Two reviews into the Ontario Provincial Police Association reveal that “tyrannical” leaders led to a complete breakdown of governance. There were harassing, expletive-filled emails, including one telling a staffer to “hurry the f— up” and another threatening to “rip off” a board member’s head. There were employees brought to tears… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued guidelines for compounding of offences under Income Tax Act, 1961/Wealth Tax Act, 1957, in cases of persons holding undisclosed foreign bank accounts/assets. The CBDT on Friday issued directions to all field formations, including principal chief commissioners, chief commissioners and… – Continue reading
Switzerland will allow stolen data acquired through official means to form the basis for a request for assistance but will help India only for post-2011 bank accounts, that too as long as Swiss courts don’t interfere Geneva: Switzerland’s proposed changes on treating stolen information have generated much optimism in India… – Continue reading
The value of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity with Irish involvement so far this year has surged to almost €100bn – nearly twice the figure at the same time last year. And Irish law firms Arthur Cox and A&L Goodbody continue to rank among the top firms advising on the… – Continue reading
The amount big companies set aside to cover disputed tax bills has more than halved over the past three years to £1.7bn this year, reports the Financial Times. Even though businesses fear more disputes as tax authorities become increasingly tough, they are showing reluctance to be drawn into conflicts that… – Continue reading
Glencore pays virtually no tax on Australian coal operations Glencore is in trouble and took drastic action today to shore up its finances. One place they won’t find sympathy is in the court of public opinion. Last year, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that Glencore paid virtually no tax over… – Continue reading
Labour has demanded a review of a new tax that hits smaller banks alongside global behemoths Challenger banks and building societies threatened by George Osborne’s extra bank tax have been offered a lifeline by the Labour Party, which wants to amend the charge to help out the smaller end of… – Continue reading
Former Nudie Juice CEO Andrew Binetter allegedly sought the destruction of incriminating files at Bank Hapoalim. The names of Israeli banks Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) and Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) have been mentioned in the Australian press as involved in alleged tax fraud in the millions of dollars by… – Continue reading
MUMBAI India’s tax officials, long the scourge of foreign investors, are under government pressure to avoid aggressive claims against overseas funds and companies, as the country seeks to repair an image dented by high-profile tax battles. The latest dust-up was over a largely overlooked minimum alternate tax (MAT), which had… – Continue reading
One of the UK’s leading hedge fund managers must pay nearly £8m in tax after a judge upheld a ruling that Patrick Degorce had attempted to shelter millions in a controversial avoidance scheme. Mr Degorce, co-founder of The Children’s Investment Fund along with Sir Chris Hohn, denied knowing that a… – Continue reading
Ireland will probably face censure from European authorities within months in relation to its tax dealings with Apple, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. A finding against Ireland will spark a legal battle that may last years, as the government is ready to fight the decision in… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Indian tax authorities will ignore conventions to pierce trust structures used by most people to stash black money abroad. Persons who are named as beneficiaries in overseas discretionary trusts are likely to face enquiry even if they do not receive any money from such trusts. The taxman will look… – Continue reading
A funding line has been launched to help business taxpayers facing payment deadlines arising from Accelerated Payment Notices (APNs) APNs, introduced in 2014, enable HMRC to request full upfront payment of disputed tax within 90 days. They are issued to individuals and companies suspected of partaking in aggressive avoidance schemes…. – Continue reading
Commercial finance provider LDF has launched a funding line to help taxpayers facing payment deadlines arising from accelerated payment notices issued by HMRC. Accelerated payment notices, otherwise known as APNs, were first introduced in 2014. Designed to change the economics of avoidance, the notice enables HMRC to request full upfront… – Continue reading
In a move that could add real bite to India’s war on black money, the Swiss Federal Council on Wednesday approved a bill that would allow the government to share “stolen data” with other countries. The council, Switzerland’s highest executive authority, said in a statement: “The Federal Council initiated the… – Continue reading
A Russian nuclear energy official pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on Monday in connection with his role in arranging more than 2 million in corrupt payments to influence the awarding of contracts from the Russian-state owned nuclear energy company to businesses in the U.S. Mikerin “admitted that… – Continue reading
UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG accounted for about three out of four job losses in the Swiss banking industry last year, even though they employ less than half the local workforce. At the end of 2014, 104,053 people were working full-time in Switzerland for the country’s banks,… – Continue reading
