In romantic comedies it’s not uncommon for the main character to realize their best friend - out of familiarity overlooked - is actually the one they’ve been looking for all along... The point is that it is often easy to overlook the value of what is sitting right in front of you. In a similar way, we have found that a lot of the information companies have stored in their internal systems - in the form of emails, memos, Pdfs,...

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The coronavirus has been a matter of public concern for weeks. There are already several cases of the highly contagious lung disease in Germany. Health experts are currently still talking about an epidemic, i.e. a locally restricted infectious disease, but it could quickly turn into a pandemic – a transnational and transcontinental disease. In this client newsletter, we provide information on the consequences of a pandemic outbreak with regard to your rights and duties as an employer. Can employees refuse...

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California Attorney General (AG) Xavier Becerra released revised draft regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) late last week. The AG will accept comments on the revisions until February 25, 2020. The regulations are not yet final, and because the AG has added an additional notice and comment period, it is likely that additional revisions will occur before the regulations are finalized and become effective. While enforcement of the CCPA cannot begin until July 1, 2020, the AG has...

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On February 10, 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) intended to improve transparency around how not-for-profit organizations present and disclose contributed nonfinancial assets, also known as gifts-in-kind. Contributed nonfinancial assets includes fixed assets such as land and buildings, materials and supplies such as food, clothing and pharmaceuticals and contributed services such as use of space or professional services. Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), nonprofit organizations are required to report gifts-in-kind at...

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Another California federal judge has denied a request to block the enforcement of California Assembly Bill (AB) 5 while the lawsuit challenging the statute is pending. Specifically, in Olson, et al. v. State of California, et al., No. 2:19-cv-10956 (Olson), currently pending in the Central District of California, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee on Feb. 10, 2020, denied the request from Uber, Postmates and the individual plaintiffs for a preliminary injunction to stop AB 5 from being enforced against them....

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Irish Election Fallout: The rocky road to government formation The results of last week’s general election have delivered one of the biggest shocks to the political system in a century. An appetite for change has seen Sinn Féin surge to take its place as the most popular party in the country, with an impressive 24.5% share of the vote. The century long duopoly enjoyed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has ended, and a new political landscape has been redrawn,...

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When you’re a U.S. citizen, you normally report on your U.S. individual income tax return the money that you made on U.S. soil as well the money that you made abroad regardless of the country where you live, and you pay U.S. income tax, as appropriate. However, you are allowed to take a credit, on your U.S. individual income tax return, for any income tax that you may have paid to the tax authorities of the foreign country where you made that money.   Let’s take the example of an American...

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On 1 January 2019, the new optional VAT regime for immovable leases entered into force. For lease agreements that came into effect before 5 December 2019, the transitional regime is coming to its end. What should you do? The two most important features of this new VAT regime are: The possibility to opt for the application of VAT on certain B2B leases (on buildings constructed or significantly refurbished after September 2018); and    The fact that B2B leases of warehouses are also subject to...

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