Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the making available on the Union market and the export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 came into force on 29 June 2023.
Companies are sometimes unsure whether a transaction affecting them qualifies as the transfer of a business as a going concern (TOGC). This is a crucial question in identifying a number of potential risks, including VAT liabilities. If a TOGC has occurred, the transaction is not subject to VAT if the acquirer is registered for VAT and continues a business that does not involve asset stripping or liquidating the company.
The CIT Act requires companies to assess whether they have incurred expenses in acquiring and maintaining a luxury executive vehicle (LEV) for each tax period. This article explores how to determine the value of an LEV and what costs are chargeable to CIT, as well as looking at the new CIT treatment effective from 1 January 2024 of LEVs that are used for a long time.
In our earlier article we looked at the proposed amendments to the Personal Income Tax (PIT) Act, coming into force on 1 July 2024 along with the rules governing civil partnerships. In addition to a range of PIT reliefs that are currently available to married persons and relatives up to the third degree under the Civil Code, the lawmaker intends to provide civil partners with equivalent social guarantees.
Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU Council adopted its 13th package of sanctions on 23 February 2024. Aiming to support Ukraine and tighten the restrictions against Russia’s military and defence sector, as well as targeting restrictions against individuals and entities from third countries, the EU Council has launched a number of restrictive measures.
In late 2023 PwC conducted its 27th global CEO survey with 4,702 respondents from 105 countries. The survey suggests that CEOs feel increasingly under pressure to adapt and change their current economic activity so that their company remains viable in the long term. They mention technological advances, consumer behaviours, regulatory dynamics and climate change as key factors. From a sustainability perspective, most CEOs view decarbonising their companies or reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) as a priority, which can be achieved mainly by taking steps to improve energy efficiency and developing eco-friendly goods and services.
Companies are currently working hard to prepare their financial statements for a statutory audit, so this is the right time to revise and update their basic business information. There is a general obligation often neglected by taxpayers because it seems insignificant: the State Revenue Service (SRS) must be duly notified of the taxpayer’s core economic activity according to the statistical classification of economic activities NACE 2.0, deployed uniformly across the EU. In this article we stress the importance of this obligation, remind you of the deadlines, make a few practical recommendations, and describe the proposed migration to NACE 2.1 designed to improve statistical comparability.
The EU Blue Card is a special type of temporary residence permit that is available to highly skilled foreign professionals. This article explores key differences in conditions and in the process of acquiring residence rights.
What are an external accountant’s obligations under the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (AML/CTPF) Act if accounting services are provided to related companies only? The Administrative Division of the Latvian Supreme Court referred this question to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 4 January 2024.
Effective from 11 January 2024, the Ministry of Finance has amended the Cabinet of Ministers’ Rule No. 1507 of 17 December 2013, ‘The procedure for refunding VAT to a taxable person registered in a third country or territory’, and Rule No. 1514 of 17 December 2013, ‘The procedure for filing a registered taxable person’s VAT refund claim in another EU member state and the procedure for refunding VAT to a taxable person registered in another EU member state’.
The amendments apply in particular to EU and non-EU registered taxable persons that are not established in Latvia but acquire services related to real estate (RE) and claim a VAT refund because the services are acquired to make supplies that attract Latvian reverse-charge VAT.
In January 2024 the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) launched its public consultation on two exposure drafts for sustainability reporting standards for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). One standard is for listed SMEs and the other, a voluntary reporting standard, is for other unlisted SMEs.
Terms such as sustainability, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are increasingly mentioned in public debates and corporate meetings. The more conscientious companies are not only well-versed in sustainability matters but they have set up a corporate structure that will help them report more efficiently on their sustainability performance. Other companies are still looking for a sustainability expert to help them deal with their sustainability obligations. But can hiring a sustainability expert solve all the problems? And what is the board’s role and responsibility for sustainability performance? Read on to find out.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has been increasing its key interest rates since June 2022 to mitigate the high inflation caused by Covid-19. Taxpayers have good reason to debate whether they should revise the interest rates historically applied in their long-term financing transactions between related parties and apply new rates that are arm’s length and reflect the current economic conditions. This article explores the vision of the State Revenue Service (SRS) and recommendations for mitigating potential transfer pricing (TP) risks.
It was announced in November 2023 that the Electronic Declaration System (EDS) is switching to electronic identification tools and only a limited number of persons will be able to connect to EDS with the username and password assigned by the State Revenue Service (SRS). In response to taxpayers’ questions about the proposed changes, the SRS has issued a letter of explanation. Read on to find out more.