With Covid-19 restrictions being lifted in Latvia and across Europe, companies are returning to their normal working arrangements, including staff education and team building events. Event organisers, too, are resuming their business activities. The VAT treatment is clear as long as the customer is a Latvian company and the event is held in Latvia. But what happens if the event is held or the customer established in another EU member state? This article explores key aspects of event organisation services.

As the cost of living is rising day by day, people are struggling to embrace the need to cut carbon emissions as a priority. Tax policy is one of the tools capable of affecting our decisions. So it is very important to devise a long-term tax strategy that would encourage us to change our daily habits and switch over to green energy.

The member states may even introduce a specially reduced rate of VAT (down to 0%, without restricting the supplier’s right to deduct input tax) on supplies of solar panels to private homes and public buildings. A reduced rate may also be applied on supplies of electricity, district heating and cooling, and certain biogas, as well as on the supply and installation of certain very efficient low-emission heating systems. Latvia will have to stop applying a reduced rate on supplies of wood used as fuel by 1 January 2030.

This article explores some of the tax implications for people installing solar panels at their homes.

By decision of Parliament Speaker I. Murniece, the double tax treaty (DTT) and its protocol have been suspended indefinitely from 16 May. The decision makes unavailable from this date the DTT and national reliefs that provided for an exemption on the basis that Russia had a DTT with Latvia. In this article we explore how this decision affects paying taxes. And we note that the Latvia-Russia social security agreement is still in force.