TAXATION
Taiwan, Switzerland do deal
Taiwanese and Swiss companies attending exhibitions or engaging in business activities in either country can now apply for a refund of the value-added tax (VAT) they have paid to the host country, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The minnistry announced that from July 1, foreign enterprises with no regular venues to do business in Taiwan are eligible to request a VAT refund with local tax offices, as long as they have paid more than NT$5,000 in VAT for goods or services they purchased while attending trade shows or taking part in business activities in Taiwan. Following in the footsteps of Slovenia and Germany, Switzerland was the third country to have reached an agreement with Taiwan on this mutually beneficial measure. The measure is retroactive to July 1 this year.
RETAIL
Myer launches new site
Australia’s largest department store chain, Myer, will open an online business based in China in a bid to lure Australian customers with the promise of zero taxes on their goods, reports said yesterday. Myer said it would start up the Chinese site and ship goods from a warehouse in Shenzhen in a bid to dodge Australia’s 10 percent goods and services tax (GST). “We will take jobs offshore and we will ship product out of China through our Internet site,” Myer chief Bernie Brookes said, according to Fairfax newspapers. “It’s a bloody shame.” Brookes said the push aimed to give Myer a more “level playing field” with online shopping outlets, which are exempt from GST on purchases worth less than A$1,000.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda to sell Hero stake
Honda Motor Co plans to sell its stake in India’s top-ranked motorcycle maker, Hero Honda Motors, and instead focus on its wholly owned subsidiary in the country, a news report said yesterday. The Japanese automaker could earn some ¥100 billion (US$1.2 billion) from the sale of its shares in Hero Honda, founded in 1984 with India’s Hero Group, the Nikkei business daily said. Honda and the Hero Group reached a basic accord this week to dissolve their partnership, Nikkei said, adding that they will seek final approval from their respective boards of directors later this month for the breakup.
BRAZIL
New bank rules announced
Brazil’s central bank on Friday announced new bank sector requirements designed to rein in inflation by increasing the amount of money banks had to deposit with the institution. The central bank said the mandatory deposits would be raised from 15 percent to 20 percent for long-term placements and from eight percent to 12 percent for the rest. That would have the effect of withdrawing about US$36 billion from the market, thus limiting the amount of money the banks could loan to individuals.
ENERGY
Massey chairman retiring
Massey Energy Co says chairman and chief executive Don Blankenship is retiring on Dec. 30. The company said on Friday that current president Baxter Phillips will replace Blankenship. Blankenship, who joined the central Appalachian coal producer in 1982, said it was time to go after nearly 30 years with the company. The southern West Virginia native’s tenure with Massey has been marked by battles with labor and government regulators.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last