The Australian government is one of the most aggressive in highlighting the issue of multinational corporations avoiding taxes through extensive use of tax havens. Microsoft’s Australian subsidiary will start disclosing the amount of tax it pays in Australia, opting in to a government-transparency program aimed at shedding light on the… – Continue reading
A European nation appears “hungry” for business after lowering its corporate tax rate. But what does that say about the United States? Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, has announced the government will introduce a flat corporate tax rate of nine percent, the lowest in the European Union. The average corporate… – Continue reading
Investors in a financing scheme aimed at helping the UK film industry are being asked to repay “multiple millions of pounds” following a court ruling. HMRC is pursuing investors in the Eclipse scheme, including celebrities, financiers and sports stars, for up to 20 times their original investment. Courts ruled that… – Continue reading
Switzerland has signed declarations to exchange tax information automatically with Brasil, Mexico and Uruguay and Mexico in coming years, but the deals must still go before Swiss parliament for approval. Under the declarations, banking information would be collected from 2018 and exchanged by 2019, the State Secretariat for International Financial… – Continue reading
New Delhi– India on Friday signed a revised double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with Cyprus, an official statement said here. “A revised agreement between India and Cyprus for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion (DTAA) with respect to taxes on income, along with its protocol,… – Continue reading
SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge for a huge corporate tax cut could spur moves to reduce taxes on businesses and the rich across the world, a Seoul-based think tank said Thursday. During the campaign, the real estate mogul-turned-politician vowed to lower the business tax rate… – Continue reading
Members of Taiwan’s executive and legislative branches gave their unanimous support to a proposed bill that would help pave the way for Taiwan to sign double taxation avoidance agreements with Hong Kong and Macau during a policy coordination meeting Nov. 14 in Taipei City. Drafted by the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs… – Continue reading
Members of Taiwan’s executive and legislative branches gave their unanimous support to a proposed bill that would help pave the way for Taiwan to sign double taxation avoidance agreements with Hong Kong and Macau during a policy coordination meeting Nov. 14 in Taipei City. Drafted by the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs… – Continue reading
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday approved a bilateral agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of physical evasion of taxes on income and capital benefits between Nigeria and Singapore. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun disclosed to State House Correspondents, after the FEC meeting… – Continue reading
Bermuda has reportedly avoided being placed on an European Union blacklist after Britain blocked a French-led proposal that would have automatically branded the island a tax haven. Territories with a zero per cent corporate tax rate, such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, would have been denounced as potentially “non-co-operative”… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The government has stepped up to check corruption and regulate offshore investments in a bid to promote transparency and good governance, finance minister said on Tuesday. “New measures, such as the companies’ global register of beneficial ownership, will curb corruption, help (government) address challenges related to offshore investments and… – Continue reading
Foreign banks have been asked to make a written commitment to Malaysia’s central bank to stop trading the ringgit in the offshore non-deliverable forwards market in the bank’s latest move to protect a weakening currency, banking sources said. Foreign banks have been sent a form letter to sign, which asks… – Continue reading
A series of companies associated with high-flying Sydney accountant who had scores of wealthy clients in Sydney’s eastern suburbs have been found to have avoided paying tax by the High Court, in a case that the tax office has described as “blatant tax evasion”. Four companies linked to accountant, Vanda… – Continue reading
Opposition vows to shut down scheme that uses ‘contrived’ financial arrangements to slash national insurance bills Labour and trade unions have called on the government to take action after a Guardian investigation found that an aggressive tax avoidance scheme used by temporary recruitment agencies is depriving the taxpayer of “hundreds… – Continue reading
Cayman could find itself on a new EU list of “non-cooperative jurisdictions” in tax matters after the European Council of finance ministers published the criteria for including third countries in the blacklist last week. The provisions emphasize that a jurisdiction “should not facilitate offshore structures or arrangements aimed at attracting… – Continue reading
The same aggressive and uncompromising international effort used to combat terrorism must be employed to eliminate tax havens, says Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in a report being released Tuesday. In a copy of the report, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with the Star, Stiglitz… – Continue reading
