Recent News

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...

N26 is Europe's leading digital bank with a German banking license. N26 mobile banking based on the latest technologies. It makes money management easier, safer and more convenient for customers. Recently, N26 announced the end of the testing phase in Brazil, as well as the closure of the market. N26's strategy is aimed at focusing on key European markets and further strengthening its position as Europe's leading digital bank. Early versions of the Brazilian product N26 have been tested among select customers in Brazil via a waiting list since November 2021, but have not been released to the general public. N26 must close all accounts in Brazil within the next two months. Employees based in Brazil will be given the opportunity to apply for open positions in N26's European offices to accelerate the development of N26's European business in the...

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...

European payment infrastructure company Mangopay has received an e-money license from the UK Financial Conduct Authority. With the new licence, Mangopay can issue electronic money, facilitate digital payments and provide payment solutions to new and existing UK customers. Payment system already has a very strong presence in Europe. The FCA license is critical to growth in the UK as the company expands its business. In March of this year, the company acquired Irish Paytech WhenThen to accelerate its expansion in Europe. And in April 2022, Mangopay acquired Advent...

Alert is intended for financial institutions that need to monitor export control risks. Among the risks, in particular, the following stand out: Purchases under a letter of credit that are transferred to the issuing bank rather than to the actual end user. Transactions involving entities with little or no online presence, including websites and emails. Customer does not provide or refuses to provide detailed information to banks, shippers or third parties, including information about end users, intended end use or company ownership. Transactions involving customers with telephone numbers whose codes do not correspond to the destination country. The Alert also reminds that all financial institutions that are required to file a SAR may also file a SAR regardless of the amount (if any) and regardless of whether the transaction has been completed or...

​Klarna is gearing up for an IPO ahead of its long-awaited initial public offering. The company started the process of restructuring the legal entity to create a holding company. This, she said, is "an important first step on the way to a possible IPO." The listing may take place in the first half of next year. However, Klarna may abandon the listing in London and turn to New York. The company's IPO could be worth between $15 billion and $30 billion, more than double the valuation it received in its last funding round in 2022, but well below the company's $46 billion valuation in 2021. The downgrade comes amid tough times for trailblazer BNPL, which has cut a tenth of its workforce and lost value amid a revaluation in the technology market. Since then, the company has shown signs of recovery, reporting net income for the third quarter this week. Particularly strong growth was observed in the USA, where the gross value of goods increased by 46% compared to the previous year. In addition, giant BNPL entered into a collective agreement with its Swedish workers to avoid a strike. The unions Unionen and Swedish Engineering have warned that their...

Solomon Islands offers a number of benefits to its citizens. Now it is possible for foreign investors to obtain a jurisdiction passport in a simplified manner. It is worth clarifying that we are not talking about a full-fledged program for obtaining citizenship by investment. In October 2023, parliamentarians approved changes and additions to the law “On Citizenship”. The new rules make it easier to obtain local citizenship for foreigners who maintain close ties with the host country and provide it with financial support through incentives for the employment of citizens and residents, the purchase of real estate or business investment. In addition to investment, applicants will have to maintain close ties with the host country for at least 5/10...

At its meeting in October, the European Central Bank (ECB) left interest rates unchanged. Last month it decided to raise the deposit rate to a record 4%. The most intense cycle of interest rate hikes since 1999 was paused at this level amid growing fears of a recession in the eurozone economy. The rate on main refinancing operations, which provides the bulk of the liquidity of the banking system, remained at 4.5%, and the marginal rate on loans providing overnight credit to banks remained at 4.75%. In its statement, the ECB confirmed that keeping borrowing costs at this level for quite some time would make a “significant contribution” to returning inflation to its 2%...