The European Commission is refusing to hand over documents to MEPs investigating whether EU member states are using special tax regimes that favour large multinational corporations such as Facebook and Amazon. EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici wrote to the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings (TAXE) this week claiming… – Continue reading
As Labor Day weekend approaches, a tanned and rested Congress is poised to return to Washington to hash out corporate tax changes. Much of the debate over corporate tax reform in Washington sensibly focuses on how to encourage Fortune 500 corporations to repatriate and pay U.S. taxes on the $2.1… – Continue reading
The number of Swiss banks that have entered deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. government keeps growing. The subject is tax evasion involving American account holders. Today, banks everywhere want to know if you are compliant with the IRS. Under FATCA, the entire world is lending the IRS a hand…. – Continue reading
Schroders Plc’s Swiss bank will pay a $10.4 million penalty to avoid prosecution under a U.S. program that requires participating firms in Switzerland to say how they helped American clients avoid taxes. Schroder & Co. Bank AG’s penalty is the fourth highest among 33 banks that have settled with the… – Continue reading
Moneycontrol Bureau Credit Suisse has maintained its underperform rating on Glenmark Pharma as it feels potential currency devaluation in Venezuela could hurt profit meaningfully. The stock lost more than 3 percent intraday Wednesday. The brokerage expects a 20 percent degrowth in company’s FY17 earnings per share as it continued to… – Continue reading
HSBC’s Argentine unit told to remove CEO and one director HSBC accused of helping capital flight by wealthy Argentines Argentina’s central bank revoked the licenses of two top executives at HSBC Holdings Plc’s local unit, including the chief executive officer, arguing they had failed to prevent clients from laundering funds… – Continue reading
HSBC Argentina has been asked to appoint a new president and vice president within 24 hours by Argentina’s central bank for failing to prevent tax evasion and money laundering. Last year, HSBC was charged for helping more than 4,000 clients evade taxes by hiding their money in secret Swiss bank… – Continue reading
Investors could be hit hard if they are taxed on the capital gains earned from the sale of holdings in FPIs Today, a stable, predictable tax and regulatory regime is a sine qua non for creating a conducive climate for foreign portfolio investors (FPI). Investors wishing to invest in India… – Continue reading
Call to strip company of transparency standards certification A leading tax policy advocacy group has called for online retailer Etsy to be stripped of a certification awarded to companies that adhere to strict standards for transparency and social accountability unless it dismantles its offshore tax cutting structure. Last month, Bloomberg… – Continue reading
Swiss banking secrecy is no longer viable as the U.S. Justice Department closes in on agreements with most of the institutions that may have helped Americans evade taxes, according to the top American diplomat in Switzerland. Negotiations with about one-third of Swiss lenders, known as Category 2 banks, to finalise… – Continue reading
Mexico’s government withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in tax refunds owed to Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Colgate combined as it sought to coax them and other multinationals to pay more income tax locally, according to people close to the talks. After luring foreign companies with corporate tax breaks… – Continue reading
International worldwide transactions in Mexico face a weakness as a result of an old and outdated provision which disallows for income tax purposes, the deduction of payments made abroad on a prorated basis with other parties that are not subject to Mexican income tax, such as foreign residents with no… – Continue reading
Rejecting “treaty shopping” claims, India’s High Court of Punjab and Haryana has ruled that India should not tax capital gains from the sale by Mauritian entities of shares held in an Indian company if they are proven resident in Mauritius. The ruling was given in Serco BPO Private Limited v…. – Continue reading
The Swiss authorities, already annoyed by India’s new black money law that puts pressure on its banking system, has now rejected an Indian government request for legal assistance to proceed against a Swiss firm for alleged bribery. A report by the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper said Switzerland’s office of the… – Continue reading
It’s a decision that could spell relief for many Mauritius based investors. This week the Punjab & Haryana High Court has re-iterated that a Mauritian tax residency certificate is sufficient to avail treaty benefits. Senior advocate Porus Kaka tells CNBC TV18’s Menaka Doshi that this re-iteration is important given the… – Continue reading
Introduction Transfer pricing methods and tested parties Troubling trend Tools for taxpayers Introduction In some recent transfer pricing audits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ‘flipped the tested party’ after examining transactions between related US and foreign companies. Typically, this practice results in the attribution of a larger portion of… – Continue reading
The Bank of Israel asked Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. to set up an independent committee to examine management performance and bonuses after the lender agreed in December to pay a fine to U.S. authorities in a tax probe. Leumi, Israel’s second-largest lender, agreed the $400 million fine after a seven-year… – Continue reading
