Introduction The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has committed to aggressively investigate and prosecute COVID-19-related fraud schemes, particularly those involving government funding programs created or broadened during the pandemic. Several of these programs, including the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), the Provider Relief Fund, the Federal Child Nutrition Program (FCNP), and others, paid out hundreds of millions of dollars during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the federal government’s COVID-19 response, some of these programs loosened their eligibility...

Last Thursday (29 September 2022), the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruled (case number C-235/21) that a written agreement concluded between parties can be regarded as an invoice for VAT purposes. For those purposes, the agreement has to contain all the information necessary for control purposes by the tax authorities. In the case at hand, parties entered into a sale-and-leaseback agreement related to immovable property. However, after entering into that agreement, the parties did not issue an...

EU Commission presents draft of new EU Product Liability Directive after 37 years On 28 September 2022, the Commission presented its long-awaited draft of a new Product Liability Directive. The current Directive, which harmonises strict product liability in Europe, dates back to 1985. The new draft certainly packs a punch. If it comes into force in its current form after further discussion in the Council and Parliament, industry players will have to prepare for a much tougher approach to product...

The historic dollar rally accelerated in September. By some measures, it is as rich as it has been in the half-century since the end of Bretton Woods. Persistent price pressures, a robust labor market in many dimensions, and the Federal Reserve's latest forecasts warn that financial conditions will tighten into next year. However, we suspect that the market may have seen peak Fed hawkishness when it briefly priced in a terminal Fed funds rate of around 5.50% towards the...

<< Back to All Member News A series of new EU sanctions against Russia may soon be on the way. Yesterday afternoon, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Higher Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell presented the outline of a new sanctions package – the eighth since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February. It was just last week, after President Putin had, among other things, threatened the West...

Headlines for Q4 2022: "Port News, Market Uncertainty, Softening Rates, and Slowing Growth" Global Port Performance The Headline: Congestion and labor uncertainty are still plaguing ports globally, although some recent flare-ups have been settled (e.g., the near-strike at US railroads.) This chart shows the steady decline of blank sailings to the US West Coast, but relative high volumes to the East over the past few months. There is a second strike scheduled by Felixstowe dock workers from 9/27 – 10/5 and...

Sika has won the top prize in the Swiss Annual Report Rating, beating out 238 of the largest companies in Switzerland. Second place went to the cement company Holcim, and third price went to the convenience product giant Valora. “This achievement is an honor and proves our commitment to generating world-class communications for the annual and sustainability report,” Dominik Slappnig, Head of Communications and Investor Relations at Sika, said. “This is a team effort. The prize goes to a great...

2022 has been an unpredictable year amidst soaring inflation and geopolitical unrest. In the tax realm, governments have been trying to hedge against this uncertainty by shoring up their budgets and addressing inconsistent tax enforcement. Unsurprisingly, much of this government activity has centered around taxpayers with means — high net worth domestic taxpayers and foreign investors. Below, we roundup some significant international tax developments concerning high net worth individuals and foreign investors in the first three quarters of 202 Singapore...