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On December 21, 2018, the Minister for Legal Protection published the draft bill on the Civil Society Organizations Transparency Act. The proposal provides for, on the one hand, insight into cash flows to civil society organizations by publishing information about donors who donate or make gifts of EUR 15,000 or more per year and, on the other hand, the obligation for foundations to disclose certain financial information.

In 2013, the EU and Japan launched negotiations on enhanced economic and strategic cooperation. These negotiations resulted in an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), both signed at the EU-Japan Summit on July 17, 2018. 

Tuesday, 15th of January will be a crucial day in what seems to become a never ending story regarding the Brexit. Leon Kanters, Brexit expert and partner of KPMG Meijburg & Co: “The Brexit deal will be brought for a vote to the House of Commons in the UK. When we believe the media it will become a clear defeat for the British prime minister May.“

On January 17, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) rendered judgment in a case that dealt with the location of risk for insurance premium tax purposes (case no. C-74/18). The case concerned insurance policies for M&A transactions. 

At the end of 2018 the European Council formally approved the proposals for four ‘VAT quick fixes’ to simplify international trade. These will take effect on January 1, 2020 and will have a considerable impact on businesses trading in international goods.

On January 24, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) rendered its judgment in the Morgan Stanley & Co International plc (‘Morgan Stanley’) case (case no. C-165/17). This case concerns the VAT recovery of costs incurred by a fixed establishment that are also used for the turnover of a foreign head office.

On February 12, 2019, the bill on the Fiscal Unity Emergency Repair Act (Wet spoedreparatie fiscale eenheid) was adopted by the Lower House. This bill was explained in our previous memoranda dated June 7, 2018 and November 6, 2018. The emergency repair measures mean that for a number of legal provisions the approach to be taken is as if a fiscal unity for corporate income tax purposes does not exist. As previously reported, this bill – after amendments to the original bill – has retroactive effect on most points to January 1, 2018. 

On February 26, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered two landmark decisions on the interpretation of the beneficial owner concept in cases where the Interest and Royalties Directive (joined cases N Luxembourg, X Denmark, C Danmark and Z Denmark) and the Parent-Subsidiary Directive (joined cases T Danmark and Y Denmark) apply. 

On February 12, 2019 the Dutch Lower House of Parliament passed the Bill for the ratification of the Multilateral Convention (“MLI”) to Implement Tax Treaty-Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and improve dispute resolution mechanisms. Noteworthy is that the Lower House also agreed to change the MLI position of the Netherlands with respect to preventing the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment status. 

On March 4, 2019 an internet consultation on the draft bill on the Excessive Borrowing from Own Companies Act was launched. This bill had been announced in September last year on Budget Day (see section 3.1 of our previous memorandum).