Debt assignments are widely used in business. A debt assignment allows the company to turn its trade receivables into working capital. The sale (assignment) of a debt is increasingly taken to mean the transfer of a debt arising from consumer credit to licensed debt recovery service providers in order to recover the debt out of court. In practice, debt assignment has a wide range of uses – it is also used by lenders that take the original creditor’s place, including individuals investing in lending platforms.

The VAT treatment of debt assignments is not straightforward and may vary according to the characteristics of each assignment. It is also a misconception that debt assignments do not require an evaluation of their VAT treatment. This article explores how debt assignments are treated for VAT purposes.
 

If a company’s debtor has been removed from the Commerce Register, can the company write off an account receivable from that debtor with no corporate income tax (CIT) consequences? This article explores things to consider when it comes to writing off a debt like this, and what documents the company must hold.

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.

Latvia has offered a temporary residence permit (TRP) in exchange for investment for many years. A number of businessmen and investors found this to be an attractive proposition, as it allowed them to successfully start or continue their business in Latvia and freely travel across Europe. As is often the case, however, the devil is in the details. The question of taxes can ruin your business plan and form a basis for cancelling your TRP.

The payroll tax gap has tended to diminish slowly but surely since 2016, according to a 2020 national social insurance (NSI) and personal income tax (PIT) gap assessment recently carried out by the State Revenue Service (SRS).

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.

Companies often provide various intragroup services for optimisation purposes. Whether such companies are governed by the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism and Proliferation Financing Act (the “Act”) is a question that has always come under a great deal of scrutiny. Effective from 12 July 2021, section 3 of the Act contains subsection 6, which prescribes exclusions and answers questions that group companies tend to ask when assessing whether they are governed by the Act. This article explores how intragroup services qualify for statutory exclusions.

In July 2021 the OECD released Latvia’s Stage 2 Peer Review Report findings obtained in peer-reviewing its progress with implementing the Minimum Standard of BEPS  Action 14 for improving tax dispute resolution mechanisms. Stage 2 aims to monitor the implementation of recommendations arising from Latvia’s Stage 1 Peer Review Report. Overall the Stage 2 report finds that Latvia has eliminated most of the flaws found in the Stage 1 report.

This article completes what we wrote last week.
 

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).
 

Proposals for amending the Company and Consolidated Accounts Act (the “CCAA”) were announced at the meeting of state secretaries on 12 August 2021. Although the proposals are still to be debated by the Cabinet of Ministers and need parliamentary approval, certain amendments would apply when preparing financial statements for 2021.
 

To begin the new training season, PwC’s Academy offers everyone interested, whether you are in Latvia or abroad, an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge of taxes and other relevant business topics online.

The year 2021 and the current macroeconomic cycle have brought a number of adjustments and uncertainty about the future to households (private consumers), businesses of various sizes, and policymakers. Covid-19 and related paradigm changes, the risk of recurrent pandemic, disrupted logistics and supply chains, and other factors create substantial risks affecting companies’ ability to stay in business and grow. This article explores common causes of financial distress and debt restructuring tools, including how companies can reach an agreement with the State Revenue Service on paying taxes.

On 21 May 2019 we informed MindLink.lv readers about Ruling C-235/18 Vega International issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on VAT treatment where a company provides its subsidiaries registered for VAT in various EU member states with fuel cards for various fuel suppliers and arranges payments between those subsidiaries (the actual consumers of fuel) and the actual suppliers. Based on this CJEU ruling, the Latvian State Revenue Service (SRS) has issued guidance on the VAT and excise treatment of fuel card transactions. This article explores their opinion on applying tax rules to fuel card transactions.

We have written earlier about amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism and Proliferation Financing Act (the “Act”), which, among other things, will make it easier for persons that are subject to the Act (“Subjects”) to report suspicious transactions and will set up a common customer due diligence tool. This article explores changes to the requirements affecting the ultimate beneficial owner (“UBO”) of a Subject.
 

