By Vulcan Consulting EUROPEAN UNION Collection of EU states back new plan to tax digital giants Finance ministers from ten EU countries have signed a letter, pledging to throw their weight behind a new initiative to begin taxing the digital revenues of the major internet players such as Google, Amazon and Facebook. Triggered initially by France, the tax plan has gathered support from a significant cohort of additional EU states such as Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and several others. Such internet giants have...

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American Views New York State– FIBER OPTIC CABLE---IS IT REAL PROPERTY? The majority of jurisdictions the United States have some form of tax on what is known as tangible personal property. The definition of personal property for tax purposes in the US covers a broad range, including anything from motor vehicles and boats to items such as office computer and telephone systems, and even office carpeting and furniture. It is in those jurisdictions that do not levy a personal property tax that the greatest...

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By DS-Concept News DS-Concept, a global commercial finance company that specializes in international non-recourse factoring, has provided a $1.5 million export factoring facility to a seafood exporter and processor. The facility is structured in two currencies in order to service their markets in the UK and France. With this new facility in place, the client will benefit from accelerated cash flow and will be able to increase the amount of product processed at their factory for large scale orders and therefore...

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By Philip Nolan |Partner | +353 1 614 5078 | Mason Hayes & Curran In September 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR) overturned a January 2016 decision of its lower court regarding employee privacy in the workplace. The case, Barbulescu, concerned the monitoring of employee communications in the workplace and whether the monitoring was excessive in light of the employee’s expectation of privacy. The impact of this reversal could prove significant in the context of employers’ obligations to safeguard their employees’...

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By Vincent Wellens | Barbara Giroud | Anne-Sophie Morvan |Carmen Schellekens | NautaDutilh On 12 September 2017, a highly awaited bill implementing and complementing the EU General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR (Regulation No 2016/679) was submitted to the Luxembourg Parliament. Since the GDPR is a European regulation, its provisions will be directly applicable in Luxembourg as from 25 May 2018. However, the Member States have a number of options when it comes to implementing the GDPR. Luxembourg has made use...

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By Michael Molenaars | Jeroen Smits | Maarten de Bruin | Emile Bongers | Reinout de Boer | Robert Jean Kloprogge | Stibbe On 19 September it was budget day (Prinsjesdag) in the Netherlands on which the Dutch government announced several bills containing tax law proposals. In this Tax Alert we will provide you with a summary of the main proposals relevant for international businesses. Most attention will be given to the proposal regarding changes to the Dutch dividend withholding tax...

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By Caroline Tang  | Austin | caroline.tanogletree.com The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced, on September 18, 2017, that it has resumed premium processing for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2018 cap. USCIS had originally announced on March 3, 2017 that it would be suspending the premium processing program for all H-1B petitions received on April 3, 2017 or later, including all of the “cap-subject” H-1B petitions for FY 2018. This resumption of premium processing...

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 By Philip L. Gordon | Shareholder | pgordonlittler.com  With summer holidays over and only eight months remaining in the two-year enforcement grace period, U.S. multinational employers and their European Union (EU) subsidiaries have little time to spare before starting to address compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR or the “Regulation”), the EU’s new data protection framework.  By May 25, 2018, the corporate group will need to implement new poliies, procedures, and practices to address the GDPR’s many...

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BY GRUNFELD | DESIDERIO | LEBOWITZ |SILVERMAN & KLESTADT LLP The FTC has updated the process by which firms can obtain a Registered Identification Number (commonly referred to as an “RN Number”) for use in connection with the sale and/or distribution of textile, fur and wool products. At the same time, the Commission has sought to remind the Trade that Registered Identification Numbers are subject to cancellation if a person or firm to whom a Registered Identification Number has been assigned fails...

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By Loyens & Loeff News The EU Council of Economy and Finance ministers (Ecofin) agreed at their meeting in Tallinn on 16 September 2017 that companies active in the ‘digital economy’ in EU countries should pay more tax. The Ecofin aims at reaching a common understanding on the outline of the new EU-wide tax rules by December this year. This development will have an important impact on cross-border businesses in the EU. The European Commission will first present a white...

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