The public domain has recently contained information that highlights how the supplier’s behaviour affects competition. On the other hand, distortion of competition by the customer is not something that receives a detailed assessment. When it comes to making requirements for public procurement, the customer has discretion, but he often defines his requirements in a way that restricts bids or bidders, which generally distorts competition. This article explores how the customer’s behaviour can distort competition directly or indirectly by defining requirements or criteria in public procurement.
To ensure a company’s capital adequacy or business growth, its shareholders may decide to increase its share capital and later make a reduction. This article explores some corporate income tax (CIT) aspects that should be considered when it comes to changing the size of share capital.
Assessing compliance with the arm’s length principle in transfer pricing (TP) involves conducting a benchmarking study based on high-quality comparable data. While the taxpayer can use internally available data on his transactions with unrelated parties, it’s common practice to use external data obtained from commercial databases or other sources. Several comparable companies are selected from a database according to certain criteria to build a range of financial results. This often raises the question of which values in that range are acceptable to demonstrate that the taxpayer’s controlled transactions are arm’s length. This article explores how wide an arm’s length range may be used in Latvia and compares how this range is interpreted in Lithuania and Estonia.
Thanks to the considerable interest in PwC Academy’s introductory lecture in November, which offered an overview of the content of PwC’s Digital Academy (still available as a video recording), in January PwC’s Digital Academy Latvia launched a series of three webinars for managers, accountants, bookkeepers and everyone who works with data, reports and standard processes on a daily basis.
We are happy to share with our MindLink.lv readers the topics we discuss in our webinars.
In our article of 27 September 2022 we explored what Power Query is like and why we should use it, as well as giving a brief overview of what the tool offers. This article explores how we can benefit from using Power Query to compare data, because participants of PwC Digital Academy Latvia’s upcoming webinar on 23 February will have the opportunity to find out how they can set up templates in practice for comparing various types of data.
Cashback is one of consumer incentive programmes that are currently popular with manufacturers and wholesalers. This could involve a manufacturer (or a wholesaler) refunding a certain amount of money to the end consumer for buying goods they have manufactured (distributed). The refund may be a fixed price for a particular product or expressed as a percentage of the purchase value. A cashback may also occur as a discount coupon distributed by the manufacturer, which the end customer uses with the retailer, who then seeks reimbursement from the manufacturer. This procedure directly stimulates the end consumer’s choice because the manufacturer’s discount reaches him directly instead of being accumulated in the chain of traders. With many companies expanding their business beyond Latvia, a discount may also be granted to customers in other member states. This article explores whether a cashback made by the manufacturer (wholesaler) to the end customer affects the VAT payable by the manufacturer (wholesaler).
On 19 January 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers met to debate and approve proposals for amending the Company and Consolidated Accounts Act (CCAA), which provide for extending the time limits set for small companies to file their financial statements (FS). The amendments are to cover FS prepared for the year ended on 31 December 2022 and later. The proposed extension is one month.
On 8 December 2022 the European Commission (EC) published proposals for amending the VAT directive (2006/112/EC) and Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011. The proposals are designed to modernise the EU VAT system in the digital age, make it work for companies, and render it more resilient against fraud. The proposals also aim to address VAT issues caused by the platform economy.
Companies are increasingly trying to create a diverse and inclusive environment for their workers. One of the tools for doing this is worker surveys that include questions about sexual orientation, religious belief, health and other sensitive information that is not necessary for carrying out their direct job duties. The data obtained often fails to produce the expected result. On the contrary, this increases discrimination in the workplace or even has huge financial consequences for the company. This article explores what to focus on when it comes to worker surveys including questions about diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Latvian transfer pricing (TP) rules provide that a company’s transactions with related parties must be arm’s length, whether the parties are Latvian or foreign tax residents. The arm’s length principle dictates that a company making comparable transactions under comparable conditions must receive comparable revenue, whether the transaction is with a related or an unrelated party. Basically companies know and understand this, yet there are various facts and circumstances that make this requirement difficult to enforce in real time. This is because before or during the transaction, companies often lack sufficient information on arm’s length prices that unrelated parties apply in comparable transactions. This is where companies can use a TP adjustment, which is not always so painful as it might originally seem. This article explores what TP adjustment a company can make by adjusting its taxable base for corporate income tax (CIT) purposes.
The European Commission (EC) has been working for a long time to develop the idea of a capital markets union (CMU) aimed at creating a single capital market across the EU and promoting collaboration between the member states, as well as securing the EU economy’s growth and competitiveness. The EC began to work on this more actively in 2015 and developed its first CMU action plan, which has now largely been completed. The EC announced its second action plan on 24 September 2020, given the adverse effects of Covid-19 on the CMU.
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.