Summary: 1. Cases • Korea: Spanish merger case - Merger between two Spanish companies, causing shares in Korean company to be transferred to survivor company - Supreme Court: taxable transaction - For information: Gyung Ho Kim (Seoul): gykim@deloitte.com • Australia: Enforcement of Korean "tax" judgment - Royalty conduit arrangement - Korean sub-licensee + Did not withhold tax from royalty payments + Subsequently paid withholding tax to Korean tax authorities (following tax audit) + Obtained Korean court judgment against Australian "beneficial owner" for the tax amount - Australian Court: agrees to enforce Korean judgment (i.e. not a "tax debt") - For information: David Watkins (Sydney): dwatkins@deloitte.com.au • Singapore: Cases on exchange of information - Two recent cases on information exchange requests received by Singapore tax authorities - For information: See Jee Chang (Singapore): jcsee@deloitte.com 2. BEPS • Australia: ISAPS audit program launched by ATO • For information: David Watkins (Sydney): dwatkins@deloitte.com.au Cam Smith (Melbourne): camsmith@deloitte.com.au 3. India • Cyprus - Cyprus and India agree to amend treaty to improve the exchange of information article - In response to India's November notice that Cyprus is a non-cooperative jurisdiction • Direct Taxes Code (DTC) - Finance Minister: DTC Bill will be released soon - For information: K.R. Sekar (Bangalore): krsekar@deloitte.com 4. China • Circular 46: exemption for dividends on "preferred stock" • For information: Vicky Wang (Shanghai): vicwang@deloitte.com.cn Ye Hong (Shanghai): hoye@deloitte.com.cn 5. In brief • Treaties - Vietnam / Uruguay: treaty signed - Japan / Sweden: protocol signed (significant changes to existing treaty) - Korea / Kyrgyzstan: treaty entered into force - Hong Kong / Guernsey: treaty entered into force • Vale: ouch! - Vale settles tax dispute with Brazilian tax authorities for USD 9.5 billion
