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Estonian Undertakings Will Disclose Beneficial Owners

Published: 10.01.2018 | news

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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 |

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#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 |

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#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 |

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#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...

On December 15, Amendments to the Procedure for Issuing Individual Licenses of the NBU for Transfer of Foreign Currency Abroad Came into Effect

Published: 15.12.2017 |

Tags:

#Tax disputes #Tax exemptions #Taxation

According to the report of press service of the National Bank of Ukraine, today, on December 15, the amendments to the procedure for issuing individual licenses for the transfer of foreign currency abroad came into effect. The innovations provided by the Resolution of the Board of the NBU No.130 of December 14, 2017 “On Amendments to the Regulations on the Procedure for issuing individual licenses for the transfer of foreign currency outside Ukraine for the payment of bank metals for certain currency transactions”...

Automatic Blocking System of TI Will Be Temporarily Suspended

Published: 13.12.2017 |

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#Tax disputes #Tax exemptions #Taxation #Taxes

The changes provided by the amendments to the draft Law “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the Balance of Budget Revenues in 2018” has been made in the procedure of the blocking system of tax invoices. According to the announcement made on December 7, 2017, the following has been done: 1. Clause 74.2 of the TCU has been deleted, which stipulates that the URTI ensures constant automated monitoring of the compliance of TI/AC with the criteria for assessing the degree of risk sufficient to suspend the registration. This provision will come into force on the day following the day of the publication of the Law. It is also noted that, within two months from the date of entry into force of the Law, the Cabinet of Ministers must: determine the procedure for suspension of the registration of TI/AC in the URTI in accordance with clause 201.16 of the TCU; ensure the revision and bringing of the normative legal acts in compliance with this Law by the ministries and other central executive bodies. In addition, the Cabinet is obliged, within a period of three months from the date of entry into force of this Law: to adopt the normative legal acts which are necessary...

OECD Has Published Comments Regarding Taxation of Offshore Indirect Transfers

Published: 11.12.2017 |

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#Offshore accounts #Offshore schemes #Offshores #Офшори

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has published the comments that were received during the consultation on the draft of a new tool regarding the taxation of the so-called Offshore Indirect Transfers. We remind that the last ones constitute transactions for the sale of a legal entity located in one country and owning any immovable asset located in another country, by a non-resident of the country where the asset is located. The developed tool is part of the OECD program to assist developing countries in creating their own tax policies for Offshore Indirect Transfers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has justified its actions by the concern that such countries may have difficulties in administration of tax systems because of a lack of appropriate competencies and resources. Thus, the attempts to minimize the tax burden have become more frequent among the multinational corporations, and there is no single principle for considering these transactions. In addition, the issue is not regulated by the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), the action plan of the OECD on the counteract of the tax base erosion and profit shifting from...

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