Archive

The Hong Kong economy deteriorated markedly in the first quarter of 2022, followed by some improvement in the second quarter but with a widened year-on-year contraction in the third quarter of 2022. Real GDP fell by 4.5% in the third quarter of 2022 over a year earlier. For the first three quarters of 2022 as a whole, the economy contracted by 3.3% over a year earlier. The HKSAR Government revised its real GDP growth forecast for 2022 from -0.5% to 0.5% (as announced in August 2022) to -3.2%1. The HKSAR Government originally forecasted a fiscal deficit of
HK$56.3 billion for 2022-23 but has now indicated that a fiscal deficit amounting to over HK$100 billion is envisaged for this year.

There have been a number of changes recently to Cambodian tax law and its interpretation, as well as to the compliance processes. There has been a steady transformation from a manual filing and reporting system to an electronic platform. Although certain requirements still require manual processing due to the limitations of the electronic system, we believe the electronic platform
is a step in the right direction in terms of creating a more efficient and streamlined tax system in Cambodia. Taxpayers in Cambodia need to keep themselves up to date on the rapid changes in the tax laws and practices to ensure they properly comply with their obligations in Cambodia and take advantage of any opportunities.

近年來，香港特區稅務局一直在積極推動數字化轉型，其中一個重要的舉措是採用iXBRL（網頁集成式可擴展商業報告語言）格式進行電子報稅。iXBRL格式能夠提高報稅的準確性和效率，並簡化稅務申報流程。通過使用iXBRL格式，企業可以將財務報表和稅務申報表格整合在一起，實現數位化報稅。此外，香港特區稅務局還推出了一系列數位化工具，如分類標準及iXBRL擬備工具和自助服務平台，方便納稅人進行在線申報和查詢稅務信息。這些舉措有助於提高稅務申報的效率和透明度，促進香港特區報稅的數字化轉型。本文將基於以上背景，從iXBRL的發展和應用、全球稅收數字化實踐概況，對香港特區稅收數字化改革進行論述。

Tax laws for digital businesses are clearly lagging behind the speed at which the digital economy is developing, particularly with respect to cloud computing offerings. Many of the tax laws were developed at a time when traditional bricks and mortar businesses were commonplace and focused on the concept of a physical presence. Although, with the development of technology over time , various forms of cloud service models and many hybrids have been produced, we clearly cannot cover all of them, and so this article focuses on software as a service (“SaaS”). For simplicity,
when referring to SaaS, a general rule of thumb is to define it as a “cloud-based software delivery model in which the cloud provider develops and maintains cloud application software, provides automatic software updates, and makes software available to its customers via the Internet on a pay-as-you-go basis”. Suffice to say when the “service” is delivered digitally and the business may not require many physical operations, a huge array of complexities and uncertainties regarding the tax implications for the SaaS business model could arise. This is particularly the case when crossborder transactions are involved. In this case, the tax implications could vary among different jurisdictions, and this poses challenges to software providers offering SaaS in different markets at the same time.

The second and third supplements to Volume 36 of Inland Revenue Board of Review Decisions were published in November 2022 and March 2023, respectively. Sixteen cases were reported in these two supplements, including eight profits tax cases, seven salaries tax cases, and one property tax case. Five of these sixteen cases concerned appeal out of time. The Board refused to grant any extension of time and dismissed all these cases without proceeding to consider the substantive issues. Of the other salaries tax cases, two related to dual-employment contract arrangements and two concerned source of employment and whether the income was derived from employment or office. Of the other profits tax cases, one concerned the deductibility of expenses, three were
related to the taxability of profits on the disposal of property, one considered the source of profits, one was related to the tax exemption of charitable institutions, and one concerned the timing of the taxability of a fee.

（全國大專生稅務徵文比賽 2022 – 季軍）

2019年推動粵港澳大灣區一體化建設已成為國家重要戰略目標之一，對我國由經濟大國向經濟強國轉變由重大戰略意義。但由於粵港澳三地稅制差異明顯，一定程度上阻礙了大灣區內生產要素的自由流通和高效配置。本文將從稅收協調的角度出發，提出針對性建議。

本文分為五部分。第一部分引言，著重介紹推動大灣區建設的意義和獨特優勢;第二部分則是從粵港澳發展現狀出發，首先總體概括三地十一市的經濟發展情況，然後在具體從分配要素和制度要素的角度出發，總結三地的管轄權、徵稅範圍、稅收優惠、稅收征管機制、涉稅爭議協調機制等方面的差別;第三部分則是通過對分配要素和制度要素的現狀分析，指出阻礙粵港澳大灣區要素流動存在的問題，主要包括內地稅負較重、稅收征管機制難統一、涉稅爭議協調機制欠完善;第四部分則是根據提出的問題，從減輕企業和個人稅負、創新征管方式、建立涉稅爭議協調機構等方面列出相應的解決措施;並在最後第五部分對全文進行總結。

關鍵詞：粵港澳大灣區; 稅收制度; 稅收協調

（全國大專生稅務徵文比賽 2022 – 亞軍）

國家“雙碳”政策的提出，提高了社會降低碳排放的要求，也增加了社會節能減排的壓力，政府應當推出適當的政策引導、促進社會產業綠色轉型。全國已經開始進行碳交易市場試點，而碳交易市場作為市場主導的減碳措施，具有一定局限性，在國際社會中，碳稅則被作為另一種減碳措施被廣泛使用，中國未來也將可能開徵碳稅，以完成碳達峰碳中和目標。粵港澳大灣區作為中國最早開始碳交易市場試點工作的地區，憑著國內領先的經濟增長量和經濟增速，在節能減排工作方面走在國家前列。大灣區具有一定的社會經濟韌性，碳中和工作進展順利、成果較好，其產業特點明顯，將是一個良好的碳稅試點區域。基於粵港澳大灣區現狀，參考歷史研究成果，借鑒國際理論基礎、實踐經驗，研究粵港澳大灣區開徵碳稅的現實基點和必要性，並且根據粵港澳大灣區獨特的海關形勢分析歐美國家開徵碳關稅的影響，最後提出較完整的碳稅設計建議。

關鍵詞：粵港澳大灣區; 碳達峰碳中和; 碳稅

（全國大專生稅務徵文比賽 2022 – 冠軍）

推動粵港澳大灣區建設是我國“一國兩制”事業發展的新實踐，也是“一帶一路”建設的重要支撐，粵港澳大灣區經濟發展不僅關係到我國整體經濟，也對全球經濟發展具有不可忽視的作用。稅收是經濟發展的重要基礎，稅收政策的制定方向牽動著各國經濟命脈，而一國兩制下的稅制差異對於大灣區經濟發展產生的負面影響極待解決。數字經濟“雙支柱”方案出台，意味著BEPS2.0時代的到來，對中國來說機遇與挑戰並存，粵港澳大灣區的稅收協調與合作問題需要建立在新的稅收背景下研究。本文將基於BEPS2.0國際背景，從粵港澳地區稅收政策現狀、稅收協調與合作難點出發，對粵港澳大灣區的稅收協調與合作問題進行研究。

關鍵字：粵港澳大灣區、BEPS2.0、稅收協調與合作