Edouard-Shailend L.

In May, the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, and ESMA) published templates and tools to support the voluntary dry run exercise for DORA implementation. This initiative helps financial entities prepare and report their registers of information on ICT third-party service providers, ensuring compliance by 2025. At BugZero, we endorse this proactive approach and offer comprehensive risk management solutions that align with DORA's stringent requirements, ensuring your organization is well-prepared for the impending 2025 deadline. #DORA #OperationalResilience #RiskManagement #Compliance #findbugzero

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🔍 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗩𝗔𝗧 𝗗𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀: essential training by Legitech with Olivier Coulon, Simon Law: https://lnkd.in/e6N8-kP8 VAT audits and disputes related to the right to deduct input VAT for holding and financing companies have long been a contentious issue in Luxembourg. Despite clear European case law, the practical application often leads to complexities and, at times, unpleasant surprises for businesses. 💼 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿: - The fundamental principles of VAT deduction for holding companies, rooted in EU law and the CJEU case law. - Insights from Luxembourg’s local case law and the evolving positions of the AEDT. - Detailed analysis of the "1:1" principle, along with circulars 765 and 765-1. - Identification of high-risk structures, common pitfalls, and red flags. - Best practices in determining VAT deduction rights and documenting transactions. This conference is a 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁-𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝘅 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 dealing with Luxembourg tax matters—whether you’re in-house or a service provider. 🗓️ Secure your spot now ! --> https://lnkd.in/eUCxgK23

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The Luxembourg financial services regulator (CSSF) has fined Fuchs & Associés Finance SA, a Luxembourg-based investment firm currently in liquidation, €785,000 for AML and sanctions compliance failings. Amongst other things, the firm is alleged to have “failed to undertake screening controls to detect [designated individuals and entities] for all clients of the trading desk” and the “screening tools were updated only once a week”. The CSSF said that these deficiencies constitute a “failure to comply with the obligation to detect these persons, entities and groups without delay”. #EUSanctions #Russia #EUCommission #ExportControl  #TradeWar #TSECS #SanctionsUpdate #TurkishSociety #Sanctions #USA #OFAC #BIS #TradeUpdates #GlobalTrade #TradeCompliance #InternationalRelations #EconomicSanctions #TradeRegulations #TurkishExports #TradePolicy #SecurityMatters #ForeignPolicy #ComplianceNews #EconomicSecurity #CrossBorderBusiness

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Interesting report from la Cour des comptes regarding French wealth tax (Impôt sur la fortune- IFI), published on 25 January 2024. This body is the French equivalent of the National Audit Office and the report makes a number of recommendations regarding the payment of IFI and implementing effective controls to monitor and detect fraud.   IFI is a declarative and complex tax. It only applies to French immovable property above €1,3 million whether owned directly or indirectly through an SCI.   The report notes that the tax effects a relatively small number of tax payers, 164 000 in 2022, and €1.8 billion was collected that year.   On facilitating payment, the Cour des comptes recommends allowing IFI to be paid using the same methods as are used to pay French income tax on revenue or local taxes such as taxe foncière (council tax) – automatic payment by a direct debit.   The report also suggests that the tax authorities using data mining (automatic exploitation of large amounts of data held by various French service providers) to indicate the trends in local property markets and to provide values for comparable properties to inform those making declarations.   The report points out that post declaration controls should be more effective for a system that is declaratory. In 2022, less than 2% of the parties liable to a formal control were actually checked in that year.   In particular, the report recommends the introduction of a strategy to detect fraud through the better collection of information.   Where real estate is held indirectly by an SCI fuzzy matching with information held on other databases (such as, land databases) is used to help identify undeclared assets. The Report recommends introducing an obligation on companies and financial institutions to declare to the tax authorities information regarding the real estate component of securities held. The aim is to improve the levels of detection of fraud and monitoring.   It will be interesting to see if any of these recommendations are taken up and if so, what information financial institutions and companies are obliged to disclose along with the role of AI and fuzzy matching to facilitate the recommendations.

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The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, and ESMA) Publish Key Materials for #DORA Dry Run Exercise! 🚀 The ESAs have released essential templates, technical documents, and tools to support the upcoming dry run exercise on the reporting of registers of information, announced in April 2024. These resources include: 📊 Templates for Registers of Information with examples (in Excel) 📦 Draft Technical Package for reporting, including DPM, annotated table layout, and validation rules 🛠️ Optional Tool (VBA Macro) to convert Excel templates into .csv and .zip files for submission ❓ Frequently Asked Questions about the exercise The dry run exercise webpage contains all materials. Financial entities can use these tools to prepare and report their ICT third-party service provider arrangements, aligning with supervisory expectations from 2025 onwards. 🔜 Next Steps: Submit your registers of information to the ESAs via competent authorities between 1 July and 30 August. ⚠ To be absolutely sure you have everything in place to comply with DORA's implementation deadline, don't miss our webinar "DORA—The Update," on 19/9, with the latest updates on the #RTS and #Guidelines and feedback on the dry-run exercise by ESAs on information registers for ICT third-party providers from the European Commission. Register now ➡ https://lnkd.in/d-zyDPBy https://lnkd.in/eUUn75E4

