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Hong Kong Intends to Join the OECD’s Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement

Published: 09/02/2018 | news

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#BEPS #Hong Kong

On February 2, 2018, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region officially formalized the process of ratifying the OECD’s Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA). That means that the jurisdiction will join soon the existing multilateral network of data exchange between the tax authorities of many countries and territories around the world. The Hong Kong Tax and Fees Department introduced the Ordinance on Automatic Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts (AEOI), which will optimize the process of obtaining information by the countries with which the jurisdiction agrees to exchange. This refers to the exchange both under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the intercountry reporting exchange under the BEPS Plan. After joining of Hong Kong the Multilateral Agreement, the authorities of the country will be able to pass a rather formal procedure for finalizing the relations with other participants through the OECD secretariat. If we compare this process with the conclusion of separate bilateral agreements with a number of the countries, it is much faster and easier. It is important to note that until the end of this year, the old (bilateral) rules for...

Another 6 Countries Have Joined the BEPS Multilateral Convention

Published: 31/01/2018 | news

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#BEPS #Offshores #Taxation

On January 24, 2018, another six states signed the Multilateral Convention for the Implementation of Activities under the BEPS Plan (MLI Convention). In this regard, the countries were able to amend promptly their agreements on avoidance of double taxation, taking into account the recommendations developed by the OECD in the framework of the plan of action to counteract the base erosion and withdrawal of profits from taxation. Barbados, Côte d'Ivoire, Jamaica, Malaysia, Panama and Tunisia joined the MLI Convention, after which the total number of signers reached 78. It is also worth noting that Algeria, Kazakhstan, Oman and Swaziland have announced their intention to sign the Convention in the near future. In addition, other jurisdictions are actively working on signing the agreement in June this year, as the press service of the OECD reports. To date, four jurisdictions - Austria, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Poland - have ratified the Convention, which will enter into force three months after the fifth part of jurisdictions transfers the instruments of ratification to storage. The Convention, developed as part of large-scale negotiations involving more than 100 countries and...

NBU Has Mitigated Conditions for Business for Selling Foreign Currency

Published: 29/01/2018 | news

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#Currency control #NBU

The National Bank of Ukraine has simplified the conditions for the sale of foreign currency by the clients of the banks in the interbank foreign exchange market. The amendments to the legislation are enshrined in the NBU Resolution No.7 of January 25, 2018 “On Amending certain normative legal acts of the National Bank of Ukraine” and entered into force on January 27, 2018. The innovations provide mainly the following: Clear definition of the client’s right to apply for the sale of foreign currency to any authorized bank by his choice (regardless of the availability of a current account in foreign currency in this bank). Clarification of the terms of sale of foreign currency of the clients by the bank. We remind that an authorized bank is required by proxy of the client to sell its own funds in foreign currency no later than 5 banking days, starting from the day of writing off these funds from the client’s current account. The NBU clarified that in case of transfer of funds for sale by the client from another authorized bank, the sale of this currency is carried out within 5 days from the date of transfer of these funds to the correspondent account of the authorized...

A Number of Agreements on Automatic Exchange of Tax Information Entered into Force in Switzerland

Published: 12/01/2018 | news

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#Switzerland #Tax planning #Tax reporting #Taxation

A number of agreements on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) on taxation issues, concluded by Switzerland with other jurisdictions, entered into force on January 1, 2018. Data exchange will be carried out in accordance with the Common Reporting Standard of the OECD, which provides for the possibility of automatic exchange of information between the territories that have agreed to such an exchange. Switzerland starts to exchange tax information this year with respect to data on accounts collected for some partners under previously signed agreements, namely Australia, Canada, the European Union, Guernsey and Jersey, the Isle of Man, Iceland, Japan, Norway and South Korea . More complete list of jurisdictions with which Switzerland plans to establish automatic exchange of information since 2019 was published on the website of the State Secretariat for International Finance. In order to fulfill its obligation to exchange information automatically with these territories, Swiss financial institutions will be demanded to comply with the new requirements on information collection from January 1, 2018 for the accounts of taxpayers from such countries as Andorra, Argentina,...

Concept of Cryptocurrency Has Been Introduced in the Legislation of the European Union

Published: 29/12/2017 | news

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#Cryptocurrency #EU #Legislation

Over the past few years, the development of Bitcoin has been increased, which is actively discussed by the governments of different countries. In this regard, the European Union raised some concerns about funding of terrorism, money laundering and tax evasion, which might be related to cryptocurrencies. This is the reason why the European legislator has introduced the concept of cryptocurrency into the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, where Bitcoin is defined as a “monetary instrument”. As the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici notes, to date Bitcoin is not considered as an alternative currency along with dollar or euro due to volatility and much speculation. It is noteworthy that the differences between the definitions of Bitcoins in the EU Directive and in the US legislation are not significant. Details of the political discussions regarding the cryptocurrency in the European Parliament and the further legislative prospects for electronic money are still...

