Dropping all the hype about the Great Resignation and stiff competition for talent, we invite you to look at investing in your people from a few rational down-to-earth perspectives. Based on a number of PwC surveys, you might end up finding a good argument in your budgeting process in favour of investment initiatives targeting your people.
When it comes to drawing up non-financial statements or sustainability reports, there are a variety of guidelines and standards that prompt companies to identify and approach their various stakeholders in order to work with them in the course of preparing non-financial statements. It’s even more important to build collaboration in order to accommodate your stakeholder views and visions when your company is setting its key directions of sustainable development and goals it wants to achieve.
In March 2021 the European Commission passed a proposal for a new directive aimed at putting mechanisms in place that will help employers provide equal pay for men and women. According to the draft directive, the pay disparity is still about 14%. Inequality becomes evident when we convert this percentage into days: compared to men, women actually have to work 51 days a year without pay. The main aim of the new rules is to minimise gender inequality in pay. While gender equality is a topic that has been discussed in public at length, statistics do not give us a reason to believe a balance has been achieved on the issue of pay. To achieve this, the European Commission has come up with new solutions that will mean new statutory obligations for employers.
The Excise Act was amended on 13 October 2022 with effect from 13 February 2023. The amendments are primarily made to transpose Council Directive (EU) 2020/262 of 19 December 2019 laying down the general arrangements for excise duty (recast) (the “new directive”), which will replace Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC (the “old directive”). More amendments stem from the CJEU’s ruling of 13 January 2022 concerning Mono SIA vs the State Revenue Service (SRS). The court disallows a situation where the ability of diplomatic and consular offices to claim an excise exemption is subject to the condition that payment for goods be made by bank transfer. This article summarises some of the key amendments to the Excise Act.
Now that the concept of remote work has become an everyday occurrence, many companies are considering ways to adapt their online staff motivation and team-building events to the new conditions. This article explores the State Revenue Service’s opinion on staff sustainability events held within one department of an organisation and on catering expenses being included in staff sustainability event expenses (“SSEE”) if an event is held remotely.
Several EU member states are taking the taxation of employee share ownership plans in startup companies a step further. Their national rules make share plans far more attractive to startup employees and provide a more founder-friendly environment. While the rules aim to ensure startups give their employees a stake in the company, there are many solutions countries can use to achieve this goal.
As stated in the conclusion of the first instalment of this article, foreign markets offer various litigation funding models. In addition to the model we analysed before, where the claimant’s litigation is funded by an institutional litigation funder – an investment fund specialised in litigation funding, in this article we are looking at available alternatives. This overview covers some of the less familiar and sometimes unusual sources of litigation finance whose successful use would reduce the number of cases where a lack of finance limits the legal remedies available to a litigant.
Every now and then corporate groups decide to undertake a strategic restructuring of their assets, including a transfer of assets to one or more group companies for financing another activity. Using a contribution in kind to increase a company’s share capital raises a number of important legal and tax issues. In this article we will explore whether a contribution in kind attracts VAT, as well as assessing the need to adjust the input VAT deducted on the contribution and the right to deduct the input VAT on services acquired for the contribution, such as expert valuation services and legal advice.
The rules for implementing the aid programme “Financial instruments for encouraging digital transformation of businesses” under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility came into force on 5 July 2022. The programme is designed to encourage the digital transformation, development and revenue growth in businesses by supporting investment in digital information tools aimed at productivity gains. The aid is targeted at Latvian-registered businesses regardless of size. This article takes a closer look at the aid programme.
When it comes to performing accounting or any other duties where data processing takes a long time or where you regularly need to perform some repetitive or similar activities and processes, it’s great to keep easy-to-use tools handy. As we are putting together courses at PwC’s Digital Academy, we would like to tell you about a tool that will make your daily tasks much easier to do. Power Query is a data preparation and transformation tool available in Microsoft Power BI and, starting from the 2016 version, in Microsoft Excel and other programs. This tool allows users to obtain data from a variety of external data sources and from files stored on computer. It allows you to group and transform data and perform other activities. This article offers a few practical examples to raise awareness of how this functionality can be used and what benefits it offers.
Section 18.2(1) of the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism and Proliferation Financing Act requires a company to notify the Enterprise Registry of its ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) and how UBO control is exercised.
As company balance sheets become increasingly saturated with liabilities and future cash flows less certain, the scope for obtaining bank finance on balanced terms is limited. Yet companies need fresh capital to continue investing and to make their business more resilient to energy shocks and lack of raw materials, and to cope with rising costs, which often cannot be offset by an increased price of the end product.
Ever-changing legislation puts additional pressure on businesses and individuals. To make sure you haven’t missed any important changes and to spot potential risks early, the best solution is to keep up with the changes and know your way around the relevant resources.
