There is much talk of various sustainability aspects within and outside the European Green Deal. Sustainability has become a daily routine in the more conscientious companies, as they devise sustainability strategies and report on sustainability goals they have achieved. There are also some companies that seek to exploit this situation by advertising themselves as well as their products and services as green, environmentally friendly or sustainable, because this may give them advantages on the market. This approach is not always seen as honest, and it can mislead consumers or even affect competition.

On 12 September 2023 the European Commission published its proposal for a transfer pricing (TP) directive to align TP requirements across the EU. While most of the member states, including Latvia, are to some extent applying recommendations made by the OECD TP guidelines, the European Commission is proposing the directive and calling on the member states to adopt the same TP standards in order to secure a level playing field. If the new rules are approved in their current version, they will be passed into the member states’ national law by 31 December 2025 and applicable from 1 January 2026.

The end of September has been productive for farmers and ministries alike. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has come up with proposals for amending the Personal Income Tax (PIT) Act, packaged into two bills. In this article we look at new additions to the basket of allowable expenses, as well as discussing remote work compensations and other classes of exempt income with an increased exemption threshold provisionally coming into force on 1 January 2024.