Countries should commit to minimum standards on the resolution of international tax disputes, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report published as part of its base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project.06 Oct 2015 The standards would include a commitment to “seek to resolve” cases… – Continue reading
On 26 February 2015, the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court decided in favor of an appeal filed by WOLF THEISS for a client who received tax exempt interest income from other countries. An Austrian taxpayer received interest from Greek, Brazilian and Argentinian government bonds between 2003 and 2007. According to the… – Continue reading
On 31 March 2015, the Austrian Ministry of Finance published a decree dealing with, inter alia, mutual agreement procedures under double tax treaties. Currently, Austria has concluded 85 double tax treaties, all of which contain provisions on mutual agreement procedures (MAPs). However, Austrian statutory law does not provide for procedural… – Continue reading
In a recent decision the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court ruled on the tax treatment of Liechtenstein foundations for the second time within one month. In the case at hand the competent tax authority attributed investment income generated by a Liechtenstein foundation to the Austrian resident widow of the founder. According… – Continue reading
More than 90 jurisdictions, including all 34 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) and the G20 members, have committed to implement the Common Reporting Standard for automatic exchange of tax information (“CRS”). Building on the model created by FATCA, the CRS creates a global standard… – Continue reading
EU commissioner urges member states to ensure fair share of tax is paid EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici reiterated his commitment to re-launch the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base yesterday, urging all EU member states to ensure that companies pay their fair share of tax. Speaking following a meeting of… – Continue reading
The finance ministers of 11 euro zone countries willing to introduce a financial transactions tax (FTT) are expected to make progress on the thorny issue in a meeting on Saturday in Luxembourg, Italy’s economy minister said. Germany and France proposed the tax in 2012, in the midst of the euro… – Continue reading
At their meeting in Salzburg, Pierre Gramegna, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jörg Schelling, Liechtenstein Prime Minister and Finance Minister Adrian Hasler, the Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble employed in particular with international tax policy, the fight against tax optimization models overlooking the BEPS Initiative… – Continue reading
The multinational companies in Latin America demand security, efficient services, infrastructure and good educational standards, but they are not very willing to contribute themselves by paying their fair share of tax. Honduras is a case in point, and is one of the most unequal countries on the continent. The government,… – Continue reading
Ireland has made “little or no” effort over the past four years to create a corruption-free playing field for global trade, violating its “obligation to combat cross-border bribery”, reports the Irish Times. The Transparency International Exporting Corruption report, released on Thursday, found that Ireland, along with countries such as Russia,… – Continue reading
Turkmen parliament ratified the country’s convention with South Korea on double taxation avoidance and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to income taxes, the Turkmen government said August 19. Aside from that, according to the government message, the parliament ratified the country’s convention with Austria on avoidance of double taxation… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a recent report that improving taxpayer services, while making non-compliance harder, is helping revenue bodies increase their efficiency and allowing governments to finance important programs that will further benefit their citizens. According to Tax Administration 2015, which looks at 56… – Continue reading
On August 11, 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its annual report addressing global tax administration. The OECD’s stated mission is to “promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.” The OECD describes its annual report as follows: Tax… – Continue reading
Fears of a VDP application giving rise to a ‘witch hunt’ are ill-founded. The rapid development in international tax transparency over the past two years in the form of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Common Reporting Standard (CRS) has caused many South African taxpayers to consider regularising… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands had the highest rate of tax compliance out of 12 countries reviewed by the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, reports Public Finance International. The forum, which has 127 member nations, exists to implement internationally agreed transparency standards and the… – Continue reading
On August 3, 2015 the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published 12 new peer review reports. Phase 1 reports were published on: Albania, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Lesotho, Pakistan and Uganda. The reports assessed these countries’ legal and regulatory frameworks for transparency and… – Continue reading
