Switzerland declares Privacy Shield with USA non-compliant   In light of the recent case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the protection of personal data in the...Read More

Taxes payable by cryptocurrency make Switzerland a leader in the implementation of crypto assets   Thanks to its collaboration with Bitcoin Swiss, Canton Zug announced that it will accept tax...Read More

US tackling shell companies’ money-laundering problem in new Defense Bill   Following persistent criticism of the Financial Action Task Force, regarding the lack of transparency of true owners of US...Read More

‘Res non-dom’ decreasing amid uncertainty in the UK   The recent release of HMRC’s annual update on non-domiciled (non-dom) taxpayers in the UK reveals the first signs of the so-called...Read More

FINMA releases clarification upon trustees’ licence   Following requests coming from various interest groups of the Swiss trust sector, FINMA recently released clarifications with respect to the information to be...Read More

Consultation over BO’s register continues in Jersey   After the enactment of the Financial Services (Disclosure and Provision of Information) Law, on July 14th, Jersey Government has started discussions over...Read More

HMRC demands unlimited access to taxpayers’ financial information   The draft Finance Bill 2020-2021 (coming as an amendment of the Schedule 36 powers in Finance Act 2008) seeks to introduce...Read More

New Bermuda Trusts Act grants more clearness to Bermuda Law users   Bermuda’s House of Assembly recently passed amendments to Bermuda’s Trusts Act 1989. The provision sees the strengthening of...Read More

More favourable conditions for Cypriot businesses with Swiss ties under new DTT   On 21st July 2020, Cyprus and Switzerland signed a protocol amending the 2014 double taxation agreement with...Read More

FINMA authorises SO-FIT as supervisory organisation under FinIA and FinSA   Earlier in July, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) granted the first authorizations to the Geneva-based Surveillance des...Read More

EU-US Privacy Shield invalidated by CJEU. Troubles for FATCA?   On July 20, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield arrangement (drafted in...Read More

UK government clarifies trust registration rules following 5AMLD Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has published the outcome of a technical consultation on the implementation of the EU Fifth Anti-Money...Read More

Mass commitment for British Overseas Territories in the opening of beneficial ownership registers With the introduction of the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act 2018, the UK government committed to issue...Read More

Switzerland and Liechtenstein ratify the Protocol amending their Double Taxation Agreement   The Protocol amending the Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) on income and wealth taxes between Switzerland and Liechtenstein has...Read More

FINMA grants authorization to the first Supervisory Organisations under FinIA/FinSA The new surveillance system Starting from January 1st, 2020, the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) and the Financial Services Act (FinSA)...Read More

Approaching opening date for UBOs registration in Netherlands July 8th 2020 was the starting date for entities incorporated or founded in the Netherlands to gather information on their UBOs, and...Read More

Germany announces no DAC 6 deferral of deadline for reporting cross-border tax arrangements On July 6th 2020, the German Ministry of Finance announced at a Press Conference that the country...Read More

On July 1st, 2020 Luxembourg’s Parliament passed bill 7216B (the “RFT” Law), implementing the provisions of the EU Directives (EU 2015/849 of Ma1 20th 2015 and EU 2018/843 of May...Read More

FINRA proposal to limit Associated Persons Acting for Customer Trusts   The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has recently proposed a rule (Rule 3241 “Registered Person Being Named a Customer’s...Read More

Blockchain and distributed ledger technology: no repercussions for tax law Bern, 19.06.2020 – During its meeting on 19 June 2020, the Federal Council took note of the report on the...Read More