Corporate tax in Latvia

The system of cash flow forms the framework of the reformed business income tax system in Latvia. When dividends, conditional dividends, or payments that are equal to dividend payments are made, a Latvian corporation must pay CIT. As a result, a Latvian business is exempt from deducting CIT from its yearly earnings until any of these expenses materialize.

The new corporation tax has the benefit of deferring tax payment until after sharing of incomes, allowing money to be reinvested or simply held as cash. Therefore, the new CIT system is beneficial for foreign businesses whose founding objective is to carry out one of an enterprise group’s duties. Agreement makers, restricted risk distributors, holding businesses, contract manufacturers and controlled share service stations are typical examples of such organizations.

The tax rate in Latvia

Companies pay the income tax when gains are shared, the tax rate is 0% as long as the profit is kept by the business.

When defining a firm’s income tax, the 20% and 80% rule is used. In other words, the net dividend is multiplied by 0,2 and divided by 0,8. The rate that is paid out of the net dividend, or the average tax rate, is 25%.

Result for stockholders

The new CIT framework has an impact on stockholders in addition to the business itself. However, the consequences of the new corporation tax will vary established on the stockholder’s position.

• Latvian natural person as a stockholder

Dividend income is not taxable to Latvian fiscal residents. By the concept of freedom of movement of capital, stockholders must have equal rights. The renewed corporate tax is based on the approach that not only corporate tax is included but personal taxes too. Furthermore, a tax resident of Latvia is free from paying taxes while receiving payments from a nonnative firm, assuming that the dividend distributor has paid the CIT from the proceeds accepted. For international investors who want to switch tax residences to reduce their investment taxes, this is a significant incentive.

• Foreign natural person as a stockholder

The scenario becomes more difficult since the resident nation will not recognize the Latvian business taxes as a tax credit because it is not an income tax paid at the source.

As a foreign tax citizen, it appears that a foreigner will need to erect some sort of barrier separating them from a Latvian business. All you need is a basic holding corporation. The option is to use a loan to partially finance the Latvian business. This is particularly true given that the new rule limits interest charges to those that meet the transfer pricing and ownership level standards.

• Foreign juridical person as a stockholder

The tax burden for Latvian businesses has gone up from 15% to 20%. However, if dividend charges are postponed, the following decrease in the value of the tax paid can be greater than the rise in nominal value. It is advised to postpone paying taxes for as long as feasible to take advantage of the fact that the potential value of the deferred tax is lower than its present worth.

Tax basis

Latvian companies when profits are spread, for example in the form of dividend fees, must pay the reformed corporate income tax. The tax basis is made up not only of the direct allocation of proceeds.

The corporation income tax has collected both profits and conditional profits, which include:

• dividends both regular and extraordinary;
• dividend-equivalent costs;
• conditional dividends;
• credit to related entities;
• non-economic-related expenditures;
• doubtful debts;
• boosting the tax basis by including increasing interest charges;
• transfer rates modifications;
• products that a nonnative distributes to his staff or associates of his council;
• elimination quota.

Taxable timeframe

The tax period in Latvia is the period from a day of one month to the corresponding day of the next month. Every month, on the 20th day of the following month, the CIT declaration must be submitted.

The taxpayer’s declaration is submitted once every quarter if the deadline is set for a quarter.

Pros of holding companies

The exclusions from the taxes of capital gains and taxations on outgoing dividend distributions under the reformed CIT framework may be advantageous to holding companies.

• Exclusions from capital gains

If a Latvian enterprise held the stock for at least 3 years before the sale, it can decrease its tax basis by the funds gains the business has generated from the sale of stock. Yes, it seems to sense that a holding company established in Latvia shouldn’t be subject to taxes when it trades assets it has owned for under three years. Nevertheless, as long as the corporation has owned the stock for the 36-month period, it can share the capital appreciation as payments tax-exempt.

• Outgoing dividends

The reformed taxation for enterprises’ profit heavily relies on outgoing dividends.

There ought to be no tax on the allocations paid out. Accordingly, on condition that the company that is launched in Latvia gets dividends from some other enterprise from Latvia or abroad that has completed the corporation tax in that nation, it will be able to disperse these outbound earnings without paying taxes on them. This restriction is not used for dividend revenue from offshore businesses.

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