July 22: Tax legislative changes in Austria were passed by the parliament, and the effective date for most changes is 1 January 2016. Among the provisions are the following items. Withholding tax on dividend distributions, capital gains The withholding tax rate for dividends and capital gains will be increased to… – Continue reading
Swiss banks can more easily take on clients in neighbouring Germany, the Swiss government said on Thursday, after a deal that ends a lengthy standoff between the two countries over hidden offshore accounts, Reuters reports. Germany’s wealthy have traditionally been the largest client base for Swiss private banking services, but… – Continue reading
10/07/2015 – The OECD set out a clear path for Lithuania’s accession to the Organisation, reinforcing the OECD’s commitment to further extend its global membership. On 8 July 2015 the 34 OECD Members adopted the Roadmap for the Accession of Lithuania to the OECD Convention setting out the terms, conditions… – Continue reading
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers will remove Austria from the list of countries transactions with whose counterparties are subject to control under the law on transfer pricing on August 1, 2015. This is stipulated in Cabinet resolution No. 677 dated July 1, 2015, which is available on the government website on… – Continue reading
The City of London is the money-laundering centre of the world’s drug trade, according to an internationally acclaimed crime expert. UK banks and financial services have ignored so-called “know your customer” rules designed to curb criminals’ abilities to launder the proceeds of crime, Roberto Saviano warned. Mr Saviano, author of… – Continue reading
The UAE ranked 15th in an index rating countries’ residency-in-return-for-investment programmes As global economic growth slackens, a number of countries are offering citizenship or residency permits in return for investment in their markets. According to the latest Global Residency Programme Index by Henley & Partners, Portugal topped the list with… – Continue reading
FATCA – Which Countries Are In And Out The controversial US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law is set to start from July 1, 2014, so with less than 21 days to go, here’s a look at which countries are in and who is outside of the tax network…. – Continue reading
Guernsey’s Chief Minister and Commerce and Employment Minister have expressed their astonishment that Guernsey has been included on a list of 30 so-called ‘non-cooperative’ non-EU jurisdictions, which was published today, reports Guernsey Finance. The list consolidates national tax ‘blacklists’ as they stood six months ago, and includes any jurisdiction on… – Continue reading
The 11 European nations seeking a financial-transactions tax will meet Thursday in Luxembourg in a bid to decide how to design the measure, according to European Union officials. Participating states are wrangling over which trades to tax and who should collect revenue, according to planning documents obtained by Bloomberg News…. – Continue reading
A report released today by the management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that Switzerland remains the world’s largest offshore centre. However, Hong Kong and Singapore could pose a challenge in the future. For now, Switzerland stands heads and shoulders above the rest booking over $2.4 trillion in wealth… – Continue reading
Switzerland and the European Union have signed an agreement providing for the automatic exchange of banking information, effective 2018. On Wednesday, Swiss State Secretary for International Financial Matters Jacques de Watteville signed the accord in Brussels along with EU Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici and Latvian Finance Minister Janis Reirs. Before… – Continue reading
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has added Austria, Turkmenistan, Hong Kong and Niue to the list of countries transactions with which are subject to control under the administration of the law on transfer pricing. Corresponding Cabinet decree No. 449 dated May 14 has been posted on the website of… – Continue reading
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) were among the first Congressional leaders to welcome the May 7th signing of the U.S.-Armenia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), a longstanding policy priority for the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Chairman… – 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
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager is preparing to reopen the antitrust case against Google following the settlement with the search giant under Joaquin Almunia two years ago. Vestager has been speaking to various advisors both inside and outside of Europe, alongside companies affected by Google’s anti-competitive search results. She… – Continue reading
Taxes have risen by around one per cent on the average worker’s wage in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries since 2014, although the majority of governments have not increased income tax rates, the OECD has said. In its Taxing Wages 2015 report, the OECD looks at the… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has sought foreign assistance for improvement in two key areas; capacity building of officers and staff and IT infrastructure development. “FBR is of the view that if developed, both of these areas can only play key role in bringing FBR at par with… – Continue reading
