Following the announcement by the Minister of Labour, Community Affairs and Sport on 26 July 2019, the legislative changes to modernise maternity and paternity benefits were passed by the House of Assembly and will come into effect on 1 January 2020. The Employment (Maternity Leave Extension and Paternity Leave)...
Adjusting to parenthood can be overwhelming, for both parents. Thankfully, such more needed legislative changes to improve parenting benefits are on the horizon. The Minister of Labour, Community Affairs and Sport announced recently that “the consolidation and modernization of the labour legislation […] has been ongoing for some...
Recently, Bermuda was placed on the European Union’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. It is the Bermuda Government’s view that the jurisdiction is compliant with EU’s economic substance requirements by way of the Economic Substance Act 2018 and the Economic Substance Regulations 2018 passed into law last December, with all necessary amendments to address EU concerns having been completed before the decision was taken.
The Economic Substance Act 2018 (the “Economic Substance Act”) was tabled on 7 December 2018 and, following revisions, again on 17 December 2018.
Background
In November 2017, the Government of Bermuda made a commitment to the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) (the “COCG”) of the Council of the EU to address concerns relating to economic substance. Bermuda agreed to pass legislation to implement any appropriate changes by 31 December 2018 to avoid being put on an EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.
In an important decision for Bermuda, the Court of Appeal has supported a decision of the Supreme Court made by Former Chief Justice Ian Kawaley in Ferguson et al v Attorney General in June 2018 which held that certain aspects of the Domestic Partnership Act...
