Sinn Fein’s Matt Carthy has launched a stinging attack on Ireland’s corporate tax regime, arguing that Ireland’s reputation as an “enabler of massive tax avoidance for large corporations” is justified. Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, the Midlands-North West MEP criticised the last government’s move to abolish the… – Continue reading
New U.S. Treasury regulations aimed at curbing tax inversions, where U.S. companies acquire foreign counterparts and headquarter abroad, seem to be working. But their broader goal – to keep American corporate capital at home – has failed. Consider the recent mergers-and-acquisitions activity. Chicago-based CF Industrial Holdings and Netherlands-based OCI called… – Continue reading
It was quite a revelation when leaked documents, made public in April, showed that Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, had helped 14,000 clients worldwide create offshore accounts to conceal assets or dodge taxes. On Monday, a report by The Times found that there were at least 2,400 clients based… – Continue reading
PBOC says move is aimed at smoothing out money market fluctuations China’s central bank has tightened the way it calculates reserve requirements for banks dealing in offshore yuan, saying on Friday that it wanted to increase flexibility in liquidity management for financial institutions and help smooth out fluctuations in money… – Continue reading
Asia Pacific The January – March edition of tax highlights for the Asia Pacific region highlights industry developments from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore including: Australia’s new tax system for Managed Investment Trusts The final stage of China’s B2V reform to be rolled out from… – Continue reading
In an ongoing effort to increase transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), India joined Canada, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China in becoming the 39thsignatory to the OECD ‘s Multilateral Competent Authority agreement for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports (CbC MCAA). The Country-by-Country Reporting Agreement was… – Continue reading
The finance ministry has notified that the equalisation levy (popularly known as Google tax) introduced in this budget, will come into force from June 1. As of now, it will apply to payments for online advertisements made by Indian business entities to non-residents (such as Google,Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook) where the… – Continue reading
Foreign portfolio investors based out of the US have collectively approached the India with a request to amend the India-US tax treaty, exempting them from paying capital gains tax , people close to the development said. These investors — mainly pension funds —are those who had invested in Indian equities… – Continue reading
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recognizes the efforts of an increasing number of tax authorities to revise their tax policies in response to the international guidelines outlined in the G20 mandated Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. ICC urges national governments to… – Continue reading
The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) has been unable to reach agreement on the European Commission’s proposed anti tax avoidance directive. The issue has therefore been postponed until the next ECOFIN meeting in June. The European Commission announced its proposed anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD) in January. The proposed… – Continue reading
The recent EMEA Conference of Alliott Group, one of the world’s most established international associations of independent accounting and law firms, brought together tax professionals from 28 countries across the world to discuss Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS), a project led by the OECD and G20 whose Action Plan… – Continue reading
PANAMA, widely recognised as one of the world’s tax havens, declined a request by the South African government to enter into a bilateral arrangement for the exchange of information. However, the refusal was made before the huge leak of information about the offshore holdings of wealthy individuals and entities disclosed… – Continue reading
The new tax treaty between India and Mauritius may achieve what last year’s budget tried to do, albeit unsuccessfully—encourage offshore fund managers to relocate to India, in the process making the country a fund management hub, much like London, Dubai or Singapore. With the new agreement restoring parity between domestic… – Continue reading
The Delhi HC has delivered path-breaking and bold verdicts, quashing proceedings initiated by CBDT and CBEC administrative guidance for assessments and subsequent denial of benefits. A question tax professionals are often asked is: Has the government done enough to address the situation on tax? Several negative catchphrases had peppered headlines… – Continue reading
The Panama Papers have recently drawn a great deal of investigation and public attention. Over 230,000 organizations and individuals were named as having set up offshore companies in tax haven like the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas. The public’s initial reaction was suspicion and anger toward… – Continue reading
Portugal finance ministry says it is looking at ways of preventing government departments from using tax havens after the Treasury debt agency was found to have held an investment in Jersey. The Finance Ministry says that the agency held 133 million euros ($149 million) of bonds in a Jersey-based company… – Continue reading