Social media posts, private school records and immigration data are being used by the Australian Taxation Office as part of an increasingly sophisticated crackdown on tax cheats that yielded nearly $10 billion last year. ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan said the tax office had been investing in data collection analysis of… – Continue reading
MUMBAI, India — In one of the most audacious experiments in India’s modern history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned the two largest bills — of 500 rupees, or about $7.50, and 1,000 rupees — which account for about 86 percent of the currency in a country where 78 percent of… – Continue reading
The European Parliament risks losing the right to veto plans to make multinational companies publish tax and profit details for the countries in which they operate, according to the European Union’s legal advisers. The Council of Ministers’ legal service insisted in its opinion, seen by Bloomberg BNA, that the European… – Continue reading
Following British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to India last week, Patricia Hewitt, chair of the UK-India Business Council, said that Britain is looking to re-balance its commercial links with countries like India post-Brexit. She suggested that the two governments should look at a bilateral tax treaty to boost trade…. – Continue reading
Earlier this year the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) announced its new administrative position that limited liability partnerships (“LLPs”) and limited liability limited partnerships (“LLLPs”) formed under the laws of Delaware and Florida are properly viewed as corporations for Canadian income tax purposes. It is widely expected that LLPs and LLLPs… – Continue reading
The Indian Government’s dramatic cancellation of large banknotes on the same day as the US election last week looks like the drastic solution to a very Indian problem with tax avoidance and the black economy, but it might turn out to be a harbinger of things to come everywhere. In… – Continue reading
Over the past few years, Apple’s cash hoard has swelled to near unthinkable levels. Per the company’s most recent earnings report, Apple now has more than $237 billion in cash and other securities, anchored of course by the company’s insanely lucrative iPhone. Though the iPhone only has a thin slice… – Continue reading
With Republican control of the House and Senate, President-elect Trump and Congress might tell the tax code, “you’re fired!” And as big as the coming tax changes might be, it’s worth noting what is highly unlikely to change. Keeping track of these 13 key tax rules could put dollars in… – Continue reading
The suspicion that cooperative banks are among several safe havens for people evading income tax appears to be true. The Directorate of Income Tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) looking into accounts of 25 banks across the State has found thousands of deposit entries each worth over Rs. 50 lakh, but… – Continue reading
Finns alarmed by cracks in the previously iron-clad Swiss banking secrecy have come forward to volunteer information about undeclared overseas income to Finnish tax authorities. They were hoping for immunity from fines or criminal sanctions but dozens now face police investigations. The Finnish Tax Administration has requested police investigations into… – Continue reading
The investigation, dubbed “Offside,” was launched three years ago and conducted by Naples Public Prosecutor’s Office. The alleged offense was criminal association aimed at tax evasion. Now that the sports prosecutor has completed the investigation, the first results are emerging. Fourteen football clubs will stand trial before the sports tribunal… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: With a hope of improving India’s image on ease of doing business, the government has increased the pace of resolving transfer pricing issues and is looking to sign around 100 advance pricing agreements by the end of March 2017, people in the know said. Central Board of Direct Taxes… – Continue reading
While Trump wants to close loopholes, many of them stem from public policy concerns — not “special interests.” After a dramatic upset victory in one of the most bitterly contested presidential races in recent history, Donald Trump now has some serious work to do. His corporate tax policies—which are vital… – Continue reading
The European Council has reached an agreement on the criteria and the process for the establishment of an EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in taxation matters. On November 8, the Council resolved that an EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions “will be determined by the Council in 2017.” The “screening” of… – Continue reading
New Zealand’s tax agency has set out the international tax initiatives it intends to pursue, in particular in response to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting plan. It said it will undertake further work on a package of BEPS initiatives, which will include hybrid mismatch rules to prevent companies… – Continue reading
Practitioners in the managed funds industry are calling for a zero-rate for withholding tax in Australia amid the government’s proposals for new tax concessions to boost it, saying the proposed measures don’t go far enough. The government released a consultation paper Nov. 3 on non-resident withholding taxes for pooled funds—or… – Continue reading
New Zealand has delayed cracking down on multinational tax avoidance due to private sector concerns over timing and concerns about “scaring away” foreign investment, the Inland Revenue Department says. Wide-ranging reforms to corporate tax rules proposed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), known as the base erosion… – Continue reading
