#1. Review of the Changes in Legislation in 2016

The amnesty of capitals is an exchange operation offered by the state to its citizens. The information on the assets should be exchanged for the guarantees of release from criminal and administrative liability, as well as from liability for tax and currency violations.

For many years already the British Virgin Islands have been one of the most used offshore jurisdictions for the registration of foreign companies. The BVI have always attracted investors as jurisdiction for holding business. One of the main reasons why the BVI are so popular is the high level of confidentiality of information.

Over the last years, the supply of credit by financial institutions has been considerably reduced due to the banking crisis. In an effort to help the economy return to a growth path, the Government has introduced a Notional Interest Deduction (NID) regime on corporate equity.

In July 2015, the Minister of Finance of the Cyprus Government announced, at a press conference, the transmission to the House of Representatives of a package of tax Bills which he characterized as a very significant Tax Reform. The Bills were enacted and introduced by the Government aiming on the encouragement of further investments in Cyprus and the invigoration of the economic activity.

The year 2015 turned out to be rich in amendments regarding procedures of state registration of legal entities and sole proprietors. First of all, it is related to the fact that in the last two years corporate law underwent significant alterations, and secondly, experience has proven that tax authorities declared war on reorganization through front parties.

Last year, yet another amendments to the Federal Law on Insolvency (Bankruptcy) were enacted. It was quite anticipated for many reasons. First of all, distinct increase of the number of bankruptcies, it is unknown whether we have hit the bottom of the crisis, but bankruptcy became a quite popular affair.

For most taxpayers 2015 was quite eventful and crucial. This year, a lot of amendments were introduced to the tax law, which on one part aimed at crackdown in relations between the state and the taxpayer, and on the other part, during the transition period Russian taxpayers have been granted opportunity to voluntarily notify on their foreign property.

In November 2014, the law on controlled foreign companies, which was the target for criticism, discussions, comments and etc., was adopted. The Ministry of Finance tried as much as possible to clarify certain urgent matters arising among taxpayers.

New 2016 gave us quiet a lot of changes in the tax law and, unfortunately, mainly to the disfavor of taxpayers. Thus, the Tax Code underwent serious alterations in the part of income tax. Introduction of a new quarterly statement form is one of such alterations.

2015 passed under the sign of capital amnesty initiated by the President of the Russian Federation and implemented by the legislator. According to data published in mass media at the end of last year, voluntary declaration by citizens of assets abroad turned out to be less in demand than its initiators expected.