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A Number of Agreements on Automatic Exchange of Tax Information Entered into Force in Switzerland

Published: 12.01.2018 | news

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#Switzerland #Tax planning #Tax reporting #Taxation

A number of agreements on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) on taxation issues, concluded by Switzerland with other jurisdictions, entered into force on January 1, 2018. Data exchange will be carried out in accordance with the Common Reporting Standard of the OECD, which provides for the possibility of automatic exchange of information between the territories that have agreed to such an exchange. Switzerland starts to exchange tax information this year with respect to data on accounts collected for some partners under previously signed agreements, namely Australia, Canada, the European Union, Guernsey and Jersey, the Isle of Man, Iceland, Japan, Norway and South Korea . More complete list of jurisdictions with which Switzerland plans to establish automatic exchange of information since 2019 was published on the website of the State Secretariat for International Finance. In order to fulfill its obligation to exchange information automatically with these territories, Swiss financial institutions will be demanded to comply with the new requirements on information collection from January 1, 2018 for the accounts of taxpayers from such countries as Andorra, Argentina, Barbados,...

Campaign “Declaration of incomes of citizens – 2018” Has Started

Published: 11.01.2018 |

Tags:

#Tax disputes #Tax reporting

As the main office of the SFS in Kyiv reports, from January 1, 2018, the campaign of declaring incomes of citizens, received during 2017, has started which will last until May 1, 2018. We would like to note that the citizens are obliged to submit an annual Declaration on Property and Income in case if they received in 2017: separate incomes, from which income tax on natural persons was not withheld in the calculation and payment during the year 2017; income from natural persons who do not have the status of tax agents (for example, income from the provision of real estate for rent to a natural person who is not a subject of business activity); foreign incomes; other incomes, which declaration is provided by the current legislation. Such citizens are obliged to deposit the amount of such income in the total annual taxable income and submit before May 1, 2018 the annual tax declaration on the property status and income based on the results of 2017, as well as to calculate and pay a tax on such income at a rate of 18% to the budget until August 1 2018 and military duty at a rate of 1.5%. We also remind that citizens willing to exercise their right to a tax discount based on the...

Moratorium on Inspections Will Be in Force until the End of 2018

Published: 10.01.2018 |

The changes in the Law of Ukraine “On the Temporal Features of the Implementation of Measures of State Supervision (Control) in the Sphere of Economic Activity” have been published. The innovations assume the extension of the moratorium on the conduct of planned measures by the state supervision (control) authorities on the implementation of state supervision (control) in the sphere of economic activity by the end of 2018. In addition, until December 31 of this year, unplanned measures of state supervision (control) are carried out by the state supervision (control) authorities on the following grounds: in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 3 Memorandum No. 1728 (as agreed by the central executive authority implementing the state regulatory policy, policy on supervision (control) in the sphere of economic activity, licensing and permissive system in the sphere of economic activities and deregulation of economic activities); upon a written request of a business entity to the relevant body of state supervision (control) on the implementation of an event of state supervision (control) at his request; in the event of an accident or death due to an accident in connection with the...

Estonian Undertakings Will Disclose Beneficial Owners

Published: 10.01.2018 |

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#Estonia

From 1 September 2018, all Estonian undertakings must disclose data on their beneficial owners in the commercial register. Therefore, name, date of birth, habitual residence and position occupied by the beneficial owner are subject to disclosure. The obligation to provide these data to the register lies with management board of the company. According to the law, a beneficial owner is defined as a natural person who, by using his influence, performs an operation or a transaction or who exercises control over a transaction, operation or another person in whose interests or on whose account a transaction or operation is performed. A beneficial owner is also a natural person who ultimately owns or controls more than 25% of the shares in the undertaking. In case if the company has failed to identify the beneficial owner and “all possible identification measures” have been exhausted, a member of the highest management board must be represented as the beneficial owner. In addition, there must be no doubt that such a person does not exist. Data on the beneficial owner must be submitted to the commercial register during company formation procedures. If they remain unchanged, the...

The National Bank Has Abolished a Number of Requirements for Banks Regarding the Conduct of Foreign Exchange Operations by the Сlients

Published: 29.12.2017 |

The National Bank of Ukraine has abolished some requirements for banks regarding the conduct of foreign exchange operations by the clients. As the press-service of the Regulator informs, now the banks are provided with effective tools that allow them to manage risks independently using a risk-based approach. In this connection, the strengthened control over the process of the transactions by the clients has lost its relevance by the National Bank. Mitigation of requirements also concerns the reduction of obligations of the banks with respect to the statistical information they provide. So, from January 1, 2018, the requirement for daily sending of the information file # 2C to the NBU, effective from September 2015, was canceled. Information on currency transactions of the clients will be provided by the banks to the National Bank by updated forms of statistical reporting according to the rules for the organization of statistical reporting approved by the NBU Resolution No.129 of March 1, 2016. In addition, the obligatory certification by a seal of the copies of documents provided by the clients to the bank for currency transactions is abolished. The above changes were approved by...

