Sofia. Bulgarian National Assembly is to discuss on second reading a non-reciprocal agreement between the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Government f the United States of America on the improvement of the observation of the tax legislation in international aspect and enforcement of Foreign Account Tax Compliance… – Continue reading
In a note to investors published today, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi weighed in on why Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has chosen to keep a large offshore cash balance and not repatriate to the US. Mr. Sacconaghi noted activist investor Carl Icahn’s notion that Apple’s real tax rate is roughly 20% below… – Continue reading
Two Switzerland-based banks have agreed to disclose secret accounts belonging to US taxpayers as part of a new US program to fight offshore tax evasion, the US Department of Justice announced in a statement on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — “The days of safely hiding behind shell corporations and numbered bank… – Continue reading
The United States has the most damaging business tax system in the developed world because it taxes its businesses at high rates, taxes them on their worldwide income and denies them the ability to deduct the cost of their investments at the time they make them. There is wide agreement… – Continue reading
Canada’s Revenue Minister, Kerry-Lynne D Findlay, has signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information. The adoption of the MCAA is a commitment from Canada to implement new international standards on the automatic exchange of information in tax matters. The MCAA specifies the… – Continue reading
On 1 April 2015 the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance issued a ministerial decree removing the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and 19 other jurisdictions from Italy’s ‘blacklist’ on the nondeductibility of costs and expenses, established in January 2002. As a result, expenses and costs incurred by Italian… – Continue reading
As Cayman finds itself at the heart of what may be the world’s biggest ever corruption scandal, following the arrest of local football boss, Jeffrey Webb, the premier has defended the jurisdiction in a statement from his office about the FIFA probe. Alden McLaughlin said that local law enforcement agencies… – Continue reading
Law360, New York (June 3, 2015, 3:24 PM ET) — Final rules released Wednesday by the Internal Revenue Service meant to deter corporate inversions retain a strict bright-line rule that subjects an inverted company to sanctions if it does not have a substantial business presence in a foreign country, despite… – Continue reading
There has been some recent press regarding some of the procedural aspects of refund claims relating to foreign tax credits and they stand as a reminder about how significant the statute of limitations periods can be in processing tax claims. In a case decided last year on October 20, 2014,… – Continue reading
Presidential candidates must come clean on America’s highly controversial global tax law – and more must urgently be done to repeal it, not least because it is “a blue print for worse to come”, warns the boss of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations. Nigel Green, founder… – Continue reading
Microsoft Corp. and the IRS are back in court, this time fighting about the U.S. tax agency’s interest in hiring David Boies, the lawyer who beat Microsoft in an antitrust case in 2000. The software company filed a federal lawsuit May 29 in Seattle, marking the latest legal flurry over… – Continue reading
On Thursday, May 28, 2015, the Department of Justice announced that pursuant to its August 29, 2013 Swiss Bank Program, it had reached settlement with four additional Swiss banks. The newest banks to settle, Société Générale Private Banking (Lugano-Svizzera), MediBank AG, LBBW (Schweiz) AG, and Scobag Privatbank AG, will pay… – Continue reading
BVI, 1 June 2015 – The Government of the Virgin Islands is advising all British Virgin Islands Reporting Financial Institutions that the FATCA deadlines for the United Kingdom and United States of America have been extended. Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE made an Order under… – Continue reading
A powerful business lobby is sounding the warning to lawmakers about a global effort to crack down on offshore tax evasion. The National Association of Manufacturers warned the top congressional tax writers that the so-called Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project “could have a negative impact on the global competitiveness… – Continue reading
The Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, P.C., Q.C., M.P, Minister of National Revenue, today signed the international Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), an important step towards implementing the Common Reporting Standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information with other tax jurisdictions. Economic Action Plan (EAP) 2015 reiterated the Government… – Continue reading
The CEO of a Maine poker chip manufacturer was found guilty of tax evasion for paying employees under the table and evading payroll taxes. John M. Kendall was convicted on three felony counts of theft by misapplication of withholding taxes, one felony count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion, three… – Continue reading
El Salvador has become the latest country joining international efforts to fight offshore tax evasion. The Central American nation yesterday signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. In doing so, El Salvador has become the 86th member worldwide, the eighth Latin American country and the third… – Continue reading
