Legal

Under the Cypriot forced heirship rules, natural children of the deceased have a right to each inherit a share of their parents’ Cypriot estate equal to the amount inherited by the surviving spouse. This forced heirship makes it impossible to disinherit the deceased’s natural children. Therefore, if the deceased dies leaving natural children or their descendants, an absolute gift to the deceased’s spouse provided for under the terms of a Will, will not be valid.

But EU Regulation governing the succession of European Assets (Brussels 1V) is also in force in Cyprus..

The basic principles of this Regulation and how it relates to persons living in Cyprus and having assets in Cyprus are as follows:-

a) Cypriot law applies to the succession of the estate; and

b) The Cypriot Court has jurisdiction to rule on the succession of the estate

HOWEVER, under a choice of law provision in the Brussels 1V Regulation any person can choose the law of their country of their nationality as the law to govern the succession of their estate within the participating EU states.

The EU Regulation provides that the choice of applicable law has to be made expressly by declaration in a Will.

Otherwise the default position is that the law of your habitual residence will be the governing law for the distribution of your estate.

• The employee is on a probation, the duration of which cannot exceed 104 weeks.
• Serious breakdown of the relationship between employer – employee due to the employee’s misconduct.
• Commitment of serious offences
• Commitment of a crime during his/her employment,
• Inappropriate behavior.
• Serious and/or repeated violation of employment rules.

The Employer should be ready to provide the evidence of the circumstances.

There are two procedures to have a trademark registered in other countries:

First, an application for registration of a trademark is filed with the Trademarks Office of the European Union, and if granted, the trademark is valid in all the member states of the European Union. This procedure lasts 6 (six) months. It is not necessary to have the trademark registered in Cyprus. There is a risk, however, in this procedure. If an application for a trademark to be registered in one member state of the EU fails, then this failure is applicable in all member states of the EU.

Application for the registration of a trademark can be filed with WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) through the system of international registration of marks administered by WIPO. An international application, however, must be filed first with the appropriate national trademark office. If registration procedure is either not accepted or registration not granted by a country an international application can proceed with the remaining countries selected in the application.

The 60-day rule

The “60 day rule” applies to individuals who meets all of the following requirements within the tax year.

They:

• reside in Cyprus for at least 60 days per annum
• do not reside in any other single state for more than 183 days
• are not tax resident in any other country
• maintain a permanent residence in Cyprus (rented or purchased property)

Qualifying applicants are issued a Residency Certificate and Tax Identification Number.

A tax resident individual will be treated as domiciled in Cyprus if they are either:

Domiciled by origin* or

have been a Cyprus tax resident for at least 17 of the previous 20 years (to the date of application for confirmation of the status)

*Domicile of Origin is acquired at birth and generally applies to an individual born to a Cypriot-domiciled father.

All other tax residents are deemed as Non-Domiciled.

The Tax Department should confirm with its letter the non domicile status of the individual on his application.

Tax Efficient Benefits

Whilst Cyprus tax residents are subject to tax in Cyprus on their worldwide income. The following tax efficient benefits apply to non-domiciled tax residents:

• Low progressive income tax rates with the first €19,500 being tax exempted
• No income tax on salaried services rendered outside Cyprus for more than 90 days in a tax year
• A 50% income tax exemption on income from Cyprus based employment, provided that income exceeds €100,000 per annum
• No tax on profits from disposal of securities, including shares, bonds, options and units in collective investment schemes
• No income tax on dividend and interest income for 16 years
• Tax free repatriation of profits and capital
• Overseas Pensions income that exceed the amount of €3420 euro annually is taxed at only 5%.
• No Capital Gains Tax on assets other than immovable property situated in Cyprus
• No wealth tax
• No inheritance tax
• No gift tax