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The Council of Europe approved the Directive on access to information about beneficial owners

Published: 19.12.2016 |

On December 6 at a meeting of the EU Council on financial and economic questions the Directive of the EU Council concerning access of tax authorities to information on counteraction to money-laundering was approved. This document obliges EU Member States to provide access to information on beneficial owners of the companies, which dispose the authorities responsible for counteraction to money-laundering. It will allow tax authorities to perform monitoring of application of the rules of automatic exchange information established by the Directive 2014/107/EU, and finally will contribute to the prevention of tax evasion and tax fraud. The new Directive is one of a number of measures developed by the Commission in July 2016 in response to the Panama scandal. Its adoption by the need to ensure wider access to the tax authorities information about the beneficial owners of the intermediary organizations, and also other information of complex legal evaluation of clients. Let's remind that according to the Directive 2015/849/EU in the event that the owner of the financial account is an intermediary structure, financial institutions should conduct an audit and to identify its beneficial...

The new Law about International business companies on the Seychelles came into force

Published: 28.11.2016 |

Tags:

#Legislation #Seychelles

Within the Global forum FATF and OECD on transparency and exchange of information in the tax sphere, on July 26, 2016 in Seychelles the new law about International business companies was adopted (further in the text – "The new law"). The new law offers tough, but at the same time the attractive regulatory base promoting development of competitiveness and continuation of a strong growth of popularity of the Seychelles as the international center of financial services. Fixing of regulatory aspects of the law, for the purpose of compliance to international standards, reflects interest and observance of Seychelles Republic advanced international experience, in particular, concerning an international initiative on improvement of information openness that will affect reputation of the Seychelles in the opinion of the international community positively. From the moment of adoption of law about International Business Companies, 1994 (further – "The law of 1994"), international business companies have become very successful in the Seychelles in the sector of non-bank financial services. Despite success of the 1994 Law the Republic of Seychelles has noted the need to improve the...

Since January 1, 2017 Ukraine will join to the Plan of BEPS

Published: 25.11.2016 | Без категории

Such news was told by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine after transfer on November 22 by the Minister of Finance of the official letter on accession to the General secretary of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) which is the author of this Plan. The plan of BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) was developed for fight, which connected with tax evasion and creating of equal conditions for all taxpayers companies. In general the plan of BEPS provides large-scale reorganization of the existing system of the cross-border taxation. It contains 15 points of counteraction to aggressive tax planning among which there are enhancements of rules of transfer pricing, the income taxation of the controlled foreign companies, prevention of avoiding taxation by international treaties, exchange of financial information, etc. With acquisition of official membership in BEPS Ukraine will undertake the liability to implement the minimum standard of the Plan including four points: fight against the tax speculation connected with use of special tax regimes; avoidance of abuses in case of application of tax conventions; disclosure of information on using schemes of...

Compensation to individuals for damage caused by the abuse of the financial services industry

Published: 23.11.2016 |

Tags:

#Legislation

Began operating a law on compensation to individuals for damage caused abuse in financial servicesOn November 18 it was officially published, and on November 19 the Law of Ukraine came into force "About introduction of amendments to some laws of Ukraine concerning compensation to physical persons, through system of guaranteeing household deposits, the harm done by abuses in the sphere of banking and other financial services", in consequence of that in some way were changed the "rules of the game" in the field of guaranteeing deposits of individuals. The main innovation is equating with a contribution of loans and household deposits in the non-bank financial institutions performed through bank which acted as the attorney under the relevant agreement and and on the date of entry into force of the Law it is recognized as insolvent. An obligatory condition for the acceptance of such funds contribution and the physical persons which performed their placement / provision – investors, is lack of the written prevention of the bank signed by the investor that the guarantees provided by the law on system of guaranteeing household deposits don't extend to these means. In practice, this...

Income tax and VAT on receiving the bonus in monetary form from non-resident supplier

Published: 18.11.2016 |

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#Taxation #VAT

In the letter of 28.10.2016 State Fiscal Service of Ukraine has provided clarification regarding taxation of receiving bonus in monetary form from the supplier on the basis of non-resident credit note (the settlement document which contains the message which goes the supplier to the buyer about record on credit of the account of the last certain amount in connection with approach of a circumstance which created a right of claim of such amount for buyer). This explanation is proved by numerous requests from representatives of both small, and large business in a consequence of lack clearly defined by the legislation rules governing this sector of relationships. Concerning the taxation on profit it should be noted the following. So, according to provisions of the Tax Code of Ukraine (further – the Code) the object of taxation on income tax is a profit with an origin source from Ukraine and abroad, which is determined by adjusting (increase or decrease) a financial result to the taxation (profit or loss), determined in the financial reporting of the entity in according to national provisions (standards) of financial accounting or international accounting standards, on the...

