Flash News offers the latest information on current tax, accounting, legal and other business issues.
Each company’s day-to-day work involves communicating with suppliers, distributors and customers. We often see that company employees are not aware that the way they carry out their daily responsibilities can be treated as part of a breach of competition law, which can result in their company facing fines and reputation damage. Even a single email your employee sends in the course of business might contribute to a breach of competition law and make the regulator suspicious. To avoid this, employees as well as management should be aware of risks associated with their day-to-day work and potential breaches of competition law.
Under the Taxes and Duties Act and the State Revenue Service (“SRS”) Act, the tax authority has a wide range of tasks and responsibilities in tax administration. The SRS monitors the economic and financial activities conducted by all entities and individuals and enforces compliance with the tax laws. To fulfil its statutory responsibilities, the SRS carries out various control measures, from ones that can go unnoticed by the taxpayer until a certain moment to serious inspections requiring the taxpayer’s presence. This article explores thematic reviews as well as their substance, key aspects, and expected outcomes.
The mass media have recently reported news of the largest fine in Latvia to date (EUR 150,000) being levied on an e-commerce company for breaches involving failure to comply with requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Considering the company’s circumstances, as cited by the National Data Office in its decision, this article explores requirements that must be met by any company processing personal data on its website to steer clear of the fine prescribed by the GDPR.
The topic continued from MindLink.lv news 24.07.2020. Based on EU and Latvian legislation, in 2019 the Financial Intelligence Unit drew up guidelines, describing methods for identifying politically exposed persons (“PEPs”).
Growing companies tend to see an increase in the amount of documentation and financial accounting data they generate. While the concept of paperless accounting is improved by developers of technology solutions and by digital start-ups, it is implemented by each company individually to make its accounting more straightforward and efficient, allowing its stakeholders to handle its financial accounting data with ease.
Although the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (“AML/CTPF”) Act has been in force for more than ten years, some of the entities governed by the Act still find it difficult to identify the status of a “politically exposed person.”
Given the impact of Covid-19 on many companies, on 14 July the Cabinet of Ministers adopted regulations to allocate EUR 19.2 million in aid to companies in the tourism industry and EUR 51 million in aid to exporters whose financial position has significantly deteriorated as a result of Covid-19. The new rules will come into force on the effective date of the European Commission’s decision on the compatibility of business aid with the EU internal market. This aid will be administered by the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, awarding it within the available finance allocation and by reference to the sequence in which aid requests are submitted. The aid will take the form of a grant aimed at helping companies pay wages and salaries.
Although the global economy is undergoing significant transformation as a result of Covid-19, capital keeps moving across borders and investors are still interested in investing. In these uncertain times, investors are particularly keen to maximise the diversification of their investments in order to mitigate the consequences of the financial crisis.
Although Latvia is a European leader in P2P crediting, the fintech industry has also suffered from the Covid-19 crisis. According to financial blogger Kristaps Mors, four Latvian online platforms have closed down or stopped paying money in recent months. He says if this tendency continues, Latvia might become famous as a fraud centre of this industry. We assume that these signals have reached the State Revenue Service and the National Data Office, who are carefully monitoring the business conducted in this industry to ensure that fintechs comply with statutory requirements.