Latest developments under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was one of the key points of a recent four-day visit by KPMG’s global leader for Transfer Pricing Services Sean Foley to Vietnam. He shared the issue with Vietnam’s General… – Continue reading
If statistics are anything to go by, today India is the world’s fastest growing economy at 7.3% in 2015, outstripping the global average of 3.1%. With a new government in the centre, we do seem to be riding high on the growth trajectory. The Modi government has certainly done its… – Continue reading
Online accommodation platform, Airbnb, appeared before the Senate Inqury into the tax avoidance of multinational companies on Wednesday, with the ANZ manager arguing the startup brings a significant amount of money into the economy. Airbnb has found itself in the spotlight on Wednesday, when a Senate inquiry into the tax… – Continue reading
Uber ANZ director of public policy appeared before the Senate inquiry into the tax avoidance of multinational companies on Wednesday, focusing on tax requirements of an individual driver, rather than the company. A Senate inquiry into the tax avoidance of multinational companies continued in Sydney on Wednesday, when Uber appeared… – Continue reading
Markets finished close to unchanged on Tuesday, but these stocks soared. Find out why. After big gains to start the week, the stock market treaded water on Tuesday, with most major benchmarks finishing close to the unchanged level. Yet for Airgas (NYSE:ARG), Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN), and Syngenta (NYSE:SYT), the day… – Continue reading
Chevron, the US oil giant behind Australia’s biggest liquefied natural gas project, has been hit with claims its tax affairs are a “rort”. We have spent a year trying to find Australia’s biggest tax dodger and we’ve found it. It’s Chevron. Sam Dastyari But the company insists it is the… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: In an order that may benefit multinational and Indian companies that are tied down in transfer pricing disputes with the revenue department, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has held that officers must “apply their mind” before firing off tax demands. Assessment officers (AOs) as well as commissioners of the… – Continue reading
EY believes the key to a robust tax system is striking the right balance between enabling and mandating A report by the Big Four firm explores whether proposals outlined in HMRC’s consultation document on “Improving large business tax compliance” has led the UK far away from the robust but competitive… – Continue reading
The new tax treaty signed between Australia and Germany on 12 November 2015 is the first tax treaty Australia has signed that comprehensively incorporates the proposals in the OECD base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) final recommendations. Some notable BEPS-related changes in the new Australia and Germany treaty include: The… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Treasury Department will release new “targeted guidance” this week designed to reduce the tax benefits available to U.S. companies that move their tax addresses overseas. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew informed lawmakers of the coming announcement in a letter on Wednesday, which provided no details on its intentions. The… – Continue reading
American Innovation Matters (AIM), a coalition of companies that includes Cisco, Boeing, Intel, Oracle and Facebook, has released a statement pushing for the introduction of a US patent box, or an “innovation box” as it is known in the United States. The statement looks at the endorsement on November 16… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man’s role as an offshore finance centre will come under the spotlight on television following a Welsh town’s experiment in how to avoid paying UK tax. Independent traders in Crickhowell, led by the salmon smokery, the local coffee shop, the adventure clothes shop, the optician, the book… – Continue reading
Google is said to have evaded paying an estimated $1.3 billion earned from selling apps in Korea based on the argument that their server is based in Ireland. The so called ‘Google Tax’, also known as the Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS) regulation, has been adopted this week by… – Continue reading
UPDATE 12.45pm: Bermuda has a company tax rate of zero. In Ireland its 12.5 per cent and, with the Netherlands, has given the world the term “Double Irish Dutch Sandwich”. But a trio of prominent Australian business leaders have denied the tax links of their companies to the three offshore… – Continue reading
BearingPoint’s FiTAX catches on while a FATCA critic says that more Americans are renouncing their citizenship because of the controversial tax law. While controversy swirls around the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), management and technology consultancy BearingPoint reports that between March and August 2015, more than 2,000 financial institutions… – Continue reading
Policies on perks, more bilateral pacts can help generate funds for growth: Accounting firm Singapore’s tax system can be improved to ensure the country can generate the funds needed for long-term growth and development, according to a white paper from accounting giant PwC yesterday. It called for policies that ensure… – Continue reading
Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan says multinationals are already approaching the Australian Taxation Office to negotiate before the Turnbull government’s tougher anti-avoidance laws take effect in January, and he expects the office to reap $1.1 billion from them. We at the ATO acknowledge Australia needs investment by foreign companies in infrastructure… – Continue reading
