Corporate Tax 2010 - BMR Advisors

Klavins & Slaidins LAWIN
Latvia
6.5 Would a branch benefit from tax treaty provisions, or some
of them
Branches benefit from tax treaty provisions with respect to articles
on business profits and allocation of income and expenses to
permanent establishments as tax treaties generally have more
beneficial terms.
6.6 Would any withholding tax or other tax be imposed as the
result of a remittance of profits by the branch
Withholding tax is not charged on payments made by a branch to its
head office.
7 Anti-avoidance
7.1 How does Latvia address the issue of preventing tax
avoidance For example, is there a general anti-avoidance
rule or a disclosure rule imposing a requirement to
disclose avoidance schemes in advance of the company’s
tax return being submitted
Avoidance is addressed through several provisions. Most
importantly, payments made to statutorily designated low tax zones
are subject to 15% withholding tax unless approval has been
obtained from the tax authorities in advance to not withhold the tax.
Other anti-avoidance provisions include requirements to regularly
report cash transactions and payments to non-residents.
Latvia
Zinta Jansons
Klavins & Slaidins LAWIN
15 Elizabetes Street
Riga, LV-1010
Latvia
Tel: +371 6 781 4848
Fax: +371 6 781 4849
Email: zinta.jansons@lawin.lv
URL: www.lawin.lv
Zinta Jansons is the Head of the Tax practice at Klavins & Slaidins
LAWIN, specialising in tax and corporate law. Qualified in New York
(1999) and New Jersey (1999), USA, she is a member of the
International and American Bar Associations. Zinta Jansons advises
on tax matters relating to M&A deals, real estate transactions,
banking and securities transactions, and other complex business
transactions involving international and domestic companies. She
also represents and advocates tax payers’ interests with the tax
authorities. She has more than 10 years experience consulting in
the Baltic region. Zinta has a J.D. degree from Seton Hall School of
Law, Newark, NJ, USA (1998) and B.Sc. from the School of
Business at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA (1993).
Zinta is a regular commentator on corporate tax issues in Latvia and
a guest lecturer at the Riga Graduate School of Law. Languages:
English and Latvian.
Elina Girne-Berzina
Klavins & Slaidins LAWIN
15 Elizabetes Street
Riga, LV-1010
Latvia
Tel: +371 6 781 4848
Fax: +371 6 781 4849
Email: elina.girne-berzina@lawin.lv
URL: www.lawin.lv
Elina Girne-Berzina is a Sworn Attorney and a member of the Tax
practice at Klavins & Slaidins LAWIN, specialising mainly in tax law
and general corporate issues. Elina consults clients in relation to
immigration requirements, terms of tax payments in commercial
transactions and commercial activity in general, drafting of contracts
and labour law.
Elina has a lawyer’s degree from the Faculty of Law of the University
of Latvia (dipl. iur. 2003). She was admitted to the Latvian Sworn
Attorneys Collegium as Sworn Attorney (2003). Elina acted as the
national representative of the International Association of Young
Lawyers AIJA (Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats) for
Latvia in 2005-2008. Since 2008, she is a member of the AIJA
Executive Committee. Languages: Latvian, English and Russian.
Klavins & Slaidins LAWIN is the leading and largest law firm in Latvia providing services in all major fields of
business/commercial law and distinguished by high-quality standards, extensive experience and leading specialists.
The Firm is a member of LAWIN - a group of the leading Baltic law firms that have gained their reputation for
consistently being at the heart of the largest and most complex commercial and financial transactions. With over 130
lawyers, LAWIN is the largest legal presence working in the Baltics. LAWIN firms are also the exclusive members for
the Baltic States of Lex Mundi and World Services Group.
Klavins & Slaidins LAWIN and its lawyers are constantly top-ranked by the most prestigious international legal
directories. The recent recognitions include Who’s Who Legal “Latvia Law Firm of the Year” awards for both 2008 and
2009, and IFLR “Baltic Law Firm of the Year” award for 2008.
ICLG TO: CORPORATE TAX 2010
© Published and reproduced with kind permission by Global Legal Group Ltd, London
WWW.ICLG.CO.UK 153