On March 24, 2020, the Belgian tax authority announced value-added tax will not be levied on medical equipment donated to hospitals and healthcare facilities.

On March 29, 2020, the Belgian tax authority announced that value-added tax refunds will be accelerated for all declarations relating to the month of February 2020.

On April 29, 2020, the Belgian tax authority announced changes to the deadline for the submission of annual corporate tax declarations due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Hong Kong has newly signed an agreement with France to automatically exchange country-by-country reports filed by multinationals.

Hong Kong on February 2, 2018, ratified an Ordinance to enable the territory to soon join the OECD's Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and thereby more simply and more broadly agree to exchange tax information with other countries' tax authorities.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, James Lau, has welcomed the recent passage of the 2018/19 Budget Bill through the special administrative region's parliament.

Switzerland's agreements for the automatic exchange of financial account information with Hong Kong and Singapore have entered into force.

The Swiss Federal Council will bring into force legislation on the implementation of recommendations made by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration has announced the exchange of information on millions of financial accounts with 75 partner countries.

The EU has removed two countries from its list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions and found a further five to have met their commitments on tax cooperation.

Costa Rica's Ministry of Finance has released a statement clarifying its decision to exclude a number of territories with low effective income tax rates from its list of non-cooperative territories.

On October 22, 2019, the Swiss Federal Finance Department uploaded a series of publications concerning the value-added tax rules for those participating in and organizing sporting events.

Switzerland is to amend its domestic framework for the automatic exchange of information, in line with recommendations made by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

The Swiss Federal Tax Authority has released new English-language guidance for foreign businesses on their obligations under Swiss VAT law.

Liechtenstein and Switzerland have agreed a new cooperation pact in the area of value-added tax administration and enforcement.

The Swiss Government has released new legislation governing Switzerland's application of provisions in its network of double tax agreements.

Switzerland is due to introduce its new corporate tax regime from the beginning of 2020.

Switzerland has said that the withdrawal of the UK from the EU on January 31 will not change the relationship between Switzerland and the UK in the near future.

The OECD Global Forum has released eight peer review reports, for Brunei, Macau, Switzerland, Barbados, the Seychelles, Liberia, Peru, and Tunisia, on the jurisdictions' efforts to adopt and comply with international tax standards on transparency and the exchange of tax-related information on request.

The United Arab Emirates' Federal Tax Authority has released a statement confirming that all purchases from online retailers are subject to the same value-added tax rules as for purchases from brick and mortar stores – that they should generally be subject to the headline five percent value-added tax rate.

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has changed the deadline for firms preparing to file a VAT return for the first time.

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority has newly launched a number of VAT compliance tools and further confirmed how the value-added tax regime, introduced at the start of the year, should operate.

Businesses registered for the United Arab Emirates's value-added tax need to complete a four-step online procedure to file their tax returns, the Federal Tax Authority has said.

Bahrain has committed to pushing towards the introduction of the Gulf Cooperation Council's value-added tax framework by the end of the year.

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority has issued guidance on whether a supplier or consumer is liable for VAT on goods or services for contracts negotiated before VAT was introduced.

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority has announced that it will waive late registration penalties for businesses that have not yet registered for VAT, on the condition that they do so by April 30 of this year.

The first quarterly value-added tax filing deadline of April 29 is fast approaching in the United Arab Emirates, with more than 90,000 taxpayers said to be affected.

The UAE's Cabinet has announced that wholesale trading in gold and diamonds will be made exempt from value-added tax.

The United Arab Emirates' Federal Tax Authority has issued guidance on obtaining refunds of value-added tax on new homes.

Oman's Government has released a statement confirming that it is preparing to introduce VAT legislation into parliament to implement the levy without delay.

The EU has removed two countries from its list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions and found a further five to have met their commitments on tax cooperation.

Citizens from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will newly be able to claim refunds for the VAT they incur when building their own home.

The United Arab Emirates' Federal Tax Authority has announced the launch of a new service on its website to simplify the process for taxpayers of recovering value-added tax incurred in building their own new homes.

In introducing its new 2017 International Tax Competitiveness Index, the Tax Foundation, a US tax policy think tank, notes the importance of simple but effective tax regimes and highlights New Zealand as the country that has implemented particularly positive reforms.

Hong Kong has signed a new free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is expected to become effective from January 2019.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democrat Party has approved a tax reform package that will cut corporate rates for companies who increase employee wages.

The fifth round of tariff cuts under the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement have entered into force.

The OECD has reported on the progress achieved to improve tax transparency internationally under the new Common Reporting Standard (CRS), ahead of the meeting of G20 finance ministers in Fukuoka, Japan.

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