Tax Department Targets 500 Companies With Over €1 Million In Outstanding Tax Debt

Targeting Major Tax Defaulters

Cyprus’ Taxation Department is preparing to target an initial group of 500 companies with tax arrears exceeding €1 million as part of newly approved enforcement measures aimed at recovering unpaid liabilities. Under the updated framework approved by parliament, businesses with significant outstanding tax debts could face operational suspension and the sealing of their premises.

Debt And Enforcement Timeline

Authorities have identified companies across sectors, including retail, betting, luxury yacht sales and manufacturing, that have failed to settle substantial tax debts despite previous warnings and recommendations. The sealing measure legally applies to businesses owing more than €20,000, although the first phase will focus on companies with the largest outstanding liabilities.

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Officials said affected firms will receive three warnings over a period of 25 days before stricter measures are enforced. The aim is to encourage companies either to fully settle their debts or agree to an instalment plan.

Comprehensive Debt And Collection Measures

Outstanding liabilities include income tax, extraordinary defence contribution, capital gains tax, VAT, withholding taxes and related contributions. The amounts are based either on taxpayer self-assessments or final determinations issued by the tax office after all legal and procedural deadlines have expired.

Enhanced Compliance Through Documentation

The sealing measures will also apply to businesses that fail to issue invoices and receipts, submit inaccurate documentation or obstruct auditors during compliance checks. To support the process, the Taxation Department has procured tablets connected to the relevant software systems, while personnel are undergoing training focused on invoice and receipt verification.

Consequences For Non-Filing Of Returns

The enforcement policy will additionally apply to businesses that fail to submit mandatory tax, VAT and withholding declarations. Taxpayers have until the end of the year to regularise outstanding filings, after which operational suspensions are expected to begin on January 1, 2027.

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Nvidia Launches Open AI Security Alliance With Microsoft, Palantir And SpaceX

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

July 27, 2026

Nvidia and a coalition of technology companies on Monday launched the Open Secure AI Alliance, a new initiative aimed at strengthening artificial intelligence security through open models.

The alliance was announced days after a cyberattack involving OpenAI models targeted AI platform Hugging Face, an incident that renewed debate over whether open or closed AI systems are better suited for cybersecurity.

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Open Models at the Core

Nvidia said the alliance will focus on identifying, disclosing and mitigating AI security vulnerabilities using open technologies.

“The Open Secure AI Alliance will work to remediate and disclose vulnerabilities using open technologies,” the company said in a statement. “The recent Hugging Face security incident delivered a clear reminder: cyber defenders need open, frontier agentic systems for self-defense.”

The alliance includes Microsoft, SpaceX, Palantir and dozens of other technology companies from the U.S. and Europe.

Open-weight models can be downloaded, modified and deployed on an organisation’s own infrastructure, allowing security teams to inspect and adapt them for defensive purposes. By comparison, proprietary models from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic are generally accessed through controlled platforms.

U.S. Scrutiny of Chinese AI Grows

The initiative comes as U.S. policymakers weigh potential restrictions on Chinese AI models, particularly open-weight systems. Officials have raised concerns that some Chinese companies may be using distillation techniques to extract knowledge from leading U.S. AI models.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that Chinese companies involved in such activity could face sanctions.

Chris McGuire, senior fellow for China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC that potential restrictions could extend beyond model downloads to include API access and cloud-hosted inference services. He added that the debate in Washington is centred on intellectual property protection rather than opposition to open-source AI.

Industry Pushes Back

Last week, Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir and more than 20 other companies urged policymakers not to impose what they described as “premature restrictions” on open-weight AI models, warning such measures could reduce competition and encourage innovation to move overseas.

The launch of the Open Secure AI Alliance signals growing industry support for open AI systems as governments consider new regulatory and security measures.

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