The tax residency

Published: 04.11.2016 |

Tags:

#Tax reporting #Ukraine

Against the background of the active introduction of more and more countries, the automatic exchange of financial accounting information provided by the multilateral agreement of the competent authorities ("The Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information", abbr. "MCAA") becomes apparent inevitability of joining in the near future Ukraine's this agreement. Recall that the MCAA involves automatic annual exchange of information on the accounts of non-residents between the competent (tax) authorities of countries that have signed the agreement. This fundamental question is the definition of tax residence of the account holder, as the information about it will be sent to the competent tax authorities of the country, the tax which he is a resident. Tax residency financial institution is determined primarily through independent determination of the account holder, on the basis of the information specified in the documentation to open an account. If the account holder declares the absence of residence for tax purposes, the financial institution determines its residency at the main office location. It is important to understand that...

Amendments to the intellectual property regime in the Republic of Cyprus

Published: 26.10.2016 | blog

October 14, 2016 in order to bring legislation into line with the BEPS requirements (plan to counter the erosion of the tax base and output gains from taxation), the Government of the Republic of Cyprus passed a law that introduces a number of amendments to existing intellectual property regime (hereinafter - the EC). These amendments to the IP regime came into force on 07.01.2016 year. It should be noted that until now existed in Cyprus IP regime has not been approved by the majority of EU member states, as well as been widely criticized. So, focus on the main points of the IP regime change which, in our view, require attention. First, once it is worth to note that the tax rate for the use of intellectual property (hereinafter - IS) unchanged at 2.5%. To determine the qualifying EC introduced a modified factor relation criterion (modified nexus approach). According to this criterion, the definition of qualifying IP narrowed. This factor suggests a link between the cost of the development of IP, most IP and income produced by the IP data objects. In this approach, the taxpayer must itself carry out research and development work (hereinafter - R & D). In addition, a special formula...

Regulation of Forex broker activities in the EU

Published: 25.10.2016 | Без категории

Tags:

#EU #Licensing

Obtaining permission to conduct Forex activity on the territory of EU Member States is governed by Directive 2014/65 / EC, which is also called MiFID2, since it is the new version of the Directive "On the Financial Instruments Market" 2004/39 / EC (MiFID), and is a legal basis of a single regulated market of financial instruments in the EU. This means that the rules laid down in this Directive are mandatory for the twenty-eight member countries of the EU and the three countries of the European Economic Area. First MiFID2 establishes the basic requirements for the operation of investment companies (investment companies under the Directive refers to and including financial brokers, so we will hereafter call them so) and the conditions for obtaining a permit for their activities in the EU. It is assumed that each Member State should adopt national legislation in accordance MiFID2 requirements, the provisions of which may not be more stringent than the provisions of the basic directive. However, MiFID2 also regulates the procedure of interaction of controlling the market in every European country, both among themselves and with the European specialized authorities (ESMA - the European...

Planned new amendments to the IRC

Published: 03.10.2016 |

Tags:

#Taxation

What to expect from the bill on amendments to the IRC of Ukraine Ministry of Finance 23/09/2016 on the official website has once again published a preliminary version of the draft law envisaging amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of Ukraine (hereinafter - IRC), with the aim of public discussion. These changes in the Ministry of Finance published the IRC is not the first time, subject to adjustment several times and will likely still remain unchanged, but the latest version of their merit. Changes in the IRC have been developed within the framework of the reform of the tax system as a whole, as well as the reform of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, which take place on the basis of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 418-r dated 27.05.2016 year. The main goal of changes in the IRC is to improve the investment climate in Ukraine by simplifying the tax system and tax administration. In addition, it is expected that these changes will affect economic growth, attract new investment and create new jobs. Next, we see more focus on specific parts of the Tax Code of Ukraine, in which it is planned to make changes, namely: Such changes are expected in the part of the...

Future changes in the Convention between Ukraine and Cyprus on avoidance of double taxation

Published: 29.09.2016 |

Tags:

#Double taxation

The Ukrainian parliament is currently being finalized for submission to the discussion of the draft law on ratification of the Protocol amending the Convention between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion on income tax. This Protocol provides for changes in the taxation of dividends, interest on loans, as well as the alienation of the property income. With regard to dividends, the top rate will be reduced from 15 to 10%. But lower tax rate - 5% survive only if ownership of at least 20% of the capital of a legal entity. But how exactly a person - remains a mystery, as in the original text of the Protocol stated "Partnership About", ie the "Partnership", while the bill "Partnership About" translated as "Society". As such, this provision leaves room for corruption because it allows you to abuse the tax authority in determining the rate that must be applied by the payer. The rate of taxation of interest on loans increased from 2% to 5%. Changes are also proposed concerning the taxation of income from the alienation of shares and corporate rights. Unfortunately, due to the incorrect...

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