SHANGHAI-The Chinese property developer Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd said it has defaulted on interest payments on its offshore bonds as it negotiates with its creditors to restructure its debts. The developer, based in Shenzhen, said in a statement published on the Hong Kong stock exchange website that it made neither… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Tax authorities have issued a fresh notice to UK-based telecom giant Vodafone seeking reassessment of tax returns for two years. The notice has been served under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act which seeks to deal with income that has escaped assessment. Sources said the notice seeks… – Continue reading
London – HSBC has once again raised the prospect of moving its headquarters out of the UK. The bank, which was the subject of intense public anger earlier this year after details of how its Swiss arm had facilitated tax evasion emerged, yesterday said that it would soon reconsider the… – Continue reading
Doing so would get rid of ‘overlapping and duplicative disclosure requirements,’ says advocacy group for Americans abroad The IRS’ taxpayer advocate is urging the tax service to simplify rules for Americans living overseas. Currently, foreign bank accounts must be reported both to the Treasury, in a Report of Foreign Bank… – Continue reading
Indian companies had raised a record $18.6 billion in 2014 through offshore bonds. This year, it may cross $20.50 billion, says MD, Treasury and Markets, India, at DBS Bank Vijayan Subramani. In an interview with Bhavik Nair, Subramani indicates Singapore dollar-denominated bond issues from India are likely to make a… – Continue reading
Vietnamese tax inspectors have found multiple violations at the local subsidiary of German retail giant Metro, estimating them to be worth VND507 billion (US$23.7 million). Of the total amount, Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam was ordered to immediately pay VND62 billion ($2.8 million) in arrears of income taxes for its… – Continue reading
“The business tax system today is inefficient, overly complex, and too riddled with loopholes,” said Mark Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury. So much so, in fact, that it can’t fulfill its function to be a world-class system, he noted. Mazur, speaking Tuesday at… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Swiss bank UBS is looking to grow wealth assets in Asia-Pacific to the tune of 15 percent annually as it builds its presence in China and consolidates its leading position in the region. With 269 billion Swiss francs ($280.4 billion) of invested assets, UBS ranks as the biggest… – Continue reading
The National Taxpayer Advocate has recommended that the reporting rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and for foreign bank account reports in effect be merged to simplify the duplicative disclosure requirements that make it difficult for American expatriates to have bank accounts in the foreign countries where they… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: To check the revenue-related corruption and tax evasion of an estimated Rs2,000 billion annually, the National Accountability Bureau, on the recommendation of its committee of experts, has sent to the FBR a comprehensive package for implementation to overhaul the country’s tax machinery. The creation of an independent Pakistan Revenue… – Continue reading
UBS whistleblower Stéphanie Gibaud talks to the Herald before travelling to Argentina With tax evasion allegations against HSBC under the spotlight in Congress, a whistleblower from another banking giant famous for its secrecy, Switzerland’s UBS, says she is coming to the country to testify soon, and warns that emerging economies… – Continue reading
Britain’s Conservative Party returned a donation of £50,000 from a wealthy businesswoman on Monday after it emerged she was once wanted on charges of tax fraud in the United States. Beatrice Tollman, founder of luxury hotel chain Red Carnation, made an election campaign donation to the Tories earlier this month…. – Continue reading
Australia’s $29 billion system of franking credits for investors is skewed heavily to the rich and is ripping a hole in the budget, a new analysis has found, with one tax break found nowhere else in the world costing almost $5 billion a year. Millions of Australians benefit from franking… – Continue reading
HSBC and Standard Chartered are looking at the viability of quitting London for a new home in Asia because a big jump in a tax on UK banks makes staying in Britain increasingly painful, reports Reuters. Several investors told Reuters they want the two banks to do a thorough analysis… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: April is turning out to be the cruellest month for HSBC Geneva account-holders in India. Till now, only one — a Mumbai-based senior professional — among the thousands named on the list based on stolen data has been able to obtain a clean chit from Swiss authorities. Most others… – Continue reading
Apple Australia denies tax avoidance but the numbers just don’t add up. The media spokeswoman for Apple Australia has been very busy the past two weeks. Her boss appeared at a Senate hearing on corporate tax evasion a couple of weeks ago, so she’s had to do some mopping up… – Continue reading
Summary:Australia and the UK have reached a deal aimed at helping tackle profit-shifting practices by multinational companies, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Australia and the United Kingdom have agreed to form a joint working group to tackle profit shifting by multinational companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft. The… – Continue reading