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💡 The Grand-Ducal Decree of 18 April 2024 modified the lists of Participating Jurisdictions and Reporting Jurisdictions for the CRS reporting year 2023. ⚖️ The Grand-Ducal Decree removes certain jurisdictions from the list of Participating Jurisdictions, notably where the exchange relationship has not been activated as per the notification procedure outlined in the OECD Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement regarding automatic exchange of information on financial accounts. In addition, certain jurisdictions were added to the list of Reportable Jurisdictions. 👉 Learn more about our observations here: https://lnkd.in/d4cE5ur3 🧐 For any questions, please feel free to be in touch with your usual Grant Thornton contacts, or our specialist team ➡️ Jean-Nicolas Bourtembourg, Partner, Head of Tax and Transfer Pricing or Alain Verbeken, Director, Tax - Financial Services at Grant Thornton Luxembourg. #Tax #Newsletter #Reporting #CRS #Luxembourg #GrantThornton

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** Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (“RCS”) : modifications as of November 12th, 2024 **   Starting from November 12th, 2024, the current requisition forms in PDF format will be replaced by forms to be completed directly online, in HTML format. Alongside the implementation of the new HTML forms and pursuant to article 12bis of the amended law of 19 December 2002 on RCS and the accounting and annual accounts of companies (the “Law”) individuals and entities registered with the RCS shall communicate the national identification number (“LNIN”) of any individual entered in the RCS. This will for example apply to all individuals listed in a company’s creation deed (shareholders, directors and auditors, etc.) and registered with the RCS. Individuals who already have a LNIN will simply have to indicate it during the filing process, it being precised that all individuals already registered with the RCS before the implementation of the new HTLM forms will also have to indicated their LNIN. Individuals who do not have a LNIN shall be allocated one in accordance with article 1, paragraph 2, subparagraph 2 of the amended law of 19 June 2013 on the identification of natural persons when they are registered by the manager of the RCS. In addition to the information required in relation to the filing process, each individual who requires the creation of a LNIN will have to submit additional documents and information concerning his nationality, his gender and his private address. Supporting documents are requested to confirm the information and the Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR) will check them. Pursuant to the article 12ter of the Law, Luxembourg private addresses to be entered in the RCS shall mention (i) the locality, (ii) the street, (iii) the number of the building appearing or to be communicated in the National Register of Localities and Streets and (iv) the postal code. For more information about our services, please visit our website and social media accounts, or feel free to reach out to our team to discuss your projects. Photo credit : Thank you to Sacha Gervis for the amazing photo! #RCSCompliance2024 #LuxembourgBusinessUpdates #NationalIDRequirement

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🚨 ATOZ Alert 🚨 On 12 June 2024, a draft law was presented to Parliament to amend the Luxembourg law of 22 December 2023 on the minimum effective taxation of multinational enterprise groups and large national groups implementing the EU Directive of 15 December 2022 on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for MNE groups and large-scale domestic groups in the Union (known as the “Pillar Two Directive”). 💡 The draft law 📃 incorporates clarifications, interpretations and additional technical provisions resulting from the three sets of administrative guidance published by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS in 2023. Read the full Alert written by our Tax Partner, Andreas Medler, by clicking here 📲 https://lnkd.in/e_fbb2UU #PillarTwo #law #news #update #tax #taxation #sharing #insights #multinationalfirms #ATOZ

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In this edition of EUF Industry Terminology, we explore "Anti-Money Laundering Policy (AML)". A policy put in place to help detect and report suspicious activity including the predicate offenses to money laundering and terrorist financing, such as securities fraud and market manipulation. 🔁 Translations: French - Politique de lutte contre le blanchiment (LAB) German - Richtlinien zur Geldwäscheprävention Greek - Πολιτική για την καταπολέμηση της νομιμοποίησης εσόδων από παράνομες δραστηριότητες Italian - Politiche anti-riciclaggio (AML) Polish - Polityka przeciwdziałania praniu brudnych pieniędzy Portuguese - Política de Luta Contra o Branqueamento de Capital Spanish - Política contra el blanqueo de capitales To learn more, visit https://lnkd.in/eey-8xfA #EUF #factoring #commercial #finance #europe #terminology #industryterminology FCI Fausto Galmarini

