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In the beginning of the year, several tax changes were introduced in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Video surveillance is used on streets, vehicles, shops, offices – pretty much everywhere. Whenever anyone leaves home – and as soon as they close the door behind them – they can wind up on someone else’s camera footage. Even when hiking in the woods, it’s possible to be captured by a wildlife camera.

From 1 January 2022, the Estonian Value-added Tax Act will have a new section, 291, setting forth the conditions on the basis of which taxable persons can reduce their tax liability on bad debts. This is a long-awaited addition to Estonian tax law that has previously been discussed but has not gone beyond the draft legislation stage.

From 2022, an updated regulation will take effect, regarding the methodology for determining transactions between related persons. Since it was adopted in 2006, Minister of Finance regulation no. 53 had been in force unchanged.

A wisely selected supervisory board – one that doesn’t do its work only at meetings but lays down clear strategic goals for management and itself and meters them constantly, while serving as a mentor for executives – can contribute greatly to achieving solid business results.

Late last November, trading of shares of one of the Estonia’s biggest real estate developers, Hepsor AS, began on the Nasdaq Tallinn exchange. Grant Thornton Baltic’s team of more than 10 internal and external specialists did its part to help Hepsor get listed, auditing the IFRS based financial reporting set out in the company’s listing prospectus.

As of 1 July 2021, in addition to the term “low-tax territory”, the term “non-cooperative jurisdiction” has appeared in the Income Tax Act. The amendment is related to the European Union's safeguard measures aimed at preventing tax evasion in transactions with companies located in so-called tax havens.

Effective 1 April 2022, when the system for taking child leave will change in the Employment Contracts Act, all parents of children under 14 years of age will be entitled to 10 working days of paid child leave per child under 14.

The member firms of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL) have extensive expertise in the application of IFRS. GTIL, through its IFRS Team, develops general guidance that supports its member firms’ commitment to high quality, consistent application of IFRS and is therefore pleased to share our insights by publishing ‘IFRS Example Consolidated Financial Statements 2021’ (Example Financial Statements).

An increasing number of companies in Estonia cross the threshold of turnover and balance sheet volume that requires them to order an audit or financial review of their 2021 annual report. On the other hand, the number of auditing companies has decreased compared to last year. How to cope with a situation with fewer service providers, increasing numbers of customers, and increasing troublesome findings regarding the quality of service provided by audit firms?

Running a business in the most profitable manner possible takes smart decisions. Data – and including data in the decision-making process – are an inseparable part of this, panellists on the Äripäev radio programme “Kasvukursil” said.

Autumn is a good time to analyse your company’s financial results for the previous financial year and determine whether you are the subject to have the annual report audited or reviewed. A convenient way to find out whether a company is subject to an audit or review requirement (the criteria are revenue, asset volume and number of employees) is the audit calculator.

Having data protection affairs in order at a company ensures reliable and trustworthy relations with businesspartners and a stronger position at the negotiating table. On the other hand, problems can mean fines running into the millions of euros even long after the issues are resolved.

Many employers have questions about whether and to what extent personal data can be requested from employees in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. In this article, I highlight some practical questions and concepts that employers should factor into processing of employee personal data and provide advice on how to mitigate the main risks for both employer and employee.

The law transposes the EU directive into Estonian law and entails an obligation for organizations to create internal and external reporting channels for reporting internal misconduct. The infringements that whistleblowers can report are very different - breaches of procurement procedures, internal fraud, breaches of environmental requirements, and so on.

The Danish tax authority increased the taxable income of Tetra Pak Processing Systems A/S due to shortcomings in transfer pricing documentation and continuous losses. The Danish Supreme Court reached the conclusion that the transfer pricing documentation filed by the company did not meet the requirements as the documentation lacked a competent comparability analysis.