Concept of Cryptocurrency Has Been Introduced in the Legislation of the European Union

Published: 29.12.2017 |

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#Cryptocurrency #EU #Legislation

Over the past few years, the development of Bitcoin has been increased, which is actively discussed by the governments of different countries. In this regard, the European Union raised some concerns about funding of terrorism, money laundering and tax evasion, which might be related to cryptocurrencies. This is the reason why the European legislator has introduced the concept of cryptocurrency into the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, where Bitcoin is defined as a “monetary instrument”. As the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici notes, to date Bitcoin is not considered as an alternative currency along with dollar or euro due to volatility and much speculation. It is noteworthy that the differences between the definitions of Bitcoins in the EU Directive and in the US legislation are not significant. Details of the political discussions regarding the cryptocurrency in the European Parliament and the further legislative prospects for electronic money are still...

The Cabinet of Ministers Has Approved a List of States (Territories) Where the Operations with Residents are Recognized as Controlled for the Purposes of TP

Published: 28.12.2017 |

Tags:

#Seminar #Tax disputes #Tax reporting #Taxation

On December 27, 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a new list of states (territories) where the operations with residents are recognized as controlled for the purposes of transfer pricing. It was due to the recent changes in the selection criteria. The new list was formed according to the following criteria: state (territories) where the corporate income tax rate is 5 and more percentage points lower than in Ukraine (that is, below 13%); states with which Ukraine has not concluded international agreements containing provisions on the exchange of information; states which competent authorities do not provide timely and complete exchange of tax and financial information for the requests of the SFS. When considering the criterion of the rate of corporate income tax, not only basic but also preferential rates for individual industries, territories, and types of activities were taken into account. Operations with a counterparty registered in the state (in the territory) entered in the approved list are recognized as controlled ones for the purposes of transfer pricing from the 1st of January of the reporting year, following the calendar year in which the states...

The Isle of Man Toughens Measures against Crimes in the Financial Sphere

Published: 22.12.2017 |

Tags:

#Legislation #United Kingdom

Recently, the government of the Isle of Man has made public the draft law on Anti-Money Laundering and Other Financial Crime of 2017 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2017). The proposed legal act is based on the recommendations of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Measures to Combat Money-Laundering and Funding of Terrorism - MONEYVAL - and it assumes the improvement of mechanisms for compliance with international standards in this field. The draft law offers new measures aimed at regulating the activities of trustees operating for personal reasons and foreign trustees, including the requirements for record keeping. In addition, the document introduces additional requirements for accounting for the funds and changes clarifying the powers of the Registrar of Companies on examination of the documents filed with the Register and conduction of relevant investigations. The introductions proposed by the bill also concern raising the level of financial sanctions for the untimely provision of access to information to law enforcement agencies. The legislative act also specifies that a number of crimes (theft, forgery, etc.) identified in accordance with the...

Procedural Codes will Undergo Another Changes

Published: 21.12.2017 |

Tags:

#Tax disputes #Tax exemptions #Taxes

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has registered changes in the Code of Civil Procedure, the Code of Economic Procedure and the Code of Administrative Court Procedure provided for by three relevant draft laws. We remind that on December 15, the Law which had already been amended by these codes came into effect. However, as it was noted in the explanatory notes to the latest drafts, it was adopted in violation of the regulation. In addition, the Law contains a number of contradictory norms, on the correction of which the proposed changes are aimed. In general, it is proposed to rewrite the editions of the CCP, CEP and CACP, which have just come into effect. During the consideration of the procedural codes in the parliament, none of the amendments proposed by the deputies was adopted, although several thousand amendments were submitted at the stage of their preparation. Instead, before voting for the Law as a whole, only amendments were brought to a vote approved by the profile...

Sales Threshold without Cash Registers Has Been Raised to 250-500 thousand UAH per Year

Published: 20.12.2017 |

Tags:

#Tax disputes #Tax planning #Taxes

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has increased the threshold of the annual sales volume without using the RCT (registrar of clearing transactions) from 75-200 thousand UAH up to 250-500 thousand UAH per one structural subdivision of the subject, depending on its organizational form and activity. Such changes are provided for by the Resolution of the CMU, as reported by the information agency “Interfax-Ukraine”. As noted, it will enable business entities that have several separate objects of trade (provision of services) not to use the RCT in the event that none of them exceeds the threshold of clearing transactions. According to the explanatory note, which the IA possesses, the Resolution also provides that the enterprises which annual income exceeds UAH 1 million are required to use cash registers, regardless of the type of their activity. The document does not apply to economic entities that carry out retail trade of excisable goods, as well as technically complex household goods. The Resolution defines a list of activities that are exempted from compulsory use of the RCT, in particular the provision of public services on the territory of villages. According to the State...

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