In recent years we have seen a seismic shift in the tax transparency landscape. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (US FATCA) has proved to be a watershed moment and we are rapidly moving towards a global network of automatic information exchange spearheaded by the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard… – Continue reading
Ben Franklin’s famous dictum, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes” is crying out for an urgent revision. Why? Because even if still holds true for people like you and me, it has little to do with some of the country’s richest corporations. The truth is that for corporate giants… – Continue reading
CHINA Tax Free Reorganisations • With circulars 109 and 116 jointly issued in December 2014 by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, the Chinese authorities have relaxed the conditions for internal reorganisations. • Circular 109 deals with internal reorganisations. Provided the pertinent requirements are met, the… – Continue reading
BUFFALO, N.Y. — M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) and Paramus, N.J.–based Hudson City Bancorp. Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) have again extended the deadline for finalizing their merger that they first announced in late August 2012. The banking companies said in a news release last Friday that they have pushed the deadline… – Continue reading
Vodafone’s long-standing tax woes in India have hit another hurdle after the country’s income tax department asked the operator to re-file its 2009-10 tax return for re-assessment. An inside source told the Economic Times he didn’t know what triggered the request, but the tax authority is looking to review the… – Continue reading
The government’s recent steps to check the flow of unaccounted wealth to foreign assets and bank accounts have had the unintended result of making tax compliance tough for expatriates on corporate assignments here, who have legitimate assets in their home countries, say experts. The tax troubles of these people over… – Continue reading
India and China developing frameworks for Reits but while their sheer sizes impress, both face tax and high interest rate hurdles, reports the Business Times. India and China are both developing frameworks for real estate investment trusts (Reits), but the threat to Singapore’s position as a major regional Reit centre… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Tax authorities have issued a fresh notice to UK-based telecom giant Vodafone seeking reassessment of tax returns for two years. The notice has been served under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act which seeks to deal with income that has escaped assessment. Sources said the notice seeks… – Continue reading
EUROPEAN M&A DOS AND DON’TS FOR NON-EUROPEAN BUYERS Inbound M&A in Europe by non-European buyers increased in 2014 by 68.6% compared to 2013, representing over a third of USD 901.4 billion total European M&A.1 For non-European buyers the basic framework of transactions may be similar, but there are a number… – Continue reading
Bangladesh authorities are working with counterparts abroad to recover proceeds of corruption (‘stolen assets’), in terms of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman has said. The central bank chief disclosed this while speaking at an event title Addressing the Linkage Illicit Flows and… – Continue reading
The United Kingdom (UK) has followed Germany in lodging a formal protest with the Finance Ministry over the alleged breach of confidentiality of data and secret banking details received via diplomatic channels. While German authorities objected to the manner in which 18 names of Indian account holders in the LGT… – Continue reading
Even as the government is losing no opportunity to emphasise its commitment to a transparent and predictable tax regime, it’s epic seven year tussle with Vodafone is not showing any signs of losing steam. The income tax department is back in pursuit of the British telecom giant and has issued… – Continue reading
Promising a ‘modern tax system’ with low and globally competitive rates, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured foreign investors against any retrospective action and said taxpayers will be seen as “partners and not as potential hostages or victims”. For domestic taxpayers also, the rates need to be low as taxes… – Continue reading
Nothing is certain in India except death and tax disputes. Ask foreign portfolio investors: they now face demands for past dues of as much as $6.4 billion. The wrangle stems from the Minimum Alternative Tax, or MAT, which officials say leads to a 20 percent levy on capital gains by… – Continue reading
The head of the Business Council of Australia (BCA), Catherine Livingstone, has called for a national “conversation” about what the federal government and the business community euphemistically call “economic reform”. Ever in thrall to trickle-down economics, they manage to talk in “doublespeak”, a close relative of the doublethink that George… – Continue reading
Members of both houses of Congress in Washington D.C. are working to end offshore tax deals corporations are using to cut costs. “These companies, these corporations, want to avoid paying their fair share of taxes in the United States, sometimes billions of dollars and yet they want life to go… – Continue reading
