Recent News

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act has been approved by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It will expand authorities' ability to freeze and confiscate crypto assets associated with money laundering and drug trafficking. The authors of the document expect that expanding the arsenal of tools available to law enforcement agencies will increase the efficiency of the mechanism and speed up the procedure for seizing digital currencies associated with criminal activities. One of these measures is the ability to carry out confiscation without an indictment when there is strong evidence that funds were used in illegal transactions. The document contains provisions that allow authorities to seize other tools, for example, those that help track “criminal” crypto assets. The bill remains to receive royal...

The Canary Islands could lose €18 million in tax revenue due to the abolition of inheritance and gift taxes. The benefit will apply to first- and second-line heirs (children, spouses, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces). The government is forced to take such measures in connection with the region's accession to the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands. Financial advisor Mathilde Azian explained this decision by the fact that citizens of the islands already have a rather impressive tax burden in the form of having to pay income tax, capital gains tax and land tax. Regional inheritance tax may also apply to non-residents who receive assets as an inheritance or gift in Spain. You can get a 99.9% discount only on the first €300 thousand. Anything above this threshold will be taxed at a progressive rate of up to...

Italy's second-largest bank UniCredit said it would reserve 1.1 billion euros as "retained earnings." Thus, the bank wants to avoid paying 400 million euros in one-time tax on excess income. The bank called this decision a “rational choice.” The Italian authorities considered that the country's banks were making too high profits against the backdrop of an increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank. And thus they unfairly make money off of citizens. In August, a windfall tax was introduced with a rate of 40%, and as an alternative, it was proposed to set aside an amount 2.5 times higher than the one-time tax into a reserve. Other credit organizations may follow UniCredit's...

The Guide describes the Emirati understanding of the Arm's Length Principle and the structure of TP documentation. In addition, 25 examples are given in which transfer pricing rules are applied. Examples include related party transactions, financial services (hedging, treasury functions, capturing insurance, cash pooling), intragroup services, intangible asset transactions, business restructurings, Cost Contribution Arrangements (CCAs), PE transactions, Cash/bank settlement. Hyde should become the main source of recommendations on shopping centers. If some aspects are not covered by Hyde, companies are recommended to refer to the OECD Transfer Pricing...

Malta has lowered the tax rate to 7.5% for representatives of creative professions. The benefit is available to individuals engaged in artistic activities on a self-employed basis. Actors, choreographers, musicians, sculptors, painters, and writers can reduce the fiscal burden in Malta. It is important to note that the 7.5% rate in Malta only applies to the first €30,000 of turnover. For example, if a professional earned €40,000 in a year from creative activities, he must pay tax at a reduced rate of 7.5% on only €30,000, i.e. €2,250. He must add the remaining €10,000 to his basic income , for example, salary or pension, and pay tax at a rate that depends on your total...

FinCEN may designate cryptocurrency mixers as “money laundering hubs” that threaten national security. This form of sanction will require services to provide special reporting on any financial transactions. FinCEN believes that “the percentage of convertible virtual currency transactions processed by mixers that originate from likely illicit sources is increasing.” US authorities are concerned about the use of digital currencies by cybercriminals and terrorists. American lawmakers have called for decisive action to limit illegal cryptocurrency activities. US Senate Banking Committee member Elizabeth Warren published an op-ed stating that DeFi companies “should be subject to the same anti-money laundering rules as banks.” The director of anti-money laundering at the Crypto Innovation Council, Yaya Fanusi, opposed the senators' appeal. According to him, the current regulation of cryptocurrencies in the United States is consistent with anti-money laundering rules, and companies carry out AML/KYC procedures and comply with sanctions against...

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill is before Parliament. It contains two significant changes to hold corporations accountable for economic crimes. The legislation significantly expands the circle of persons whose criminal actions will be reflected on the company. The new law will make companies liable for economic crimes committed by “senior managers,” defined as individuals who play a significant role in a company’s operations. It also introduces a new offense of failing to prevent fraud. A large organization that fails to prevent fraud by an associated person will be considered to have committed a crime under the new law. To provide effective protection, a company must demonstrate that it has sufficient procedures in place to prevent fraud. Thus, the law actually requires expansion of compliance in companies. The “non-prevention” model is already applied to bribery and tax evasion. While expanding the identification principle will make things easier for prosecutors, the UK law is still significantly narrower than the US model, in which virtually all employees' criminal acts committed in the course of their employment are attributed to the...

The Council of the European Union on Tuesday added the Seychelles and Caribbean countries of Belize and Antigua and Barbuda to a list of 16 countries and territories considered "non-cooperative" in tax matters. The council said all three jurisdictions either lacked tax information or had failed to meet commitments to governance reforms and transparency. The list also included Russia, Panama, five other Caribbean states and territories and six in the Pacific. The EU asks its members to take this list into account when making diplomatic and economic decisions. In addition, the Union undertakes to strengthen the monitoring of transactions or taxpayers linked to these countries and prohibits the channeling of some EU funds through them. The Belizean government criticized the move. Oxfam's EU tax expert Chiara Putaturo also criticized the list for not including the United States, the UK or EU states such as Luxembourg and Malta, adding that "countries considered too large to be included in the list are more cannot escape scrutiny." The council also removed the territory of the British Virgin Islands, Marshall Islands and Costa Rica from the...

The report is published on the Solictors website. Last year, we increased funding for anti-money laundering measures. 177 firms were inspected and 73 desk audits were carried out. Enforcement actions were brought against 47 firms and individuals. £137,402 in fines paid, one person suspended and one person subject to pre-employment monitoring. And 23 companies were checked for compliance with sanctions measures. The watchdog calls on all companies to ensure that appropriate resources are allocated to preventing money laundering and developing a culture in which everyone takes this important risk seriously....