The European Commission has recommended the implementation of a new regulation regarding companies or intermediaries who promote or design cross-border tax planning schemes will going forward be required to provide full disclosure to the tax authorities of their relevant jurisdiction within five days of offering them to clients.

A new regulation will require certain British Virgin Islands companies to gather and retain details of Beneficial Owners with 25% or more of the company’s shareholding rights, with an ongoing requirement to keep the details up to date.

The Finance Committee in Cyprus discussed the long-awaited and somewhat revolutionary new competition law that allows foreign individuals to have the possibility of obtaining Cyprus tax resident status while on the island only for 60 days in any calendar year.

Hong Kong finalised and signed an agreement with Indonesia to allow for the automatic exchange of financial information (AEOI) regarding all tax matters.

The legislation for Scottish Limited Partnerships have changed regarding the disclosure of information. Going forward, Scottish LPs will have to register all information about PSCs and Business Owners with the UK Companies House from July 24th 2017.

Significant changes to the commercial and company law in Singapore have come into effect. The changes to the Singapore Companies Act will hopefully make business entities more transparent as well as mitigating the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.