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The Directive is awaiting approval by the EU Council. In this way, it will be possible to confiscate Russian assets due to violation of sanctions and the onset of criminal liability. The bill concerns all restrictions that Brussels will introduce. Bypassing sanctions will be considered a punishable act. The initiative guarantees criminal liability and even imprisonment, and companies may be subject to fines. The European Parliament believes that there is now a practice of searching for sanctions violators in EU countries “with the weakest law enforcement.” The new law aims to establish “consistent definitions of violations,” including not freezing funds, violating travel bans or arms embargoes, or transferring money to sanctioned individuals. It will also be a crime to provide financial services or legal advice in violation of...

All foreign banks operating in Dubai (except those holding a DIFC license) will be subject to a 20% tax. According to the innovation, foreign banks will be taxed at the rate of 20% of annual taxable income. If corporate tax is paid in accordance with the law, its amount will be deducted from the total tax liability. The law will be finally adopted after publication in the official...

Back in November 2022, a lawsuit was filed in the United States by the National Small Business Association. Thus, they made a request to block the requirement to register beneficiaries for small businesses. The law has already come into force since the beginning of this year and is designed to prevent criminal abuse by anonymous shell companies. The petitioners argue that the beneficiary disclosure rule violates the Constitution, is burdensome on small firms, violates privacy and free speech protections, and infringes on states' business management powers. A few days ago, the court ruled that the Corporate Transparency Act was unconstitutional and that Congress had exceeded its authority, making the resulting requirements...

The bill provides for changes in several areas of the tax system. Most of them concern the regularization of tax assets. For example, the document proposes that persons with tax or customs obligations be given the opportunity to apply for a regularization regime and the disclosure of undeclared assets. Taxpayers can apply from the effective date of the country's Federal Tax Administration regulations. In addition, these individuals will have access to a number of tax benefits. Even if individuals were not tax residents of Argentina on December 31, 2023, or if they were registered as taxpayers with the Federal Tax Administration, the asset regularization regime may apply to individuals, undivided assets and corporations. There are also tax changes that provide for changes in excise taxes and the abolition of the tax on the transfer of real estate for individuals. It is envisaged, among other things, to introduce certain export duties. The bill is currently under...

In 2022, 112,700 Moroccan citizens received EU citizenship, ranking first in terms of naturalization rates. Syrians took second place with 90,400 people. Third - Albanians - 50,300. Romanians ranked fourth in obtaining citizenship of another EU member state. By the way, it is Romania that in 2022 has the highest naturalization rate throughout the EU. The naturalization rate is the ratio of the number of persons who received citizenship of the country in which they lived during the year to the number of non-citizens living in the same country at the beginning of the year. In 2022, Romania's naturalization rate was 26.8 citizenships acquired per 100 non-citizen residents. Next in the ranking is Sweden with 10.6, the Netherlands with 4.4, Italy with 4.2. With the lowest coefficients are Latvia and Estonia (both 0.4), Austria and Bulgaria (0.7), Malta and the Czech Republic...

HitPay is a Singapore-based commerce and payment processing startup for small and medium enterprises. The startup recently received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license. The MPI license from MAS will enable HitPay to provide secure and compliant transactions for all merchants on its platform. HitPay aims to use the MPI license to develop new services, facilitating seamless payment processing for merchants and enabling SMEs to take advantage of cross-border opportunities. Since 2016, HitPay has been providing a full-featured, no-code commerce infrastructure built for small businesses. The company is popular among investors. It is backed by Tiger Global, Global Founders Capital, HOF Capital and Y...

This unexpected step is intended to reduce the lack of budgetary funds. Source:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-28/hong-kong-hikes-tax-rate-for-high-earners-to-16-to-pare-deficit?srnd=homepage-asia&embedded-checkout=true A two-tier tax system will be introduced from April: income up to $640,000 will be taxed at a maximum rate of 15%, and anything above that will be taxed at 16%. Currently the rate for all individuals is 15%. The move will affect about 12,000 people, or about 0.6% of taxpayers. The deficit for the year ending March 31 is forecast at HK$101.6 billion, almost double the estimate a year ago. The last time Hong Kong raised its general payroll tax rate was in 2003, when it was increased to 16%. The rate was lowered to 15% from 16% in 2008 after the city reported a record budget surplus. The city has no GST or capital gains...

The selection of the city for the new AML agency is the latest step in European reform aimed at reducing the amount of “potentially dirty” money in the financial system. The main task of the new body will be to exercise control over banks and identify the risks of money laundering. The idea to create such an agency appeared after a series of banking scandals, primarily related to the banks Danske Bank (Branch in Tallinn), Pilatus (Malta), ABLV (Latvia). One of the main arguments for choosing Frankfurt as the headquarters of the AML agency is the availability of infrastructure and other tools that will help the new body begin work as soon as...

At the end of January 2024, a two percent tax on every transfer made by foreigners was rejected. This decision was made due to possible negative consequences for the country’s economy and society, as well as its inconsistency with international and constitutional norms. Also, the Bahrain authorities have made some changes to local fiscal legislation. For example, all citizens of Bahrain with an income of less than $1,600 will be exempt from all taxes, a 10% VAT has been introduced on all goods and services (except for some essential products), civil servants can conduct business activities, and the founders and directors of companies are now responsible with their property for any damage caused to the company or its partners. The country's authorities are considering the possibility of introducing a corporate tax, like in the...