Reports published last week, based on the Panama Papers, cast further light on New Zealand’s role as a location where wealthy individuals around the world are able to hide their fortunes. Last month the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released millions of leaked documents revealing that Panama-based Mossack Fonseca, the… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS – EU state aid regulators aim to rule on Amazon’s (AMZN.O) tax deal with Luxembourg by July, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, and it may order the country’s tax authorities to recover about 400 million euros ($448 million) in back taxes. The European Commission’s decision… – Continue reading
The European Union, locked in a tax battle with the likes of Apple Inc. and McDonald’s Corp., laid down the law in its bid to rein in governments that woo multinationals with special fiscal deals allowing them to reduce their fiscal liability by booking profits abroad. The European Commission, which… – Continue reading
China is joining an international effort to tackle tax evasion, with plans to require multinationals to disclose more detailed information on their overseas affiliates, according to taxation consultants who advised the government on the new rules. The proposed regulations would make it more difficult for large companies to avoid taxes… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Now that loopholes in the tax treaty with Mauritius have been plugged, the Indian government is gearing up to apply the same fix to its accord with Cyprus. Talks to amend the double taxation avoidance treaty are at an advanced stage and the two sides will soon exchange… – Continue reading
Panama has officially signed on to comply with OECD standards on exchanging tax information, a move that comes more than a month after the Panama Papers data leak. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) officials say they have long tried to get Panama to agree to their common… – Continue reading
The closure of a tax loophole could hit UAE firms planning to invest in India through Mauritius. The Indian government this week amended a long-standing treaty that helped foreign investors to avoid capital gains tax by routing their investments through Mauritius. Mauritius is the biggest source of foreign direct investment… – Continue reading
On 10 May 2016, the Government of India issued a press release1 stating that India and Mauritius have signed a protocol (New Protocol) amending the double tax avoidance treaty between the two countries (the Treaty). Based on the press release and the New Protocol, following are the key changes to… – Continue reading
The OECD’s new emphasis on aligning profits with value creation could induce more companies to take a rigorous approach to their transfer pricing through a value-chain analysis. “The traditional transfer pricing approach is to talk about the routine and the residual, and this is reflected in the way we do… – Continue reading
India had in August 1982 signed the treaty with Mauritius to eliminate double taxation of income and capital gains to encourage mutual trade and investment. Investors must pay taxes on money they earn in India and the domestic economy is now strong enough to depend on any “tax-incentivised route” to… – Continue reading
East African Community member states have failed to reach a deal on a common tax rate as the bloc’s smaller economies worry about significant revenue losses. The failure to harmonise value added tax, income tax and excise tax rates has left the regional bloc deliberating on how to harmonise legislation… – Continue reading
National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier announced today that the Government of Canada has taken another step to stop the unfair practice of aggressive tax planning by signing an international agreement to implement stronger international reporting obligations for large multinational enterprises (MNEs). Thirty-one other jurisdictions have also signed the agreement. The… – Continue reading
New Delhi, May 11 (IANS) Following the revision of India’s bilateral tax treaty with Mauritius, the government on Wednesday said the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR ) provisions, with effect from April next year, will override the Double TaxationAvoidance Agreement (DTAA) in case of abuse. “GAAR being anti-abuse provision can prevail… – Continue reading
NEW YORK — U.S. multinational companies are saving $100 billion a year by shifting their profits overseas to lower their tax bills, according to a study released Tuesday that found that corporate tax-dodging is a bigger problem than previously estimated. Most U.S. companies pay far less than the country’s 35… – Continue reading
Tensions between the EU and the US over tax follow investigations into Apple in Ireland The US should be added to a new European blacklist of tax havens being drawn up by the European Commission, according to a report commissioned by the Green group in the European Parliament. The report,… – Continue reading
Authorities answer OECD call to clamp down on corporate grey area of internal transfer pricing with proposal for tougher reporting standards China is mulling plans to tighten tax reporting requirements on multinationals operating in the country to help close a ¬massive global loophole. If the plan goes ahead, multinationals would… – Continue reading
India and Mauritius have signed a protocol amending the double tax avoidance arrangement between the two countries. The protocol is the outcome of an extensive and long-drawn-out negotiation process that has been going for more than a year and a half. While the text of the protocol is yet to… – Continue reading
