Recent News

In November, the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) announced a new tax regime for companies and individual entrepreneurs. The purpose of this innovation is to create favorable conditions for business development. The new tax is a one-off payment that consists of annual lump sum payments or flat rates for start-up companies based on annual turnover. Taxpayers whose annual turnover does not exceed EGP 10 million will be able to benefit from the benefits and procedures provided by the Law on the Development of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises. This will make tax administration easier for startups. The bill is now awaiting approval by the Cabinet of...

The accession of Cyprus to the Schengen area and the visa-free regime program are among the main priorities of the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the next year. In the summer, Cyprus joined the Schengen Information System (SIS II), which is one of the final and mandatory requirements for a candidate country. SIS II is the largest public security information system in Europe, allowing the exchange of information between national border control authorities, customs and police. Accession to Schengen requires verification according to five criteria, which relate to the protection of personal data, interaction of the Cypriot police with the police departments of the Schengen countries, accession to the Schengen Information System (SIS), border control of the external borders of Schengen, resolution of consular issues (issuance of Schengen...

Revolut will offer its European clients the ability to trade government and corporate bonds by early next year. The company is trying to make the multi-trillion dollar industry more accessible to retailers in the region. Source:https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/revolut-to-make-bond-trading-accessible-for-european-clients-20231120?mod=homepage The market is estimated to be over €120 trillion. The market was difficult for retail investors to access, especially outside their own home markets. Revolut plans to lower the minimum investment level for customers to €100. "We continue to make the investment space more accessible for everyone," said Rolandas Juteika, CEO of Revolut Securities Europe. The expansion into fixed income share trading comes just months after Revolut offered trading in select European shares, including fractional trading, extended trading hours for US shares and introduced a new Trading Pro subscription...

Commerzbank AG became the first bank to receive a license to store cryptocurrency in Germany. The purchase of a cryptocurrency license from Germany's financial markets regulator BaFin is notable given the regulatory caution in the industry. Commerzbank plans to use the license to create a secure depository platform for digital assets. The bank sees this achievement as a significant step, emphasizing its commitment to the integration of advanced technologies and innovations. In an official press release, representatives of Commerzbank AG emphasized that the license is the main element of customer support in the field of digital...

Last week, the European Union published a valuable document containing a list of senior public functions in EU member states and institutions. This publication is an important resource for identifying PEPs in the EU. It describes public positions in detail. This is key to PEP work, as understanding who the public person is helps in monitoring transactions and activities that may pose increased risks of money laundering, sanctions evasion and other financial crimes. Key aspects: detailed lists of public positions in EU member states, information on public positions in EU institutions, explanations of what constitutes a “Public Person” in various...

CARF will become the cryptocurrency reporting standard in Singapore. This was announced by the Singapore Revenue Authority on November 15, 2023. The CARF standard is expected to come into effect in 2027, giving all stakeholders time to prepare. Singapore not only agreed to the provisions of CARF, but also actively participated in the development of the system. The CARF system is one of the most successful attempts to formalize the rules for reporting and accounting for crypto...

In October, the Italian Parliament passed Law No. 136. The provisions of the law affect the rules for applying the tax on windfall income. The document came into force on October 10. According to Article 26(1) of the Law, taxable persons are Italian banks and Italian branches of foreign banking institutions licensed to carry out banking activities in the Republic, as defined in Article 1 of the Consolidated Banking and Credit Law. Other financial intermediaries (such as asset management companies or brokerage firms) will not be liable for taxes on excess profits. Windfall tax will not be deducted from Italian direct taxes, including corporate income tax (IRES) and regional corporate tax (IRAP). The upper limit is 0.26% of total assets. As an alternative to paying the windfall tax, banks may choose to defer an amount equal to or greater than 2.5 times the windfall tax to the retained earnings reserve instead of paying the tax in...

Starting in 2027, 48 countries have agreed to introduce a new tax transparency standard to eliminate tax evasion associated with cryptocurrency. The agreement integrates the OECD's CARF crypto asset reporting system into the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), an information standard for the automatic exchange of financial account data between tax authorities. Countries intend to transpose CARF into domestic legislation and activate sharing agreements in time for data sharing to begin, in accordance with national legislative procedures. The list of jurisdictions committed to implementing CARF in accordance with the joint statement includes: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada , Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, USA, Finland, France, Croatia, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Chile, Japan, South Africa, South Korea , Estonia; Crown dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man; and the overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Cayman...

Carousel fraud is illegal VAT transactions. Related companies use intra-EU cross-border trade to illegally make VAT refund claims to the government. Now the Luxembourg government has decided to submit a bill to parliament amending the law of February 12, 1979. The purpose of the bill is to expand the range of transactions covered by the reverse charge mechanism. Therefore, from 1 January 2024, taxable persons purchasing the following goods will be subject to VAT in Luxembourg. The list includes supplies of mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops, game consoles, integrated circuits, raw metals or semi-finished products defined in Appendix F by their nomenclature code. Tax is payable by the taxpayer making supplies of the goods mentioned above if the remuneration within the meaning of Article 29 of the VAT Code corresponding to those supplies, invoiced in accordance with Article 63, does not exceed €10,000 excluding...