Under pressure to find resources for his promises of sweeping tax cuts, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is hoping to raise billions of euros by forcing multinational Internet firms to pay taxes on profits generated in Italy. Treasury Undersecretary Enrico Zanetti said a so-called “Google Tax” could yield up to… – Continue reading
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China has halved sales tax on small cars to revive growth in the world’s biggest automobile market, a move likely to provide a limited boost to carmakers including Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), the company embroiled in a global diesel emissions scandal. The cut in sales tax on cars… – Continue reading
The Yomiuri Shimbun The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will establish a comprehensive package of international rules to clamp down on tax saving tactics by multinational companies, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday. The pillar of the package is to halt tax-saving practices like unrealistic lending and borrowing as well… – Continue reading
Tax treaties serve to reduce or eliminate double taxation which, if unrelieved, would be a significant barrier to cross-border trade and investment. At the same time, there was need felt to protect against granting of treaty benefits in inappropriate circumstances. In this background, the work of the OECD and G20… – Continue reading
Moving overseas to cut tax burden remains a viable option for some firms, though the presidential candidates may have other plans. With the long haul of a presidential election campaign just beginning, companies that leave the U.S. to lower their tax bills are once again political targets. Donald Trump this… – Continue reading
On 29 September, the Commission for Economic Policy (ECON) of the EU Committee of the Regions (CoR) held an external meeting in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, at the invitation of Markus Töns (DE/PES), member of the North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Parliament. On the agenda was the adoption of the draft opinions on the… – Continue reading
Gabriel Zucman, one of 3 French economists who in recent times have published extensive research on wealth and equality, in a book, ‘The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens,’ published this month, estimates that 8% of the world’s financial wealth — some US$7.6tn — is hidden in… – Continue reading
MIAMI (AP) — A former executive at Swiss bank UBS AG might avoid jail time and end up with probation because of his extensive cooperation in a long-running U.S. investigation into tax evasion using secret accounts. Prosecutors asked a judge to order five years’ probation and a $150,000 fine for… – Continue reading
The Netherlands have requested information on a large number of Swiss bank accounts held by residents of its country in connection with a tax probe, Swiss authorities confirmed at the weekend, reports the Swiss Local. Swiss tax authorities received a request from their Dutch counterparts in July for access to… – Continue reading
Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow chancellor has caused a stir with his idea that big businesses should pay their taxes. Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, John McDonnell named and shamed big companies over their tax arrangements. ‘Labour’s plan to balance the books will be aggressive,’ he said. ‘We will… – Continue reading
A Labour government would target Starbucks, Amazon and Google and force them to “pay their fair share of taxes”, the shadow chancellor has warned. John McDonnell promised to tackle the deficit by targeting corporate tax avoiders and not by hitting the poorest in society. In his first speech to the… – Continue reading
French economist Gabriel Zucman, a protégé of Thomas Piketty, has a new book outlining how to avoid this. To Gabriel Zucman, protégé of rock star French economist Thomas Piketty, the United States is starting to look a lot like Europe in the late 1800s. “There’s been this great reversal where,… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Migros Bank AG (Migros) and Graubündner Kantonalbank (Graubündner) have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. These banks will collectively pay penalties totaling more than $18 million. “It is abundantly clear from the agreements reached to date that for decades, many foreign… – Continue reading
ATO to force Uber drivers to pay GST Uber is to mount a legal challenge against the Australian Tax Office after a decision to force drivers to register and pay GST. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has praised ride-sharing company Uber as part of the “agile” economy he envisages for Australia…. – Continue reading
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The world’s largest precious metals streaming firm Silver Wheaton is set to challenge the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) over the agency’s decision to reassess the company’s 2005 to 2010 tax years and collect taxes on income earned by Silver Wheaton’s offshore subsidiaries. The TSX– and NYSE-listed company,… – Continue reading
Pretoria – The constant stream of new data requirements by the South African Revenue Service from South Africa’s major banks is costing the sector millions of rand and affecting the economy and banking costs. Tax heads at the banks raised questions during the recent Tax Indaba in Sandton about the… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance is a key problem for European countries, with the EU taking several steps to try and limit the ability of businesses to shift their profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Peter Dietsch writes on the nature of the problem and what can be done to tackle it. He argues that… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton has defended the use of a Singapore marketing hub to minimise its tax payments, saying most of its Australian profits continue to be taxed in its home country. The resources giant, which came under fire earlier this year over allegations of tax avoidance, says its global adjusted effective… – Continue reading
