Flying mostly under the media radar, last month the ministry council approved a number of new measures that are included in the approved 2018 Government of Cyprus budget. Some notable highlights include:
the establishment of new commercial courts that will exclusively deal with matters of financial and commercial disputes. This will undoubtedly benefit the financial services industry with more expedient resolutions;
a new electronic system for processing and monitoring all court matters. This will complement the new commercial courts and will finally improve Cypriot bureaucracy’s shortcomings;
a new training centre for judicial staff is also expected to streamline and expedite the judicial process; and
a new electronic infrastructure that will allow for electronic signatures and verifications, and processing of tax and other government departments like HR, Payroll etc.
Finally, also worth noting, are the new tax amendments that should strengthen the existing tax regime in Cyprus with:
new tax incentive schemes for music and film productions coupled with government funding schemes; and
amendment to the stamp duty tax law that will decrease the tax rates and the type of transactions that will fall under its scope as well as electronic submission and processing.
In light of the above we believe that Cyprus is entering a new legislative era and is finally modernising its public services. The improvements have long been overdue and can only be beneficial to all professionals and to the island’s economy as a whole!
The author of the article is Constantinos Economides.
Constantinos is the Managing Director of Royal Pine & Associates. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). He holds a BSc (Hons) from Warwick Business School (UK). Constantinos trained with Ernst & Young (London) and Deloitte (Cyprus). He is a member of the International Tax Planning Association (ITPA), International Fiscal Association (IFA) and the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP). In addition, he is a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner of The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC).
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