On August 1, 2023, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a revised version of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, which may be used now but must be used for all new hires and rehires starting November 1, 2023. The new form is a major change from the last iteration in that it has returned to a one-page version, which had been used from 1986 until 2013. This one-page version, however, has two Supplements, A and B....

Read more

On 3 August 2023, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), Luxembourg’s financial regulator, published a report of its Thematic Review on the implementation of sustainability-related provisions in the investment fund industry (CSSF Thematic Review). 1. Background After the entry into force of key sustainable finance regulations, such as the SFDR and TR, and the revision of the AIFMD and UCITS Directive frameworks, all imposing new disclosure obligations on financial market participants, the CSSF has recently reviewed how successfully these...

Read more

The IRS published, on July 31, competent authority agreements with Denmark, Luxembourg, Mexico, and Malta, effective July 1, 2020, pursuant to which, on a bilateral basis, references in the respective tax treaty with the United States to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will be treated as references to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which entered into effect on July 1, 2020. Background In July 2020, the USMCA replaced NAFTA. As detailed in our insight, this created uncertainty for some...

Read more

The employee retention credit (ERC) provided many employers a tax savings opportunity to help keep employees on their payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many organizations claimed the credit based on a supplier shutdown provision. Now, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has clarified what criteria an organization must meet to be able to claim the credit — and in many cases, employers who previously claimed the credit may not be eligible. Let’s dig into details to understand how your ERC eligibility...

Read more

The CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) is an initiative by Canada’s Border Services Agency (CBSA) to transform and modernize the collection of duties and taxes for commercial goods being imported into Canada. The initiative targets the revenue and cash management systems that currently are in place for assessing and collecting duties and taxes, and replaces them with a simplified process that includes electronic payment options. Participation in the CARM is mandatory for all Canadian-resident and nonresident businesses that import...

Read more

On 8 August 2023, the UN Secretary-General published an advance unedited version of a report (‘Report’) analyzing options/next steps around UN international tax cooperation. The Report follows the approval and adoption of the draft resolution from certain African countries in late 2022. The official version will be released before the next session of the UN General Assembly in September, during and after which discussions will occur on what parts of the Report to adopt. The options – which are...

Read more

In light of concerns associated with artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-adjacent technologies such as machine learning in the field of investment advisory, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules on July 26, 2023 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that, if enacted, would require broker-dealers and investment advisers to take steps to address conflicts of interest associated with their use of predictive data analytics and similar technologies.  The proposed rules...

Read more

Profit before tax increases significantly to €3,035 million in 2Q2023; CET1 ratio rises to 14.9% • Good interest income after a long period of negative rates • Operating expenses excluding regulatory costs slightly lower quarter-on-quarte • Low risk costs, reflecting strong asset quality • Growth of 227,000 primary customers and an increase in net core deposits of €17 billion • Four-quarter rolling RoE increased to 11.7%; ING will pay an interim cash dividend of €0.35 per ordinary share CEO statement “The second quarter of 2023 was...

Read more

Although last week brought the usual hodgepodge of one step forward, one step back in logistics news, there is one very big positive. UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have come to a tentative agreement on a five-year contract. It provides workplace security for existing workers along with better pay, and an allowance for more full-time jobs, leaving both sides feeling they’ve reached a win-win agreement. Shippers everywhere were bracing for the worst, for fear of a strike which...

Read more