Recent News

The mechanisms for providing the global standards of information exchange in tax matters for Jersey and the Isle of Man have been subject to a review by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, which includes 147 experts, have carried out “revision”. The assessment of jurisdictions for tax transparency included 2 phases. The first phase assumed an analysis of the legal framework of the states, and the second one - monitoring of how fully it is implemented in practice. According to the results of such control, a certain indicator of the level of compliance with the international standard is fixed over the jurisdiction: “compliant”, “mostly compliant” “partially compliant” or “non-compliant” respectively. Within the framework of the second assessment phase, Jersey and Man were given the highest rating, which indicated the recognition of their achievements by the OECD with respect to compliance with global standards of information exchange in tax matters. Now the islands are included in a group of less than 10 jurisdictions which are ahead of the most EU and G20...

The Order of the Ministry of Finance of 09.11.2017 No.926 “On approval of changes to the criteria for assessing the risk degree sufficient to suspend the registration of tax invoice/adjustment calculation in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices” entered into force. The innovations approved by the document assume: Automatic accounting of the information from the technological table (hereinafter referred to as “the Table”) by the Monitoring system and for the payers whose indicators D and P, calculated in the order given in subpar. 4 clause 5, have the following dimensions: D> 0.02, P˂Pm × 1,3, and the volume of goods/services deliveries in TI/AC, compiled from 01.01.2017 in the URTI listed in the Table, is more than 25% of the total volume of supplies for the relevant period; Making the decision of non-inclusion of information from the Table by the SFS Commission in case if the supervisory authority receives the information indicating that the taxpayer has provided untrue data in the Table or about the riskiness of the operation. If such information has been automatically taken into account by the Monitoring system, after making the decision of non-inclusion of the...

Recently, it has become known that on November 28, the European Parliament will hold hearings in Brussels regarding the publication of the materials of the Paradise Papers. These materials were made public by the deputy of European Parliament from the German party “The Greens” Sven Giegold on his Twitter page. The hearings will be held by the parliamentary committee for investigating money laundering and tax evasion. We remind that on November 5, 2017, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published the so-called “Paradise Papers”, relating the offshore companies of the richest people in the world. Initially, these documents were received by the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. About 100 media out of 67 countries were involved in the international investigation of the data. The sensational documents related to the Russian investments in Twitter and Facebook, tax evasion schemes of Apple, offshore of Queen Elizabeth II and many other stories of famous personalities who hide personal files or avoid taxes using complex systems of funds, trusts and “one-day...

According to a recent announcement of the Dutch Ministry of Finance, the fiscal unity regime of the state may be amended with retroactive effect to October 25, 2017, 11.00 hours. It has been caused by the recent release of the opinion of EU Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordana in C-398/16 and C-399/16 cases. In both cases, the question is to what extent the current Dutch fiscal unity regime does not comply with EU law (in particular, concerning the freedom of establishment) in the context of any difference in approaches between the companies belonging to fiscal unity, on the one hand, and the companies that are not related to it, on the other. As a result of the release of the opinion and in order to avoid a significant negative impact on the budget, the Dutch Ministry of Finance announced that the fiscal unity regime will be amended with retroactive effect to October 25, 2017, 11.00 hours, if according to the decision of the European Court, along with the opinion of the Advocate General, in C-398/16 or C-399/16 cases, the Dutch fiscal unity regime violates EU legislation. We note that at this stage the matter is not about the draft legislative proposal, but only a two-page...

On November 3, the National Bank of Ukraine together with Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv held a meeting of the representatives of banking community, experts in finance and scientists to discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of bringing the domestic legislation in line with the provisions of the European Union acts for the fulfillment of the requirements of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. The discussion took place within the framework of the international scientific and practical conference on the subject: “Theory and practice of adaptation of banking legislation of Ukraine to the EU requirements”, organized by the NBU and higher educational institution. The Head of NBU Office European Integration and International Programs Vladimir Kuchin opened the discussion, who told about the actions of the regulator on the creation of the mechanism for the implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. In particular, the central bank is working towards the introduction of four fundamental acts for banking sector: EU Directive 2013/36 and EU Regulation No.575/ 2013 (so-called CRD / CRR IV package),...

On November 3, 2017, the Order of the Ministry of Finance dated 27.09.2017 No.811 “On Approval of the Procedure for provision of general tax advice” came into force, published in the bulletin “Official Bulletin of Ukraine” No.86. The order consolidates the procedure for the provision of general tax advice by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. The approved Procedure, developed in accordance with subparagraph 19-2.1.5 of clause 19-2.1 of Article 19-2 of Section I and clause 52.6 of Article 52 of Chapter 3 of Section II of the TCU stipulates that such advice shall be provided: according to the results of the periodic generalization of individual tax advice provided by the tax authorities to the taxpayers; if there are circumstances that indicate the ambiguity of certain norms of tax and other legislation, which monitoring compliance is carried out by the supervisory authorities. General tax advice is not normative legal acts. General tax advice is approved by the order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and published on its official site within five calendar days from the date of their...

The European Commission has made an announcement about the start of public consultations on the issues related to taxation of digital economy. The purpose of such an event is to develop an optimal approach to this aspect of the EU tax policy. The consultations are organized in the form of a questionnaire, and it is indicated in the relevant materials that the Commission “studies possible solutions to certain taxation problems caused by digitalization”. First of all, the EC is focused on creating more equitable and efficient tax system, supporting state revenues and ensuring equal conditions for business. In addition, it has plans to develop the necessary measures to support the growth and competitiveness of the European Union by creating a single digital market. At the same time, the Commission emphasizes the possible need for a two-stage approach, in which, after adoption of a “target-oriented, temporary solution”, a “comprehensive, long-term package of measures” will follow. The respondents are offered a list of temporary and long-term measures with the need to indicate to what extent each of them will help to solve existing problems. The temporary solutions are...

The Parliament of Ukraine has registered the draft Law No.7240, which provides for the changes to Article 201 of the TCU relating to the registration of TI/AC in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices. The purpose of the bill is to ensure the compliance with the rights, interests and equal conditions of the taxpayers when applying the provisions of the Tax Code in case of ‘blocking” of the TI/AC and violation of the deadline for making decision and/or notification of the taxpayer by the supervisory bodies. So, according to the document, the tax authorities will be obliged to register the blocked TI/AC in the Register in case the decision about registration or refusal to register is not directed to the taxpayer within 5 working...

On October 30, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the Law "On ratification of Protocols No.15 and No.16 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" adopted by the Parliament on October 5. In accordance with Protocol No.15, the period for applying to the European Court of Human Rights is reduced from 6 to 4 months after the final decision of the national court. The document also provides for the abolition of the age limit for holding the position of a judge of the ECHR. The changes introduced by Protocol No.16 consist in providing the Supreme Court of Ukraine with an opportunity to apply to the ECHR for an advisory opinion on the matters of interpretation or application of the European Convention on Human Rights before making a decision on a particular...