Qatar continues to weigh VAT proposal

Along with other GCC countries, Qatar is assessing the possibility of introducing value-added tax (VAT) as a means of improving its economy and broadening its revenue base. Whilst the overall fiscal balance of the country has been in surplus for the last few years, the GSDP (General Secretariat of Development Planning) has recognized, in their report entitled 'Qatar Economic Outlook 2011-12', that the balance of the non-hydrocarbon account has been in persistent deficit, equivalent to 17% of its GDP in 2010/11.

A high level committee has been established to weigh the impact of introducing VAT on small and medium sized companies in the country, with the expressed wish by many of these business owners, and economists, that they be exempt, along with local products.

Bahrain; Bermuda
 The Bahrain Bermuda income tax treaty entered into force on January 29th.

Bahrain; Seychelles

Income tax treaty entered into force February 3.

Bahrain; Czech Republic

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on March 13 issued a decree ratifying Bahrain's pending income tax treaty with the Czech Republic (signed 24, May 2011).

Bahrain; Georgia & Sri Lanka

The Bahraini King issued a decree ratifying Bahrain's pending income tax treaties with Georgia and Sri Lanka on March 13.

Bahrain; Germany & India

Bahrain's Cabinet approved the signing of air transport treaties with Germany and with India on 15th January 2012.

Bahrain; India

The Bahraini Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, approved for signature a tax information exchange agreement with India. on February 19, 2012.

Bahrain; Malta

The Bahrain Malta DTA signed in April 2010, entered into force on February 28, 2012, and its provisions generally will apply from 1st January 2013.

Bahrain; Mexico

The, income tax treaty between Bahrain and Mexico will enter into force February 22 and its provisions will apply from the 1st January 2013 (as signed in October 2010).

Bahrain; Finland, Green and the Faroe Islands

Bahrain's Shura Council (upper house of parliament) have approved three decisions ratifying Bahrain's pending tax information exchange agreements with Finland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, as on 12th March 2012.

Bahrain; Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

Bahrain's Shura Council approved four decisions ratifying Bahrain's pending tax information exchange agreements with Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (19th March).

Bahrain; Singapore, Germany & India

The government of Bahrain on approved for ratification and sent to parliament a protocol amending the Bahrain-Singapore income tax treaty, and approved for signature air services tax agreements with Germany and India. 15th January.

Bahrain; Turkmenistan

Bahrain on February 6 ratified the income tax treaty it signed with Turkmenistan on February 9, 2011.

Botswana; China
Botswana and the People's Republic of China have signed a DTA on 11th April.

Egypt; Cameroon
 Representatives from Cameroon and Egypt met in Cameroon in January and February this year to negotiate an income tax treaty.

Egypt; Ireland

Egypt and Ireland signed a DTA on April the 9th in Cairo.

Indonesia; Morocco
 Indonesia has issued Presidential Decree 31 (of March 20, 2012) ratifying the income tax treaty it signed with Morocco on June 8, 2008, in Rabat.

Kuwait; Bosnia & Herzegovina

Treaty between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kuwait ratified by Bosnia and Herzegovina on 22 March 2012.

Kuwait; Macedonia

Officials from Kuwait and Macedonia, meeting in Skopje on, signed an income tax treaty on 20 March 2012.

Oman; Estonia

Estonia and Oman Initial Tax Treaty on February 12.

Oman; France

Representatives from France and Oman met in Muscat on April 8, and signed a protocol that will amend the France Oman income and inheritance tax convention.

Oman; Jordan

Representatives from Jordan and Oman met in Amman to begin negotiating an income tax treaty last month (March 2012).

Oman; Luxembourg

Treaty between Luxembourg and Oman initialled on 14 March 2012.

Palestine; Sri Lanka

Palestine and Sri Lanka have signed a DTA on April 16th.

Portugal; Qatar & UAE

Portugal's parliament adopted laws ratifying the pending income tax treaties with Qatar, and the UAE, late February 2012.
 
Qatar; Austria
HH Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani issued a decree ratifying the pending Austria-Qatar air transport agreement on 29th January.

Qatar; Austria

The Austria Qatar income and capital tax treaty and the accompanying protocol entered into force on 7th March.

Qatar; Brunei

Qatari Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani on March 14 issued a decree ratifying the pending Brunei Qatar income tax treaty.

Qatar; Chad & Portugal

The Qatari government led by Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabir Al Thani approved for signature air transport agreements with Chad and Portugal, on 8th February 2012.

Qatar; Djibouti

Representatives from Djibouti and Qatar initialed an air transport agreement in Doha on March 20.

Qatar; Hungary
Representatives from Hungary and Qatar signed an income tax treaty on in Budapest on 18th January.

