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Is there bank secrecy in Ukraine, and what must the citizens of Ukraine be preparing for?

Published: 13/04/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Ukraine

What is bank secrecy The relevance and importance of the topic of bank secrecy is hard to overestimate. The correct application of the legal rules regulating the procedure for its disclosure is necessary both for bank employees and all other persons who are aimed at gaining access to this information. At the same time, it is necessary for natural persons and legal entities to obtain information “protected” by law in order to protect their violated rights. Article 60 of the Law of Ukraine No. 2121-III of 07.12.2000 “On Banks and Banking” (as amended, hereinafter - the Law of Ukraine “On Banks and Banking”) defines bank secrecy as information on the activities and financial status of the client that has become known to the bank in the process of servicing the client and relations with him or third parties when providing services of the bank. Bank secrecy, with respect to the bank’s clients, in particular, are: information about clients’ bank accounts; transactions that were carried out in favor of or on behalf of the client, transactions carried out by him; financial and economic status of clients; client protection systems; information...

VAT Regime for Dividends in Cyprus

Published: 13/04/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Accounting #Business

The Cyprus holding companies are widely used in the context of international business structuring for the optimization of the channels of incoming and outgoing investment in/from the countries that have signed an agreement with Cyprus on avoidance of double taxation. Recently, the Tax Department has published a guide to VAT accounting for holding companies, which is designed to provide clarity with respect to the circumstances under which the Cyprus holding companies can receive taxable income. Definition of taxable activities The common position and practice regarding the regime for levying VAT on dividends remain unchanged. The simple acquisition and ownership of shares in other companies by a Cypriot company does not constitute a taxable business activity in the sense of exploiting assets for income generation. The reason for this approach is that the dividends received from such ownership of shares are considered to arise solely at the expense of ownership of shares, rather than from the form of business activity carried out for the purpose of income generation. Consequently, an enterprise that simply owns shares or a similar form of a stake in another organization is not...

What has been changed in the tax legislation of Ukraine since 2018: briefly about the main

Published: 03/04/2018 | blog

In 2018, Ukrainian tax legislation was subject to a number of changes. Having analyzed the Law of Ukraine No. 2245-VIII “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and certain legislative Acts of Ukraine to ensure the balance of budget revenues in 2018”, which came into force on January 1, we decided to consolidate the most significant reforms and summarize. The issue of this blog will be dedicated to it. Overall changes Key changes in the general rules of tax law include: exclusion from the definition of “bad debt” of indebtedness of natural persons, forgiven by the creditor; introduction of a new concept of a “syndicated financial loan”; clarification of the definition of “related persons” for TP purposes; introduction of the term “new well” in order to regulate the use of preferential rent rates for the extraction of natural gas; expansion of the list of payments not considered as royalties for the transfer of the right to distribute IPI without the right for their reproduction; clarification of the definition of the weighted average retail price; introduction of the obligation for the taxpayers to ensure the storage of...

What changes have been made to the system for blocking tax invoices

Published: 29/03/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Tax disputes #Taxation #Ukraine

As we noted earlier, pursuant to the Law of Ukraine No. 2245-VII of 07.12.2017 “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and certain legislative acts of Ukraine to ensure the balance of budget revenues in 2018”, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 117 of 21.02.2018, which approved: “The procedure for suspension of registration of the tax invoice/calculation adjustment in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices”, “The organization of work of the commissions that decide to register a tax invoice/calculation adjustment in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices or refusal in such registration”, “Procedure for considering complaints against the decisions of the commissions that decide to register a tax invoice/calculation adjustment in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices or refuse to register them”. If the basic algorithm for suspending the registration of tax invoices and calculation adjustments (TI/CA) has remained almost unchanged, then the order of their “unlocking” has undergone significant changes. We will figure out what exactly has been changed, and whether this will simplify the life of the taxpayers. As before, the taxpayer will be...

Tax System of Estonia in 2018: What Has changed?

Published: 27/03/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Estonia #Taxation

In 2018, Estonia’s taxation system has been subjected to a number of changes. Here are the most significant of them: A considerable leap in the registration threshold as a payer of sales tax from EUR 16,000 to EUR 40,000. Reduction of the tax benefit on regularly paid dividends from 20% to 14%. For the first time, a reduced rate can be applied for dividend payments in the next year, taking into account that in 2018, the corresponding tax was levied at a rate of 20%. The benefit does not apply to the dividends received and already taxed. It also does not apply to the loans that are taxed as a hidden profit distribution. In 2019, the dividend amount will be taxed at a reduced rate, corresponding to one third of the dividends paid in the previous year. In 2020, this benefit will be applicable to the amount of dividends corresponding to one third of the dividends paid in 2019-2020, and in 2021 - to the amount equivalent to the average value of the dividends paid for the previous three years. Introduction of new obligations for commercial organizations that issue loans to their stockholder, shareholder or member. We remind you that a commercial association pays...

