TAXES
HMRC drops bitcoin tax plan
Britain’s tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), is preparing to abort its plans to tax bitcoin trading only days after the currency’s leading exchange, Mt Gox, collapsed after losing almost US$500 million of customer deposits to hackers, the Financial Times reported. The agency said in a meeting with UK traders that it would no longer levy 20 percent value-added tax on bitcoin transactions and also said it would not tax margins either, according to the paper. Corporation tax and other taxes would still apply, the paper said. “HMRC has been working closely with the bitcoin industry on the tax treatment of trading in bitcoins and commission. We will be issuing guidance shortly,” the agency said.
GAMBLING
Macau’s revenue soars 40%
Macau casino revenue climbed 40 percent to a record last month, beating estimates, after a jump in Chinese visitors during the Lunar New Year holiday. Casino revenue in the territory rose to 38 billion patacas (US$4.75 billion), exceeding the 36 billion patacas median of seven analysts’ estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. The previous record was 36.5 billion patacas in October last year. More than 770,000 Chinese visitors traveled to Macau during the Jan. 31 to Feb. 6 holiday, an increase of 23 percent from a year earlier, the Macau Government Tourist Office said.
INDONESIA
January trade deficit reported
The nation swung to a trade deficit in January as a controversial government ban on mineral ore shipments crimped overall exports, data showed yesterday. The January deficit of US$431 million compared with a US$1.5 billion surplus in December last year, the Statistics Agency said. The deficit was Indonesia’s first monthly shortfall since September last year. However, inflation eased last month, the agency said yesterday, the latest sign the economy was stabilizing after a rough last year. Inflation came in at 7.75 percent, lower than analyst estimates, and compared to 8.22 percent in January.
IRAN
Lessening reliance on oil
State TV says President Hassan Rouhani has sent a new budget that is less dependent on oil revenue to his administration for implementation. The report on Sunday said the budget was finalized after more than two months of parliamentary debate. The nation’s fiscal year begins on March 21. The budget will depend on oil revenue by up to 35 percent, compared with the current 42 percent level. The report said that non-oil exports, taxes and savings from lower energy and food subsidies will make up the difference.
HOUSING
Daiwa House eyes Texas
Daiwa House Industry Co, Japan’s biggest homebuilder by market value, plans to invest ¥150 billion (US$1.48 billion) in US rental housing, three times more than it had aimed to allocate to overseas investments, to boost revenue. Daiwa House will acquire and develop leasing properties in Texas and allocate the funds over the next three years, the Osaka-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The homebuilder targets ¥50 billion of revenue in the US by the year ending March 2019, it said. Daiwa House plans to invest in Texas because of its rising population and it will target “Generation Y,” those born between 1975 to 1989, an age group seen to support demand in the leasing market, the company said.
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