MANHATTAN (CN) – Israel’s largest bank helped procure sham loans for clients and advised them to dodge taxes in other ways, a shareholder class action says. Michael Porat, a citizen of Israel, filed the 57-page complaint against Bank Leumi and various international subsidiaries in New York County Supreme Court. Sixty-one… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Chinese developer Kaisa Group Ltd, mired in crisis since late last year after the local government in its home base of Shenzhen blocked sales at some of its projects, is seeking to restructure its debts, according to an exchange filing in Hong Kong on Sunday. The restructuring plans,… – Continue reading
There have recently been some well-publicised examples of multinationals buckling under pressure because they were perceived to be paying too little income tax. Towards the end of 2012, Starbucks in the UK undertook to pay £20-million of corporate income over two years, despite insisting it had complied with the tax… – Continue reading
Sparks are flying after Netflix said it would not charge GST on the Australian version of its online television service which launches next Tuesday. United States-based Netflix, Quickflix, Foxtel Play, Presto and Stan, partly owned by Fairfax Media, are locked in a bidding battle to secure the best programs for… – Continue reading
Discuss issues related to applicability of minimum alternate tax and permanent establishment Foreign Investor on Saturday raised several tax-related issues with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at a meeting organised by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). According to sources, issues regarding applicability of minimum alternate tax (MAT) and permanent establishment (PEs)… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Britain’s finance minister, George Osborne, is planning to introduce a new “diverted profits tax” targeting multinational companies judged to have shifted profits overseas to avoid tax, the Sunday Times newspaper reported, citing government sources. The 25 percent levy, more than corporation tax which is set at 20 percent,… – Continue reading
The recent tax scandals had revealed that HSBC bank offered a friendly advice to its private clients on how to succeed in their tax evasion attempts. This effectively shows that our societies are divided between those who have higher share of wealth (and thus greater opportunities to pursue their interests)… – Continue reading
The government has done well to rein in the taxman to ensure that transfer-pricing (TP) additions fall in the last two audit rounds; from the peak of R70,000 crore in FY13, these have fallen to R60,000 crore in FY14, and then to R47,000 crore in FY15, as FE reported last… – Continue reading
Eleven S&P 500 companies reported profits for calendar 2014 but will be paying no corporate income taxes. Nearly a dozen profitable U.S. companies are paying no corporate income taxes for 2014. A USA Today article on Wednesday said that 11 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 had an effective… – Continue reading
Like a neutrino bomb on the landscape of banking, regulation and journalism, the HSBC tax evasion story via its Swiss subsidiary keeps spreading with devastating effect – at least for those whose careers concern it. According to investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed, who managed to get hold of rather golden whistleblower… – Continue reading
Recent deals signed with Switzerland, Monaco and Liechtenstein Vatican City, March 5 – The Vatican is in talks with the Italian authorities for a deal about bank secrecy and other tax issues to help track down Italian tax evaders, Holy See sources told ANSA on Thursday. Italy recently reached deals… – Continue reading
Microsoft and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have agreed to end their battle over documents used in transfer pricing audits of the tech company. On February 24, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Microsoft reached an agreement which resulted in the dismissal of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit… – Continue reading
The files at the foundation of the Swiss Leaks articles are based on data secreted away by Hervé Falciani, a former HSBC employee-turned-whistleblower. He turned the data over to the French government in 2008 and its tax authority launched an investigation. The French newspaper Le Monde obtained a version of… – Continue reading
Former JP Morgan Vice President Hernán Arbizu claimed that HSBC Argentina hired JP Morgan’s employees for “advise on evasion know-how.” He incriminated himself by saying that the company he worked for helped Argentinean economic groups to evade AFIP tax bureau controls. “The banks in Argentina are to blame for the… – Continue reading
UK official data show that almost 41,000 London properties owned by foreign companies 90% are based in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which do not have to disclose ownership information. Transparency International, the anti-corruption organisation, used Land Registry and Metropolitan Police data to identify 40,725 properties… – Continue reading
The Ministry of Planning and Investment has asked Nokia Vietnam to submit a report on how it has fulfilled its investment commitments so that local authorities can consider whether the firm is eligible to receive tax policy incentives. Nokia Vietnam Co. Ltd., now known as Microsoft Mobile Vietnam Co. Ltd.,… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Islamic finance offers a path toward greater transparency for Luxembourg after confidence in the country’s tax regime was undermined last year, according to Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna. The reliance on asset-backed deals in Shariah-compliant finance fits the approach now being considered by the Grand Duchy, he said in… – Continue reading
