supports video game production.

On May 13, 2020, the Belgian tax authority announced that the competent authorities of Belgium and Germany have concluded an agreement which clarifies the tax situation of cross-border workers in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis.

On May 15, 2020, the Belgian tax authority announced that taxpayers who timely filed their value-added tax declarations but were then informed that they submitted late or made an error in their submission to ignore such notifications due to technical issues with the VAT filing system.