News

The European Parliament Will Undertake “Paradise Papers”

Published: 15/02/2018 | news

Tags:

The European Parliament plans to create a new committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax planning. This decision was taken by the Chairmen of the factions of the European Parliament on February 8 and it is awaiting approval in the plenary vote. The main goal of the committee, which will last 12 months, will be the completion of work done by the members of the pre-existing TAXE 1, TAXE 2 and PANA committees, as well as focusing on the so-called “Paradise Papers” - recent information leaks. Thus, the co-chairman of the Greens / European Free Alliance (Greens / EFA) fraction, Philippe Lamberts, noted: “Paradise Papers demonstrated the existence of clear objectives and serious volume of work that we must do if we want to ensure fiscal justice throughout the European Union. We want to be sure that the national treasuries are able to collect funds which are necessary to maintain the common prosperity of the EU”. According to the official, the EU Parliament’s Panama Papers Committee has already developed a well-prepared plan of measures to reduce the cases of tax evasion. The new committee will ensure the maintenance of the progress achieved and the implementation of...

EU Mitigates the Rules of Taxation for Small Business

Published: 24/01/2018 | news

Tags:

#EU #Taxation #VAT

The European Union announced its intention to expand the powers of Member States with respect to changing the rates of VAT and mitigating the rules of taxation for small businesses. These changes are only part of a large-scale plan on revision of the European VAT system aimed at creating a single VAT zone. We remind that the general rules of VAT in the European Union were agreed in 1992. According to the European Commission, they became obsolete and, in addition, too limited. The EU Commissioner for Taxation, Pierre Moscovici, noted: “Today we are taking another step towards the creation of a single VAT zone in the European Union with simplified rules for our Member States and, in particular, companies. These proposals will give EU countries greater freedom with regard to application of preferential VAT rates to specific products or services. At the same time, they will enable to reduce the number of bureaucratic mechanisms for small enterprises engaged in cross-border activities, thereby contributing to their growth and job creation”. The Commission proposed to give EU Member States the opportunity to introduce certain benefits, along with a standard VAT rate of at least...

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

Published: 17/01/2018 | news

Tags:

#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...

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

Published: 29/12/2017 | news

Tags:

#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

Tags:

#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...

EU Council approves the following actions of international tax reform

Published: 09/12/2016 | news

Tags:

#EU #Reforms

On December 6 meeting, the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) approved a number of measures for improvement international observance of the tax legislation. Specifically, the ECOFIN provides access for tax authorities to information, held by authorities responsible for prevention of money laundering; reached a consensus on the Directive project that aimed at closing of “hybrid mismatches” with the taxation systems of three countries; also made the decision concerning the offer to recommence the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). The Directive on exchange of information on beneficial owners of the companies it is intended to support tax authorities controlling the correct application of tax rules, thereby helping to prevent tax avoidance and tax fraud. At the second stage after the intensive discussions, Council agreed to stabilize the document for the majority of provisions Directive's plan about hybrid mismatches, leaving only two questions to solve them on the next weeks: rules that would allow Member States to apply the limited benefits and date of realization. “This directive will prevent corporate taxpayers for exploiting...

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

Published: 07/12/2016 | news

Tags:

#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...

New Zealand seeks tax transparency from MNEs

Published: 24/11/2016 | news

Tags:

#New Zealand

The Commissioner of New Zealand tax management, Naomi Ferguson turned to local and multinational corporations belonging to a foreign owner to be more transparent in their international tax matters. Ferguson made the call Chartered Accountants of Australia during the launch of the 2016 edition of the Document of Compliance the center of transnational corporations and in Auckland on November 18 held a tax conference of New Zealand. The document of compliance describes in detail as the tax authority continues to increase amount of a research of large corporations, increasing number of the companies which will receive closer attention. The New Zealand large companies will be obliged to represent the Main Packet of Compliance which will include annual information on their structure of group, the financial reporting and tax coordination while the companies belonging to the foreign owner are obliged to finish the intended International Questionnaire. According to the internal income, nearly 600 New Zealand and foreign groups were under observation since 2012. From next year this number increased almost to 900 groups, including all the multinational companies belonging to foreign...

Ireland is the most efficient place in the EU, for the payment of taxes for businesses

Published: 23/11/2016 | news

Tags:

#EU #Ireland

Ireland remains the most efficient country in the EU, in which it is possible to pay taxes for businesses, according to the latest PwC / World Bank survey of tax. The report dealt with 189 economies around the world and take into account that all taxes was paid by companies. He analyzed the bureaucratic and administrative burdens imposed on businesses, when it comes to time spent on compliance, payment and registration of taxes, as well as the amount of tax imposed. Ireland took the 6th place in the world. PwC and the World Bank found that a typical Irish company spends about a quarter of the total volume of commercial profit in taxes. This figure was 12.4 percent of the income taxes, 12.1 percent of labor taxes and 1.4 percent in other taxes. In addition, the company spends a little more than two weeks, on their tax affairs and makes the payment almost every six weeks. PwC stressed that the statutory corporate tax rate in Ireland 12.5 percent, very close to the rate of "income tax" 12.4 percent. In the report explained that within the EU and the European free trade area, company will pay 40.6 percent of its commercial profit in taxes, including income taxes of 12.6 percent,...

Hungary plans the lowest corporate tax of the EU

Published: 21/11/2016 | news

Tags:

#EU #Hungary

Mihaly Varga, Hungary's Minister of National Economy, announced about decision of government to reduce the corporate tax rate lower than 10 percent next year. On November 18, behind the scenes of the Regional Digital Conference in Budapest, he made the announcement during which he unveiled the plan of the government to impose a single rate for nine percent of the corporate tax. Now, the headline shows, that the rate of Hungary of the corporate tax constitutes 19 percent, and there is lower level of the income tax of 10 percent on the first 500 million Hungarian forints (1.7 million US dollars) of the income. Dramatic movement would give Hungary one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world and one of the lowest in the European Union "onshore" jurisdictions. Varga said that this measure will save companies about 145 billion HUF (500 million US dollars) a year tax. The Government expects to compensate the shortfall through controlled growth to increase tax revenues. The government plans to introduce a new tax rate of 1 January 2017. Author: Olena Kutova senior lawyer of the Finance Business Service company ...

Recent News