In his seminal 1987 work Crisis and Leviathan, economic historian Robert Higgs traces the pattern of government growth as a response to catastrophic events. The federal government, in particular, grows over time through a “ratcheting up” effect, as politicians respond to disasters and catastrophes with calls to “do something,” often… – Continue reading
PwC Australia Australian Taxation Office New or updated materials on ATO website, including: Decision impact statement on McGrouther & Anor v Commissioner of Taxation case concerning whether a taxpayer can waive or withdraw a notice given to the Commissioner under s14ZYA(2) of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (requiring the Commissioner… – Continue reading
KPMG in Kuwait discusses plans to implement a tax on business profits, changes to the Kuwait tax authority’s (KTA) approach to deemed permanent establishments, and Kuwait’s shift away from tax holidays toward tax credits to attract foreign direct investment. TAXATION OF COMMERCIAL PROFITS Based on recent local media reports1, KPMG… – Continue reading
MEPs grilled eleven multinational companies on their corporate tax practices in a five-hour debate with the Special Committee on Tax Rulings on Monday. These companies had declined the committee’s first invitation to appear before it, but later changed their minds and accepted its last chance invitation. Of the 13 original… – Continue reading
Notwithstanding the NDA’s election promise to end tax terrorism the dynamics on the ground belie easy fixes The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is seeking to prepare a road map to reduce existing tax litigation and look into increasing pecuniary threshold limits to discourage tax departments from launching new cases…. – Continue reading
Brussels – Google and Facebook were among US companies facing questions on Monday from European Union lawmakers about their tax-reducing techniques, a month after regional antitrust regulators raised the stakes by ordering Starbucks and a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV unit to repay millions of euros in back taxes. The queries… – Continue reading
Fund houses and R&T agents have already started alerting investors to furnish Fatca and KYC details Mutual fund (MF) investors have to submit declarations to their fund houses to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), which was passed in the US in 2010 (read more on this… – Continue reading
EXCLUSIVE A federal tax designed to share profits from the oil and gas sector with the Australian public is barely raising a single extra dollar despite the industry’s transformation from a $5 billion concern a decade ago to a $60 billion export powerhouse. With Australia poised to become the world’s… – Continue reading
THE liquidation of Kingdom Bank Africa Limited (KBAL) Botswana has been derailed after creditors declined to give the liquidator, Max Marinelli, autonomous authority to sell the assets of the defunct offshore bank. KBAL depositors and debtors are predominantly in Zimbabwe where the bank originates. In a seven-hour long heated meeting… – Continue reading
Some people think popular furniture store IKEA is being naughty, and not paying its proper share of tax in Australia. The franchise is a behemoth, both literally in terms of store size and figuratively in that it collected a US$5 billion profit for the 2014 financial year. A community action… – Continue reading
A Ministry of Finance decree published on 11 November 2015 provides follow-up guidance concerning advanced tax rulings issued by the Dutch tax administration. BACKGROUND Adopted in July 2014, an amendment to the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive addresses mismatches resulting from hybrid financing, and involves the inclusion of an anti-hybrid provision. Under… – Continue reading
President Park Geun-hye called Monday for a careful adjustment of monetary policies of advanced countries amid lingering worries over a potential Fed rate hike. Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates at near zero due to global headwinds but suggested that it could raise rates by the end… – Continue reading
The FINANCIAL — Employees in tax functions need to fundamentally change the way they use and gather data if they are to meet the growing demands on business of tax transparency, reform and technology enabled decision making. PwC’s latest research into the Tax function of the future – Unlocking the… – Continue reading
Foreign investors are still concerned about the retrospective taxation in India, but the concerns have alleviated a little due to assurances by the government, says John Hobster, global head (transfer pricing), EY. He tells Dilasha Seth that in terms of transfer pricing, things are changing in India not only at… – Continue reading
The need for robust, well-informed intangible asset valuations for the purpose of transfer pricing is becoming ever more invaluable for MNEs TRANSFER pricing has been the buzz-word of the moment with extensive media coverage in recent years of multinational enterprises (MNEs) repositioning profits to more favourable tax jurisdictions. This movement… – Continue reading
2nd Symposium of CR for transfer pricing The 2nd Symposium Transfer Pricing organized by EY Greece, exactly one year after the successful organization of the 1st Symposium was intended as the developments in transfer pricing in Greece and international tax developments, focusing on the recently finalized OECD Actions tackling Erosion… – Continue reading