Scotland urged to provide independence of new tax court

Published: 13/12/2016 | news

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#Scotland

New tax appeal court in Scotland should be independent from the national new tax authority, the group of tax reform with the low level of the income declared. Simultaneously with the introduction of the new Scottish tax inspection to manage taxes, transferred from the UK, Scotland suffers an existing tribunals service to the Scottish Tribunals on 1 April 2017 and brings a lot of related changes, according to the legislative offers. These offers include drafts of procedural rules for new court of the first level for tax chamber of Scotland which will be similar to an operating mode of present tax court of the first level. Reacting to negotiations on new system, the group of tax reform with the low level of the income declared that tax chamber and tax court of the first level "actually, both shall be both conscious, and absolutely independent of the income of Scotland". Also noted that the system of court shall be "available to all" and asked that the government considered a question of providing free legal services tax and accounting services to help people with low incomes. Author: Sergey Panovmanaging partner Finance Business...

“Successful” year for the tax of transferred property in Scotland

Published: 07/12/2016 | news

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#Real estate #Scotland

Transition of Scotland to a new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) was "operationally successful", according to the Scottish Parliament's Finance and Constitution Committee, which analyzed the impact of the tax on the real estate market. The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax replaced British stamp duty land tax (SDLT) in Scotland from April 1, 2015 within the agreement with Great Britain which transfers responsibility for some taxes to Scotland. LBTT of Scotland is based group with 145,000 pounds sterling (184,550 US dollars) with a free limit on the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. In the amount of two percent the price is paid for a share of inheritance of real estate to 250,000 pounds sterling; five percent for a share to 325,000 pounds sterling; 10 percent to 750,000 pounds sterling; and 12 percent from the price above 750,000 pounds sterling. In the report of Committee said that in spite of the fact that implementation of a tax was successful, it is too early to draw any final conclusions concerning influence of LBTT rates and groups after one year of operational management of the entity, and also due to the lack of consistency in the forecast and in data of...

Switzerland and Austria dissolve the agreement withholding tax

Published: 14/11/2016 | news

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#Austria #Switzerland #Taxation

Agreement withholding tax (WHT) between Switzerland and Austria, will be phased out from 1 January 2017, when the agreement between Switzerland and the EU on the automatic exchange of tax information comes into force. 11 November 2016, Switzerland and Austria signed an agreement to ensure a smooth transition between the two modes. Austrian authorities, it regulates the arrangements for the transmission of the final amount of taxes and shipping the latest voluntary agreement. "The provisions of a tax treaty withholding will be applied on all the facts and legal rights that materialize during the period of its validity," said the Swiss Federal Council.Withholding tax agreement between Switzerland and Austria came into force on 1 January 2013. It provided for the regularization of assets held in Switzerland Austrian taxpayers and taxation of income derived from these assets. Austrian taxpayers have been an option either to pay by WHT, imposed directly on their accounts and transferred anonymously to the Austrian authorities, or to make a voluntary disclosure. The Swiss Federal Council said that this model is "generally loses its sense of existence with the introduction of an...

The Swiss government supports corporate tax reform

Published: 31/10/2016 | news

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#Reforms #Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Council announced its support for the proposed changes to the corporate tax base in Switzerland, known as - Corporate Tax Reform III (CTR III), on the eve of a referendum on the issue, which will be held early next year. CTR III cancel corporate tax arrangements, which are no longer in line with international standards. These primarily include the cantonal tax status, for possession of residential and mixed companies. "With regard to measures of tax legislation, the focus is on the promotion of innovation," said Federal Department of Finance on 27 October. "In general, the reform will allow Switzerland to remain an attractive location for companies, and for each canton, the ability to adapt their fiscal policies in the economic and financial situation," said a department statement. "Reform will prevent a mass exodus of existing companies with the status and thus, the possible tax losses amounting to more than CHF 5 billion (USD 5 billion) for the Federation, the cantons and communes." Author: Sergey Panovmanaging partner Finance Business...

The changed tax rules for Swiss banks

Published: 04/10/2016 | news

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#Banks #Switzerland

Switzerland has amended the "too large to fail" legislation to reduce the tax burden in some banks. The Swiss Federal Council requested the Federal Department of Finance to prepare a draft consultation document on changes to the position of participations in the deductions TBTF legislation. He noted that the proposed reform would "not allow the tax load of the leading holdings of systemically important banks from raising together with the conditional issuance of convertible securities (CoCos), written off bonds and bail bonds." The Federal Council has proposed that the interest payments on cocos, decommissioned bail bonds and bonds, were not taken into account when calculating the deduction. In accordance with current regulations, the deduction is reduced, because the interest in cocos, written off bonds and bail bonds, regarded as financing costs. The Federal Council said: "The deduction - a system associated with the current legislation, ie all interest on debt capital lead to a reduction in the gross income of all corporations and cooperatives This can lead to a higher tax burden.". The Federal Council said that some banks are required by supervisory law circulate such...

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