On May 20, 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department released for public comment draft updates to the U.S. model income tax convention and its accompanying Technical Explanation (collectively, the “Model Treaty”), which was last updated in 2006. The Model Treaty is the template that Treasury uses as its starting point in… – Continue reading
Medtronic PLC reported a net loss of $1 million in its first combined quarter with Covidien, largely related to $ 880 million in charges for the Covidien acquisition and a $329 million expense from the resolution of a tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service. The medical-device maker said healthy… – Continue reading
The past decade or more has not been an easy road to manoeuvre for IFCs. The Bahamas like other IFCs has faced the combined challenges of international initiatives, increased competition, industry consolidation, changing client demographics, emerging market requirements; legacy market stagnation and of course the financial crisis just a few… – Continue reading
Since the beginning of the global financial crisis, politicians, the media and people on the street have engaged in a series of “blame games” to point fingers and punish those responsible for their own economic ills. For the past few years, one “culprit” has been firmly in the spotlight –… – Continue reading
It is rich to see General Electric lead the pack of companies complaining about oppressive taxes. GE notoriously paid no federal income taxes from 2008 to 2013, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. In fact, its corporate tax rate was negative 9 percent; GE got back from taxpayers… – Continue reading
Last week, the Justice Department announced that it had reached resolutions with four more Swiss banks under the terms of the DOJ Swiss Bank Program. The latest banks to resolve their U.S. tax issues are the following: Société Générale Private Banking (Lugano-Svizzera); MediBank AG; LBBW (Schweiz) AG; and Scobag Privatbank… – Continue reading
SAN DIEGO – A former J.P. Morgan Chase banker was ordered today to serve six months in prison for her role in a commercial bribery and tax-evasion scheme. While handing down the sentence to 51-year-old Lynda Sanabria in a San Diego courtroom, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez also ordered her… – Continue reading
Poland has removed Gibraltar from its schedule of countries and territories that it considers to be non-cooperative tax havens, the latest in a string of countries to do the same. The move means Gibraltar companies have been freed from previously held restrictions when doing business with Polish companies. It follows… – Continue reading
KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has, during its probe into the Axact scandal, unearthed seven offshore companies that were being run by Shoaib Shaikh. According to FIA sources, the agency during the forensic inspection of the data retrieved from Axact’s computers seized by the authorities earlier has ascertained that… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands have entered into agreements with the UK for automatic disclosure of information in respect of interests in financial accounts held by UK residents. Most UK residents are taxed on the “arising” basis meaning they are liable to pay UK tax on worldwide… – Continue reading
Barclays has launched an internal review into whether its accounts were used for corrupt payments by FIFA officials, a banking source told AFP on Sunday. Standard Chartered has also said it was investigating payments cited in the US indictment. UK-headquartered Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC were among more than a… – Continue reading
The European Union and Switzerland signed a bilateral agreement on the automatic exchange of financial information on Wednesday morning, reports Ahram Online. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), a major Swiss newspaper, the agreement commits both parties to collect information on banking accounts starting in 2017 and exchanging this… – Continue reading
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina tax officials say they’re seeking U.S. information about alleged corruption involving FIFA. Tax chief Ricardo Echegaray tells La Once Diez radio that his agency has asked the U.S. for “all the documentation that permits us to quantify” Argentina’s tax losses. And he’s not ruling out… – Continue reading
British Virgin Islands, Caymans and Turks & Caicos feature heavily in justice department indictment of senior football officials British overseas tax havens play a key role in what US authorities have called “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted” corruption in the world of football, analysis by the Observer reveals. The 164-page US… – Continue reading
The leadership of Costa Rican football has circled the wagons around their embattled president, Eduardo Li, after Li was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. Jorge Hidalgo, acting president of the Costa Rican Football Federation, FEDEFÚTBOL, told the website Amelia Rueda that… – Continue reading
FATCA Agreement Signed On 26 May 2015, Iceland and the United States signed a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Agreement. FATCA seeks to obtain information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other countries. It requires U.S. financial institutions to withhold a portion of certain payments made to Foreign… – Continue reading
