Malaysia is to use targeted tax breaks to support certain industries in this year's budget and in particular small and medium sized businesses, according to a government minister.

Canada and representatives from the ASEAN member states have agreed to launch exploratory discussions to determine the potential for a free trade agreement.

Canada's Revenue Minister has provided an update on the progress made by the Government in addressing tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.

Hong Kong has announced the conclusion of free trade agreement negotiations with the Association of South East Asian Nations.

Malaysia's Inland Revenue Board has denied allegations that it is more aggressively pursuing taxpayers affiliated with opposition political parties or their supporters.

The Malaysian Government in its Budget 2018 announced numerous tax changes, including an income tax cut, incentives for women to return to work, and tax relief for property investors and venture capital firms.

Muhammad bin Ibrahim, the Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, has stressed the need for Labuan to review its international tax framework in light of the OECD's work on Action 5 of the base erosion and profit shifting project, on harmful tax practices.

The Australian Government has said that it intends to extend its network of free trade agreements, as part of its new foreign policy agenda.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has defended the Government's decision to introduce a goods and services tax, claiming that the levy "saved" Malaysia from the fall in oil prices.

The Malaysian tax agency on December 1 released guidance on whether gifts provided for no consideration can be excluded from the goods and services tax net.

Malaysia's Inland Revenue Board on January 11, 2018, released guidelines on applying for the resolution of double tax cases through the Mutual Agreement Procedure.

Malaysia's tax agency has released Public Ruling No. 1/2018, setting out the goods and services tax rules concerning the sale of buildings on commercial land that are used for both residential and commercial purposes.

The Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia has released new guidance on restrictions to the deductibility of interest expenses.

Franklin Templeton: The fund house has not given any clear indication about the possible timeline within which it will liquidate all its investments and return investors' money

Experts believe there was already a visible turnaround in the pharma sector, both on the domestic as well as on the exports side even before any traces of COVID-19

Besides lending against securities held by MFs, banks have been allowed by the RBI to do outright purchase of more than 25 per cent of Hold Till Maturity (HTM) securities in mutual funds portfolios in the absence of liquidity in the secondary market

Franklin Templeton Debt crisis: FT investors can hope to get better realisation of their locked investment if the market sentiment improves

The crisis served as a wake-up call for banks whose digital operations were growing at a snail's pace. They have started embracing the change

The lesson here is don't marry your stocks. If your original investment thesis fails, you shouldn't shy away from exiting your positions

Lack of emergency funds will force you to either go for distress selling of your investments or high-cost borrowing, which will jeopardise all your future goals. One should ideally have an emergency fund which can take care of at least 6 months of expenses

When you approach a lender for loan against mutual fund, it fixes a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio against it. It varies from one lender to another as per risk involved in the MF scheme and regulatory caps fixed by the RBI

The International Monetary Fund has recommended that the United States raise indirect taxes to boost revenues, to offset the cost of recent tax cuts and spending increases.

A number of incentives have been included in the Finnish Government's 2019 Budget to encourage investment in the shares of both small and listed companies.

The OECD and the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development have finalized three practice notes intended to support resource-rich developing countries to protect their tax bases from erosion and profit shifting.

On March 6, 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued an Accounting Standards Update that is intended to help organizations align their accounting for production costs for films and episodic content produced for television and streaming services.

The IMF has welcomed Luxembourg's efforts to meet international tax standards but cautioned that international tax reform could hit the country's tax base.

On May 26, 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Carbon Tax Act No 15 of 2019, which came into effect on June 1, 2019, as announced by the Minister of Finance in the 2019 Budget.

Hungary's 2020 Budget law is before parliament for approval. Most tax-related proposals would become effective from the start of 2020.

United States President Donald Trump said on August 20, 2019, that the administration is considering additional tax cuts to help maintain economic growth.

On September 10, 2019, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz presented to the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, the Government's draft Budget for 2020, which includes tax reduction measures.

On September 17, 2019, Dutch State Secretary for Finance Menno Snel presented the Government's 2020 Tax Plan to the House of Representatives. It includes revised plans for corporate tax cuts.

On September 17, 2019, the Finnish Ministry of Finance announced that the Government has reached an agreement on the contents of the 2020 Budget, which includes some tax reductions for both companies and individuals.

On September 24, 2019, the Polish Government adopted the draft Budget for 2020, which takes into account recent reductions in personal income tax.

On October 7, 2019, the Greek Ministry of Finance presented to parliament the 2020 Budget, which includes numerous tax cut measures announced recently by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Higher tax receipts helped Switzerland to another surplus in 2019, with withholding tax and direct federal tax performing particularly well.

The IMF has welcomed the Austrian Government's efforts to lower personal income taxes but said that the labor tax burden remains high.

US congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has introduced legislation designed to amend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act so that incentives for US corporations to shift income and production overseas are reduced.

The OECD has committed to providing proposals to fix the taxation of the digital economy by 2020, in an update to G20 leaders on international efforts to mitigate base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

Ireland's 2018 Finance Bill legislates for a new exit tax regime compliant with the EU's Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive.

The UK's 2018 Budget includes changes to tax rules for companies, and notably for multinational groups to conform with the EU's Anti Tax Avoidance Directive. Most significantly, the UK has decided to move ahead of the EU in announcing that it will apply a tax on the turnover of certain digital businesses.

Malaysia's 2019 Budget contains plans for an overhaul of sales and service tax rules and a corporate tax cut for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The Seychelles says that the OECD has found the territory to have made sufficient reforms to comply with its BEPS Action 5 standard on harmful tax regimes.

The EU's Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) has written to authorities in Seychelles to warn that new provisions to the territory's tax regime are considered harmful.

The European Union Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) has warned the Government of Belize that the jurisdiction will be placed on the EU's blacklist of non-cooperative territories unless it commits to amend or abolish certain tax rules considered "harmful."

Three Democratic members of the United States Senate have introduced two tax bills designed to discourage US companies from shifting their operations overseas and establishing arrangements in low-tax jurisdictions.

New Zealand's Finance and Expenditure Committee has recommended changes to legislation that would introduce a new requirement for offshore suppliers to collect GST on low-value goods supplied to New Zealand-based consumers.

During a webcast on June 11, the OECD provided a technical update on its work to develop new, modernized international tax rules for the digitalized economy.

New Zealand's Inland Revenue has announced that those who buy and sell property will be required to provide their IRD number on land transfer documentation, to improve the agency's ability to enforce the tax rules on property speculation.

On July 19, 2019, the United States Internal Revenue Service Large Business and International Division announced six additional compliance campaigns.

On August 5, 2019, the US Department of Justice announced that Swiss bank LLB Verwaltung (Switzerland) AG has agreed to pay a penalty of USD10.6m to resolve a case in which it was accused of helping US clients to conceal income.