Recent News

The European Commission has developed a new system of legislative verification of foreign direct investments. The President Jean-Claude Juncker announced it in his speech in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on September 13, 2017. Such an initiative was caused by the growing concern of some EU countries (primarily France, Germany and Italy) with regard to the investments from non-EU countries. To date, these investments are often targeted at strategically important sectors of the economy (for example, energy, telecommunications and technology). In his speech, the President confirmed that the EU will remain open to the foreign direct investment (FDI), but an "energetic and effective policy" should be developed pursuing two objectives: "to ensure an equal playing field with the rest of the world and protect the most important European assets from the investments that damage the legitimate interests of the EU or its individual members". The verification system proposed by the European Commission is aimed at improving cooperation and coordination between the Member States that check transactions affecting the security or public order. The President set out the developed...

On September 5 and 6, 2017, the discussion regarding the situation that arose as a result of the launch of the system of the automated registration of tax invoice was held in the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on Tax and Customs Policy. The Head of the Committee, Nina Yuzhanina, shared the decision made as its result. According to her words, if to this Friday, that is until September 8, the blocking system does not work properly, then the bill regarding the continuation of the test mode will be urgently drafted by the end of the year. The document must be registered on September 11 and, what is important, the unlocking and registration in the URTI of all so-called "problematic" tax invoices and adjustment calculations will be provided with it. It will be possible to return to the issue of suspension of registration of the TI until the new year. As Nina Yuzhanina noted, "this is the only quick issuance outta...

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has developed a draft law "On Amendments to article 201 of the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the registration of the tax invoices / adjustment calculations in the Unified Register of the tax invoices". The proposed amendments, designed to simplify the procedure for the registration of TI, will be considered soon by the Cabinet. We remind that this summer the Ukrainian business was stirred up by the innovation in the tax legislation concerning the launch of the system of automatic registration suspension of the risk invoices (clause 201.16 of article 201 of section V of the Tax Code of Ukraine). Starting from July 1, daily registration of approximately 0,4% of the tax invoices is suspended, including not only fictitious ones, but also those ones that are submitted by the enterprises of the real sector of the economy. According to the law, the SFS Commission must send a decision to the taxpayer to register or refuse to register the TI within 5 working days after receiving its explanations and documents. However, the current legislation does not provide any consequences in the event if this term is not observed. The concept of the bill developed by...

The National Bank of Ukraine continues the policy of monetary liberalization, weakening already irrelevant anti-crisis restrictions. The next softening, fixed by the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of August 22, 2017 No. 81, came into force on August 24. This time, the changes have affected both the operations of the Ukrainian population and business, and the activities of banking institutions at the interbank level. Firstly, due to a significant increase in the stability of the foreign exchange market and liquidity of the banking system, the limit on the issuance of funds from bank accounts of individuals through cash desks and ATMs was canceled. We remind that since September 2016, there was a restriction, according to which the depositor was able to receive no more than 250 thousand UAH in the equivalent per day (it means cash in foreign currency and banking metals). It is assumed that this softening will positively affect the state of the foreign exchange market, promoting the increase of the level of customer confidence in banks. The following innovation concerns the liberalization of the approach to savings (deposit) bearer certificates and implies, first, the...

On September 7, 2017, a regulatory framework was developed for the new Dutch Corporate Governance Code, which will enter into force on January 1, 2018. The companies registered in the Netherlands will have to report the compliance with the new corporate legislation in their annual management reports. The adopted Code is based on the principle of "to observe or explain". The most notable features of it are: focus on the creation of long-term values; provisions for enhanced risk management; new rules for effective management and supervision; introduction of culture and behavior within the framework of corporate governance; simplified wage rules; new rules of relations with shareholders; clarification of the requirements for the quality of explanation. Based on the new legislation, the new corporate governance tools were developed, including the rules regulating the activities of the supervisory boards and their committees, as well as a corporate governance checklist that allows companies to assess their compliance with the current...

In order to increase the flow of debt capital to Ukraine, the National Bank has improved the regime for obtaining financing by the Ukrainian enterprises from the IFO. This is reported in a press release on the website of the bank. The adopted changes have been approved by the Resolution of the NBU Board of 07.09.2017 No. 88 "On Amending certain normative legal acts of the National Bank of Ukraine" and include two main aspects: Exemption of loan agreements in the foreign currency with the IFO from the registration in the NBU. Providing residents with the opportunity to attract loans from the IFO under the contracts that contain special conditions - when the loan currency is determined in UAH, and all transactions between the IFO and a resident borrower are conducted in foreign currency. The operations under the loan agreement will be conducted by an authorized bank in accordance with the terms of the agreement itself, and the cross-border transactions (including at the expense of the purchased foreign currency) can be carried out without registration of the National Bank. The Resolution on the Amendments entered into force on September 13, 2017. It is assumed that simplifying the...

On September 15, Elena Tkachuk, Marketing Director of the Finance Business Service, will speak at the Autumn Forum of the Ukrainian Bar Association "The Formula for Success: Standards of Advocacy". The venue for the event will be “IQ Business Center”, located at: Kyiv, Bolsunovska street, 13-15. The forum will be focused on current standards and trends in the market of legal services and advocacy in particular, partnership and finance in the law practice, the protection of lawyers' rights and the rules of legal ethics. The important marketing aspects of advocacy and effective ways to attract the clients will be also considered. CMO FBS Elena Tkachuk presents a report on the topic "Social networks and chatbots as effective marketing tools." We would like to note that the speaker is the founder of the international educational project “Instaschool”, the first online insta-school in Ukraine. The high efficiency of business promotion in this social network has long become a proven fact a long time ago, and the main advantage of training in “Instaschool” is a comprehensive approach from "A" to "Z". As for the other speakers, among them will be the representatives of the...

The Swiss Federal Council is concerned that the corporate tax system of the country no longer meets international standards, which is bad for its status. In connection with this, another attempt was made to improve the system, therefore a new package of reforms TP17 was designed to make the jurisdiction more attractive and competitive without damaging the state budget. We remind that in February of this year the government lost a referendum on the Corporate Tax Reform III package, which concept was in the cancellation of a number of tax benefits for the status companies in order to achieve compliance with changeful international requirements regarding unfair tax competition. After an unsuccessful attempt to revise the current system, a working group was convened to develop a new mechanism. The TP17 package was submitted to the Federal Council and approved by it in June. The reformation of the system includes the following activities: Special preferences for the companies regarding their cantonal status, under which they pay a reduced income tax or are exempt from taxation at all, will be canceled. The cantons will have to enter the "patent box" regime, according to which the...

In the night of Tuesday, September 12, the vote took place at the meeting of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, regarding the Bill of coming out of the European Union (European Union (Withdrawal) Bill), also so called the "Repeal Bill". The bill is based on the establishment of the primacy of national legislation in Britain over the European in the framework of Brexit, as well as coming out of London from the jurisdiction of the European Court. In addition, the document supposes the cancellation of the Act of the European Communities of 1972, containing the legislative base of about 12,000 provisions, which was developed before the entry of the UK into the EU. The purpose of Repeal Bill is to provide a fully functioning legal system in the country after its coming out of the European Union. The discussion of the document lasted about 13 hours. Based on the counting of votes (326 - for and 290 - against), the bill was adopted. However, for its entry into force, the approval of the House of Lords and the signature of Queen Elizabeth II are necessary. The Labour and many Conservatives are against the "law of...