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A communication about the Cyprus solidarity levy, by Andreas Phillipou of Baker Tilly Klitou.

March 19, 2013 Leave a comment

English: Nicosia view from skyline by night (l...

English: Nicosia view from skyline by night (late evening). Lights, cafeterias and high rise buldings of banks and hotels in downtown Nicosia, capital of Republic of Cyprus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dear Quoracy.com

We communicate with you to inform you about the latest developments of the ECB/EU/IMF troika financial assistance to Cyprus. Last Saturday the Eurogroup decided in favour of a financial assistance to be provided to Cyprus with a package of measures which include:

• an one off solidarity levy on bank deposits and credit balances of 6,75% for amounts of up to €100.000 and of 9,99% for amounts exceeding €100.000. This levy will apply to all bank accounts (current, deposit, notice etc.) with banks operating in Cyprus (local and international) and bank branches. Depositors will be compensated with the equivalent amount in shares in Cyprus banks, and a plan is being contemplated for those who will keep their deposits in Cypriot banks for the next two years to be given bonds linked to revenues from natural gas; and
• an increase of corporate tax rate from 10% to 12,5%.

The upside of Saturday’s Eurogroup decision is that the uncertainty over the Cyprus economy and the future of its major banks will disappear with the financial assistance agreement. The EU and the IMF have also confirmed that these measures will ensure that the Cyprus economy will be sustainable without any further support or measures.

As a firm, we believe that:

• the increase of the corporate tax rate by 2,5% will not negatively affect international business in any significant way as corporation tax affects mainly trading income. Most international companies in Cyprus are set up as investment holding companies or group financing companies. Cyprus companies will still benefit from full participation exemption on capital gains, full participation exemption on dividend income, no Cypriot withholding tax on dividends, interest and royalties, no thin cap rules, no CFC rules, no exit charges, effective tax on royalty income of 2,5% (from 2%), interest income being taxed on thin margin only and all the other current positives of the Cyprus tax regime. In addition, even with this corporation tax increase, Cyprus remains one of the lowest corporation tax jurisdictions in the EU.

• the imposition of the one off solidarity levy on bank deposits and credit balances in the Cypriot banking system is unacceptable as such a measure is unprecedented and undermines the European banking system. Shares in banks on major international stock exchanges took a pummelling on Monday (yesterday) as a result of the dangerous precedent that has been set.

The Eurogroup decision needs to be ratified by the Cyprus House of Representatives to be effective. The decision with respect to the levy on deposits has sparked huge public anger in Cyprus and beyond and it is currently questionable if the House of Parliament will ratify it – the Parliament is expected to hold a special session for this today at 6pm Cyprus time.

We shall keep you informed of developments on this important issue. Please feel free to contact us for further information, assistance or clarifications.

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Poland Tax Alert April 2013

March 15, 2013 Leave a comment

BTP – Tax Alert – Poland – April 2013

In the above PDF, Baker Tilly Poland kindly share some of the news surrounding the new VAT and income tax changes in Poland that anyone investing or living in this country needs to be aware of.

Baker Tilly Slovakia Tax Alert February 2013

February 13, 2013 1 comment

TAX ALERT | SLOVAKIA
February 2013		 Baker Tilly
The most significant changes to the taxation of individuals from the start of year 2013:1. Personal tax allowances for spouse– From 1st January 2013, the spouse allowance is possible to apply only if the spouse living with taxpayer in common household is:
- taking care of a dependent child, or
- receiving a cash allowance for nursing, or
- unemployment registered and is actively seeking a job, or
- considered a disabled individual or a severely disabled individual.2. Tax allowance related to voluntary contributions to II. pillar – until the 31st December 2016 taxpayers may apply as a tax allowance the amount of voluntary contributions to pension, this amount is 2% of the taxpayer´s tax bases from active income, i.e. income from employment and from business. This amount should not exceed 2% of 60-times average monthly salary reported by Statistics Office of the SR two years previously.

3. Tax bonus – the tax bonus should be apply only by taxpayer, who in the period reached 6 times the minimum wage only from active income, i.e. income from employment and from business. The tax bonus should not be applied by taxpayers who earn only rental income.

