Following decades of multiple pieces of legislation governing Irish Companies, we now finally have a single piece of legislation, The Companies Act 2014.
The Act does not only consolidate all existing pieces of legislation under one umbrella, but also creates two completely new company types and erases the existing Private Company Limited by Shares under the Companies Acts 1963 to 2013.
Read MoreTags: Ireland, Legal, Incorporation, Limited Companies
Canada is certainly no exception, having recently adopted two key multilateral information exchange mechanisms.
On 15 April 2016, the Canadian Department of Finance released draft legislative proposals for consultation, to implement the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) from 1 July 2017 allowing the first exchanges of information to take place in 2018.
Read MoreTags: Legal, Tax, Canada, Anti-Money Laundering
Investors in film and television productions located in Ireland now have access to an improved system of new tax incentives thanks to a recent change to the scheme by the Irish Government.
Ireland has had an impact on the world of film and television disproportionate to its relatively small geographical stature.
According to the Irish Film Board, the audio visual content production sector in Ireland is estimated to be worth over €550m and employs over 6,000 individuals, with over 560 small and medium enterprises operating in the sector. Irish film and TV productions are also thought to contribute substantially to the country’s tourism industry.
It is also argued that the presence of tax incentives for investors and producers in Ireland has helped to drive investment in the motion picture industry.
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Any meeting of the members of a limited company in Ireland other than the Annual General Meeting is deemed to be an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).
Subject to the Constitution of the Company, an EGM may be convened at any time to transact business which needs to be dealt with.
Examples of why a Company may convene an EGM include business such as granting authority to the directors to allot shares, approving an increase in authorised share capital, or removing a director. Read MoreTags: Legal, Directors, Corporate Governance
Buying, selling, trading and borrowing are the foundations of commercial businesses today.
The ability to borrow money to gain access to new markets is vital, but what is often not understood is that the directors must be granted the ability to borrow on behalf of the company.
Most companies provide for this in their articles of association thus giving directors the ability to act as agents and place charges on company property.
Read MoreTags: Corporate Governance, Finance
If and when the lifespan of a corporate entity has come to an end, the members and directors have a number of options available to them to formally wind up the company and have it removed from the Register.
One such option is ‘voluntary strike off’, the procedure for which is outlined in section 731 of the Companies Act 2014.
To avail of this this type of dissolution, a number of statutory requirements must be fulfilled.
Read MoreTags: Ireland, Corporate Governance
The drafting of minutes at board meetings can pose a number of potential challenges for the minute taker.
Minute taking is usually undertaken by the company secretary or, where the company does not have a company secretary, by a designated minute taker.
In conjunction with our blog on setting the agenda to meetings, the information in this guide to effective minute taking might assist when preparing your own board minutes.
Read MoreTags: Directors, Corporate Governance
In Department for Transport v Sparks and others [2016], the Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court's finding that a provision relating to absence management set out in a staff handbook, had been incorporated into employees' contracts of employment.
This case serves as a reminder to employers to give careful consideration as to whether or not they wish for staff handbooks or other written policies to be contractual.
Tags: Legal, United Kingdom
As of 30 June 2016, UK Companies will no longer be required to file an annual return.
Instead, companies will file a confirmation statement with Companies House at least once a year.
The new confirmation statement will be an acknowledgement by the company that they have delivered all the information required to Companies House, during the period to which the confirmation statement relates. Read MoreTags: United Kingdom, Tax
Most countries, certainly within the OECD, have accepted the need for more stringent transfer pricing documentation requirements. Indeed, many have already legislated for country-by-country (CbC) reporting as recommended by the OECD in its final BEPS reports.
However, the debate now is focusing on whether information contained in company CbC reports should be made public, with some countries particularly hostile to the idea.
Read MoreTags: Tax, EU, Anti-Money Laundering
