What are Pandora Papers?

The Pandora Papers is a leak of more than 12 million documents that reveals hidden wealth, tax avoidance and sometimes unethical or corrupt dealings of the global wealthy – prominent world leaders, politicians, corporate executives, celebrities, and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington DC, which has been working with more than 140 media organizations on its biggest ever global investigation. The Pandora Papers was the largest investigation in journalism history that exposed a shadow financial system.

There are files that expose how some of the most powerful people in the world use secret offshore companies to hide their wealth. Already, politicians from 90 countries have been exposed as hiding money offshore and avoiding taxes. The papers reveal the offshore interests and activities. The offshore countries or territories are where it’s easy to set up companies, there are laws that make it difficult to identify owners of companies or there is low or no corporation tax.

Heroes of the publication include former British Prime Minister, Ukrainian President, Czech Prime Minister, Russian President, one of Colombian singers and one of German top models. One of Polish businessmen also appeared in the “Pandora Papers” investigation.

Is it illegal to use tax havens?

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On 08 October 2021 there was finalised a major reform of the international tax system at the OECD which will ensure that Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) will be subject to a minimum 15% tax rate from 2023.

The landmark deal, agreed by 136 countries and jurisdictions representing more than 90% of global GDP, will also reallocate more than USD 125 billion of profits from around 100 of the world’s largest and most profitable MNEs to countries worldwide, ensuring that these firms pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate and generate profits.

Following years of intensive negotiations to bring the international tax system into the 21st century, 136 jurisdictions (out of the 140 members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS) joined the Statement on the Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy. It updates and finalises a July 2021 political agreement by members of the Inclusive Framework to fundamentally reform international tax rules.

With Estonia, Hungary and Ireland having joined the agreement, it is now supported by all OECD and G20 countries. Four countries – Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – have not yet joined the agreement.

International community strikes a ground-breaking tax deal for the digital age

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Background information on the EU VAT CBR (Cross-Border Rulings) project

The EU VAT CBR is a project which was initiated in the framework of the EU VAT Forum group and which is currently being implemented by 18 EU Member States (Poland, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden). The purpose of the EU VAT CBR is to meet the expectations of VAT taxpayers who, when planning their economic activities, would like to be certain about the taxation of the same transaction in different EU Member States. The EU VAT CBR is therefore a tool to prevent VAT disputes and aims at ensuring fiscal neutrality. [1]

Cross Border Rulings findings

EU VAT CBR (Cross-Border Rulings) is a new form of cooperation between the Polish Head of the National Tax Administration and VAT taxpayers. Cooperation with the administration of another EU Member State with a view to agreeing on an interpretation of VAT law is carried out at the request of the taxpayer. In connection with Poland’s accession to the EU VAT CBR project implemented by some EU Member States, the applicants are entitled to apply to the Polish National Tax Administration with a Preliminary CBR Application, and after its acceptance by the Polish National Tax Administration, with the already applicable CBR Application. [2] The intention of the CBR proposal is to agree, at the request of a taxpayer, an interpretation of VAT law in cross-border cases with the tax administration of an EU Member State that has joined the EU VAT CBR. [3] There is no fee to submit a Preliminary CBR Application and a CBR Application.

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This article focuses on the legal aspects of transferring personal data of European Union citizens outside the European Union. It can be of interest, particularly having in mind cases handled by our law firm in the field of transferring personal data of patients of medical online platforms in telemedicine, in the machine collection of sensitive data using webscraping methods, and in the field of collecting and transferring data and creating databases of financial services users in broadly understood fintech sector. The problem is also significant from the point of view of clients of our law firm providing online gaming, online gambling, e-sports betting and e-betting services.

New standard contractual clauses

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Johnson & Johnson case

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson, a company known for its baby products, in recent years – but the most well-known one involves 22 women who alleged that their ovarian cancers have been caused by the baby powder they had been using. After the appeal, by the end of which the amount of money the company had to pay those women was reduced from 4.7 billion to 2.1 billion, Johnson & Johnson took legal steps to present the case before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has decided not to consider their case, however, which resulted in leaving in place the last verdict of the Missouri appeals-court.

The link between the illness and the product was supposed to be based on the fact that Johnson & Johnson baby powders contained talc. Talc is oftentimes found in close proximity to asbestos, which is carcinogenic, and in the past the talc has been contaminated with asbestos. It is also worth mentioning, that talk on itself is dangerous while inhaled in large doses but the studies aren’t clear on whether or not it’s carcinogenic on itself.

Although Johnson & Johnson denies that their products are dangerous to health, they will no longer be selling the baby powder containing talc in the US and Canada, focusing instead on the corn-starch-based alternative.

Polish Regulations

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