A new Cyprus law passed this year, has introduced a register of trusts. Cyprus provides a solid law for setting up international trusts. The Security and Exchange commission, The Cyprus Barrister Association and the the Institute of Certified Public Accountants are the three competent authorities to register such trusts. For this reason, relevant regulations and fees have been issued for the registration of trusts in Cyprus. The Registers of Trusts are treated as confidential by the 3 authorities.

An article article in The Economist magazine declares that proposed revisions to the EU Savings Directive, together with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, amount to ‘the biggest overhaul of the legal treatment of trusts, since trust law was first developed in the twelfth century for Crusader knights wanting to safeguard their assets while they were away in the Holy Land.’

MoneyVal, the competent European authority for money laundering has cleared Cyprus of all suspicions related to money laundering. In early 2013, Eu officials expressed the opinion that Cyprus could be involved in money laundering activities mainly due to Russian deposits at its local institutions. The government reacting promptly, invited the competent European authority for antimoney laundering to visit Cyprus and assess the accusations.

MoneyVal appointed PWC to carry out the assessment under its supervision and the report was completed in April 2013 – Special Assessment Cyprus. The report effectively cleared Cyprus of any such accusations recognizing that the banks and professionals involved in International Business are well aware of Customer Due Diligence and Risks.

The OECD has published a new handbook to help officials spot indicators of possible bribery or corruption in the course of tax examinations and audits

On the 17/7/2013 the parliament enacted law (Ν.72(Ι)/2013)  which provides for the establishment of Medical companies. The law provides that any Medical Doctor that is registered with the Pancyprian Medical Association can establish a medical company under his name that will enable him/her to separate the medical activities form personal.

The benefits are both legal and tax. On the legal side, the company is a separate legal entity allowing it to maintain separate bank accounts, borrow money and encumbrance assets of the company always having limited liability.

On the tax side, tax is mitigated especially for high income doctors having a turnover of EUR70.000 or above.

Please contact us for any further information on this subject.