The role of corporate taxation has always been a contentious political and economic issue, and with a pending U.S. election it has proven to be a polarizing topic in recent debates. A recent report by WalletHub looked at the 2014 tax rates for S&P 100 companies, and found a wide… – Continue reading
New Zealand introduced a tax bill on November 16, 2015, for a new withholding tax on sales of residential property by people who live overseas and go on to sell the property within two years of purchase. The proposed measure is the third part of the Government’s investment property tax… – Continue reading
€1 trillion a year: that’s how much tax evasion and tax avoidance is costing European tax payers every year, according to the European Commission. Parliament set up a special committee to investigate these practices in the wake of the Luxleaks scandals and came up with plans to ensure multinationals pay… – Continue reading
The fundamental contradiction between IndAS and taxation is that the latter is based on real income theory while the former is based on economic substance of transactions The country is undergoing an overhaul under the present government at the Centre, and so are its corporate laws. The country’s tax regime… – Continue reading
What does Uber mean for Canberra? Journalist Henry Belot explains how Uber will work in the ACT and what it means for passengers and drivers. Uber and Airbnb will be dragged before the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance this week to face questions about tax structures that allow them… – Continue reading
DUBLIN (Alliance News) – After the European Commission ruling that multinationals received unfair tax benefits in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Ireland is braced for an EC ruling on whether its taxation treatment of technology company Apple constituted state aid. “I don’t know what the outcome will be, but this is… – Continue reading
KPMG Professional Services has stressed the need for companies operating in Nigeria to always pay their tax as required by law in order to improve business performance and create shareholder value. The professional services firm made this call at a press conference to announce the launch of its survey report… – Continue reading
Good and Services Tax to apply to online services and digital goods delivered from offshore from October 2016. New Zealand is powering ahead with a plan to tax digital goods and online services delivered from offshore providers such as Netflix. Introducing a Bill into Parliament today, revenue minister Todd McClay… – Continue reading
Antalya, Nov. 16: The Group of 20 nations today pledged to adopt sound macroeconomic policies to achieve strong, sustainable balanced growth. The near-term objective would be to support growth, create jobs and put debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) on a sustainable path. Data show that several… – Continue reading
Amazon, Facebook and Google in line of fire after committee backs proposals to force multinational corporations to pay tax where they make their sales MEPs have launched a scathing attack on Facebook, Google and Amazon in the European parliament, accusing them of diverting profits worth billions of pounds to low… – Continue reading
The FINANCIAL — Apostle Matthew was a tax collector in Galilee — perhaps the most hated occupation in the ancient world. By quitting his job and deciding to follow Jesus, Mathew accomplished one the greatest transformations possible in a person’s life. Modern tax inspectors are certainly not expected to follow… – Continue reading
As Deputy Prime Minister, the holier-than-thou Nick Clegg made huge play of how his Lib Dems forced their Tory Coalition partners to crack down on tax avoidance. Offshore tax havens, in particular, were his target, when he said: ‘There are millions of people who pay their taxes . . …. – Continue reading
The taka has continued to decline against the dollar in the past three weeks due to sustained demand for the greenback from banks and importers, according to data from the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association. The average BC (bills for collections/import payments) selling rate reached over Tk 80 a dollar… – Continue reading
Gaborone — Clients of Standard Chartered Bank Botswana should brace themselves for exciting times with the launch of the offshore fixed income proposition under its wealth management portfolio. Speaking at a breakfast launch with clients and media, the head of wealth management for Botswana and Southern Africa at Standard Chartered… – Continue reading
Once again, a possible corporate inversion is making headlines and once again, the Obama administration has proven it does not understand the real reason inversions occur. In response to news that pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Allergan are in merger discussions, the Obama Treasury department has suggested it would do its… – Continue reading
* G20 leaders say they will deliver on vow to lift global growth * G20 promise not to surprise markets with policy decisions * World leaders agree to tackle tax dodgers, pledge to cooperate on migrants (Adds details, background) BELEK, Turkey, Nov 15 The heads of the world’s 20 largest… – Continue reading
CORK, Ireland — As lord mayor of this quiet seaside city in southern Ireland, Chris O’Leary seems to have a situation most other local politicians can only dream about. Blue-chip international companies like Apple, Dell and IBM have all set up shop in and around this city, filling newly built… – Continue reading
