An Apple’s British Store employee was dismissed due to bad-mouthing the company on Facebook, despite the fact that the comment was marked as private. However, a companion of the worker who was among his contacts in the social network saw it, printed it and surrendered it to his boss.
A few months ago an U.S. Court forced a company to return to recruit five workers dismissed for the same reason.
However, in this case the British Employment Tribunal ratified this dismissal because it considered that Apple has a very clear policy in this area and prohibits publishing negative comments on social networks.
According to Jamie Hamnett in People Management, the Court also took into account that the comments could be very harmful to the company, because its image is “fundamental to its success”.
In addition, the Court also found that the fact that the comments were private did not prevent anyone with access to them circulated them on the Internet. Therefore the worker could not be eligible to the right to privacy, collected by article 8 of the Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
(TICbeat)
From December 3rd, 2010 as a general rule for any kind of companies the following operations shall be exempt of tax (such tax was formerly a 1% of the operation’s value):
1) Formation of companies
2) Increase of company’s capital
3) Contribution from shareholders not resulting in increase of company’s capital
4) Transfer to Spanish territory of the business’ headquarters or company’s domicile when they were previously located in a non EU country member.
Consequently the company operations still being taxed are: decrease of company’s capital and company’s winding up.
The Spanish Cabinet has declared it is urgent to debate and approve a proposed law previously sent to the parliament partially amending the existing Spanish Law of Corporations (including S.A. and S.L. companies).
At this stage, these are some of the changes worth to be mentioned:
- Continuance with the already initiated line of reducing the costs due for a company’s organization and functioning.
- Elimination of some of the most unjustified differences between the legal system regulating S.A. companies and the one of S.L. companies.
In what refers to the indicated elimination of differences there is a general unification of regulation concerning several items such as the possibility to incorporate legal causes of shareholder’s exclusion in the company’s bylaws; the unification of the legal causes for the company’s winding up due to inactivity; or the unification of the legal regime applicable to the dissolved company’s liquidators.
Regarding companies operating in stock markets, the legal reform tends to ease and promote the shareholders’ rights about information and vote within the European Union territory in order to guaranty that the summons for general meetings and documentation needed to attend these are at the disposal of the shareholders with sufficient time in advance regardless their place of residence and they can therefore decide and vote without obstacles. For this purpose, the reform incorporates the EU Directive claiming for the removal of obstacles such as the existing ones for electronic or internet-based communication systems in order for non-residents to be in equal conditions with the resident members or shareholders even when those are not physically present.
The Spanish Supreme Court establishes new jurisprudence with two unequivocal verdicts that revolutionize the current legal doctrine: the Tax Office will not enter into a company’s offices to request data if not authorized by the company’s legal representative or the court.
Link to one of the Supreme Court’s sentences (Spanish text)
Yes, it does. To start with, companies normally limit the responsibility they may incur into (including due lease rents), up to the amount of their share capital. Another substantial circumstance is the fact that most companies may legally change their board of shareholders as many times they find appropriate without informing anyone; thus the persons you may have seen at the time of contracting the lease may be substituted by others you do not know at all.
A properly drafted lease contract should avoid these and any other risky issues even if the tenant is to be a company.
Emilio Pino – Abogados can help you regarding such contract.
Yes, it does. To start with, companies normally limit the responsibility the may incur into (including due lease rents), up to the amount of their share capital. Another substantial circumstance is the fact that most companies may legally change their board of shareholders as many times they find appropriate without informing anyone; thus the persons you may have seen at the time of contracting the lease may be substituted by others you do not know at all.
A properly drafted lease contract should avoid these and any other risky issues even if the tenant is to be a company.
Emilio Pino – Abogados can help you regarding such contract.
No, there is not. All these denominations are different ways to call the same kind of company that basically consists in a limited responsibility company (i.e., the shareholders are responsible up to the limit of their respective share capital), with a minimum permitted capital of 3,006 EUR.
Concerning to the Income tax of Individuals, the percentages of general tax scale stay the same but the rate applicable to savings in personal income tax has increased. The applicable rate will be 19% for the first 6,000 Euros of yield, and 21% on the excess. These tax rates, in harmony – this time – with the EU rules, are applicable to non-residents income tax payers in the case of dividends, interests and economic gains obtained in Spain, which shall be taxed at the flat rate of 19%.
The retention rate in personal income tax rises up to 19% in order to equal the new tax rate in what refers to:
a) The capital formation yields.
b) The capital gains arising from transmissions or refunds of shares and participations on collective investment enterprises.
c) The income from lease or sublease of urban real estate.
This new type of retention will also apply to retentions and advanced tax payments relating to corporation tax.
Equally controversial than when it was approved has been the removal of the 400 Euros tax deduction applicable to income from work performance and economic activities for those taxpayers with taxable amount exceeding 12,000 Euros. The effect we have seen in the payroll of Spanish workers from last January.
To encourage recruitment, the new rules in the area of personal income tax and only for the 2009-2011 tax periods bring a tax reduction on the NET performance of economic activities in case of creation or maintenance of job. This measure has retroactive effect as of 1 January 2009. In order to qualify, the next requisites are needed: I) exercise of an economic activity, II) business total turnover for all economic activities performed of less than EUR 5 million, III) less than 25 employees, IV) maintenance or creation of employment in such exercises. The new rules implement a reduced type of tax charge for 2009 to 2011 periods if the above requirements are met. The scale of tax applied to these entities is as follows:
I) Tax base between 0 and 120,202.41: 20%
II) Excess: 25%
Could the Spanish Football League still attract the best in the world once the special legal arrangements for Inpatriated people or “Beckham law” has been modified with effect 1 January 2010? In this respect the novelty is that those workers whose predictable fees will exceed 600,000 Euros per year shall not be eligible for the special scheme of taxation (flat rate of 24%).
It is provided that with effect from 1 July 2010, despite criticism emanating from all sectors, an increase in the rate of general Value Added Tax from 16% to 18% is taking place. On the other side, the reduced tax rate will raise from 7% to 8%.
The present regulations in force regarding transfers of shares of companies directly (or indirectly) owning real estate properties situated in Spain when they represent 50% or more of the Company’s active (total assets) establish that these share transfers pay a transfer tax as if they were normal real estate transfers. In the present moments, this tax is 7% in Andalucía.
The same tax is applicable to transfers of shares owned as a result of provisions of Spanish real estate properties into companies at the time of the formation of such companies, or of the share capital increases as long as the elapsed time between such provision and the transfer is three years or less (before it was one year). 2007-08-27.
They are not the same even though the S.A companies (or Sociedades Anónimas) and S.L. companies (or Sociedades Limitadas) have many characteristics in common. While S.A. companies are designed for medium to big enterprises and have a minimum share Capital of 60,102 Euros, the S.L. companies can operate with a share Capital of at least 3,006 Euros. Also, S.A. companies have a more strict system of control related to accounts and to actions and obligations where official publicity is forceful.