The bench comprising justices Anil R. Dave and A.K. Goel said the case would be heard fully New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday admitted the income tax department’s appeal against a 2013 Andhra Pradesh high court ruling that said that France-based Sanofi SA was not required to pay tax… – Continue reading
Valeant is famous for wringing cost savings out of its buyouts, and its tax-advantaged Canadian domicile helps on that front. Now, it’s leveraging another address to pare down Salix’s tax bill by more than $560 million. But how? According to documents seen by The Wall Street Journal, the strategy used… – Continue reading
Finance ministers of euro zone’s major economies renewed on Tuesday their commitment to curb multinational corporations’ tax avoidance and called for more consistent rules to reduce “harmful” tax competition. Multinational companies have long been in the sights of European Union authorities because of the way they can legally reduce their… – Continue reading
Measures aimed at ensuring companies disclose more information to authorities Ireland is to become one of the first countries to introduce measures aimed at ensuring multinationals disclose more information to tax authorities. In the upcoming budget, the Government will introduce moves obliging multinationals to draft country-by-country reports on their global… – Continue reading
Unpredictable and excessive taxes are pushing the British banking sector to the brink, according to a major new report by a leading industry body, reports City AM. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) and PwC reveal that the UK banking sector contributed an estimated total of £31.3bn in taxes last year,… – Continue reading
The Indian Government must assure investors that it is committed to improving its legal framework, including the tax code, if it is to meet its economic objectives, a senior US State Department official has said. Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US this week, Nisha Desai… – Continue reading
Weekly News obtains Land Registry report showing owners Runcorn One Ltd is registered to Guernsey. Other properties and land in Runcorn, Widnes, Frodsham and Daresbury also owned by firms registered offshore Surprise has been voiced by Runcorn councillors over the revelation that Runcorn Shopping Centre is owned by an offshore… – Continue reading
(Corrects first and sixth paragraphs to make clear Intertrust does not provide tax advice) (Reuters) – Intertrust, which provides tax and regulatory compliance services to 17,000 companies, said on Monday it will seek an initial public offering (IPO) of shares on the Euronext stock exchange. The Amsterdam-based company did not… – Continue reading
(CNS Business): A number of lawyers in Cayman have been recognised for their excellence in the field of asset recovery, which is an area providing a buoyant stream of work, despite the relative slowdown in cases connected with the global financial crisis. The Who’s Who Legal guide to Asset Recovery… – Continue reading
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has denied involvement in sweetheart deals that allowed hundreds of multinationals to slash their tax bills by locating to Luxembourg, despite being prime minister of the country for almost 20 years, reports the Financial Times. Facing questions from a committee of EU lawmakers set up… – Continue reading
CORNING — Corning Inc.’s handling of profits it earns overseas has quickly become an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. The Fortune 500 company’s refusal to bring back to the U.S. more than $12.4 billion in overseas profits first drew criticism from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont…. – Continue reading
U.S. authorities have targeted Belize-based banks in a new expansion of their hunt for Americans suspected of evading taxes by hiding income and assets in offshore accounts. A federal court in Miami on Wednesday approved special “John Doe” legal summonses seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who may hold undeclared accounts… – Continue reading
Jay Fishman, who built New York-based Travelers Cos. into one of the world’s biggest insurers, lamented that disparities in tax rates are pushing established rivals and industry newcomers outside the U.S. Over the past 15 years or so, “we’ve counted 10, 12, maybe even 15 Bermuda-based startups that ultimately became… – Continue reading
Chevron’s tax filings face repeated challenges from the United States and other global tax authorities, according to a new union-backed report that calls on world governments to crack down on the energy giant’s alleged profit-shifting tactics. The world’s largest trade union body, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), has called… – Continue reading
Nigeria’s 85 percent tax on onshore crude oil production is dissuading local investors from taking over assets from international oil companies, said Folorunso Alakija, an energy tycoon and the nation’s richest woman. Famfa Oil Ltd., founded in 1991 by Alakija, 64, has sought to acquire stakes in onshore oil fields,… – Continue reading
