Act No. 33/2020 (hereinafter the “Amendment”), amending Act No. 90/2012, on corporations and associations (the Act on Corporations), as amended (hereinafter the “Act on Corporations”), entered into force on February 13 of this year upon its promulgation in the collection of documents. The Amendment was called “major” because it involves the most extensive changes to Czech corporate law in the past six years. Although the vast majority of provisions in the Amendment take effect as of January 1, 2021, it is important to prepare for them in advance.

In Financial Bulletin No. 9, the Ministry of Finance has published a third liberation package, generally and under certain conditions waiving tax, interest, and penalties. Among other things, sanctions for the late filing of personal and corporate income tax returns for 2019 and for late tax payments shall be waived as long as the return is filed and the tax paid by 18 August 2020. This does not apply to taxpayers administered by the Specialised Tax Authority.

Whoever thought that traveling to and from the Czech Republic would return to normal after the end of the state of emergency on 18 May 2020 was wrong. However, the restrictions have ended in relation to most of the EU-countries as of 5 June 2020. Poland will open its borders as of 13 June 2020.

CEE economies are bracing themselves for a slow recovery. But as unemployment is set to rise and high inflation isn't an issue any longer, more monetary easing is on the way. In FX, RUB prospects remain bright while CZK remains our favourite CEE low yielder. Poland central bank's aggressive steps should translate into a further steepening of PLN swap curve.