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📣 NEWSFLASH - On 26 July 2024, the European Supervisory Authorities released the final report on draft regulatory technical standards to specify the elements which a financial entity needs to determine and assess when subcontracting ICT services supporting critical or important functions (“RTS”) complementing the regulatory obligations under Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on Digital Operational Resilience ("DORA") for the financial sector. Click on the link to read the full article with insights, including the next steps and practical impact, from Partners Sophie Dupin, Anaïs Sohler, and Senior Associate Iren Butrakova: https://lnkd.in/eGcCZaiy #ElvingerHossPrussen

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[#RegCentre] The creation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Authority (#AMLA) can greatly improve financial crime supervision, however, challenges remain inevitable and a consistent, risk-based and innovative AML/CFT approach is essential. This piece highlights key lessons from other jurisdictions to inform its strategies. Discover more on our #LetsTalkFS blog: https://lnkd.in/edYVmMyj Subscribe to our quarterly newsletter to explore our latest global financial regulatory developments: https://lnkd.in/eFaaCTDF #AML #CFT #FIUs #EU #financialcrime #antimoneylaundering Forvis Mazars Group

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In this STEP Journal article Julien Dif TEP from The Governance Law Firm details how Luxembourg’s fund industry applies anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism policies. Read the article: https://lnkd.in/eUa3b63u If you found this article helpful, please share it with your network. #STEPCPD #AML

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  In 2020, French tax authorities launched a major investigation into tax fraud activities related to crypto-assets. The analyze of the fraudsters techniques to conceal their gains highlighted three methods of tax fraud. Financial sector professionals and Crypto-asset service provider should attach a particular importance to these three technique to ensure they uphold their compliance obligations regarding the European and Luxembourg AML norms with tax fraud as the primary infraction. Firstly, the fraudsters chose crypto-assets exchange platforms based abroad due to their limited cooperation with French tax authorities, making it more difficult to track transactions and identify income. These platforms were chosen for their low or non-existent collaboration with French tax authorities, complicating the traceability of transactions and the identification of generated income. These platforms should be subject to an appropriate KYB procedure to ensure they have a compliant AML framework as well as reputational check on their collaboration with public authorities. Secondly, the fraudsters set up complex structures to hide their gains by creating fictitious companies and using offshore bank accounts to transfer crypto-assets to. This made it challenging for tax authorities to track and identify the gains from crypto-assets used for investment purposes. Both KYB and KYT procedures are cardinals to ensure that crypto-assets are transferred to entities with an established existence and activity with an adapted AML framework for investment using crypto-assets. Thirdly, they used traditional money laundering methods, such as multiple layers of crypto-assets transactions to conceal the origin and destination of funds, complicating the traceability of financial flows and accurate income reporting to the tax authorities. By failing to declare these incomes, they avoided paying the due taxes. Implementing a KYT procedure and the Travel Rule norms to ensure that funds do not originate from illicit sources is vital for maintaining AML/CFT compliance. #compliance #taxfraud #cryptoassets #AML

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Today, we feature an article from Tribunal de Contas da União (#SAIBrazil) from our Q2 2024 issue on #JurisdictionalSAIs about the SAI's professional trajectories in the context of its jurisdictional function, with the aim of greater professionalization of its auditors. Learn more and read the article here: https://buff.ly/3VCWNJO #jurisdictionalSAIs #publicsectorauditing #audit #accountability #transparency #goodgovernance #journal

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[Regulatory news 📰] The three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published further guidelines and regulatory and technical implementing standards (RTS & ITS) under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (#DORA), focusing this time on major ICT-related incidents and including the ITS on the standard forms, templates and procedures for financial entities to report a major incident and to notify a significant cyber threat. > Find out more: https://hubs.la/Q02J_bkM0

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The Financial Action Task Force #FATF published a Horizontal Review of Gatekeepers’ Technical Compliance Related to Corruption The review assesses the current state of play of actions taken by member jurisdictions to apply the FATF Recommendations to gatekeepers and presents areas that FATF members must prioritise for further improvement. Key findings include:  ➡️ 30 of 35 FATF members with finalised Mutual Evaluations took additional steps to regulate gatekeepers since their last FATF assessment;  ➡️ Over half of FATF members have a score in the Horizontal Review of over 80%;  ➡️ The seven FATF members falling with a score under 50% represent over half of the world’s GDP (50.89%); and  ➡️ Iceland, South Africa, and Türkiye (all jurisdictions listed as being under increased monitoring) exhibited high levels of compliance with FATF’s gatekeeper recommendations. Firms should review the latest FATF review to gain further insights into tackling corruption risks relating to gatekeepers, and the improvement areas highlighted. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e8rZVUuw

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