European cross-border insolvency: an overview and update | Holman Fenwick Willan

Legal Briefing

The EC Regulation on Insolvency proceedings does not make particularly easy reading.1 It is a Brussels-made law in the form of a Directive, which took effect in all EU member states (except Denmark, which opted out) on 31 May 2002. Making sense of its provisions involves understanding some slightly unfamiliar concepts, some containing a rather …

E-tendering | SJ Berwin LLP

Legal Briefing

On 24 March 2010, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) published guidance (‘Implementing e-tendering’ (the Guidance)) on the implementation of e-tendering as part of the public procurement process. The release of the Guidance comes at a time when, in light of the current economic climate, Alistair Darlings’ spending cut targets in the 2010 Budget and …

Withholding tax on cross-border transactions: a judicial conundrum | Amarchand Mangaldas

Legal Briefing

Internationally, most countries require that those who pay interest, dividends and royalties to foreign recipients must withhold the income tax at the time of payment and must deposit the same amount with the treasury. Similarly, under s195 of the Income Tax Act 1961 (the 1961 Act) the Indian domestic tax laws cast a vicarious obligation …

Changes to the PBS | Magrath Sheldrick LLP

Legal Briefing

On 18 March 2010 the UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced changes to Tier 1 (General), Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) of the points-based system (PBS). These changes came into effect on 6 April 2010. These changes will give employers food for thought, particularly when transferring employees from overseas branches to the UK. …

Who’s watching you? Rise of corporate monitoring | DLA Piper

Legal Briefing

The new zealous and robust approach adopted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to combat corporate fraud and corruption offences has been increasingly described as the Americanisation of the organisation. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (equivalent to the SFO and Financial Services Authority (FSA) here) have made anti-corruption …

EFRBS: attractive alternative for high earners? | Jones Day

Legal Briefing

6 April 2006 saw the introduction of the Employer Financed Retirement Benefit Scheme (EFRBS), replacing the now defunct Funded Unapproved Retirement Benefit Scheme. An EFRBS is an unregistered (ie not registered with HM Revenue & Customs) pension scheme commonly used to provide retirement benefits to high-net-worth individuals (defined as those earning over £150,000 per annum …