4. The lump-sum expenses from business income – changes in the implementation of lump-sum expenses in 2013:
- the lump-sum expenses could be applied to the annual maximum amount 5.040€,
- the lump-sum cannot be applied to rental income,
- authors who contribute to the newspapers, magazines or to the television can decide whether they prefer their honorarium already taxed by withholding tax or an honorarium in the total amount with the possibility to apply real expenses or lump-sum expenses and with the duty to charge social and health insurance.
Bratislava
Eva Belková
Managing Director
Karadžičova 16
821 08 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Tel: +421 250 203 302
Email: ebelkova		 Bratislava
Vladimír Bartoš
Head of Accounting Department
Slovak Tax Advisor
Karadžičova 16
821 08 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Tel: +421 250 203 304
Email: vbartos
Disclaimer: The information contained in this material is general and does not provide a comprehensive analysis of these topics. Despite the fact that we try to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the information contained in this material, we cannot guarantee that it will still be valid on the date it is read. Therefore users of this information should not base any business or investment decisions on it without first discussing the matter with a professional advisor. Our initial consultation is free.Privacy & Disclaimer Feedback
Baker Tilly Slovakia Accounting s.r.o. and Baker Tilly Slovakia Audit s.r.o. are independent member firms of Baker Tilly International which is the world’s 8th largest accountancy and business advisory network by combined fee income of its independent members. Baker Tilly International member firms specialise in providing accountancy and business advisory services to entrepreneurial, growing businesses and mid-market corporates worldwide.
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Baker Tilly Slovakia Tax Alert January 2013

January 25, 2013 Leave a comment

Income Tax rates by Country based on OECD 2005...

Income Tax rates by Country based on OECD 2005 data. “OECD Tax Database”. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . . Retrieved 2007-01-30 . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There’s a lot going on in all our region with taxes at the turn of the year. Below Baker Tilly Slovakia have been kind enough to share their update on some of the key issues undergoing change. As always on these pages, the updates provided are subject to the usual caveats and these are on the page on this site marked disclaimers.

Parliament has approved the governmental Amendment to the Income Tax Act effective from 1st January 2013. The most significant changes resulting from the amendment are as follows:

1. Personal income tax
Personal income will be taxed at two tax rates depending on the amount of the income of the tax payer. A tax base of up to 176,8 times the subsistence minimum (for the year 2013 it is the amount 34.401,75€) will be taxed at a 19% tax rate, while a tax base exceeding this amount will be taxed at a 25% tax rate.

The threshold for payment of advance tax has also been increased from 1.659,70€ to 2.500€.

2. Corporate income tax
From 1st January the corporate income tax rate has been increased from 19% to 23%. Following the change of tax rate, corporate income tax advances paid for periods from January 2013 should be re-calculated with the 23% tax rate.

3. Extension of tax return filing deadline
The deadline for filing tax returns will be extended only for taxpayers whose income includes income from a foreign source. The deadline will be extended by 3 calendar months on the basis of a written notification delivered to the tax authority before the usual deadline for filing tax returns.

For taxpayers whose tax period is a financial year starting in 2012 and ending in 2013, the tax base to be decreased by any tax losses will be distributed proportionally based on the number of months in the tax period up to 31.12.2012 (taxed at the 19% rate) and the number of months in the tax period after 31.12.2012 (taxed at the 23% rate).

4. Tax assignation by legal entities
A legal entity liable to pay corporate income tax will be able to assign 2% of paid tax to entitled beneficiaries (not-for-profit organizations, civil associations, etc.), provided that during the term for filing of the tax return such entity makes a donation equal to at least 0,5% of the tax paid. In other cases, the legal entities will only be able to assign 1,5% of any tax paid.
Bratislava
Eva Belková
Managing Director
Karadžičova 16
821 08 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Tel: +421 250 203 302
Email: ebelkova@bakertilly.sk
Bratislava
Vladimír Bartoš
Head of Accounting Department
Slovak Tax Advisor
Karadžičova 16
821 08 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Tel: +421 250 203 304
Email: vbartos@bakertilly.sk
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Business and Tax Newsletter Hungary 1/2013

January 21, 2013 Leave a comment

Tisztelt Hölgyem/Uram,A Baker Tilly Hungária megjelentette legújabb „Business & Tax Newsletter” című kiadványát,melyet a következő linkre kattintva tekinthet meg: Newsletter 1/2013

Hírlevelünk témája a Társasági és cégeljárási törvénnyel kapcsolatos aktuális kötelezettségek

Hírlevelünk Acrobat Reader szoftverrel olvasható, mely ingyenesen letölthető a következő helyről:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Amennyiben hírlevelünket hasznosnak találja, és szeretné, hogy mások is megkapják, vagy a jövőben

nem szeretné, hogy hírlevelünket megküldjük Önnek, akkor kérjük, ezt a newsletter

címre küldött e-mail-ben jelezze.
Dear Sir / Madam,Baker Tilly Hungária issued its latest „Business &Tax Newsletter”which can be accessed by clicking on the following link: Newsletter 1/2013

The actual topic covered therein is the obligations related to the act on business associations and company administration

Our newsletter can be read with Acrobat Reader which is downloadable by clicking on the following link:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

If you found our newsletter useful and would like to include anyone else on, or would like to remove

your e-mail address from our mailing list, please notify us at newsletter.

