African countries are steadily improving their tax revenue collections, according to Revenue Statistics in Africa 2017, a new report released recently at a meeting of tax and finance officials from 21 African countries.

The South African Revenue Service announced on October 30 that it had paid over ZAR120bn (USD8.4bn) in refunds across all tax types in the last seven months, from the beginning of April of the tax season to date.

South Africa is to launch an inquiry into the reasons behind a shortfall in tax revenue collections.

The United States Economic Commission for Africa says African countries are gearing up to sign the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, with a key deadline this month being hit with an agreement among ministers.

The South African Revenue Service has reminded taxpayers that individual tax payment is required by January 31, 2018.

The South African Revenue Service has announced that it will temporarily permit taxpayers to report information on controlled foreign corporations under the old filing rules, which were replaced in February.

On April 1, 2018, South Africa will raise its value-added tax rate to 15 percent from 14 percent.

On April 1, 2018, South Africa increased its value-added tax rate to 15 percent from 14 percent.

"While countries do not necessarily need to tax savings more, there is a lot of room to improve the way countries tax savings," according to Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration.

South Africa's National Treasury is inviting the public to contribute to a review of the list of items zero-rated for value-added tax purposes.

The South African Revenue Service has removed certain paper forms from its branches in an attempt to encourage more taxpayers to file tax returns electronically.

The Swiss Federal Council has approved an OECD multilateral convention designed to prevent BEPS-related abuse of the international tax treaty system.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement will enter into force on May 30, 2019, after Sierra Leone and the Sahrawi Republic deposited their instruments of ratification of the agreement.

The international community has made important progress in improving developing countries' ability to tax multinational enterprises and boost domestic revenue mobilization, says the annual report for the initiative Tax Inspectors Without Borders.

On October 23, 2019, the Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service launched the re-established Large Business Centre, which aims to bring about higher levels of voluntary tax compliance among large taxpayers.

Coronavirus vaccine: World leaders and organisations, except the United States, have already pledged $8 billion to research, manufacture and distribute a possible vaccine and treatments for COVID-19 apart from the individual efforts taken by the countries and its pharmaceutical firms

The OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z earphones come with a magnetic stripe on the earbuds that pause music when attached.

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Engineers have done preliminary work and talked to smartphone operating system makers Apple Inc and Google about possibly adopting technology the companies plan to release jointly this month to make tracing easier

Jio has introduced an annual work-from-home annual plan for Rs 2399 that gives its users 2GB daily data. It has also brought in three work-from-home add-on plans.

Panasonic has prepared for staggered operations at retail and brand stores that have been recalibrated to abide by social distancing norms and deployed all safety measures such as placement of sanitisers, mandatory usage of masks, and contact-less assistance to consumers

Sensex, Nifty Live News Today: SBI Cards and Payment Services, Adani Gas, Shree Cement, Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care, Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Home Finance, Reliance Capital among others will be reporting their March quarterly results today

Share price of SBI Cards and Payment Services gained 2.44% to Rs 587.80 compared to the previous close of Rs 573.80 on BSE

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.36, then gained ground to touch 75.27, registering a rise of 45 paise over its previous close

Share price of Reliance Industries gained 4.43% to Rs 1,574 compared to the previous close of Rs 1,507 on BSE. Reliance Industries stock gained 9.11% in the last four days

The fund house said the remarks made by Jenny Johnson, president and CEO, Franklin Templeton during their quarterly earnings call were quoted "out of context" by media outlets

Stock specific action was seen in index heavyweight Reliance Industries gained 3.43% to Rs 1,558 on BSE after PE firm Vista Equity Partners said it would invest Rs 11,367 crore into Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.

Shares of Asian Paints closed 1.01 per cent lower at 1,577against previous close of Rs 1593 on BSE

Share price of Biocon rose up to 3.22% to Rs 360.9 against previous close of Rs 349.65 on BSE

Share price of RBL Bank fell up to 8.77% to Rs 117.6 compared to the previous close of Rs 128.90 on BSE

According to a PTI report, all state governments except Maharashtra have been paying for the railway costs to ferry passengers to their native places

Kerala coronavirus cases: With May 8 being the 100th day of COVID-19 outbreak in India, Kerala reported only one new case in 24 hours, state CM Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday

UK COVID-19 news: The death comes as Britain prepares for some easing in the strict lockdown measures in place to curb the spread of the deadly virus as it is believed that Britain is past the peak of the pandemic

In a letter to Banerjee, Shah accused the Bengal government of not allowing "shramik (worker)" trains to reach Bengal and warned that non-cooperation would create hardship for state's migrants

The FM also said that about three crore farmers with agricultural loans totaling Rs 4,22,113 crore availed the benefit of the 3-month loan moratorium announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in March

Globally, efforts are underway to develop a vaccine to treat Covid 19 which has stalled economic activity and led to death of over 2.77 lakh people across the world

The CBI had recently booked Ram Dev International and its directors Naresh Kumar, Suresh Kumar and Sangita, for defrauding Rs 414 crore

The sedentary nature of modern life has had a noticeably detrimental effect on both physical and mental health. An EU-funded project has highlighted how to boost the wellbeing of Europeans by linking transport and health policies.

TRA2020 conference in April 2020 has been cancelled

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Inmarsat, together with Global Marine Networks and Network Innovations, announced on February 22 that the trial of Fleet Xpress in Antartic waters was a success. The service – the world's first globally available high-speed broadband service from a single network operator – was installed on board the adventure cruise ship Ocean Nova.

The European Commission has invited comments on commitments offered by fifteen container liner shipping companies to address concerns raised relating to concerted practices.

The organizers of last year's St Katharine Docks On-Water Exhibition have announced that they are planning an event this year, on May 4-7, that will be double the size of last year's, renamed as "The London On-Water Yacht and Boat Show."