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The Cabinet of Ministers Excluded 5 Countries from Offshore List

Published: 08/02/2018 | news

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On January 31, at the meeting of the Ukrainian government, it was decided to exclude 5 countries from the list of offshore companies, namely Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Malta and Hungary. We remind that on January 19, the Ministry of Finance of Latvia announced that the inclusion of this country in the list of offshore zones was unreasonable. Earlier, Ukraine included Estonia in the list without notification of the Estonian government, so the Prime Minister of the state Jüri Ratas reacted by a statement on the need to remove the jurisdiction immediately from the offshore list. It took place on January 26, during his meeting in Davos with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman and the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Aleksandr Danilyuk. In total in 2017, Ukraine expanded the list of the countries, the operations with counterparties of which are subject to control in the administration of the law of transfer pricing, to 25 countries. Guadeloupe, Guatemala, French Guiana, the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Iran, Cuba, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Georgia and Hungary were added to...

The European Union Excluded 8 Countries and Territories from the “Black List” of Offshore Zones

Published: 24/01/2018 | news

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#Black list #Grenada #Macau #Offshores #Panama #UAE

The European Union excluded 8 countries and territories from the “black list” of offshore zones, as it was reported on the official website of the Council of the European Union on January 23. The following countries were removed from the list: Barbados, Grenada, the Republic of Korea, Macau, Mongolia, Panama, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. As it was noted in the message, the exсlusion was justified taking into account the expert assessment of the obligations undertaken by these jurisdictions to eliminate the shortcomings identified by the European Union. In each case, the commitments were backed up by the letters signed at a high political level. At the same time, the above countries and territories belong to a separate category now, subject to close monitoring. We remind that on December 5, 2017 the EU announced its intention to exclude 17 jurisdictions from the “black list” of offshore zones that do not take appropriate measures to ensure financial transparency and combat tax crimes. Thus, 9 of the planned 17 countries and territories remained on the list, namely American Samoa, Bahrain, Guam, Marshall Islands, Namibia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa and Trinidad and...

Cyprus Imposes 19% VAT on Building Land

Published: 19/01/2018 | news

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#Cyprus #Taxes #VAT

From January 2, 2018 in Cyprus, the new VAT Law has entered into force, providing for changes in the main VAT Law No.95(I)/2000. The document introduces VAT at a standard rate for the sale of building land, as well as leasing/rental of business premises on the conditions specified in the law. It also introduces the reverse charge mechanism for VAT-subject supplies of land and property under a loan restructuring/force-sale arrangement, which will mostly influence financial institutions. Imposition of VAT at the standard rate of 19% on building land The standard VAT rate of 19% will be applied in the following cases: transfer of ownership; transfer of indivisible land portion; transfer of ownership via contract or sale agreement or agreement which specifies that the ownership will be transferred in the future or leasing agreement with buyout option. The above shall apply to non-developed building land which is meant for the construction of one or more structures in the course of carrying out a business activity. More clarifications are still needed for the application of the law, such as the circumstances whereby a transfer is not considered to be a part of a person’s...

The European Union Intends to Exclude 8 Countries from the “Black List” of Offshore Zones

Published: 17/01/2018 | news

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#Black list #EU #Offshores #Tax disputes #Офшори

The European Union is discussing the possible exclusion of eight countries from the “black list” of offshore zones. It is reported by the IA Reuters, referring to the documents at its disposal. According to the agency, Panama, UAE, South Korea, Barbados, Grenada, Macau, Mongolia and Tunisia can be removed from the list. Such a proposal is justified by the fact that these countries have agreed to change their tax policy. In addition, an exclusion from the list of Bahrain was discussed, but in the end, it was decided to leave it on the list. On Tuesday, January 16, the issue was discussed at the ambassadorial level. And next week the proposal will be considered by the EU finance ministers. In early December, the last ones published a “black list” of countries that did not want to cooperate with the EU in the field of tax reporting, as reported by the UNIAN. The list includes 17 countries, namely: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, United Arab Emirates, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and South Korea. Offshore zones are on the territory of the most part of these states. We remind that...

Ministry of Finance Reforms Institution of Financial Liability for Tax Violations

Published: 30/11/2017 | news

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#Cyprus #VAT

Recently the Ministry of Finances of Ukraine, together with the experts from the interactive tax platform TaxLink, has developed a bill “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the improvement of the prosecution system for violation of tax laws”. The essence of the document is to reform the liability for tax violations provided by the current legislation. First of all, the bill introduces more effective mechanisms for the settlement of tax disputes in cases when the violation of tax law happened not due to the fault of the payer. In addition, it is proposed to introduce the principle of fault liability of taxpayers which is inherent in all branches of Ukrainian legislation, in contrast to the current liability of the payer without fault. Therefore, the last one will be considered guilty if found guilty that he was able to comply with the relevant rules and regulations, but did not take the necessary measures for this. In this regard, when considering the verification materials by the supervisory authority, the documents of the taxpayer may be subject to the examination that show his due diligence. Another significant innovation is the introduction of the system of...