Qatar; Bermuda

The Qatari Prime Minister has approved for signature a draft income tax treaty with Bermuda, as of 25th January.

 Qatar; Bosnia & Herzegovina
Qatari Deputy Amir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani issued Decree No. 28, on 10th April, ratifying the pending income tax treaty with Bosnia and Herzegovina (signed on 21st July 2010).
 
Qatar; Jersey

Philip Bailhache, Jersey's assistant chief minister for international affairs, has signed an income tax treaty with Qatar as of late March 2012.

Qatar; Morocco

Representatives from Morocco and Qatar have begun negotiating revisions to the income tax treaty this March, as per the DTA signed in March 2006.

Qatar; Ukraine
Representatives from Qatar and Ukraine met in Doha in late March to commence negotiations for an income tax treaty.

Saudi; Bangladesh
The Bangladesh Saudi Arabia income tax convention, signed in Riyadh on January 4, 2011, entered into force on October 1, 2011, and its provisions apply from January 1, 2012, for Saudi Arabia and from 1st July 2012 for Bangladesh. 

Saudi; Luxembourg

Treaty between Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia initialled on 14 March 2012.
 

Saudi; Malta

Notes from Washington - The G8 Circus is Coming to Town

Next month, US President Obama will play host to his counterparts from the G-8 industrialized nations at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.  The Middle East will figure substantively on the agenda.  Predictably, the summit will focus on the political and security crises involving Syria and Iran.  Absent from the discussion, however, will be any mention of a specific economic plan of action as regards the Middle East.  That is because there is none; in many ways the West's response to the Arab Spring remains disjointed, haphazard and bereft of a comprehensive strategy to deliver the economic growth necessary to underpin political stability in the region.

A year ago, the Arab Spring was still headline news. Captivated by the changes they had failed to predict and anxious to offer every appearance of material support to the region, the G-8 countries launched the Deauville Partnership to great fanfare. Under Deauville, the G-8 partners were to work together to sustain political liberalization and nurture economic stability in the countries affected by the Arab Spring.

Twelve months later, the report card offers a telling portrait of the nature of Western engagement in the MENA region. Political outreach has been cautious, with Western capitals still seeking to balance new realities against long-held beliefs, new power brokers with trusted allies.  

Progress, if it may be called that, has come predictably where relationships are the most trusted, and where the initiative has largely been taken by Arab leaders - in the security sphere. The bulk of the effort by the West has gone to bolstering regional security against Iran. Joint military operations and procurements have increased, and the GCC and the US in March notably reached agreement to build a regional ballistic missile shield. The Syria predicament, too, has produced a flurry of multilateral diplomacy stopping well short of an intervention styled on NATO's involvement in Libya.

Economic diplomacy, meanwhile, has produced next to nothing. High-level official forums have been either launched or revived with a number of regional players, from UAE to Tunisia, but amount to little more than talk shops. On April 11, Deputy US Trade Representative Miriam Shapiro met in Amman with trade ministers from Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia to discuss - yet again - prospects for increased trade and growth. But for this to be the sum total product of US engagement in the past year reveals that economic engagement from the US remains rhetorical at best.

It may be argued, however, that all of these efforts, in both the political and economic spheres, is simply temporizing against the rapidly shifting challenges in Damascus and Tehran, and the largely unpredictable changes pushing through the countries directly affected by the Arab Spring. There remains no grand plan motivating US engagement, much less that from Brussels. Lacking a policy architecture, the US will be unable to provide meaningful long-term support to regional stability.

We should not expect the May G-8 Summit to provide any sort of dramatic change for the better as regards the Middle East. Political capital at the Summit will be devoted toward reaching a unified stance on Syria and Iran, in both cases securing active Russian cooperation toward shared goals will be a critical objective for the US and European players.

As for economics, the various G-8 members each come with varying agendas. Barring a Sarkozy election loss prior to the summit, the US and EU will seek group support for Europe's crisis. Many in Washington expect the announcement of a political commitment toward the formal deepening of the US-EU bilateral relationship, in particular via the launch of negotiations for a US-EU Free Trade Agreement. Japan will be preoccupied with its desire to obtain US approval of Tokyo's bid for membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, while Russia faces the unique challenge of managing Vladimir Putin's re-entry on the global scene as head of state.

This is a long way of saying that, once statements on Syria and Iran are hammered out to the relative satisfaction of all the players, and lip-service paid to the "successes" of the Deauville Partnership, the summit will conclude without taking a single step toward a meaningful, substantive engagement with Middle Eastern countries on economics and trade. Left to their own devices then, yet again...