After all of the sand had run out of the hourglass, Congress finally passed (and the President signed) a compromise tax bill to avoid very substantial income tax increases on taxpayers with income under $400,000 ($450,000 for joint filers). The good news for our estate planning clients is the “permanent” extension of the current estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions, and a slight increase in the tax rate from 35% to 40% ...
This is an important year on the taxation front. New rules restrict interest deductions and increase the transfer tax related to the sale of shares in housing and real estate. Additionally, two tax incentives support research and development activities, as well as innovation and growth. Restriction on interest deductionThe Finnish legislature has restricted interest deductions applied in taxation starting in the 2014 taxation year ...
Earlier this year, I wrote an article entitled “Why you should choose the BVI for your next Fund.” Since then new regulations ushering in an “Approved Managers” regime have been published and as of December 10, 2012 are now in force. The effect of these new regulations is to make the BVI an attractive option for setting up as an investment manager ...
It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 active companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and that more than half of those companies are used in China, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. While, traditionally, many of these companies have been used as asset holding vehicles, the robust Chinese economy has led to the increased use of BVI companies in China and Hong Kong as hedge funds and other types of investment vehicles. This is no surprise ...
With regard to our In Fact and In Law Express newsletter of July 2012, entitled ‘‘AMF Investigations: The duty to answer an investigator and his jurisdiction to rule on objections’’, please be informed that, on December 20, 2012, the Supreme Court dismissed Fournier’s application for leave1 to appeal a Court of Appeal decision2, which convicted Fournier of an offence under section 195(4) SA because of his refusal to testify whereas lower courts acquitted him ...
End users will be relieved to know that compliance dates for business conduct and documentation rules related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), which had been driving the request by swap dealers and major swap participants for end users to enter into the ISDA August 2012 DF Protocol or otherwise amend their swap documents by the end of the year, have now been delayed until May 1, 2013 ...
The 2013 Federal Revenue Law was published yesterday and its Transitional Article 3 includes an amnesty covering payment of federal taxes and related government charges, as follows: a) 80% forgiveness of tax assessment consisting of federal taxes, antidumping duties, and fines for failure to comply with federal tax obligations, other than payment obligations, arising prior to January 1, 2007 ...
You are general counsel of a publicly traded medical device company that has begun the diligence process on your company’s target, a publicly held x-ray and CT scan component manufacturer. The target is a Delaware corporation based in California, with additional manufacturing facilities in Utah and Kentucky; within the past three years, it has sold two mothballed manufacturing facilities ...
On November 20 and 27, 2012, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) filed two letters with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) requesting an extension of compliance dates for certain new business conduct, portfolio reconciliation and swap trading relationship documentation requirements issued by the CFTC pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) ...
In a recent decision1, the Superior Court ruled in favour of GE, Commercial Distribution Finance Canada ("GE") in a dispute against the national Bank of Canada ("NBC"). Both institutions had a common client, New World Zanotti Transblock Inc. ("Zanotti"), which had granted each of them a hypothec specifically charging its receivables. NBC had agreed to grant GE's hypothec a prior rant to its own ...
Two recent decisions of the Court of Appeal Remind us of the duty on Investment Advisors and Financial Securities Advisors to know their client and the correlative duty of the information. In both cases, the Court of Appeal held that the Advisor has breached his duty to know his client, assess the Client's needs, and inform and advise the Client. Both cases also dealt with the Client's possible contributory negligence ...
On October 24, 2012, the Harper government announced its intentions to enact new regulations to protect consumers who use prepaid credit cards in order to broaden their options regarding the forms of payment that best suit their needs. Such prepaid payment products allow consumers to make purchases or cash withdrawals through a payment network like American Express, MasterCard or Visa, with funds that have been paid in advance to a financial institution ...
North Carolina’s banking laws have been comprehensively updated for the first time in 80 years and provide the state with one of one of the most modern banking systems in the country. Effective October 1, 2012, the bipartisan legislation is a product of compromise and joint effort on the part of legislators, banks and consumer advocates ...
In a time when foreclosures are all too common, many secured lenders end up taking title to the real properties securing their loans. One of the questions, then, is should a lender obtain an owner’s title insurance policy or is the loan title insurance policy sufficient?As we all know, title insurance reduces the risk of the insured owner or lender by insuring one or both against loss or damage arising out of defects to or liens on title ...
Is your community bank or holding company still a public company? Are you making periodic filings — 10-K's, 10-Q's, 8-K's, Proxy Statements — to the SEC or your primary federal bank regulator? Are you still subject to Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX)? Why? A large number of community bank holding companies have filed to deregister from reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ...
A federal court recently held that two investment funds are not jointly and severally liable for a bankrupt portfolio company’s withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension plan disagreeing with a 2007 opinion by the Appeals Board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”). The Massachusetts U.S. District Court ruled there was no liability because the investment funds are not “trades or businesses” for purposes of ERISA’s joint and several liability rules ...
On Wednesday, October 3rd., it was published in the Official Gazette the provisional suspension issued by the Constitutional Court of Section 180, 4., of Decree 10-2012 which abrogated the withholding exemption contained in Section 12 of Decree 80-2000 ...
Temporary Suspension of the Definition of Pension Plans (employees' deductible expenses) as those approved by the “Corresponding Authority” Provisional Suspension of mandatory use of Banking System to evidence Payments and Disbursements of Expenses Higher than Q.30,000.00 In the past, the Tax Administration questioned on a case by case basis Pension Plans administered by private Banks, as employees´ deductible expense ...
According to the provisions of Law 18,131, as of December 31 of each year, all taxpayers should compare the contributions actually made to the National Health Fund ( hereinafter "FONASA" ) with the annual cap filler ( hereinafter "STOP ANNUAL " ) ...
If you a trader, financial analyst or other financial technocrat and are thinking of setting up a fund, then the British Virgins Islands is probably your best bet. In today’s financial environment, investor capital for a start up fund can be hard to come by ...
Article 63 of Government Regulation Number 74 of 2011 on The Procedures for Exercising Tax Rights and Fulfilling Tax Obligations (“Regulation 74/2011”) mandates the promulgation of a Minister of Finance (MOF) Regulation on the suspension of a tax crime investigation ...
On Monday October 29, 2012 the B.C. Property Assessment Appeal Board released an important decision reducing the assessed value for property tax of the upland land and improvements at the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal to a nominal value ...
On May 14, 2012, the Honourable Normand Gosselin, J.S.C., ruled on an amended motion seeking the sanction of a plan of arrangement concerning a debtor, Norgate Metal Inc. ("Norgate").1 The judgment is special in that Norgate asked the court to annul some of the votes that had been cast against the plan of arrangement. Norgate submitted that the only reason why the creditors who cast those votes had voted against the plan was that they wished to eliminate a competitor from their industry ...
On August 30, 2011, Hart Stores Inc./Magasins Hart inc. ( hereinafter “Hart”), filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (hereinafter the “CCAA”). As part of the restructuring, Hart closed down 32 out of 92 points of sale and laid off 640 out of 1,600 employees. Included in the lay off are five executives, who are the subject of this bulletin.The executives were all laid off by means of a simple notice of termination ...
