The Public Benefit Organisations (PBO) Act defines a donation but the concept of sponsoring remains undefined. In practice, companies that sponsor events organised by PBOs might wonder whether sponsoring has the same tax treatment as a donation. This article explores the tax implications of sponsoring PBOs.

A Latvian company in a vertically structured group often receives dividends from subsidiaries and pays them on to its owners. Such flow-through dividends qualify for a special relief under the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Act: if certain conditions are met those dividends are taxed only once even if tax has been paid abroad. In practice various situations may arise, for instance, a dividend is received and paid in different periods, the profit may not have been taxed in the payer’s country, the Latvian company receives the dividend net, i.e. after tax has been withheld in the payer’s country. This article explores some relevant examples.

The Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Act reform effective from 1 January 2018 has brought changes to all aspects of CIT treatment, including thin capitalisation rules. This article explores whether banks and insurance companies should include their excess interest expenses in their CIT base (taxable income).