Banks say tax rules cracking down on property speculation force them to screen for money-laundering at their own cost. Banks are refusing to open accounts for foreigners if they think the costs outweigh the benefits. New property and tax laws launched late last year made “offshore persons” buying or selling… – Continue reading
A change to our tax rules aimed at foreign property investors is likely to affect many people, a tax expert says. A bill poised to be passed by Parliament this week may increase the red tape for anyone based overseas doing taxable business with this country. The Taxation (Residential Land… – Continue reading
The tax treatment of non-domiciled individuals is changing again from April 2017. The changes were first announced in the 2015 Summer Budget, and a Consultation document was issued in September 2015 setting out further details. The proposed changes target three key areas: The taxation of non-domiciled individuals who have been… – Continue reading
Only a week after the so-called Panama Papers burst into the media spotlight early last month, the Canadian government issued a news release vowing to “crack down on tax evasion and tax avoidance.” The leak of a staggering 11.5 million documents from a Panama City law firm promised to reveal… – Continue reading
TOKYO — Do the rich and powerful really dodge taxes? They do. The “Panama Papers” – 11.5 million or so documents leaked from a Panama law firm specializing in tax shelters of various kinds and degrees of ingenuity – are shocking, however, not only to the naively innocent but to seasoned… – Continue reading
Australia announced a further crackdown on multinational tax avoidance in its annual budget on Tuesday, including the planned introduction of a UK-style diverted profits tax (DPT), that it expects to raise A$3.9 billion over the next four years. The government is creating a new Tax Avoidance Taskforce of 1,000 specialist… – Continue reading
Unctad thinktank shows firms funnelled $221bn in 2015 through low-tax jurisdictions such as the Netherlands and tax havens in the Caribbean The UN has urged governments to stem the flow of funds to tax havens after companies funnelled $221bn (£152bn) into countries with low tax rates last year. The Netherlands… – Continue reading
Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today announced opening of its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to meet the requirements of offshore banking operations from India. Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today announced opening of its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City… – Continue reading
As with any offshore financial centre, secrecy has been synonymous with the Channel Islands of Jersey. But the reason for the strong relations between the self-governing British dependency and the United Arab Emirates – still not known to many – is not confidentiality alone. It has not been so long… – Continue reading
IT’S ALL COMING TOGETHER: Corporate inversions. The Panama Papers. Those European investigations into big-name companies like Apple. And the BEPS project coming out of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. As Tax Pro Katy O’Donnell reports, tax practitioners and wonks might like to say that some of those things… – Continue reading
Panama Papers’ disclosures now and earlier dealings of Vodafone through Cayman Islands are stories of famous tax havens, which evoke discussions of how tax evasion takes place. These are all direct taxes, mainly corporate tax, and not indirect tax. These are cases of tax planning that come to the fore… – Continue reading
Six men are tonight starting jail sentences after using the free messaging system to organise the plot – which was eventually busted by TITAN, the regional organised crime unit A £10m money laundering conspiracy which squirrelled cash from drug trafficking to offshore bank accounts was coordinated on WhatsApp. Six men… – Continue reading
Introduction Even though a trust may be established under the laws of a US state and have a US trust company serving as trustee (hereinafter a ‘US-based trust’), this does not mean that it is a US domestic trust for income tax purposes. If non-US persons make substantial decisions for… – Continue reading
As world leaders consider what to do about the revelations emerging from the Panama Papers, Liberia’s government will be worrying about the fall-out that may cross the Atlantic Ocean from the affair. The European Union has announced it will be creating a new “tax haven blacklist”, to be released by… – Continue reading
Prosecutions for tax evasion almost halved across Canada in just three years, figures released to Global News show. Fewer Canadians were taken to court for tax evasion in every part of the country between 2012-13 and 2014-15. In Ontario, cases fell to 47 from 119 just three years earlier. Manitoba… – Continue reading
THE DOUBLE taxation treaty (DTA) between India and Thailand has been successfully renegotiated and agreed to by both states and will come into force in January next year. The key highlights include a reduction of withholding tax on dividends, interest and royalties. Article 10 reduces the dividend withholding tax to… – Continue reading
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday said he is interested in working with other lawmakers to see if an agreement on international tax reform can be reached as soon as this year. “I’m game to do it because I think it’s really important for American competitiveness,” he said at… – Continue reading