The outlook for uranium, moribund for some time, is looking up. And that means shares of Cameco Corp., the Saskatoon-based miner one analyst calls “the only real blue-chip stock in the sector,” are up, too – about 20 per cent from their 52-week lows. The stock has received a host… – Continue reading
A British company run by the Conservative’s election guru Lynton Crosby lost more than £1 million in two years, public records show. Accounts filed by Crosby Textor Ltd reveal that the firm, owned by Mr Crosby and his business partner Mark Textor made losses of £511,000 in 2014 and £510,000… – Continue reading
HONG KONG: small group of asset managers is pushing for more protection for offshore holders of Chinese bonds, in a sign that growing default fears are putting established funding structures under scrutiny. The ongoing debt restructuring of troubled Chinese property developer Kaisa Group Holdings has rattled many on the buy… – Continue reading
“Tax policy and administration should incentivise compliance. They should be administered fairly, transparently, with minimum discretion, with no harassment of taxpayers but also ensuring that tax evasion is dealt with firmly.” Promising a ‘modern tax system’ with low and globally competitive rates, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured foreign investors… – Continue reading
When Hillary Clinton recently borrowed Elizabeth Warren’s talking points and claimed “the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top” (in our economic and political system) against regular working people, did she mention reforming the tax code — and then offer any solutions? The simple answer is… – Continue reading
At least 21 financial advisers in Switzerland charged with aiding American tax dodgers are at large With its tan marble floors and leather-clad reception desk, the staid Zurich offices of the Julius Baer Group, one of Switzerland’s largest private banks, are an unlikely place to find an alleged fugitive from… – Continue reading
On March 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached the first non-prosecution agreement under the Swiss bank program with BSI, S.A. (BSI). BSI, one of Switzerland’s ten largest banks, has agreed to pay $211 million in fines and cooperate in any related civil or criminal… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the government will press ahead with Rs 40,000 crore tax demand on foreign institutional investors as FIIs lost a case against levy of tax on capital gains they made. “FIIs went to a tribunal, which is called Authority for Advance Rulings (against levy… – Continue reading
Get three tax advisers in the same room and they will come up with at least four definitions of tax avoidance: put in a couple of members of the public and the total will double. There are a few purists who dispute that tax avoidance exists – either something is… – Continue reading
For almost two decades Peter Costello has been put on a pedestal by his Liberal colleagues. They still regard him as Australia’s greatest treasurer, notwithstanding Labor’s Paul Keating and Wayne Swan won global recognition for their efforts in managing the local economy. Costello’s supporters point to the fact he delivered… – Continue reading
OECD director admits UK’s Google tax may undermine some of the body’s BEPS work GOVERNMENT plans to introduce a diverted profits tax have caused embarrassment at the OECD, according to Pascal Saint-Amans [pictured], the body’s director leading the Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting (BEPS) project. Appearing via video link before Australia’s… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government has set the record straight on tax disputes, maintaining they are not covered by the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) and need to be judicially and legally settled. “…But again on the BIPA issue, let me mention, it has been our consistent view that… – Continue reading
Taipei, April 16 (CNA) A record high in Chinese yuan deposits taken by banks registered in Taiwan as of the end of March show optimism that the Chinese currency will appreciate against the U.S. dollar in the long run, analysts said Thursday. They said that China is gearing up to… – Continue reading
On Tuesday we told you about what the Prime Minister said at the Summit of the America’s about the perilous state of Belize and the Region’s banking industry after draconian anti money laundering measures were enacted by the US Government. He said, quote, “there is a crisis in my own… – Continue reading
Sydney Airport is refusing to display a billboard that denounces tax evasion by multinational companies. The airport, which was last year forced to pay a $69 million settlement to the Australian Tax Office to end an audit of suspect tax deductions, claimed the proposed Labor billboard would contravene its policy… – Continue reading
It seems like the ultimate irony. At least 21 Swiss bankers under U.S. indictment for helping Americans skirt income taxes remain at large in their native country and out of the hands of prosecutors, reports Bloomberg. But the whistleblower who helped the Justice Department in its probe ended up going… – Continue reading
Wealthy Americans are running out of ways to hide their money. The IRS has been relentless in prying open the secret Swiss bank account—dozens of Swiss banks are cooperating with the agency. Just last month, a settlement with the private bank BSI revealed bankers used coded language and nameless credit… – Continue reading