A unit of Societe Generale SA based in Switzerland and three other banks agreed to pay a total of $2.2 million in penalties for helping American clients avoid taxes. The settlement comes under a U.S. program that lets Swiss banks avoid prosecution if they agree to cooperate with prosecutors and… – Continue reading
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced that four Swiss banks have reached a resolution with the Government under the DoJ Tax Division’s regularization program. The DoJ’s Swiss Bank Program was signed by the two countries on August 29, 2013. It provides a framework for Swiss banks that were… – Continue reading
On 31 March 2015 amendments were made to the Income Tax (Approved International Agreements) (Implementation) (United Kingdom and United States of America) Regulations, 2014 (the “2014 Regulations”) which brought FATCA-based reporting into force under Guernsey law. FATCA-based reporting is implemented in Guernsey pursuant to the UK-Guernsey IGA, signed on 22… – Continue reading
The company that runs a swathe of Britain’s internet service is being bought by an American predator that plans to fold it into a giant international tax haven. Telecity operates data centres all over Europe – which house the wires that make the internet work – including sites in London… – Continue reading
■ Barclays and HSBC have been named in legal papers filed in the US ■ Documents have also named London-based Standard Chartered Bank ■ Allegedly moved suspect transactions linked to Fifa through their accounts ■ Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is understood to be monitoring situation Two of Britain’s biggest High… – Continue reading
The Swiss government and hundreds of Swiss banks have been roiled by the U.S. crackdown on American tax evaders. With six years of almost non-stop hits to the country and its bankers, it may be no surprise that now Switzerland is publishing the names of foreign tax evaders. Some observers… – Continue reading
SHARES in the health outsourcing firm Synergy Healthcare saw sharp losses yesterday as reports circulated that US authorities were going to block its proposed takeover by Steris, a rival American company. The FTSE 250 company’s shares finished the trading day down 15.8 per cent, to 1,822p, having recovered slightly from… – Continue reading
Clinton advisers are staying mum on the reasons for the arrangement. The candidate made more in a year than most Americans earn in a lifetime and used a shell company to manage money and cut down on risk. It wasn’t disclosed until investigative reporters dug up the paper trail. In… – Continue reading
Ireland still offers unfair tax deals to multinationals despite its claims of being fair and open, Alain Lamassoure, the head of the European Parliament’s tax committee has said, reports the Irish Examiner. His allegation comes as the European Commission announces it wants every member state to agree to adopt the… – Continue reading
Avago Technologies Ltd.’s pending takeover of Broadcom Corp. taps an arcane tax structure that has being dusted off amid a rise in cross-border mergers. Avago said it is prepared to offer Broadcom shareholders special partnership units that would defer any taxes triggered by the $37 billion tie-up, which was announced… – Continue reading
The executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance said the Deerfield-based drugstore chain was made a “whipping boy” by the Obama administration and elected officials opposed to corporate tax inversions. “The Obama administration and (Treasury Secretary Jack Lew) were taking the opportunity to select any company that was even thinking about… – Continue reading
It is not uncommon for affluent families from certain countries to maintain offshore structures to hold a portion, and often times a significant portion, of their wealth. The reasons for holding assets outside of their country of residence are many, and such assets are frequently held in foreign corporations. As… – Continue reading
CHARGES laid out by the United States Department of Justice on 14 high-ranking FIFA officials may never have come to a head had it not been for the behind the scenes workings of former FIFA executive Chuck Blazer. In 2011, after being confronted by the Internal Revenue Service in regards… – Continue reading
Thousands of Indian citizens in the US – from IT workers, health professionals, students and everyone else under the sun – will soon be innocent victims to snooping by the Indian government. If an Indian citizen holds a bank account in the US, minute details about his/her bank account will… – Continue reading
After Switzerland initiated measures to regulate its banks, most of the unaccounted money stashed in Swiss banks is suspected to have been diverted to countries like Mauritius and Singapore. The Special Investigation Team on black money has taken cognisance of the issue raised by the enforcement agencies. “Although the Swiss… – Continue reading
Expat Americans have revealed they don’t feel well-represented by the US government, but many do not bother to vote in elections even if they can do so, research has found. There are an estimated 7.6 million Americans living abroad but a poll has found that only 58% of them voted… – Continue reading
Half the 30 such cases, worth Rs 10,000 crore, to be addressed India is set to sign agreements with Japan to resolve as many as 15 transfer pricing disputes. These agreements follow the one recently signed with the US. The agreements will be for cases that fall in the ambit… – Continue reading