Üdvözlettel / Best regards,

Baker Tilly Hungária

an independent member of Baker Tilly International

Address: H-1124 Budapest, Jagelló út 14., Hungary

phone.: +36 1 225 34 90

fax: +36 1 225 34 91

e-mail: newsletter; info

web: www.bakertillyhungaria.hu
Baker Tilly is a trademark of the UK firm Baker Tilly UK Group LLP, used under licence.Baker Tilly Hungária is an independent member of Baker Tilly International. Baker Tilly International Limited is an English Company. Baker Tilly International provides no professional services to clients. Each member firm is a separate and independent legal entity and each describes itself as such. Baker Tilly Hungária is not Baker Tilly International’s agent and does not have authority to bind Baker Tilly International or act on Baker Tilly International’s behalf. None of Baker Tilly International, Baker Tilly Hungária, nor any of the other independent member firms of Baker Tilly International has any liability for each other’s acts or omissions. In addition, neither Baker Tilly International nor any other member firm has a right to exercise management control over any other member firm.

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Tax Alert December 2012 Baker Tilly Slovakia

December 18, 2012 Leave a comment

Baker Tilly

TAX ALERT | SLOVAKIA
December 2012		 Baker Tilly
Amendments to the law on Value Added taxThe invoice directive is introduced into the law on Value Added tax effective from 1st January 2013. The aim of the directive is the extension of invoices in electronic formats and to achieve identical usage of paper invoices and invoices in electronic formatThe invoice directive modifies the content of invoices on delivery of goods and services in country, on delivery of goods to the another member state, on delivery of services to the another member state, on retrieving of goods from another member state and on receiving services from abroad, on a uniform basis. According to directive, an invoice issued by a taxpayer must contain:

the name and the address of the seat, place of business or fixed establishment of the taxable person, his tax identification number, by which the goods or services are delivered,
the name and the address of the seat, place of business, fixed establishment or domicile of the recipient of the goods or services and his tax identification number,
the sequential number of the invoice,
the date of the supply of goods or services, or the date of incoming payment, if this date can be determined and if it differs from the invoice issuance date,
the invoice issuance date,
the quantity and type of the goods supplied or the extent and type of service rendered,
the taxable amount per each tax rate, the unit price excluding tax and the reductions and discounts, if these are not included in the unit price,
the applied tax rate or indication of tax exemption; for tax exemption must be stated the reference to the clause of the Act on value added tax or Council Directive 2006/112/ES of November 2006 on the common system of value added tax as amended or information “the supply of goods is exempted from VAT”,
the full tax amount to be paid in Euros, except the amount of tax applied pursuant to a special arrangements applicable to works of art, collectors´ items, antiques and second-hand goods,
the information “the invoice issued by customer”, if the customer, who is the recipient of good or service, issued the invoice,
the information “reverse charge”, when the person liable for payment of tax is the person to whom the goods or service were supplied.

The invoice directive, as incorporated in the Act on value added tax effective from 1st January 2013, provides a uniform deadline for issuing of invoices – the invoice has to be issued within 15 days:

from the date of supply of goods or services,
from the date of the received payment prior to the supply of goods or service,
from the end of month, in which was supply of goods exempt from tax pursuant §43,
from the end of month, in which the service was provide or the payment received before the provision of service has been completed with the place of supply in another Member State.

The directive also allows for aggregate invoicing for periods longer than a calendar month.

Act on the restriction on cash payments

According to the approved Act, effective from 1st January 2013, a cash payment with value exceeding 5.000 € is not possible (valid for legal entities and individual businesspeople); between individual non-entrepreneurs payment in cash over 15.000 € is prohibited.

The value of the cash payment, which is divided into several separate payments and these payments arise from a single legal relationship, is the sum of those payments.

