As rapid transformation and changing legislation carve the future business landscape, tax considerations increasingly intersect with your most strategic business decisions. At Baker & McKenzie, we look at tax from every angle. Against this backdrop, we are eager to share our highly anticipated program “Unlocking the intersection between ESG and Tax” with you, which we were proud to launch at our 18th Annual Global Tax Planning & Transactional Workshop “Embracing the Changing World of Tax”.
In this four-part webinar series that took place throughout the month of May 2023, our US moderators welcomed colleagues from around the globe to share the latest labor and employment law updates and trends.
Several new employment measures have become law, dealing with redundancy protection for mothers and those returning from family leave, as well as creating new rights to carer’s and neonatal leave. There is also a new right to the allocation of tips. However, the rights might not come into force for a year or two, and some of the detail of the rights remains to be confirmed.
Consumers and investors alike are increasingly shifting their focus towards both “green” products and investments in sustainable businesses and those with aspirational environmental and climate goals. Since environmental and sustainability claims have become ever more powerful marketing tools, they are also increasingly vulnerable to complaints of “greenwashing” — the practice of overstating the environmental characteristics or benefits of a company or a product.
On 25 May 2023, the Notification of the Ministry of Finance on Duty Exemption for Parts of Electric Vehicle or Battery-powered Electric Boats was published in the Royal Gazette. This Notification is to further promote the domestic production of electric vehicles (EV) in Thailand as well as to develop and strengthen the domestic EV supply chain. The Notification became effective on 26 May 2023.
On 3 March 2023, the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources enacted the Regulation on the Implementation of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) and CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage) in Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (MEMR2/2023). The Regulation covers a wide range of matters, including planning of CCS and CCUS projects, implementation, monitoring, CO2 measurement, reporting and verification, financing and monetization and closure of CCS and CCUS projects.
On this episode of the Compliance Podcast of the Caracas Office, Jesus Davila speaks to Marco Andrade, specialist on ISO norms. Marco will guide us into the fascinating world of the ISO Norms and their applicability in the corporate environment, as well as the opportunity to incorporate such norms in the corporate systems for managing risks and quality control. Furthermore, it is very interesting to review how the ISO Norms define a space for the creation of integrity protocols for companies.
Released 12 May 2023, Notice 2023-38 provides interim guidance on the “domestic content” bonus tax credit amounts available for facilities that generate electricity from renewable resources (e.g., wind and solar facilities) and certain energy storage property. The “domestic content” bonus incentivizes owners of green energy projects to utilize domestically-manufactured materials and components (including steel, iron, and “manufactured products”) by offering them an additional incentive in the form of an increased tax credit for doing so.
The FRC has published a consultation paper proposing changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code. The changes are partly in response to the Government’s May 2022 response white paper “Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance: government response” and, unlike the wide-ranging changes in 2018, are technical rather than structural. The deadline for responses is Wednesday 13 September 2023 and the intention is for the revised Code to apply to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025.
Australia’s Modern Slavery Act 2018 created a regime requiring large companies to report annually on what they have done to assess and address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. On 25 May 2023, the Federal Government tabled a report on a review of this Act. This review covered the first three years of the Act’s operation. Thirty recommendations have been made.