The former UBS Group banker whose cooperation with the United States has helped expose tax evasion by thousands of Americans says the Swiss bank used similar practices elsewhere and he’s eager to help European governments. “It’s not a US issue, it’s not a French issue, it’s a global issue. UBS… – Continue reading
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 4: The taxman has taken a headlong plunge into an alphabetic soup to comply/align with emerging tax and jurisdictional requirements, domestic and foreign, of which is GST is only one. Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs); General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR); BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Sharing); and POEM (Place… – Continue reading
Ministry of Finance Enlists EY and Convey to Develop and Deploy FATCA Model Nassau, Bahamas – The Government of the Bahamas through the Ministry of Finance announced today that it has moved to a new stage in the development and rollout of its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Model… – Continue reading
AN assertion from Labour’s parliamentary candidate has been called an “unfounded personal attack” by Torridge and West Devon’s MP. Mike Sparling, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Torridge and West Devon, has spoken out about the party’s measures to tackle tax avoidance in the first months of a Labour government. He said… – Continue reading
You’re probably figuring out how much you owe the tax man for 2014 about now. The answer for a handful of big profitable companies is zilch. There are 11 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500, including tire maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT), electronic component maker Eaton (ETN) and… – Continue reading
If you thought the Republican-controlled Congress went crazy when President Barack Obama used his authority as commander in chief to make changes to immigration enforcement, consider what might happen if such action involved taxes. The mere hint of executive tax actions already has riled up conservatives. Sen. Bernie Sanders would… – Continue reading
Chancellor defends HSBC as a ‘very important bank’ but repeatedly fails to answer questions about his conversations with bank’s former boss George Osborne has defended the role of HSBC as a “very important bank” for Britain as he once again dodged questions about the extent of his discussions about tax… – Continue reading
In many ways, the tide of public opinion has turned against bankers. Globally, they face more regulation and scrutiny, and many practices long considered just another day in the office are coming under fire. The latest series of scandals to hit global banks has to do with their role in… – Continue reading
That Labor’s corporate tax policy has been so vociferously attacked by the business lobby proves it is on the right track The usual suspects, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Minerals Council of Australia, all emerged on Monday like sprinters out of… – Continue reading
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) met last month to ask HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about its efforts to curb tax avoidance, including how HMRC has developed its transfer pricing approach to counteract tax arrangements such as those by Google, Amazon and Starbucks. Present at the hearing on February 11,… – Continue reading
Helping tax cheats or money launderers has never been an integral strategy of the Swiss financial centre, Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) chief executive Claude-Alain Margelisch tells swissinfo.ch as the HSBC ‘Swiss Leaks’ scandal continues. The unsavoury activities of HSBC, UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) and others, brought into the public domain by… – Continue reading
March 2 (Reuters) – Generic and specialty drugmaker Mylan Inc reported a rise in quarterly profit and revenue, driven mainly by strong demand for its generics in North America. Net profit attributable to the company’s common shareholders rose to $189.2 million, or 47 cents per share, in the fourth quarter… – Continue reading
Alibaba’s multiple nationalities are an invitation to trouble. Taiwan has challenged the e-commerce company’s status as a non-Chinese company. The regulators could be forgiven for being confused. Chinese tax authorities regard Alibaba as a company with its main base in Hong Kong, licensing bodies see China, while investors see the… – Continue reading
The great trick played on the electorate by successive governments over the last 30 years has been to convince people that benefit fraud is the primary source of both the economy’s and society’s ills. The government sets the agenda and the media rushes to lap it up. In fact, efforts… – Continue reading
It’s a 200-year-old, little-known tax break that effectively allows some of world’s wealthiest people to treat the UK as their own tax haven. However there are increasing calls to scrap the non-domicile rule for good amid the country’s recent banking scandals. While earlier incarnations of the rules were first established… – Continue reading
Notorious tax dodger GE recently released its annual financial report and the only thing eye-raising about the company’s paltry 0.9 percent federal income tax rate is that it’s marginally higher than the 0.4 percent average rate it paid over the past decade. Released without fanfare late in the afternoon last… – Continue reading