The Transactional Net Margin Method (‘TNMM’) is a prescribed method for determining the arm’s length price in some cases. It also enjoins the adjustment owing to capacity under-utilization differences. Sizes of entities and level of activities differ, so does the available comparables for the purpose of transfer pricing adjustments. The… – Continue reading
The night that Uber started offering its ride-hailing service in Costa Rica, vandals – reportedly taxi drivers – smashed the windows of one of the company’s cars in protest. Traffic police impounded two Uber vehicles earlier that same night. Airbnb, however, another staple of the so-called “sharing economy,” has been… – Continue reading
‘I’m not going to buy into that’ Joe Hockey refuses to feed speculation that he could be replaced as Treasurer by Scott Morrison under the new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Malcolm Turnbull’s first full day as PM: Live coverage Joe Hockey signals he’s ready to serve on Malcolm Turnbull’s frontbench… – Continue reading
Exclusive: company faces renewed questions over its fitness as security contractor at Australian detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru Wilson Security faces renewed questions about its fitness as security contractor in Australia’s offshore detention centres in light of its corporate links to a tax haven, a corruption scandal that… – Continue reading
Changing Attitudes to Tax Reputation Risk In recent years, it seems that any discussion of tax includes mention of the moral obligation taxpayers have to “pay their fair share.” Many believe this theme began to get traction in 2011 when Warren Buffett realized that he was paying proportionately less taxes… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley has promised “fairest and predictable taxation regime” while inviting US businesses to invest in the country. Speaking at the 11th Indo-US Economic Summit organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce ahead of the India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (SACD) in Washington later this month,… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Bank La Roche & Co AG has reached a resolution under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. “Today’s agreement is yet another example of a foreign financial institution coming forward, acknowledging its criminal conduct, taking the necessary steps to resolve its criminal exposure, cooperating… – Continue reading
The number of banks with deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. government keeps growing. The subject is tax evasion involving American account holders. Today, under FATCA, banks everywhere want to know if you are compliant with the IRS. And the IRS keeps updating its list of foreign banks where offshore… – Continue reading
On July 9, 2015, India and the US signed an agreement to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) that will facilitate exchange of information between the two countries starting on October 1, 2015. FATCA was signed by Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das and US Ambassador Richard Verma in New… – Continue reading
An increasing number of Americans renounced their citizenship and cut-off long term residencies during the initial three months of 2015 due to a crackdown in the foreign tax rules. The exit wave went down a little in the second half, but has continued. The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department… – Continue reading
Note: This article was published by Bloomberg BNA in Tax Planning International European Tax Service Vol. 17 No. 7 July 2015 Introduction The recent LuxLeaks scandal has once again focused political attention on tax planning practices of multinationals (“MNEs”). It comes in the wake of the European Commission investigation of… – Continue reading
A civil society group focused on transparency in the oil and gas sector has criticized the interim Offshore Processing Agreement, OPA, between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and three multinational trading companies to boost the supply of refined petroleum products in the country. The Africa Network for Environment and… – Continue reading
A wave of wealthy Asians is hurriedly moving assets to the United States – to school their children, invest in property or even avoid political uncertainty in China. But few of those immigrants know just how much of their money will eventually end up in the hands of the feds…. – Continue reading
Multinationals have come under fire yet again over their tax arrangements in some European countries, as the continent moves closer to a pan-European regime to combat tax avoidance. On Friday, European economy and finance ministers and central bankers (known as an ECOFIN meeting) gathered in Luxembourg to discuss what the… – Continue reading
All eyes are on how much taxes the British retailer Tesco Group will pay to the South Korean government after its profit of more than 5 trillion won (US$4.21 billion) with the sale of Homeplus. Industry sources say that the company will not have to pay taxes at all, or… – Continue reading
Indonesians hold $300 billion in Singapore; controversial tax amnesty on the cards. Indonesia’s finance minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told Euromoney earlier this year that tax collection falls way short of targets and must improve to provide funding for infrastructure and other projects It doesn’t take much for Indonesia’s government officials to… – Continue reading
Companies like Amazon, Tesco and Honeywell are looking to offshore IT subsidiaries to deliver digital transformation. New launches of captive centers offshore continued to increase in the first half of 2015, according to research from outsourcing consultancy Everest Group. Companies in the manufacturing, telecommunications and technology industries, in particular, expanded… – Continue reading