Implications of Brexit for Customs and VAT Rules

Published: 19/03/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Accounting #Business #Export #Import #Legislation #Reforms #Tax planning #Taxation

In a press release of January 29, 2018, the Council of Europe announced the second set of additional directives on the negotiations detailing the position of the EU-27 (27 EU Members without the UK) regarding the transition period with respect to Brexit. These directives give the Commission the authority to initiate discussions with the UK on the terms of Brexit and establish a transition period, no longer than until December 31, 2020. During the transition period in the UK, full and constant application of the EU legislation is provided. However, the state will no longer participate in the EU administration and the decision-making process. On January 30, 2018, the EU Commission published a document warning the companies of the key challenges in the customs and VAT that they will have to be overcome when the United Kingdom is not a Member of the EU. If no other transition period is agreed between the EU and the UK, the European Customs and VAT regulations in the UK will no longer apply from March 30, 2019, as the UK officially announced its intention to leave the EU on March 29, 2017. This document provides a brief overview of the customs and VAT implications that will arise...

Blocking of tax invoices in a new way: how will it be?

Published: 14/03/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Tax disputes #Taxation

In order to fulfil the requirements of the Law of Ukraine No. 2245-VII “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and certain legislative Acts of Ukraine to ensure the balance of budget revenues in 2018” of 7.12.2017, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Resolution No. 117 of 21.02.2018 which approved: the procedure for suspending the registration of the tax invoice / calculation adjustments in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices; the operating procedure of commissions that take decisions on the registration of a tax invoice / calculation adjustments in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices or refusal of such registration; the procedure for considering complaints against decisions of commissions that take decisions on registration of a tax invoice / calculation adjustments in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices or refusal of such registration. What has been fundamentally changed? The first thing I want to note is that previously, only the business transaction that was reflected in the tax invoice was subject to monitoring. And now the monitoring of the tax invoice / calculation adjustment (hereinafter - the tax invoice) is carried out according...

Questions and answers to the Inaccessibility of Deposits in ABLV Bank

Published: 05/03/2018 | blog

On February 25, the Latvian bank ABLV Bank published supplementary information for the depositors on its official website in the form of the most common questions and answers to them. “What should the depositors and clients of the bank do, holding funds at ABLV Bank at the moment? At the moment, clients do not have access to their funds either in the branches or through the Internet bank. The card system of the bank is turned off, therefore the customers cannot pay by bank cards and cannot withdraw cash from ATMs. Customers can freely transfer securities from their accounts of financial instruments to the bank. What sum will be paid by the state to the bank’s clients? The state guarantees each client 100 000 euros in any Latvian bank. In case of the moment of inaccessibility of deposits, payments are made from the funds of the Deposit Guarantee Fund. ABLV Bank has enough liquid assets to return all sums paid from the Deposit Guarantee Fund! What funds of the bank’s customers are guaranteed payment? The guaranteed payment covers all deposits in any currency on all accounts, including time deposit accounts, current accounts, salary accounts, savings accounts, including...

Reforming VAT Rules for Online Sales in the EU

Published: 02/03/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Business #Import #Legislation #Reforms #Tax planning #Tax reporting #Taxation #VAT

On December 5, 2017, the European Council adopted amendments to the legislation regulating VAT rules for online sales of goods and services in Europe, developed by the European Commission a year ago. These legislative changes were adopted within the framework of the strategy of “single digital market” and aimed at simplification of the payment of VAT on purchases of goods and services on the Internet by the European consumers. The changes assume: simplification of the current Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) mode for cross-border telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services transition to taxation at the place of destination (location of the recipient) and simplified reporting through MOSS for remote sales of goods introduction of an obligation to pay VAT for electronic interfaces (for example, platforms) that facilitates the delivery of low-value goods imported or sold in the EU by the suppliers from outside the EU Since the new legislation consists of a two-tiered package of measures, it comes into force in two phases: in 2019 and 2021. From 2019, the changes will touch the MOSS system. There is an exception that allows micro-enterprises of the EU to pay for...

Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Published Regulatory Guidance for ICO

Published: 26/02/2018 | blog

Tags:

#Business #Cryptocurrency #ICO #Legislation #Switzerland #Tokens

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has issued regulatory guidance on ICO. Switzerland is still on the list of the most popular jurisdictions for the organization and development of the activities that are related or based on blockchain, many of which are funded through ICO. In this regard, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (hereinafter referred to as FINMA, the Authority) published regulatory guidance on February 16, 2018 determining the direction for future normative regulation in this field. In addition, FINMA has also clarified the expectations regarding the requirements for the requests relating to the application of the Swiss financial markets legislation in the context of the specific ICO projects. The document, entitled “FINMA Recommendations regarding requests on legislative regulation of Initial Coin Offering”, published on February 16, 2018, is a continuation of the initial recommendations on the legislative regulation of ICO, which were published in September 2017. The purpose of these recommendations of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority is to inform future and existing market participants about how FINMA intends to...

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