Though the issue of corporate tax avoidance has long been a topic which would find its home in the business pages, it has recently become a regular fixture on the global news agenda thanks to high profile scandals, such as the recent HSBC news. What’s more, global brands such as… – Continue reading
Tax investigators and police have raided commercial offices in Germany as they looked into allegations of large-scale tax evasion with regard to profits made in Luxembourg. Commerzbank was at the center of the searches. Media reports said police had raided scores of office premises across Germany on Tuesday as investigators… – Continue reading
(Corrects to show the bank plans to close a representative office in Russia.) (Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG plans to scale back its wealth-management activities in Moscow that serve clients who deposit their funds offshore as Switzerland’s largest bank streamlines operations in some emerging markets, according to two people with… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Opposition today came down heavily on the government accusing it of remaining silent over cases of communal violence and failing on national security front and stopping transfer of public money to foreign telecom firms Main opposition Congress party also charged the BJP-led dispenation with failing to make sufficient… – Continue reading
Global entities liable to pay tax on yearly income if their place of effective management is India even for a single day Shell companies based abroad would have to pay taxes on their global income for a year if their place of effective management (POEM) is India even for a… – Continue reading
The Federal Opposition has announced plans to crack down on multinational profit shifting and tax avoidance, calling out the likes of Apple for not paying their “fair share” of taxes in Australia. Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten said the new plan introduced by Labor would bring back at least… – Continue reading
Foreign subsidiaries may now have to pay tax both in India and the country of their operations At present, a company incorporated outside India is considered a tax resident only if the control and management of its affairs is situated wholly in India. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint New Delhi: A budget… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The announcement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley categorising tax evasion in relation to holding of illegal foreign assets as a “predicate offence” under anti-money laundering laws has, for the first time, made concealment of income a criminal offence in India. At present, tax evasion is a civil offence… – Continue reading
The ATO has so far also ¬recouped $342 million in unpaid tax from 1900 offshore ¬accounts held by Australians and $215 million from multinationals. THE Australian Taxation Office will lead a new worldwide taskforce to crackdown on multinational tax cheats in a move it claims will yield billions of dollars… – Continue reading
British mobile giant Vodafone hasn’t been bailed out, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley maintaining status quo on taxing past offshore deals. However, foreign investors can draw comfort as tax will be charged in India only on certain offshore deals where the underlying asset and the value derived thereon are in… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands (BVI), as one of the world’s leading finance centres and meeting the changing needs of international businesses and high net worth individuals (HNWIs), has managed to create a stable, well-regulated and neutral jurisdiction that makes a significant contribution to the liquidity of the global economy. The… – Continue reading
You have to hand it to Emma Thompson and her actor husband Greg Wise for cleverly launching a tax boycott. They earn plenty of income, but won’t pay taxes until the British government cracks down on wealthy wealthier people shielding their riches. The pair want the culprits in the HSBC… – Continue reading
After several rounds of revisions and consultations in the past few years, the State Administration of Taxation (“SAT”) has recently promulgated the Bulletin on Several Issues concerning the Enterprise Income Tax (“EIT”) on Indirect Asset Transfer by Non-Resident Enterprises (“Bulletin 7”)[1]. Tax matters occurred but have not been settled before… – Continue reading
‘His failure to make more noise is odd’ says prominent tax QC His father, Nicholas, has worked for banks operating in tax havens Wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez’s, firm advertises ‘tax-planning services’ Lib Dems insist there is no conflict of interest involved in his position Not long ago, a law firm… – Continue reading
The income tax department has scaled down its estimate of income suppression by multinational corporations in India in the 2014-15 audit of intra-group cross-border transactions to Rs 47,000 crore, a steep 22% decline from the extra taxable income the department had attributed to the firms in the previous audit. The… – Continue reading
Bank of America and four other banks have been queried by financial regulators about a complex trading maneuver that allows hedge funds to escape certain taxes. Reuters Financial regulators are heightening their focus on banks involved in complex international trades designed to skirt taxes, the Wall Street Journal reports. The… – Continue reading
Making tax-transparency standards watertight will be difficult THE optimistic view of the tax-evasion scandals that have bedevilled banks since 2008 is that they can only be seen in the rear-view mirror. The incriminating files in the latest case, regarding tax-dodging personal accounts held at the Swiss arm of HSBC, date… – Continue reading
