The tax environment in Asia continues to evolve. The diversity of tax systems in Asia (and their differing maturity) notwithstanding, there are a number of broader trends in Asian tax that can be discerned.

Executive Summary

  • Indirect tax reform such as the introduction of the Malaysia Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2015 and the recent expansion of the China Value Added Tax (VAT) to cover the financial services industry; we have seen developments in Japan and South Korea, and the India GST reform is pending
  • Monitoring of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) developments and adoption of recommendations—although the rate of adoption varies across the region with a clear group of fast movers (e.g., Australia, China, Japan and South Korea)
  • Support for tax transparency initiatives
  • Consistent with the Organization for Economic and Co-operation and Development's (OECD) BEPS objectives, the introduction of measures to protect the integrity of the domestic tax base

In this article we cover several recent developments in Asia that are directly relevant to asset managers.

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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.