Latest news - April 2019

HOME NEWS IN BRIEF

• Act No. 74/2019, regulating certain relationships in connection with the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union, to become effective on the date of a no-deal Brexit, was published in the Collection of Laws.
   
• On its website, the General Financial Directorate published its Information on Tax Overpayments and Information on Calculating Spouse’s Income to Apply a Tax Credit.
   
• On 1 April 2019, the Ministry of Justice provided full access to public registers’ open data. These can be searched using a number of criteria and users may export the search results in several formats. On its website, the ministry informs that data will be delivered gradually in data sets by years.
   
• The 2019 tax package substantially postpones the deadlines for preparing and approving a project (its project documentation) until the end of the time limit for filing a tax return for the period when the taxpayer first claims a research and development allowance for the given project. Under the new rules, taxpayers must notify the tax administrator of their intention to claim a research and development allowance for a particular project before the project commences. If they fail to do so, they will not be allowed to include expenses incurred for the project solution in the allowance.
   
• The Ministry of Finance submitted a bill to amend certain tax laws in connection with the implementation of EU regulations (the 2020 tax package) for the external comment procedure. The 2020 tax package contains changes effective from 1 January 2020 and includes amendments to the Income Tax Act (ATAD), the VAT Act (quick fixes), the Excise Duty Act, and the Act on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, and a technical amendment to the Act on Special Court Proceedings (DAC 6).
   
• The Chamber of Deputies passed an amendment to the Senate’s statutory measure on immovable property acquisition tax, extending the existing scope of exemption from this tax from cases involving the first acquisition for consideration of an ownership title to a unit in a residential house also to cases involving the acquisition of an ownership title to a unit in a family house.

WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF

• Finland has joined the countries that have deposited their ratification documents relating to the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the "MLI") with the OECD, the depository. Finland will therefore start applying the adopted measures in its treaties with countries that have already ratified the MLI (such as Australia, France, Japan, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Great Britain, Ireland) from 1 June 2019. The ratification of the MLI in the Czech Republic is currently awaiting approval by the Chamber of Deputies.
   
• On 12 March 2019, ECOFIN (the council of finance ministers) discussed certain tax matters and approved, among other things, an amendment to VAT rules for e-commerce, effective from 2021. The council also agreed to expand a list of non-cooperative jurisdictions to a total of 10 countries (Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu). An agreement to implement a digital tax was not reached.
   
• At its session of 26 March 2019, the European Parliament adopted a final report on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance. The report contains, among other things, recommendations for new rules enhancing the administrative cooperation in tax matters and for establishing new European and global bodies dealing with these issues.
   
• The OECD disclosed an instrument to determine beneficial owners, i.e. a beneficial ownership toolkit, prepared by the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank. The toolkit should help governments implement the Global Forum’s standards aimed at enforcing the laws in the area of determining the beneficial owners of corporations and trusts to prevent criminal activities hidden behind legal structures.