According to the new Law all interest and additional charges on pending taxes for all years up to and including the year 2008, in excess of 5%, are written off. The Law enters into force upon its publication in the Official Gazette and expires on 30 March 2012

Cyprus has been removed from the so-called “blacklist” published by the Portuguese tax authorities. Decree 150/2004 of the Portuguese Ministry of Finance set out a list of more than 80 jurisdictions considered to have unduly favourable tax regimes. Residents of countries on the list are denied certain benefits of the Portuguese tax system, and subject [...]

The House of Representatives approved unanimously on Thursday the abolition or reduction of the transfer duties for the period of six months. The proposal provides for a cut in the transfer duties by 50% for the registration of the property title deed when the VAT is not paid as well as its full abolition when [...]

The Government of Cyprus has introduced new regulations for Citizenship, available for investors / foreigners which can be summarised as follows. Direct Investments: The applicant should have direct investments in Cyprus exceeding EURO 10 millions (i.e. real estate, shares etc). Or Entrepreneurial Activities: The applicant should have established in Cyprus a Company/Companies with a total [...]

On the 28th of July 2011, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has issued its decision on the VAT treatment of SWIFT services. Swift services are offered by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT SC) are considered as electronic messaging services which are intended to transmit information between financial institutions. SWIFT services are electronic messaging services, used [...]

The Cypriot Government as from 1 October 2011 has introduced a reduced rate of VAT 5% on every acquisition or construction of new residence provided that the residence will be used as the main residence of the purchaser. The new rules apply only to agreements which are concluded from 1 October 2011 onwards. For all [...]

As per our “tax update” dated 31st of August 2011 the government has introduced a levy of EURO 350 payable by all Cyprus Companies. The levy is an annual fee payable as follows: A fixed annual levy of €350 is imposed to all companies that are registered in Cyprus. For Group of Companies the total [...]

The Cyprus government has agreed with all political parties and the trade unions to supplement measures to improve the balance of payments. The main idea is to ensure Cyprus economy overcomes  the world crises as soon as possible. The good news is that the trade unions and political parties want to resolve by mutually agreed [...]

Section 33 of Cyprus Income Tax Law (CIT) provides the right to the tax authorities to adjust the taxable profit of a Company in case where a transaction held by the Company and a related party is undertaken other than on an arm’s length basis. The department of Inland Revenue has now provided guidance in [...]

The Central Bank of Cyprus is modernizing its regulatory functions in an effort to develop a single specialized and sophisticated unit for licensing and regulating the licensing of banks, payment institutions, electronic money institutions and international collective investment schemes. This will robust the effort of the Central Bank to monitor and correspond efficiently the demanding [...]