Undistributed profit in Latvia is exempt from CIT

Published: 01/09/2017 | news

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#CIT #CIT #Dividends

On the 4th and 11th of July, 2017 the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia approved a number of draft laws providing for the significant changes in the tax legislation of the country which will enter into force on January 1, 2018. The most significant of them will be the application of the CIT 0% rate for the reinvested profits. In other words, the enterprise will be subject to the corporate income tax only if it pays dividends or other payments for the purpose of actual distribution of the profits (conditionally distributed profit). Therefore since 2018, the company's profits are exempted from CIT, but it has to pay 20% of the income tax from the amount of dividends. At the same time, the shareholders will not have to pay personal income tax (PIT). Although, according to the bill, the CIT rate is 20%, and the tax base should be divided by a factor of 0.8, the effective tax rate actually equals 25%. It is notably that CIT will be applied not only to the dividends in the traditional sense, but also to the "deemed dividends", which are considered a new concept in Latvian tax legislation, and comparable with the dividends to the costs. Here it is important to note that the last ones...

EU anti-tax evasion

Published: 08/07/2016 | news

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#Black list #EU

MEPs supported the introduction of a package of measures to combat tax evasion, which include tax havens, the black list of sanctions against "uncooperative jurisdictions", and income tax throughout the EU. Recommendations have been prepared by a special parliamentary committee of tax regulations were adopted 514 votes to 68 with 125 abstentions. The committee's report in favor of the following: - Total "Black list" of non-constructive EU jurisdictions, as the European Commission's proposal with the general definitions unconstructive jurisdictions, and also the provision of extension for a dialogue with jurisdictions for inclusion in the list; - Sanctions against uncooperative jurisdictions, including the ability to revise and suspend of a free trade agreement and deny access to EU funds; - Sanctions for companies, banks, office and law firms, tax advisors testing to include them in illegal, harmful or illegal actions with proximity jurisdictions; - Sanctions for management companies involved in tax avoidance or authority to revoke the license for the business if the experts involved in the illegal schemes of tax planning and evasion; ...

Changes in order payment of dividends by joint stock companies

Published: 03/06/2016 | news

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#Dividends #Ukraine

May 27, 2016 came into force The order payment of dividends by joint stock company, which is approved by the National Commission on securities and stock market from 12.04.2016 number 391. In particular, on the relevant general meeting of shareholders is defined by a specific method of payment of dividends concerning the entire issue of shares - through the depository system of Ukraine or directly to shareholders. Implementation of dividend payments by joint stock company is going through the payment of the entire amount in full or in part, certainly if it is provided by the general meeting of shareholders or the supervisory board of the company. At the same time, in the case of decision-making by the joint stock company to pay dividends to shares, the payment could made proportionally and simultaneously to all persons who are entitled to receive dividends. Regarding the payment of dividends directly to shareholders. Payment of dividends to shareholders who are entitled, namely the transfer of the amounts of funds to all shareholders shall be effected by the transfer of funds to the shareholders during the relevant time and date that does not exceed six...

Puerto Rico’s VAT plans was declined by lawmakers

Published: 31/05/2016 | news

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#Puerto-Rico

Puerto Rico will no longer accept the value added tax, after lawmakers in the Senate voted in favor of the overthrow of the attempts of the governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, to veto the previously adopted law on the abolition. Puerto Rico was to introduce value added tax at the point of sales and use tax from 1 of June The Senate of Puerto Rico, May 5, 2016, unanimously supported the earlier legislation with the support of the lower house of Parliament on 2 May to prevent value-added tax from being introduced.. The governor then vetoed the legislation. However, the legislation is only necessary to collect two-thirds support to override this veto. May 26, 2016, the Senate voted to abandon plans for VAT 21 votes to 1. Author: Sergey Panovmanaging partner Finance Business...

The agreement on the avoidance of double taxation changes, Ukraine – Cyprus

Published: 06/04/2016 | news

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#Cyprus #Double taxation #Ukraine

The Ukrainian government has announced a change to the existing agreements on avoidance of double taxation signed with Cyprus. The revised text will close a loophole that led to the fact that the income from immovable property situated in Ukraine avoid taxation in Ukraine. Income derived by a Cyprus resident from the sale of shares or other corporate rights will be subject to taxation in Ukraine if more than 50 percent of this revenue is directly or indirectly related to income immovable property situated on the territory of Ukraine. The minimum rate on dividends is increased from two percent to five percent. This low rate is used when the recipient owns 20 or more percent of the company distributing dividends and investment at least EUR 100,000 to obtain holding. The tax rate of ten percent is used otherwise. The revised section on dividends will come into effect not earlier than 1 January 2019. Other changes proposed to bring in agreement with the latest international tax standards developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The amendment has been sent to the Ukrainian legislators for approval. Author: Sergey...

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