We outline below last month’s most significant legal developments
Taxation
- IAPR published Circular no 2018/2019 with regards to the tax treatment and the tax credit of income derived from dividends acquired from a foreign company by individuals - Greek tax residents.
- IAPR published Circular no 2017/2019, providing clarifications on the required procedure for changing one’s tax residence to Kuwait.
- IAPR published Circular no 2011/2019, notifying Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 regarding administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of VAT and Regulation (EU) 2018/1541, on the measures to strengthen administrative cooperation in the field of VAT.
- IAPR published Circular no 2004/2019, notifying the new provisions on exclusions and exemptions from Capital Concentration Tax. According to the above amendment, Capital Concentration Tax is not imposed when a capital increase in cash exclusively relates to expenses for Scientific and Technology Research.
- IAPR published Circular no 2008/2019, with clarifications on the acquisition of foreign assets by Greek tax residents.
- IAPR published Circular no 2009/2019, notifying to the Agencies of the Tax Administration the Decision 2465/2018 of the Council of State. This Decision rules that the special solidarity contribution (articles 29 of Law 3986/2011 and 43A of Law 4172/2013) is considered as “tax” and falls within the scope of the Double Taxation Treaties.
- New EU rules to eliminate the main loopholes used in corporate tax avoidance are applied from 1 January 2019 as part of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Package.
- The European Commission invites EU leaders to examine and decide on the reform of the EU decision-making procedure where EU tax policy is concerned with the progressive transition from unanimous voting to qualified majority voting.
Anti-Money Laundering & Terrorism Financing
- IAPR issued a press release concerning FATF’s Announcement on countries that face strategic weaknesses in combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
Golden Visa Schemes
- Law 4589/2019 under the title "Synergies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, etc." was published, introducing amendments to the Immigration Code on the Investors’ Permanent Residence Permit.
- The European Commission published a Report on Investor Citizenship and Residence (Golden Visa) Schemes in the European Union. The Report records the existing practices and identifies certain risks, particularly on security, money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.
Other legislative developments
- Law 4577/2018 with the title "Incorporation into the Greek legislation of Directive 2016/1148/EU concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union and other provisions” was published.
- Law 4583/2018 under the title "Repeal of provisions on pension reduction, incorporation of Directive 2016/97/EU on insurance distribution (recast) and other provisions" was published.
- Law 4588/2019 with the title "Ratification of the Final Dispute Settlement Agreement described in United Nations Security Council Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993),Termination of the intermediate 1995 Agreement and Consolidation of the strategic partnership between the parties ", also known as the "Prespes Agreement " was published.
- A draft bill under the title "Harmonization of Greek legislation with the Directive 2015/2436/EU to align Member States laws relating to trade marks” was set under Public Consultation.