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has netted more than $10 billion in secret offshore cash and investments. The controversial Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has encouraged more than 100,000 taxpayers to reveal their overseas holdings. But the IRS suggests this is just the start as FATCA cranks up… – Continue reading
The UK and Colombia signed a double tax agreement (DTA) on November 2, which is intended to support trade and investment by capping withholding tax on cross-border income. The agreement was signed by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Ellison, and the Colombian Finance Minister, Mauricio Cardenas, during President… – Continue reading
European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday how to screen countries for a blacklist of tax havens across the world, officials said, and said applying zero-rate taxes was not necessarily a factor, prompting an outcry. The bloc committed in May to agree on a common list of tax offenders by… – Continue reading
A multinational company based in a jurisdiction that has no tax treaty with Israel must pay Israeli taxes on its Israel-related earnings from international money transfer services, the Israel Tax Authority determined. The ruling is set to apply to the growing number of financial service firms entering the Israeli market,… – Continue reading
Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance released a draft circular on October 11th which, if passed, is set to become the largest change to transfer pricing (TP) regulation since the implementation of Circular 66/2010/TT-BTC in 2010 – which the draft updates. Touching on conditionality of TP exemption and thresholds for defining related… – Continue reading
Network of foreign subsidiaries reported key to €923 million windfall over five years German chemicals manufacturer BASF has been accused of avoiding close to €1 billion of tax. In a report published on Monday, the company is alleged to have used aggressive tax-planning strategies in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and… – Continue reading
Many kinds of U.S. multinational companies, including S-corporations, REITS, and financial services companies apparently dodged a bullet last month when the U.S. Treasury Dept. issued its final, substantially revised rules aimed at curtailing “earnings stripping.” The revised regulation represents an attempt by Treasury to help “narrow the rule and avoid… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service lacks a strong operation to audit a critical international tax compliance area, according to a watchdog report released Thursday. At issue is transfer pricing, a cost structure used by multinational companies to price goods and services they sell to subsidiaries in foreign locations. The IRS requires… – Continue reading
Global governments battling tax avoidance increasingly are pushing multinational corporations for a bigger picture of how and where they pay taxes, leading to increasingly narrow questions from company tax officers. “We have a number of entities that are disregarded for U.S. tax purposes. When I fill out the country-by-country form,… – Continue reading
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble wants to force Germans to disclose their dealings with offshore firms in tax havens and make banks liable for lost tax income if they conceal their clients’ business with such firms, a draft law shows. Tax havens were thrown into the limelight in April when… – Continue reading
Royal Bank of Canada has stopped offering tax advice to its clients in the UK and Channel Islands as firms grow increasingly wary about providing tax advisory services. The bank made the decision to cut the service over the summer, and has dismissed claims the decision was related to HM… – Continue reading
The APA scheme was initiated in 2012 in the IT Act and in 2014, rollback provisions were introduced. The Dollar Business Bureau The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday signed five Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with Indian taxpayers, making the total number of APAs to 108. “The… – Continue reading
After five years of negotiations, the European Commission has finally announced its plans to overhaul the way in which companies are taxed in the Single Market. The revised Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) is aimed at making it easier and cheaper to do business in the Single Market and… – Continue reading
With the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the tax-collection arm of the United States government, stepping up its global sweep to catch American individuals and corporations hiding their overseas earnings, the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia yesterday held a presentation for investors and financial institutions to make sure they are… – Continue reading
The European Commission has unveiled its latest plan to harmonise corporate tax. After two past failures, the executive hopes the recent flurry of tax scandals will give the project a new lease of life. The EU has revived its tax crusade with a new attempt to establish a Common Consolidated… – Continue reading
The Armenian Parliament has ratified today two agreements to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion with respect to taxes on property and income with Serbia and Slovakia. According to Deputy Minister of Finance Armen Hayrapetyan, the document on the mutual avoidance of double taxation on property and income with… – Continue reading
Days of underpaying taxes to end soon as China takes part in worldwide scheme on swapping information on foreign residents’ financial assets The mainland tax agency wants to collect the financial information of non residents who live in China as it takes part in a multilateral scheme to crack down… – Continue reading
