Source of Profits: Its Time (For Change)

This article first sets out the current law to determine the source of profits for the purposes of Hong Kong profits tax. It then examines, by reference to both case law and Inland Revenue Department practice, the pressing areas of dispute and concludes that the source/residence dichotomy may be somewhat illusory. Should these critical issues be left to develop on a case-by-case basis? If not, how should they be dealt with - by legislative fiat or by a clear statement of departmental practice? This article goes on to analyse these questions and concludes that, although the general principles for determining source of profits developed by the Courts are clear, the problems of mapping them to existing departmental practice and then applying them to common forms of cross-border transactions are real, militate against certainty of taxation treatment, and should no longer be ignored.published_or_final_versio

Estate Duty Planning and the Application of Ramsay's Case in Hong Kong

Andrew Halkyard examines a recent decision of the Court of Appeal applying the anti-avoidance doctrine to cases involving Hong Kong's Estate Duty Ordinance.published_or_final_versio

Salaries Tax

Determining whether or not payments on termination of employment are subject to salaries tax is no straightforward matter.published_or_final_versio

Is stamp duty really a tax on instruments?

The recently enacted Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No 2) Ordinance contains several traps for the unwary.published_or_final_versio

慣例已否改變?

Andrew Halkyard examines a recent court decision holding that the principles laid out by the House of Lords in Sharkey v Wernher do not apply to Hong Kong.published_or_final_versio

利潤來源的原則: 1998年重申

New amendments to the Departmental Interpretation and Practice Note 21 dealing with the location of profits brings the IRD in-line with recent Court decisions.published_or_final_versio

One Country, Two (Taxation) Sytems: A Treaty in All But Name

It came as no small surprise when it was announced in February 1998 that the Chinese mainland ( the Mainland ) and Hong Kong had agreed to enter into an arrangement for the avoidance of double taxation of income. Although concerns of double taxation between the Mainland and Hong Kong tended to be more academic than practical, this arrangement helps establish a firm foundation for future co-operation by the Mainland and Hong Kong on trade and other economic matters. From a Hong Kong taxation perspective, it is one of the most significant developments to have occurred for a very long time. From a broader perspective, the Mainland has adopted a flexible and innovative approach to taxation issues related to Hong Kong. A standard treaty template, based upon the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention, has been used to regulate jurisdiction to tax within different parts of the People\u27s Republic of China. This augurs well for China\u27s effort to effectively implement the autonomy promised to Hong Kong under the challenging rubric of one country, two systems

MYTH, MOCKERY, & MISERY: AN EVOLUTION OF DISILLUSION IN MODERN-WAR EXPRESSION

Industrialization in 19th-Century America yielded a regrettable by-product: the modernization of warfare. Mass armies, technological innovation, and unprecedented rates of industrial productivity prompted the creation of machines designed to inspire fear, increase destructive capability, and inflict mass-death. The modernization of warfare altered forever the way war was experienced and represented literarily. Authors who attempted to represent the Civil and Spanish-American Wars, as well as World War I, articulated modernized warfare with a disillusionment which stems from the tragically dehumanizing effects of mechanical violence on an industrial scale. Myth, Mockery, & Misery argues that as far back as 1862, romantic idealization no longer seemed a tenable strategy for representing warfare— even in fiction. An examination the Civil War poetry of Herman Melville, Stephen Crane’s Spanish-American War sketches, and Ellen N. La Motte’s World War I memoir, not only pushes the advent of American disillusionment narratives further back on the historical timeline, but in so doing, evinces an aesthetical shift – or evolution – of disillusionment concurrent with the modernization of warfare

One Country, Two (Taxation) Systems

Andrew Halkyard examines the new arrangement between the HKSAR and the Mainland to help residents avoid the potential burden of double taxation.published_or_final_versio

Budget cracks down on service companies

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