We have written earlier about the VAT treatment of distance sales and the new VAT simplification schemes such as the One Stop Shop (“OSS”) and the Import One Stop Shop (“IOSS”) allowing sellers to register for VAT in one member state and pay VAT on distance sales to consumers in all member states. This article explores what other tax or administrative obligations may arise from cross-border e-commerce in another member state.
 

From 1 January 2022 the new Accounting Act will replace the Accounting Act 1992 applicable currently. One of the reasons for adopting the new Act was to update the rules on the storage of supporting documents.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also affected risk assessment and decision-making processes in organisations. As the pandemic and restrictions ease off, organisations should revise these processes and make any necessary changes.

We have recently written about the OECD Inclusive Framework proposals for taxing the digitalised economy that will help OECD members find a common basis for agreeing on taxation of global enterprises that is acceptable to all OECD members and jurisdictions. Despite the large number of participating members (139 members and jurisdictions pursuing different interests and representing various sizes of economy), all stakeholders understand the significance of this reform and are interested in agreeing on the urgent issues and implementing the common taxation of the digitalised economy as soon as possible. This article explores the ambitious goals of this agreement and the deadlines for concluding and implementing it, which are even more ambitious.
 

The Competition Council’s decisions on a number of recently completed controversial investigations have raised the question of recovering damages caused by an infringement of competition law. What circumstances should the injured party and the offender take into account if anyone harmed by a competition offence has the right to claim compensation for that harm?

CEOs and workers are increasingly embracing remote work. CEOs plan to invest more in order to support adoption of the hybrid work model. Workers are not so eager to return to the office as their managers. CEOs face difficult decisions about using office space. These are just a few of the issues and findings from a recent PwC survey.

We have written before about how the new CIT Act treats prepayments for goods or services. This article explores differences in this treatment depending on when payment is made, and suggests steps to take after a bad debt is written off.

The rapid evolution of digital financial services has led to virtual currency (“VC”) being increasingly used in everyday payments. In July 2021 the State Revenue Service issued guidance on the tax and accounting treatment of virtual currency transactions, offering insights into the practical application of laws and regulations to income people earn from VC dealings. This article explores the personal income tax (“PIT”) treatment where an individual buys and sells VC.

This article explores changes to the royalties scheme effective from 1 July 2021 and applicable throughout 2021, as well as other ways in which authors can receive royalties. This article summarises the practicalities and administrative obligations facing the payer of income and the Latvian tax-resident payee.

On 6 July 2021 Parliament amended the Taxes and Duties Act to give the State Revenue Service (“SRS”) the right to publish information on SRS decisions of public importance from 5 August 2021. This article explores the goals of the amendments and the nature of information the SRS will be allowed to publish.

To pick up where we left off, this article explores the concept of “hard-to-value intangibles” and a court case dealing with intangible assets.

Retailers and consumers have been recently forced to change their product distribution and shopping habits. The online marketplace is evolving and gaining unprecedented momentum. PwC’s June 2021 Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey shows that the Covid-19 pandemic has created new consumer groups. Their creation is driven by consumer attitudes and behaviours, which have a great potential to significantly impact how consumers choose their shopping channels, goods, and brands.

On 10 May 2021 the State Revenue Service (“SRS”) posted on their website an update to “Bad Debts” offering guidance on how VAT and corporate income tax should be applied. This article explores the VAT treatment of debt assignment.

On 15 June 2021, Parliament adopted amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (“AML/CTPF”) Act, which, among other things, makes it easier for persons that are subject to the Act to report suspicious transactions taxwise and creates a common customer due diligence tool. The amendments relating to reporting procedures are coming into force on 1 October 2021, and the tool is to be used from 1 January 2022.
 

Every company must have an accounting policy in place that specifies its accounting principles, as well as laying down rules for how its financial statements should be prepared and how its internal documents should move around. The accounting policy must fit the nature of the company’s business.