On Aug. 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-65 (the Notice). The Notice implements President Donald Trump’s Aug. 8, 2020 directive (the Directive) to defer withholding, deposit, and payment of the 6.2 percent employee share of Social Security tax and railroad retirement equivalent tax on certain wages and compensation paid to employees ...
Key Points Employers can, but are not required to, delay withholding and paying the employee portion of Social Security taxes for certain employees until Jan. 1, 2021. The deferral only applies to Social Security taxes due from Sept. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, by employees who earn less than $4,000 in a bi-weekly pay period. From Jan. 1, 2021 through Apr ...
Note on Circular Letter No. 002/DCC/2020 With the approval of Notice No. 2/2020, of January 2020 (“Notice 2/2020”), the National Bank of Angola (“BNA”) introduced greater flexibility in the foreign exchange sector, as it eliminated prior licensing and delegated the validation of the operations to the commercial banks. With the publication of the Circular Letter No ...
As reported in our inBrief of 15 April 2020, Federal Decree-Law 19 of 2018 on Foreign Direct Investment (the FDI Law) permits majority foreign investment in certain business sectors and activities. Although majority ownership is attractive, it is not the only factor that a potential foreign direct investor should consider. One additional factor is whether the proposed business would qualify for the 5% GCC customs duty exemption that is discussed below ...
On August 27, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer released Executive Order 2020-172, entitled “Protecting workers who stay home, stay safe when they or their close contacts are sick,” which replaces Executive Order 2020-166. The new executive order is nearly identical to the one it replaces, with two important differences ...
The Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Bill 2020 (“the Covid-19 Bill”) was tabled for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat of Malaysia on Wednesday, 12 August 2020 ...
The Limited Partnership Fund Ordinance (LPFO), which provides for registration of eligible funds as limited partnership funds (LPFs) in Hong Kong, will come into operation on 31 August 2020. The enactment of the LPFO is a very welcome development, and is part the Hong Kong government’s stated aim to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong in becoming a preferred centre for international asset and wealth managers in Asia ...
On 8 April 2020, the Government rolled out the first tranche of the Employment Support Scheme (ESS) for subsidising wages of employees (see our client alerts dated 14 and 20 May 2020 for details of the ESS and its implementation). The Government has just announced details of the second tranche of the ESS covering September to November 2020, which are summarised below ...
You’ve been to the webinars about COVID-19. You’ve read the trade publication tips. You’ve implemented measures to protect your workers. You’re ahead of the game, right? Well, you’re certainly ahead of the sheriff who reportedly instructed his employees not to wear masks in the office. If a visitor enters Sheriff Billy Wood’s office with a mask, she or he will be instructed to remove it ...
The summer holidays have already begun in most of the federal states or are about to begin. Due to the Corona pandemic, most holiday plans could not be realized during the Easter holidays. Although the travel warnings for most countries in the EU were lifted in time for the summer holidays, it is still not possible to enjoy "normal" holidays this year ...
Due to the Corona pandemic and the associated economic effects, numerous companies were forced to announce short-time work over the past few months. This raises the question for employers to what extent it is still possible to hire during short-time work and what effects this has on short-time working compensation. NEW HIRES DURING SHORT-TIME WORK First of all, a distinction must be made between new hires before and after the introduction of short-time work ...
When the corona pandemic broke out, many employers allowed their employees to work in home office or even forced them to do so. In the meantime, many uncertainties have been clarified and the desire for normality is increasing among both employers and employees. Therefore, in the following, we will describe what employers must take into account when employees return from home office. 1 ...
From 1 September 2020, new rules on temporary unemployment will enter into force. Companies and sectors that are substantially affected by the COVID-19 crisis can continue to apply the current and simplified COVID-19 force majeure temporary unemployment regime until 31 December 2020. The list of in-scope sectors has yet to be determined by the minister of work ...
In order to tackle the effects of the Corona crisis, it is planned at EU level to temporarily facilitate the raising of equity capital for companies. This will enable certain issuers to publish a shortened prospectus with only 30 pages instead of a full prospectus to issue shares. Through this, issuers will have the option to issue shares at short notice, without bureaucracy and inexpensively, thereby improving the debt-to-equity ratio in their balance sheets ...
COVID-19 has undoubtedly had a significant impact on workplaces across the UK. However, what is becoming increasingly clear is the impact which it has had and continues to have on women in work. We consider the statistics and how employers should respond. What do the statistics show? 1. Sectors During lockdown, women were more likely to work in the sectors that had to completely shut-down such as hospitality (23% of women vs 16% men in these industries) ...
Did you know? The new Trade Marks (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 which came into effect on 19 June 2020 empowers the Registrar of Trade Marks to make the rules for implementing the long-awaited Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (the “Madrid Protocol”) in Hong Kong ...
In the COVID-19 era, many employers and businesses are wrestling with unprecedented issues ...
The Algarve has been seriously affected by the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, on 29 July 2020, the Portuguese Parliament published Resolution no. 51/2020 in which it recommend the adoption of a social and economic emergency plan for the Algarve (“Plano de emergência social e económico para o Algarve”) by the Portuguese Government. The recommended measures set out in Resolution no ...
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently published frequently asked questions addressing leave-sharing plans related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following IRS Notice 2006-59, the IRS has confirmed that employers may set up leave-sharing plans to permit their employees to deposit leave in an employer-sponsored leave bank for use by other employees who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
On 13th August, Federal Law dated 13.07.2020, No. 210-FZ specifying the procedure and establishing new rules of severance payments, in case of dismissal due to liquidation of the organization, or redundancy, comes into force.In case of the dismissal due to the organization’s liquidation, all payments shall be made to employees prior to its completion ...
From 1 September 2020, new rules on temporary unemployment will enter into force. Companies and sectors that are substantially impacted by the Covid-19 crisis can continue to apply the current and simplified ‘Covid-19 force majeure’ temporary unemployment regime until 31 December 2020. The list of in-scope sectors is yet to be determined by the Minister of Work ...
Summertime is holiday time. Although the worldwide travel warning issued by the Federal Foreign Office for some European countries was lifted on 15 June 2020, currently (as of 17 July 2020, 5:30 p.m.) 130 countries are still classified as risk areas. These include Turkey and the USA, which are popular destinations for German holidaymakers ...
In order to tackle the effects of the Corona crisis, it is planned at EU level to temporarily facilitate the raising of equity capital for companies. This will enable certain issuers to publish a shortened prospectus with only 30 pages instead of a full prospectus to issue shares. Through this, issuers will have the option to issue shares at short notice, without bureaucracy and inexpensively, thereby improving the debt-to-equity ratio in their balance sheets ...
