Flash News Archive

The VAT group is still a new concept for Latvian businesses and tax authorities to grasp. A key advantage of the VAT group is that supplies between its members attract no VAT. This article explores more opportunities for optimising VAT costs through a VAT group. Read further »

Sections 12.2 through 12.11 of the VAT Act are now in force, laying down the procedure for refunds of VAT credits arising after June this year. Read further »

The amount of information at a related company’s disposal often plays a key role when setting transfer prices in dealings with related foreign companies. For example, the parent company may incur management fees in several subsidiaries, but the Latvian company may have no information about the underlying costs of management services being acquired. This article explores what can happen if a Latvian company is unable to give adequate information about its transactions with related companies on a tax audit conducted by the State Revenue Service (SRS). Read further »

Parliament is about to debate a set of amendments to the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Act in their second reading. These amendments are necessary to align the provisions relating to the proposed tax treatment of microbusinesses and to clarify how a tenant may adjust taxable income for leasehold improvements after a lease agreement is terminated. This article takes a look at the forthcoming changes in the CIT Act. Read further »

The present economic situation is increasingly forcing banks to repossess and auction mortgaged assets. Some of the issues arising from such auctions were debated during a recent PwC hosted discussion on the VAT treatment of mortgaged asset sales. We invited the largest Latvian banks to take part in this discussion highlighting some of the problems that forthcoming changes to the VAT Act may bring. Since the matters we discussed are likely to interest a wider circle of readers, this article offers a summary of the discussion. Read further »

In our Flash News edition of 9 March 2010 we informed our subscribers of the proposed introduction of a compulsory packaging deposit scheme. This article takes a look at how this will affect the natural resource tax (NRT) treatment of packaging. Read further »

Following the article we posted in our Flash News edition of 29 June 2010 about reclaiming VAT paid abroad, this article explores how to properly complete a refund claim on the Electronic Declaration System (EDS) maintained by the State Revenue Service and when the claimant can expect to get the money back. Read further »

To complete the article we posted in our Flash News edition of 6 July 2010 about recent amendments to the residence permit rules, this article explores the criteria for taking out a repeat temporary residence permit. Read further »

We have informed our subscribers that European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 987/2009, which lays down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, came into force on 1 May 2010. This article takes a look at the A1 certificate, which replaces the E101 certificate. Read further »

Proposed amendments to Cabinet Regulation No. 933 of 14 November 2006, which clarifies the application of the VAT Act, have reached the final phase of review by the Cabinet of Ministers. The amendments are intended to clarify certain provisions of the VAT Act, thus making it possible to apply the latest amendments to the VAT Act in a better way, and to eliminate scope for conflicting interpretations. Read further »