The yuan traded in Hong Kong strengthened on speculation that relatively high offshore borrowing costs are keeping some investors from making bearish bets on the currency. The overnight Hong Kong interbank offered rate for the yuan reached the highest in almost seven months on Tuesday, before the People’s Bank of… – Continue reading
Three-member AP Shah Committee has recommended extending minimum alternate tax (MAT) relief to foreign companies which do not have permanent establishment or public business in India. In an earlier version, the committee had sought to restrict MAT to foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors. The committee had also not… – Continue reading
Regulator demands Bank Leumi investigate top management in wake of U.S. tax-evasion settlement. Bank Leumi should take back bonuses it paid three former senior executives after the lender was forced to pay a huge penalty to the United States for tax violations that occurred under their watch, Banks Supervisor David… – Continue reading
Three-member AP Shah Committee has recommended extending minimum alternate tax (MAT) relief to foreign companies which do not have permanent establishment or public business in India. In an earlier version, the committee had sought to restrict MAT to foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors. The committee had also not… – Continue reading
Monsanto has reported that it has ended its attempt to merge with Syngenta after its latest $46.2 Billion offer was rejected This ends Monsanto’s four-month pursuit of Syngenta and its hopes of a deal that would have formed a global agriculture powerhouse by combining Monsanto’s lead in global seed enterprise… – Continue reading
A recent Central Board of Direct Taxes (‘CBDT’) press release of August 6, 2015 announced signing of 2 unilateral APAs, including one with a rollback provision, and this has raised hopes of many MNCs, that hope to witness expeditious and reasonable closures. n July 2012, with a view to providing… – Continue reading
The new head of Barclays Plc’s Swiss unit is pushing private bankers in Geneva and Zurich to double client assets in four years as international competitors exit the world’s largest hub for offshore wealth. James Buchanan-Michaelson, who joined from Coutts International in June, aims to increase Swiss assets, including loans,… – Continue reading
This month’s feature examines proposals for new tax information reporting requirements for large multinational businesses as part of wider and ongoing changes to the international tax system – proposals which have been described by international tax experts as the most significant development in the field of transfer pricing since TP… – Continue reading
Expat contractors who are earning big salaries without paying tax in their home countries are running out of time to put straighten their finances, say recruitment experts. Contractors who are still tax resident in the UK but fail to declare their offshore earnings are one target for global tax authorities…. – Continue reading
After the leak of two major secret documents from HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm that revealed names of roughly 2,000 Indian account holders, the global bank itself has done it now. For the first time ever, HSBC Singapore shared a new list of 1,200 individuals all across the globe of… – Continue reading
WINDS OF CHANGE – GEORGE OSBORNE’S FIRST BUDGET AS THE CHANCELLOR OF A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT BROUGHT SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT ANNOUNCEMENTS. By Mark Wingate Taking a leaf from the Labour Party’s election manifesto, there will be a further tightening of the rules for non-doms. In an attempt to provide a more level… – Continue reading
The online craft website Etsy is facing new scrutiny for its recent decision to shift some of its intellectual property into a secretive Irish subsidiary. As Bloomberg reported last week, the company’s Irish subsidiary has been made into an “unlimited liability corporation,” a form that exists primarily to avoid disclosure… – Continue reading
Multinational enterprises (MNEs) producing or selling their products in China have had to contend with the commercial, legal, and tax challenges of managing how their intellectual property (IP) is used in relation to their Chinese operations. Regulatory approvals for joint ventures operating in China have often required that IP rights… – Continue reading
Targeted tax incentives would provide a significant boost to research and development activities and help drive innovation in Switzerland, according to a new study. 700 large companies and SMEs were surveyed for the purposes of the study, which was prepared by KPMG Switzerland, the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, the Swiss… – Continue reading
The UK is preparing to triple the number of prosecutions of “serious and complex” tax evaders using an arsenal of proposed new powers, reports the Financial Times. A unit combining the civil and criminal investigations teams at HM Revenue & Customs will spearhead a crackdown that George Osborne, the chancellor,… – Continue reading
Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood’s recent comments over the call drops seems to have snubbed the government officials. Sood, off lately had said that “The (telecom) minister’s and secretary’s comments don’t count as the view of the entire government”. The matter has now been raised with the company (Vodafone) says… – Continue reading
