If there is one commodity that entrepreneurs value above all others—perhaps even more than seed capital—it is certainty. In an economic landscape defined by rapid technological shifts and global volatility, the ability to forecast fiscal liabilities three to five years down the line is not a luxury; it is a prerequisite for survival. This week, the Institute of Chartered ...

The Implication: Precision is Now a Compliance Risk For years, the March 31 share scheme filing deadline has been a test of data gathering endurance. This year, however, it is a test of technical precision. The release of Revenue eBrief 039/26 has fundamentally altered the filing landscape for the 2025 reporting period by introducing Version 26.1 of the standard share ...

The "Wait and See" Approach to Family Finance Is Dead For decades, the Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) treatment of intra-family loans was relatively passive. Families often provided interest-free loans to children for property purchases or business startups, comfortable in the knowledge that tax issues could largely be deferred until the loan was written off or the parent ...

The AI Skills Gap: Why 92% of Accountants Demand Training (And How Firms Must Respond) The accounting profession is currently navigating a paradox of enthusiasm and unpreparedness. While the appetite for digital transformation has never been higher, the structural support required to execute it safely is lagging dangerously behind. For Irish firms, this is not merely a ...

Revenue eBrief 035/26: VAT Treatment Changes for Emergency Accommodation By Ciarán O'Sullivan-Vance For accounting practitioners and tax advisors managing clients in the hospitality and social services sectors, the release of Revenue eBrief No. 035/26 on 19 February 2026 marks a critical compliance juncture. The update concerns the VAT treatment of emergency ...

The short answer is YES. Whether your contract is local, interprovincial, or international, it should contain a governing law clause.  If you don’t include it, a court will choose a governing law for you.  The court will do that by applying its jurisdiction’s conflict of laws rules to find the proper law of the contract.  In Canada, the well-established rule is to apply the ...

INCOTERMS® 2020 are 11 rules issued by the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”).  If you’re thinking: How can they issue them?  They don’t make law.  You would be right. They are not laws.  They are terms that have been used historically in international sale of goods contracts, which are widely understood/interpreted by courts and people who deal with logistics issues. ...

Legal sovereignty is a political concept that gives States the power to govern themselves and the people within a state. It is the ultimate source of legal power and autonomy.  In a monarchy, a king or queen has sovereign power.  It is sovereignty that allows a State to create laws, like a constitution, and create/protect its border from other sovereign States.  That is, one ...

If the proper law of the contract has not been identified in the contract through a governing law clause, and it cannot be inferred from the express or implied intentions of the parties, the court will apply its jurisdiction’s conflict of laws rules to determine which legal system applies to the contract.  Where that analysis dictates that another jurisdiction’s legal system ...

There are many ways to draft a governing law clause. For our purposes, and to keep things manageable, we will focus on three types of governing law clauses, which will be referred to as: 1) simplified, 2) excluding, and 3) combined clauses.  A simplified governing law clause names a governing law jurisdiction, such as Ontario or New York state. It is “simple” in that it is ...

The proper law of the contract, which may be named in a governing law clause, is the substantive law or Lex Causae of the contract. The law of the forum, also known as Lex Fori , is the procedural law that applies to the dispute process itself. If the Lex Causae and the Lex Fori are the same, the difference does not really matter.  For example, if the governing law ...

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”) is a treaty that is binding on all States that sign it. That is, it becomes law in that State. It is an example of a uniform law.  The CISG was created by The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in 1980. Under its terms, any party in a Contracting State ...