The British Virgin Islands government has officially announced its commitment to the implementation of public registers of beneficial ownership in the territory, despite “reservations”. Premier Andrew Fahie said: “Your government commits to working in collaboration with Her Majesty’s Government towards a publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership for companies, in line with international standards and […]

On 8 September 2020, the Republic of Cyprus and the Russian Federation signed the Protocol to amend the double tax treaty between the two countries. The amendments to the Treaty should be effective as of 1 January 2021 (provided the Protocol is ratified by both parties by the end of 2020). We hereby list the most […]

Russia has announced it is unilaterally cancelling its double taxation agreement (DTA) with Cyprus, following the failure of negotiations to amend the treaty in line with Moscow’s new anti-offshoring business tax regime. In April 2020, President Vladimir Putin announced a new 15 per cent tax on dividend payments from Russian businesses to parent companies in […]

Introduction In a landmark ruling, the General Court of the European Union has annulled the 2016 adoption of a decision taken by the Commission regarding Irish tax rulings granted in favour of Apple. The Court concluded that the Commission failed to prove, to the requisite legal standard, that the tax rulings granted by the Irish […]

In line with the publication and coming into force of COUNCIL DIRECTIVE (EU) 2020/876 of 24 June 2020 amending Directive 2011/16/EU to address the urgent need to defer certain time limits for the filing and exchange of information in the field of taxation because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commissioner for Revenue will be deferring […]

The international community continues to make ‘tremendous progress’ in the fight against offshore tax evasion, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Paris-based regulator said this week that implementation of transparency standards by the organisation’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has “moved many countries ever closer to […]

The double tax treaty for the avoidance of double taxation between the Republic of Cyprus and that of Kazakhstan shall enter into full force from 1st January 2021, (hereinafter the ‘Treaty’) The salient points of the Treaty, among others, are the taxation of dividends, interest, capital gains and royalties. Withholding Tax Rates Dividends: 5% – […]