In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced on March 20th that the U.S. filing deadline has been postponed from April 15th to July 15th. However, this extension only applies to filing of Federal individual income tax returns; each state is responsible for setting and announcing their own deadlines.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced on Friday that the U.S. filing deadline has been postponed from April 15th to July 15th. Taxpayers and businesses will have an extra three months to file returns and make payments without interest or penalties.

As we close out the year and look to 2020, we are highlighting the most impactful news for Global Mobility in 2019. Last week, we posted our top 5 downloads and our top 5 mobility policy articles. Today's post features the most popular tax news that we published this year.

China has implemented measures that generally reduce social security contributions. The reductions are primarily targeting employer contributions to the social insurance programs and are part of a multi-year effort to unify pension systems at the national level. However, the social insurance wage base has increased in Shanghai, resulting in an increase in employee contributions to social security for Shanghai taxpayers. The net effect is a reduction in income tax for Shanghai taxpayers as the increased employee social contributions are deductible.

The United Kingdom and Switzerland have completed a transitional agreement to maintain social security rights in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The deal also preserves working privileges, residency rights, and freedom of movement between the two countries.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that went into effect January 1, 2018 included a provision that limited the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) that are deductible for Federal tax purposes to $10,000 per year (previously uncapped). The SALT limit disproportionately impacted middle-to-high income residents of high-tax states that pay more than the new $10,000 limit.

There has been a small increase in the maximum contribution to the Accident Compensation Levy. The net effect is a small increase in tax for higher incomes. To simplify and modernize New Zealand’s tax administration, effective April 1, 2019, employers are required to file “employee income information” every pay cycle.

A withholding tax system that was previously announced as taking effect as of January 1, 2018, went into force on January 1, 2019. The new withholding requirement will apply to many income types, including employment income.

Major tax reform has been implemented in Lithuania for 2019. One goal of the changes is to shift the tax burden from employers to employees. Employer contributions to social security have been substantially reduced.

The ‘183-day rule’ is a common fallacy among Global Mobility professionals, which assumes that there are no tax issues as long as the individual is not present in a Host location for more than 183 days.