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100 MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE IN BUSINESS<br />
Malta Business Review<br />
100 Most Creative People in Business<br />
F<br />
ast Company, the leading<br />
financial magazine in USA,<br />
released the list of the 100 Most<br />
Creative People in Business in China<br />
2017. As the co-founder of iExec, Dr.<br />
Haiwu He made it in this top 100 .<br />
Dr. Haiwu He received his master's degree<br />
and doctorate from the French National<br />
University of Lille in 2002 and 2005, and<br />
completed his postdoctoral research at<br />
the Paris XI University in 2007. His research<br />
focuses on peer-to-peer distributed systems,<br />
cloud computing and big data, with more<br />
than 30 journal and conference papers<br />
published. In 2015, Haiwu came back to China<br />
with several advanced technologies in cloud<br />
computing. He hopes to become a pioneer<br />
in the application and development of these<br />
technology in the blockchain industry.<br />
Fast Company launched its annual China's<br />
creative people list in 2014, to honor an<br />
influential and diverse group of leading<br />
thinkers around the globe. Haiwu received his<br />
award in December 2017 for his “commitment<br />
to build a cloud platform with blockchain and<br />
share the global idle computing power”.<br />
iExec, which he cofounded, built a virtual global<br />
decentralized cloud computing infrastructure<br />
based on the Ethereum blockchain, enabling<br />
global computing integration and providing<br />
idle computing capacity to customers in<br />
need. At the same time, the heat generated<br />
by the computing facilities distributed in<br />
strategic places can be put to a plethora of<br />
different uses – such as heating buildings. The<br />
technology will bring about a new revolution<br />
in traditional computing.<br />
The 2017 China list also includes NetEase's<br />
founder Ding Lei, BYD's founder Wang<br />
Chuanfu, Baidu's COO Lu Qi, and the<br />
mathematician Qiu Chengtong. The 100<br />
winners, no matter what industry they're in,<br />
are all building game-changing products in<br />
their field and showed advanced business<br />
best practices. <strong>MBR</strong><br />
Credit: Agence Anonyme Paris A2<br />
Report by the Auditor General on the Ministry for Finance:<br />
An analysis on revenue collection<br />
Auditor General Charles Deguara presented<br />
the National Audit Office (NAO) report<br />
entitled ‘Ministry for Finance: An Analysis<br />
on Revenue Collection’ to the Speaker of the<br />
House of Representatives.<br />
The scope of this analysis, carried out by<br />
the Financial and Compliance Section, was<br />
to collate and assess the revenue collected<br />
during 2016 with respect to the three main<br />
revenue-generating departments within<br />
the Ministry for Finance, namely the Inland<br />
Revenue Department (IRD), including the<br />
Capital Transfer Duty, the Value Added Tax<br />
(VAT) Department. and the Department of<br />
Customs (DOC). The NAO also enquired on<br />
the level of enforcement procedures in place<br />
in relation to the collection of revenue, as well<br />
as the status of the integration between these<br />
three departments, necessary to strengthen<br />
and consolidate the Maltese fiscal structure.<br />
This task was conducted through detailed<br />
research, meetings and analysis, amd where<br />
possible, of figures and information provided<br />
through replies to various questionnaires.<br />
The five-year analysis conducted by the NAO<br />
indicated a €329.5 million increase in absolute<br />
terms in income tax over this period, with the<br />
highest spikes in capital gains tax for 2014<br />
(25%), provisional tax in 2015 (21%) and duty<br />
on documents and transfers in 2015 (29%). A<br />
steady upward trend in VAT income was also<br />
noted since 2012, with a total increase of €191<br />
million. With regards to the DOC, a €124.1<br />
million increase in income was reported with<br />
particular increases in 2014 and 2016.<br />
The most common enforcement tool used by<br />
the IRD was remission of interest agreements<br />
in relation to arrears of company tax and tax<br />
due by individuals, which contributed to the<br />
collection of circa €4 million by the end of May<br />
2017. Similarly, the VAT Department entered<br />
into remission agreements, generating €3<br />
million. The DOC handled various criminal<br />
and civil court cases, besides issuing letters<br />
to prosecute, seizure notes, and out of court<br />
settlements.<br />
The NAO felt it pertinent to reproduce a<br />
number of comments which were forwarded<br />
in relation to the departments’ respective<br />
staffing requirements, and recommends that<br />
due attention be given to such requests.<br />
This report also outlines the various measures<br />
being implemented to support the adoption<br />
of the merger of these revenue departments,<br />
which will ultimately simplify the whole<br />
tax system and provide a better service to<br />
the businesses and public in general. These<br />
measures consist, amongst other initiatives,<br />
of a consolidated Commissioner for Revenue<br />
website, a one-stop-shop, a joint enforcement<br />
unit, a consolidated debt collection, and a call<br />
centre. <strong>MBR</strong><br />
The results of this analysis are comprehensively<br />
presented in the report in caption. This report, in<br />
its entirety, may be accessed through the NAO<br />
website www.nao.gov.mt, as well as on the NAO<br />
Facebook page www.facebook.com/NAOMalta.<br />
Credit: The national audit office<br />
www.maltabusinessreview.net<br />
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