An amendment to the Commercial Code, passed by the Chamber of Deputies, aims to improve payment morale of companies. 60 days period was fixed as the maximum deadline for company liability payments. A longer due date could only be negotiated if, in relation to the creditor, it would not be considered as seriously unjustified. Now, the amendment will be discussed in the Senate.

At the beginning of December 2012, the Ministry of Finance published a proposal of an amendment to the Act on Immovable Property Acquisition. It contains, amongst other, a significant change in taxpayer person that should enter into validity as of January 1st, 2014.

To learn it time about any possible insolvency of your debtor is a precondition enabling you to timely raise your financial claims within insolvency proceedings or to use your financial claim as a tax expense.

Insolvency courts do not invite creditors to register their financial claims. However, might a creditor miss the deadline – usually equaling to 30 days – as specified in the respective court decision about a bankruptcy:

• his right to satisfy his financial claim expires irreversibly
• and the possibility to create a tax related correctional item amounting up to 100% of the financial claim (what makes out of the financial claim a justified tax expense) expires as well

It is likely that the Financial Arbiter of the Czech Republic will receive more power. Starting from July 2013 he might be entitled to address also legal disputes of customers vs. Exchange Offices or Life Insurance Companies. The draft of an Amendment to the Act on Financial Arbiter was prepared by the Czech Ministry of Finance in relation with the new Act on Foreign Currency Exchange Activities. The Government adopted the amendment on Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

On June 13, the Parliament adopted an Amendment, which tightens up conditions for executors´ activity. Prior to any legal actions, debtors will receive an obligatory warning asking them to pay their debt on their own free will. In some cases, several executions could be joined into one, what would decrease debtor’s costs.

The government agreed on an introduction of so called „solidary“ personal tax income increase amounting to 7% out of so called over-limit income in the period from 2013 till 2015. The tax will increase if, in the said period, a total of gross income (not the „supergross“ salary) and partial tax base from business or other self-employment activity will exceed the threshold of 48 multiple of average salary. In the period 2013 – 2015, the Government proposes a total abolition of maximum base of assessment for public health insurance.

VKŠ, as a long-term patron of The Talich Chamber Orchestra (TCO), cordially invite you to the TCO New Year Concert which will take place at St. Simon and Juda church in Prague on Monday January 2, 2012.

The new issue of VKS NEWS provides interesting news even beyond the field of Law. The latest issue can be downloaded here in pdf format and if you are not a regular subscriber you can write to office@akvks.cz concerning a printed version.

Many of Werich’s thoughts have become popular and so even thirty years after his death you still can’t find anyone without at least one of his pearls of wisdom or apt comments lodged in his mind. A documentary that Ceska Televize is about to release on the 15th of December entitled “Searching for Jan Werich” only confirms this point.

Part of this documentary was shot in the premises of our firm.

At the beginning of October, the official ceremonial revealing of the Woodrow Wilson monument took place in Vrchlickeho Sady in Prague. Wilson, along with T. G. Masaryk, M. R. Stefanik and E. Benes was one of the initiators of the Czechoslovak declaration of in 1918.