Tax

Our tax practice continues to strengthen and develop to better face the new challenges brought about by economic, fiscal and regulatory developments which impact both our services and our clients’ needs.

On a local and international fiscal level, we continue following developments, amongst others concerning the initiative on the global minimum effective corporate taxation, ESG and ATAD 3, to be able to support our clients adequately. At the same time, we have continued investing in our Transfer Pricing team, particularly in anticipation of the introduction of sophisticated Transfer Pricing legislation with effect from 1 January 2024.   

As of 1 January 2024, in terms of a new Directive, payment services providers (PSPs) will be required to collect and report information concerning certain cross-border payment transactions. Such information will feed into a centralised European database – the Central Electronic System of Payment information (CESOP) where it will be stored, aggregated and cross-checked with other European databases. In light of this development, over the past months, the firm, with the support of external experts, has developed a solution that brings together the necessary regulatory, business and technology knowledge. 

The solution is aimed at assisting PSPs in automating and streamlining an end-to-end CESOP reporting process across all EU Member States, thus reducing the compliance burden for our clients. The solution was developed using the latest technology and provides a highly scalable solution that can analyse large volumes of data and generate the required XML reports.

From a regulatory perspective, the landscape continues to develop, particularly in the financial services sector. Our regulatory team continues to grow to better support our clients’ needs to prevent financial crime, particularly in the field of anti-money laundering and sanctions.

Despite the challenges within the industry, in conjunction with the servicing of an active and diversified client portfolio, our Finance and Corporate Managed services team continued to identify new business opportunities securing local and international-based secondments within the finance and corporate managed space. 

From a client events perspective, the highlights of the year were two very successful events. The first was the “VAT to the Future” conference where experts from the PwC network joined our team to guide delegates through recent VAT-related developments and the challenges expected in the coming months and years.

The other event which enjoyed an overwhelming success was our first Financial Crime Compliance Conference - Navigating the Pillars of Financial Crime. Industry and international experts shared their experience and insights with attendees on sanctions, anti-bribery and corruption, administrative penalties and transaction monitoring amongst others.

We believe that our people are the driving force behind our success. Our Tax practice brings together over 200 experts in tax, legal, regulatory, compliance and corporate-managed services and support staff to serve our diverse range of local and international clients. In today’s world, we acknowledge that our clients’ challenges are complex and require something more than they expected. By bringing together a mix of skills, experience and technology, we seek to provide them with sustained solutions.

By prioritising continuous learning and development, our people always have the right toolkit to be able to focus on the personal goals and areas of specialisation they are interested in. Technology, automation and innovation remain critical as the Firm strives to maintain an engaged workforce and deliver a high-quality service to our clients.