Cash payments agreed before the entry into force of this Act, the value of which exceeds the amount limited by the Act, may be made up to 31st March 2013.
Bratislava
Eva Belková
Managing Director
Karadžičova 16
821 08 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Tel: +421 250 203 302
Email: ebelkova		 Bratislava
Vladimír Bartoš
Head of Accounting Department
Karadžičova 16
821 08 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Tel: +421 250 203 304
Email: vbartos
Disclaimer: The information contained in this material is general and does not provide a comprehensive analysis of these topics. Despite the fact that we try to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the information contained in this material, we cannot guarantee that it will still be valid on the date it is read. Therefore users of this information should not base any business or investment decisions on it without first discussing the matter with a professional advisor. Our initial consultation is free.Privacy & Disclaimer Feedback
Baker Tilly Slovakia Accounting s.r.o. and Baker Tilly Slovakia Audit s.r.o. are independent member firms of Baker Tilly International which is the world’s 8th largest accountancy and business advisory network by combined fee income of its independent members. Baker Tilly International member firms specialise in providing accountancy and business advisory services to entrepreneurial, growing businesses and mid-market corporates worldwide.
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Polly Toynbee speaks uncomfortable truth about Big Four Accounting Firms in Guardian Newspaper

December 11, 2012 Leave a comment

British journalist and writer Polly Toynbee, p...

British journalist and writer Polly Toynbee, pictured at the “National Poverty Hearing” at Westminster; December 2006. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Writing in the UK Guardian today, (page 31 – if you cannot buy the paper, you’ll find it among the related articles below assuming it is still available if you are reading this in a few weeks), Polly Toynbee accuses the Big Four of being “at the heart of almost every tax-avoiding scheme”. She proceeds to comment on their grip of the audit market and that, despite grave failures in auditing the banks they have not been disciplined by professional bodies.

Thank you, Ms Toynbee! We at Quoracy.com would just add that their immense lobbying power at the level of governments and regulatory institutions – their virtual control as a cartel of almost every regulatory insitution for audit in the EU – has made them almost impossible to punish. At the same time the middle tier audit Firms, with far fewer blemishes on their records, are bearing a proportionately greater brunt of the reforms that these Big Four governed or influenced “independent” bodies have enacted or are in the process of enacting.

No doubt they hope that they can pass their latest trick of raising the audit thresholds, in which the hidden agenda is to weaken the next tier down from the Big Four even more in the hope that some of the firms disappear (already appears to be happening to PKF from what was spoken about at their recent Cuba conference, and the merging into BDO of three already of their G20 firms) and that others will tone down or give up their audit offer. After which time, of course, they will no doubt be ready to lower the thresholds once again, in order to grab what they can from the reduced state of their mid-tier competition.

You heard it here first. Or maybe you know it already. If you’ve been running a mid-tier audit firm, you probably know it only too well…

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What are the per diem and travel expense allowability rates in the Czech Republic?

December 5, 2012 Leave a comment

CZK 1 coin.

Please find below information regarding the Czech per diem as well as other travel expenses, correct as at the close of 2012 going into 2013, courtesy of Baker Tilly Czech Republic’s Head of Tax Lucia Rablova.

Per diem

The new aspect is the obligation to reduce meal allowances when a free meal was provided.

The minimum statutory rates of meal allowances in case of domestic business trips are shown in the following table:

Period of domestic business trip in calendar day Meal allowances according to the decree Obligatory reduction for 1 free meal
5 – 12 hours min. CZK 64 (max. CZK 76) up to 70%
12 – 18 hours min. CZK 96 (max. CZK 116) up to 35%
more than 18 hours min. CZK 151 (max. CZK 181) up to 25%

The minimum statutory rates of meal allowances in case of business trips abroad are shown in the following table:

Period of domestic business trip in calendar day Meal allowances Obligatory reduction for 1 free meal
less than 1 hour ——— ——–
5 – 12 hours 1/3 of basic rate up to 70%
12 – 18 hours 2/3 of basic rate up to 35%
more than 18 hours the basic rate up to 25%

Naturally, an employer may provide meal allowances to a higher amount, i.e. may set a higher rate of meal allowances or may claim reduction in lower than the statutory rate. From the corporate income tax point of view, the full amount of meal allowances is tax deductible. However, any difference between actually paid meal allowances and statutory provided maximum limits for employees in the public budgets sphere (see column II in table 1 – max. amount) is subject to personal income tax from dependent activities and is counted also for social and health insurance computations.

 

Mileage

-          CZK 3.70 per km and petrol usage reimbursement (price according to the receipt or average price according to the annually issued decree may be used)

Accommodation

-          by receipt

Should you have any further questions in respect of the above please do not hesitate to contact Lucia via this portal, using czechtax@quoracy.com, or via the http://www.bakertilly.cz website.

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