Lists of tax havens revised
On 27 November 2015 the Council of Ministers revised the lists of tax havens that apply for the purposes of the so-called dividends-received deduction (‘DRD’) and the reporting obligation for payments (to tax havens). Two draft Royal Decrees have been approved that add or delete certain countries to or from the lists following changes to
Single resolution fund on schedule for 1 January 2016
The EU’s single resolution mechanism will enter into force, as scheduled, on 1 January 2016. This signals completion of the second pillar of Europe’s banking union. As of 30 November 2015, a sufficient number of member states ratified an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) on the transfer and mutualisation of contributions to a single resolution fund (SRF). This
Financial Sector Contribution: (proposed) rates increases
On 26 November, the Belgian Government introduced a bill of law comprising, already, some changes to the brand-new Financial Sector Contribution (FSC) introduced by the Act of 10 August 2015. As a reminder, the FSC is the result of the multiplication of three factors: “FSC = Qualifying Liabilities x FSC Rate x NID Rate”. It
European Parliament accepts possible delay MiFID II
In an official statement that was published by the European Parliament on Friday 27 November 2015, MiFID II Rapporteur Markus Ferber tentatively accepted a one-year delay of the implementation deadline. The statement says: “The European Parliament’s negotiation team has informed the European Commission that we are ready to accept a one-year delay of the entry
MiFID II implementation potential delay
In a speech to the EU Parliament, Steven Maijoor, Chairman of the ESMA, flagged that the current MiFID II timetable is “extremely tight” and delaying certain parts of it might be needed. In a separate statement, a spokesman of the European Commission stated “the most legally sound approach would be to delay the whole package
Luxembourg, Cyprus and Seychelles removed from OECD’s list of uncooperative tax havens
On 30 October 2015, the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (‘Global Forum’) announced that Cyprus, Luxembourg and the Seychelles are no longer deemed to be non-compliant with the OECD Exchange of Information standard and assigned a new overall rating of ‘Largely Compliant’, following significant changes to their legal
EU Commission’s final decisions in Starbucks and Fiat state aid cases
On 21 October 2015, the European Commission decided that Luxembourg and the Netherlands have granted selective tax advantages to Fiat Finance and Trade and Starbucks, respectively. These are illegal under EU state aid rules. For more information on the key aspects of the investigation and its impact, please have a look at our news alert.
New administrative VAT decision: Travel package and insurance services – Impact for Belgian lease industry
The Belgian VAT authorities have published a new administrative decision clarifying the VAT treatment of offerings by travel agencies consisting of both travel services and insurance services, based on the ‘old’ CJEU case BGZ Leasing of 2011 (C-224/11). These guidelines adjust the initial viewpoint of the Belgian VAT authorities to the CJEU case BGZ Leasing
