News in brief, April 2020

DOMESTIC NEWS IN BRIEF

• The average gross annual wage for 2019 was published in the Collection of Laws for the purpose of issuing blue cards pursuant to the Act on Residence of Foreign Nationals in the Czech Republic.
• An amendment to the Act on the Regulation of Business in Financial Markets, adapting the Czech legal order to Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 effective from 1 May 2020, responds to certain deficiencies of the current legal regulation.
• The senate has approved an amendment to the Civil Code that is now to be signed by the president. The amendment is effective from 1 July 2020 and primarily deals with the legal regulation of associations of residential unit owners.
• With amending proposals, the senate referred back to the chamber of deputies a draft amendment to the Tax Procedure Code aiming to implement the MOJE daně project.
• The government submitted to the chamber of deputies a draft amendment to the Energy Act, responding to the incorrect transposition of EU directives (2009/72/EC of 13 July 2009 and 2009/73/EC of 13 July 2009).

FOREIGN NEWS IN BRIEF

• The Austrian Ministry of Finance has published additional information on the digital service tax which became effective on 1 January 2020. The update outlines the rules on registrations for the tax and clarifies that the digital service tax will be payable on a monthly basis.
• The Spanish Government has given its approval for draft legislation for a digital service tax (DST) to be presented to the Spanish parliament. The proposed DST would be imposed at a rate of 3% on income derived from certain digital services .
• Under Russian tax law, it is possible to employ the look-through approach to identify the ultimate beneficial ownership of Russia-sourced income, and thus apply the withholding tax rate provided under the tax treaty with the residence state of the ultimate beneficial owner instead of the residence state of the direct recipient. The Russian company (withholding tax agent) must disclose the application of the look-through approach in the withholding tax return that is filed with the Russian tax authorities .
• Up-to-date information on measures adopted in connection with  COVID-19, prepared by KPMG member firm’s colleagues, can be found at: KPMG Tax News Flash Covid-19 Tracker and KPMG Mobility News Flash Covid-19 Tracker. You may also watch our global webinars.