When employees are sent on business trips abroad, various online platforms are increasingly used for booking the necessary accommodation and transport services. A variety of other goods and services are also being ordered online from foreign vendors. Any documents received often fail to make it clear whether VAT has been charged on the supply and who is the other party (the platform or its customer). This article explores a few models commonly found across the EU from the buyer’s point of view.

To pick up where we left off last week this article explores how a taxpayer should respond to a State Revenue Service (SRS) request for explaining credit turnover in his bank accounts.

Last year the State Revenue Service (“SRS”) for the first time analysed data supplied by the Latvian banks to find income unreported by Latvian residents. Many taxpayers had a letter from the SRS asking them to explain why their bank income details do not match their tax filings. This article explores how the SRS runs taxpayer checks and what response is advisable.

Alternative legal solutions are an efficient tool that helps companies balance unpredictable workflows and staff turnover and enables their legal department to work well, while cutting total costs and keeping their staff happy with their workload, pay, and growth opportunities. These solutions are no longer a proof of concept or a brand new business model. They have been tried and tested, work successfully worldwide, including Latvia, and are used by companies of different sizes.

This year has passed under the sign of Covid-19, with the pandemic overshadowing one crucial event it’s high time we remembered: Britain leaving the EU. This article explores key changes to how UK citizens can be employed in Latvia after Brexit.

Recent years have seen new players rapidly entering the financial services market: FinTech companies. The name itself suggests that these companies are operating where financial services meet technology. FinTech companies are promoting and developing the banking business and are themselves becoming an alternative to traditional banking. This article explores some key VAT issues facing FinTech companies.

On 17 November the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the State Revenue Service (“SRS”) against the Regional Court’s ruling that had granted a petition for overturning the SRS’s decision.

On 6 November an emergency situation was again announced in Latvia, with a number of restrictions significantly affecting taxpayers’ business. The current state aid mechanism has been devised according to the guidelines adopted in the spring, but there are a number of differences we should consider to understand what aid measures are available to taxpayers this time round.

Globalisation is seeing a constant increase in cross-border business, something that encourages entrepreneurs to look for a suitable corporate structure within and outside their base country. Choosing a particular structure is often based not only on business interests in a certain market but also on favourable administrative and tax rules.

An adverse economic environment poses certain difficulties in maintaining transfer pricing (“TP”) policies. However, a global economic crisis does not cancel the requirement that controlled transactions be arm’s length. Following our article on Covid-19 and financial transactions, this one explores some other implications of the pandemic for TP outcomes and provides suggestions for TP analysis.

In our Flash News editions of 6 March and 15 May 2020 we said that the EU is planning to simplify the VAT treatment of e-commerce and Latvia is planning to amend the VAT Act on e-commerce. This article explores the progress in adopting these changes and the latest e-commerce developments in the UK.

This article completes what we wrote last week.

Travel restrictions due to Covid-19 are affecting not only our plans to relax abroad but also trips we take for business purposes. For some workers this means having their regular business trips cancelled and spending more time videoconferencing, while others have their normal place of work changed. We can work from home for foreign as well as local companies. This article explores some aspects of employment income taxation for employees physically working abroad because of pandemic-related restrictions.

On 29 September the Cabinet of Ministers met to debate the Accounting Bill drafted in collaboration with professional organisations and academia. The Bill is to replace the Accounting Act adopted in the early 90s and embrace the latest developments and economic digitalisation. This article explores the proposed amendments and expected changes.

By passing a landmark ruling (C-311/18 Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland and Maximillian Schrems of 16 July 2020) which emphasises the basic right to privacy when personal data is transferred to third countries, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has again confirmed how important it is to maintain a high level of protection of personal data being transferred from the EEA to third countries. The ruling has raised a number of questions about the legal basis for personal data transfers to third countries. As the ruling focuses on transfers to the US, this article explores some of the steps companies should take with the ruling in force.