Taxes on wages have risen by about one percent for the average worker in OECD countries between 2010 and 2014, even though the majority of governments did not increase statutory income tax rates, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Taxing Wages 2015 report. According to the… – Continue reading
Cross border tax fraud and tax evasion by High Net Wealth Individuals (HNWI) are serious problems for many jurisdictions. For many years exchange of information between countries has been solely upon request. In practise this procedure is not efficiently working as it requires foreseeable relevance, thus ‘fishing’ for information is… – Continue reading
As Tax Day approaches, homeland Americans scurry to file their annual tax filing obligations. But for an estimated 7.6 million Americans working and living overseas, they have an obligation to not only pay taxes in their respective countries where they live; they need to pay the piper in homeland America… – Continue reading
Government questions dividend imputation and company tax rate Australian investors appear to have dodged a bullet, with the government’s first paper on tax reform discussing the dividend imputation system but falling short of attacking it outright as an idea that has outlived its usefulness. David Murray’s inquiry into the Australian… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s Direct Tax Administration has published a circular on February 12 clarifying issues relating to residency certificates for Luxembourg funds. These are applicable to both UCITS and non-UCITS funds regulated by Luxembourg’s investment fund legislation of December 17, 2010, which transposed the UCITS IV Directive, as well as Specialised Investment… – Continue reading
The initiative means to lobby for a harmonization of Corporation Law in Europe to tackle tax evasion and re-fund public spending. About 40,000 Spanish citizens have signed a petition demanding measures against front companies and tax heavens in Europe, explained the activists in charge of the initiative Saturday. Beyond Spain,… – Continue reading
Greece and Switzerland were to hold a new round of talks Thursday on a deal designed to help the cash-strapped Mediterranean country recover billions of euros in unpaid taxes, reports Europe Online. The visit to Athens by Jacques de Watteville, who heads the international financial and tax affairs unit in… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: A three member high level delegation of Inland Revenue-Policy Wing of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will attend a three day conference on regional taxation problems in the first week of April in Japanese capital Tokyo. The conference is funded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Net profits at LGT, Liechtenstein’s biggest bank, rose more than 18 percent last year, the bank reported on Monday, after it attracted fresh funds and acquired a large portfolio of accounts from HSBC’s private bank. The Vaduz-based lender, owned by the principality’s royal family, said last year it… – Continue reading
ZURICH, March 23 (Reuters) – Liechtenstein’s biggest bank LGT does not expect to suffer any fallout from assets it bought from HSBC’s private bank months before that business was embroiled in a scandal over allegedly helping clients to dodge taxes. Vaduz-based LGT, owned by the principality’s royal family, snapped up… – Continue reading
GENEVA: Facing a global crackdown including from India on their ‘safe haven’ tag, Swiss banks today asserted that “bank-client confidentiality” will not disappear and ‘automatic information exchange’ is not the only solution to the black money menace. The assertion comes at a time when Switzerland is in the process of… – Continue reading
Bern and Brussels have clinched a deal to exchange bank account data in an effort to tackle tax fraud. The agreement comes after a recent report exposed the global economic damage caused by offshore accounts. Switzerland and the European Union are teaming up to crack down on tax cheats, officials… – Continue reading
islamabad Pakistan and Austria here on Tuesday signed additional protocol amending the agreement on avoidance of double taxation (ADTA). FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa and Austrian Ambassador Ms Brigitta Blaha signed the document on behalf of their respective governments. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar witnessed the signing ceremony. Austria and Pakistan, it… – Continue reading
An elaborate plot to oust the current chairperson of the South African Airways board, Dudu Myeni by showing that she has millions of rands stashed away in foreign bank accounts has been exposed this week, it has been learnt. The Times revealed that there has been a leak of a… – Continue reading
The following article is from the February 13-26 print edition of the Budapest Business Journal. While the 2008 financial crisis questioned the justification for structured products globally, the recent decision of the Swiss National Bank to scrap the euro peg has revealed risks – not previously perceived by domestic investors… – Continue reading
The charitable foundation run by Hillary Clinton and her family has received as much as $81m from wealthy international donors who were clients of HSBC’s controversial Swiss bank. Leaked files from HSBC’s Swiss banking division reveal the identities of seven donors to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation with… – Continue reading
Jonathan Weiss hasn’t lived in the US for 25 years. But that didn’t keep his foreign bank account from being frozen in the wake of new US tax laws. Find out how you can avoid the same fate at the hands of FATCA. “I had been living in Switzerland for… – Continue reading
