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The European Parliament Will Undertake “Paradise Papers”

Published: 15/02/2018 | news

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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...

Verkhovna Rada Adopted the Law “On Limited Liability Companies and Additional Liability Companies”

Published: 14/02/2018 | news

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#Corporate law #Legislation #Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada supported on second reading and in general the law “On Limited Liability Companies and Additional Liability Companies” (No. 4666) with technical and legal amendments. According to the Interfax-Ukraine Agency, 285 people’s deputies voted for the document. As the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Policy Andrey Ivanchuk (the fraction “People’s Front”) has noted, presenting the law in the parliament, now this issue is regulated by the legislation adopted back in 1991. At the same time, according to the words of the official, limited liability company is the most popular type of Ukrainian companies, and today there are more than half a million of them. Andrey Ivanchuk also added that regarding the law No. 4666, they received 503 amendments on second reading, 360 of which were taken into account. The law provides that the value of the LLC’s share is established as of the day before the meeting of the LLC members, at which the decision to exclude the member from the LLC was made. The transitional provisions of the document also contain the provisions for the compulsory acquisition of a share by a...

MFU Has Developed a Draft Resolution for the Operation of VAT Risk System

Published: 13/02/2018 | news

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#Taxation #Taxes #VAT

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has developed a draft Resolution on the further operation of the VAT risk system. This mechanism is a necessary measure aimed at the prevention of VAT embezzlement schemes and uninterrupted process of automatic VAT refund. We remind that in December last year, the work of the VAT risk system was suspended in order to develop a coordinated effective solution which would not entail new risks. So, the MFU together with the SFS have developed and agreed upon a decision that was made public on the official website of the Ministry on February 9, for public discussion. Now the draft Resolution is under consideration of people’s deputies of the Tax and Customs Policy Committee. It includes the following changes: In order to reduce the cases of suspension of the registration of tax invoices, a “cutoff criterion” of 3% and a threshold of the volume of supply for the month of 500 thousand UAH are established. Earlier, the coordination of evaluation criteria continued for some time, that allowed some payers to use a fictitious loan. It is proposed the SFS to establish criteria for risk assessment for a prompt response. In order to ensure the...

Hong Kong Legislation on Significant Controllers Register Will Enter into Force in March 2018

Published: 05/02/2018 | news

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#Hong Kong #Legislation

On January 24, 2018, the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017 was passed, which mandates incorporated companies of Hong Kong to keep a Significant Controllers Register (SCR). The new legislation will enter into force on March 1, 2018. The Hong Kong Companies Registry has set up a special section on SCR on its website containing, amongst others, a detailed Guideline on the Keeping of SCR and specific forms for the companies to use. The main requirements for the new SCR regime are listed below. Who are required to keep a SCR? All companies “formed and registered” in accordance with the the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance, including dormant companies, financial institutions, charitable organizations, companies limited by guarantee and any other types of companies incorporated in Hong Kong, except for the listed companies, and foreign companies registered under Part 16 of the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance, must keep a SCR. What should be contained in the SCR? The SCR must contain information on the significant controllers of the applicable company, namely registrable persons (i.e., a natural person or a specified entity such as a government and international organisation) and/or...

Since January 1, 2018, Amount of Official Payments Has Been Increased in the BVI

Published: 25/01/2018 | news

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#Legislation #Offshores

In connection with the entry into force of amendments to the Law on Commercial Companies of 2004 (as amended in 2005), since January 1, 2018, the official fees have been increased in the BVI, levied from business companies in the Register of Corporate Affairs. These changes were adopted and published by the Government of the British Virgin Islands at the end of 2016. Initially, it was assumed that the amount of official payments will be increased from July 1, 2017, but in March of last year, the entry into force of the changes was postponed until January 1, 2018. The increase in the amount of following payments is among the most notable changes: Accordingly, the fines for late payment of annual fees have also been increased, since they are set as a percentage of the annual fee. The amount of payment for the restoration of the company in the Register has also been significantly increased. Some new duties have been introduced, including: for the primary registration of a copy of the register of company participants; for registration of changes in the register of participants; for registration of an application for consent to use a limited in the use word or a...

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...

CMU Has Approved the Concept and Action Plan for Development of Digital Economy in Ukraine until 2020

Published: 18/01/2018 | news

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#Legislation #Reforms #Ukraine

Yesterday, on January 17, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved an order “On the approval of the development concept of the digital economy and society of Ukraine for 2018-2020 and approval of a plan of action for its implementation”. This is reported by the IA “RBC-Ukraine”. The project is mainly aimed at implementing the initiatives of the “Digital Agenda of Ukraine-2020” in order to remove the barriers for the digital transformation of Ukraine in the most promising fields by stimulating the economy and attracting investments, as well as overcoming the digital inequality, deepening cooperation with the EU in the digital sphere and developing innovative infrastructure of the country and digital transformations. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman wrote about it on his Facebook page: “The adopted Action Plan is very ambitious and innovative - it provides for the development of Industry 4.0, smart factory, digital jobs, STEM-education and digital educational services, digital infrastructures for the Internet things, blockchain, eHealth and e-security, etc. Ukraine is obliged today to launch a large-scale digitization of all branches of the economy...

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...

The Isle of Man Toughens Measures against Crimes in the Financial Sphere

Published: 22/12/2017 | news

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#Legislation #United Kingdom

Recently, the government of the Isle of Man has made public the draft law on Anti-Money Laundering and Other Financial Crime of 2017 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2017). The proposed legal act is based on the recommendations of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Measures to Combat Money-Laundering and Funding of Terrorism - MONEYVAL - and it assumes the improvement of mechanisms for compliance with international standards in this field. The draft law offers new measures aimed at regulating the activities of trustees operating for personal reasons and foreign trustees, including the requirements for record keeping. In addition, the document introduces additional requirements for accounting for the funds and changes clarifying the powers of the Registrar of Companies on examination of the documents filed with the Register and conduction of relevant investigations. The introductions proposed by the bill also concern raising the level of financial sanctions for the untimely provision of access to information to law enforcement agencies. The legislative act also specifies that a number of crimes (theft, forgery, etc.) identified in accordance with the...

Procedural Codes will Undergo Another Changes

Published: 21/12/2017 | news

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#Tax disputes #Tax exemptions #Taxes #Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has registered changes in the Code of Civil Procedure, the Code of Economic Procedure and the Code of Administrative Court Procedure provided for by three relevant draft laws. We remind that on December 15, the Law which had already been amended by these codes came into effect. However, as it was noted in the explanatory notes to the latest drafts, it was adopted in violation of the regulation. In addition, the Law contains a number of contradictory norms, on the correction of which the proposed changes are aimed. In general, it is proposed to rewrite the editions of the CCP, CEP and CACP, which have just come into effect. During the consideration of the procedural codes in the parliament, none of the amendments proposed by the deputies was adopted, although several thousand amendments were submitted at the stage of their preparation. Instead, before voting for the Law as a whole, only amendments were brought to a vote approved by the profile...

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