News

The FATCA agreement signed between Switzerland and the United States in February this year which allows for agreement between Swiss financial institutions and the US Internal Revenue Service to exchange information on accounts held by US taxpayers with Swiss banks, will be implemented from July 1, 2014 rather than from January 1, 2014

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Liechtenstein and Malta have signed a bilateral Double Taxation Agreement between the two countries in respect of taxes on income and on wealth.

The representatives of the lower house of  Russian parliament supported the draft law "On Amendments to Article 18 of the Federal Law" On Banks and Banking Activity", in terms of setting for credit institutions with foreign investment restrictions on banking operations.

Union Customs Code was adopted by the European Parliament on 11 September 2013. The new Code will introduce unified rules and procedures for customs throughout the EU.

Government Commission on legislative drafting activities has adopted transition of Russian organizations to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation has developed a method of dealing with the outflow of capital from Russia through fictitious imports from the Customs Union. Earlier monitoring of transactions was carried out by banks based on recommendations received from the Central Bank, but now requirements became tougher. Experts believe that such innovations will make capital outflows through such channels difficult for fraudsters.

On July 29, 2013 Panamanian Congress has finally approved the law which imposes a safekeeping regime on bearer shares.

UK government published “Transparency and trust: enhancing the transparency of UK company ownership and increasing trust in UK business - discussion paper” which sets out a range of proposals to enhance the transparency of UK company ownership and increase trust in UK business.

Vladimir Putin has signed the Federal Law "On Amendments to parts one and two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and to certain other legislative acts of the Russian Federation, and the repealing of certain provisions of legislative acts of the Russian Federation".

4 July 2013 Ukrainian Parliament has ratified agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and preventing income tax evasion and its protocol with Cyprus.