South African tax resident individuals may consider, whether for estate planning purposes or otherwise, to advance funds to offshore trusts for investment abroad. The South African tax implications arising from the terms of the loan funding arrangement with the offshore trust should, however, also be taken into account ...
On 6 July 2018 the Government published a statement following on from Theresa May’s Cabinet meeting and Brexit debate at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country residence. The statement outlined the Cabinet’s collective stance and the next steps to be taken in respect of the Brexit negotiations. However, many critics have already called the Chequers statement a “compromise” position and argued that the statement seems to be advocating a “soft Brexit ...
The Affordable Care Act ("ACA") is alive and well, despite renewed legal challenges and the elimination of the “individual mandate” beginning next year. While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the tax penalty for individuals who don’t have health coverage to $0, effective for 2019, employers continue to be subject to penalties for failing to comply with certain ACA rules ...
In a recent judgement the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) concluded that an administrator of a Facebook fan page has independent obligations under European data protection law, and will be considered joint controller with Facebook for some processing activities ...
According to the bill, online purchases will also be taxed Recently, the government announced the submission of the latest tax reform to the Legislative Assembly, which is called the Public Finance Enhancement Plan. This new tax package is the merging of four projects that have been floating around the Legislative Assembly for a few months now ...
The Communications Decency Act (CDA)—the law Congress enacted in 1996 and confirmed this past year to shield online publishers from responsibility for the speech of others—gives internet platforms the right to publish the ideas and opinions of third-party users without being held liable for that content or being forced to remove it.[1] In the closely watched case ofHassell v ...
Out-of-State Sellers Can Now Be Required to Collect and Remit State Sales Tax Even When They Don’t Have a Physical Presence in the State In a recent 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, abandoned its physical presence standard established in National Bella Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Ill. and Quill Corp. v. North Dakota ...
As Seen In Bank Director Cybersecurity incidents and data compromises continue to plague financial institutions on a seemingly daily basis. Without a proper response plan in place, financial institutions risk significant damage to their reputation and operations, as well as serious potential liability from regulators and class-action litigation. This guide outlines the procedures financial institutions should implement to prepare for and respond to a cybersecurity incident ...
As rapid technological changes in the 21st century continue to expand the types and volume of private electronic information, the Fourth Amendment’s privacy protections are evolving. Originally, “Fourth Amendment jurisprudence was tied to common-law trespass” and provided protections against searches of property. See, United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400, 405 (2012) ...
After not disturbing the Third-Party Doctrine for more than 40 years, the Supreme Court created a significant exception to it inCarpenter v. United States. Slip Op., 16-402 (Jun. 22, 2018). Under the Third-Party Doctrine, individuals who voluntarily provide personal information to third parties are deemed to relinquish their legitimate reasonable expectation of privacy in that information ...
In a unanimous vote on June 28, 2018, California lawmakers enacted a landmark, first-of-its-kind data privacy law that is intended to give consumers greater control over how their personal information is collected, stored, and sold by companies with whom they do business ...
Artificial intelligence technologies are extremely promising in healthcare.1 By examining, cross-referencing and comparing a phenomenal amount of data.2 AI lets researchers work more quickly at a lower cost3 and facilitates doctors’ decision-making with regard to diagnosis, treatment and choice of prescription. The integration of AI into the healthcare field can take various forms:4 Management of electronic medical records (e.g ...
Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court released its much-anticipated opinion inSouth Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., in which it held that physical presence within a State is no longer a prerequisite to the imposition of liability on out-of-state sellers to collect and remit sales taxes. In doing so, the Court overruled two of its own earlier cases—National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of IllinoisandQuill Corp. v. North Dakota ...
On June 21, 2018, the United States Supreme Court, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., held that a state can now require companies not physically present in that state to collect tax on internet sales made to its residents. The explosive growth of e-commerce combined with the states’ eroding tax base convinced the Supreme Court to turn back a half century of jurisprudence ...
Despite its coming into force in 2001, the courts have frequently avoided commenting on the application and interpretation of the Act to Establish a Legal Framework for Information Technologies1 (hereafter the “LFIT Act”), preferring instead to rely on the provisions in the Civil Code of Québec2. In the decision of Benisty v. Kloda3, judge Jacques J ...
Should The Bahamas be at the forefront of cryptocurrency regulatory policy by implementing smart, flexible regulation that encourages the legitimate operators in the sub-sector to bloom or should we leave well enough alone?The Bahamas’ position in the landscape of the cryptocurrencies is a familiar one to many in the traditional financial services economy - they’ll know this story all too well with the growth, development, and decline of private banking: a new and exciting innovation
COMOROS: Treaty with United Arab Emirates enters into forceThe income tax treaty between the Comoros Islands and the United Arab Emirates, recently entered into force. GHANA: VAT withholding agents appointed In an attempt to improve value-added tax (“VAT”) compliance, the Ghana Revenue Authority (“GRA”) announced the appointment of identified VAT withholding agents per industry on 17 May 2018 ...
Section 9D of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (the “Act”) is aimed at South African residents who directly or indirectly hold more than 50% of the total participation (broadly speaking shares) or voting rights in a foreign company. A foreign company in this context is classified as a controlled foreign company (“CFC”) ...
Many countries have become more focused on combating tax avoidance. As such, transfer pricing compliance has become much more burdensome due to substantial documentation requirements and multiple filing deadlines. Multinationals (“MNEs”) have to take action to control their transfer pricing risks, but the cost of doing so could substantially increase ...
In 1527, two inhabitants of the Royal Burgh of Haddington lent 1800 merks to the Abbey of Melrose, to be repaid by the Abbey to their bankers, in what is understood to be the first recorded reference to bankers in Scotland. Fast-forward almost 500 years to the present day and modern banking would be unrecognisable to the burgesses of Haddington ...
Introduction I have been asked to speak on the Base Erosion Profit Sharing of the OECD, or better know as BEPS. This is a new acronym that, similar to CRS and the harmful tax initiative program, is geared at a multilateral approach to the application of uniform tax rules and standards. Unlike the CRS and the harmful tax practices initiatives of the past, BEPS has a focus not necessarily on the private client, but on the multinational commercial organization ...
Privacy is Dead - But we never wanted it anyway, muses Adrian Tan. Over the past few weeks, our inboxes were bombarded by emails about privacy. Companies wrote to us, in a state of panic, because of the General Data Protection Regulation. That is a new European Union law that recently came into force. Among the many things that the GDPR does is to regulate the export of personal data outside the EU ...
The California Legislature is considering legislation that would, if enacted, prohibit public agencies that form a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) from contracting out of liability for the JPA's pension obligations. Backed by CalPERS, AB 1912 was introduced early this year partly in response to drastic CalPERS pension cuts for former employees of LA Works, a dissolved job-training JPA ...
