Cyprus Tax Roundup 2015

Introduction

Tax professionals in Cyprus have had plenty of new developments to keep abreast of during 2015, including several new or substantially modified double tax agreements entering into force and a wide-ranging package of tax incentives and other amendments. The main changes are summarized in the following paragraphs.

Amendments To The Tax Laws

In July the Government submitted a package of proposed amendments to the Income Tax Law,¹ the Special Defence Contribution Law² and the Capital Gains Tax Law,³ with the objective of stimulating economic activity, attracting inward direct investment, and simplifying the tax regime in order to make it more attractive, fair and effective and aligning it with recent developments in EU legislation and case law. There was not sufficient time for all the proposals to be enacted before the summer recess and consideration of some of them was deferred, with the following changes taking effect from July 16, 2015.