By Torsdon Poon, Petter Wendel, Gerald Whelan | EY In the first quarter of 2018, private equity deal activity was up 60% over the same period in 2017, making it the most active first quarter for PE in more than a decade. That activity level is an indirect result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, says Torsdon Poon, EY Americas Transaction Tax Leader. “The fact that corporate tax rate reductions are helping to create more stability in the market is beneficial,” says Poon....

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Join us on the High Line on Saturday, July 14th for a free community program featuring honey tastings, live beehives, and much more Friends of the High Line and TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®, and the Presenting Green Sponsor of the High Line, today announce the return of the High Line Honey program, which culminates this year with a summer harvest event on the High Line on Saturday, July 14th. Organizers expect to produce between 100 to 150 pounds of...

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By Dr Raimund Behnes | DLA Piper Following its recent joint decision on Deister Holding (C-507/16) and Juhler Holding (C-613/16) on the former version of the German anti-treaty shopping rule (see earlier insights), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has now decided that the current version of Germany's anti-treaty shopping rule, as widely expected, is also incompatible with the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive and infringes the EU freedom of establishment (ECJ decision C-440/17). This outcome renders the German anti-treaty shopping framework in its current form invalid and...

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By Osborne Clarke  Many supply, construction or service contracts include a clause which allows either party to terminate the agreement, or provides that the agreement will terminate automatically, upon the occurrence of various insolvency-related events. However, such clauses allowing for the termination of contracts purely for reason of insolvency of the other party are generally invalid under German insolvency law. Understanding how this might affect your contracts can help you to ensure that you are adequately protected through other contractual provisions,...

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By Danaïs Fol | Loyens & Loeff Today, July 11th, the Court of Justice issued an important ruling in the case C-356/15 European Commission versus Belgium. The Court of Justice ruled that Belgian legislation, which provides that Belgian authorities can unilaterally declare posted workers subject to the Belgian social security legislation, is inconsistent with EU legislation. A1 Declaration is presumed to be binding An A1 Declaration is an official document issued by a Member State in which a company that is posting workers is...

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TMF Group, in association with ACCA, looks at the big issues for businesses planning to set up or expand in Germany and the tax and accounting regulations to consider. In economic terms, Germany is on a high. In 2017 economic growth in Germany reached 2.2%, the highest level for six years. Unemployment is down to 3.6%, the lowest level since unification in 1990. It is no wonder that companies across Europe and the world see Germany as an attractive destination. It...

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Tradewind has provided a $2 million export finance facility to a start-up manufacturer and exporter of home textiles based in India. With the facility in place, the company, who sells to the US and Europe, was able to meet its working capital requirement, accommodate its increasing sales on open account payment terms, and explore potential growth opportunities. As a start-up business, the client struggled securing funding from traditional banks. Because Tradewind works with companies who do not have a long...

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By Lisa Patti | AccentC3 When I am coaching entrepreneurs from around the world, the focus is typically on clarity of speech and using intonation and voice to make an impact. That, however, can take many shapes, and one reason for that is the impact of culture on communication. Sergey Zverev, the founder of Bino, explained that being more serious shows confidence in Russia. Less facial expression and intonation are commonly used to demonstrate that. In Vietnam, however, speaking in a softer...

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By Joel Cooper |Daan Arends | DLA Piper On 5 June 2018 the World Customs Organization (WCO) published "Revenue Package Phase III" which is a package of all available tools and instruments (including, inter alia, formal instruments and conventions, guidance notes and training materials) that are relevant to revenue collection by customs authorities. This package covers a number of new initiatives relating to Origin, Valuation, Customs Laboratories, Post-Clearance Audit, as well as Customs-Tax Cooperation.  As part of the new materials on Valuation,...

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