Costa Rica News – Let the finger pointing begin. Remember in Costa Rica it is never anyone’s own responsibility when you are caught doing something wrong in the Costa Rican government. The population just takes their examples from the higher ups. The Ministry of Finance is now investigating Costa Rica’s… – Continue reading
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former partner at defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist, whom prosecutors have called the most important cooperating witness in the largest criminal tax fraud case in U.S. history, was sentenced on Wednesday to six months in prison. At a court hearing in New York, U.S…. – Continue reading
This June the IRS modified its offshore disclosure programs to encourage U.S. citizens to come forward and report their assets and mitigate risk of penalty or prosecution. To help your clients avoid running afoul of FATCA, a bulletin from PwC advises them to: Determine citizenship. In some cases, non-resident Americans are… – Continue reading
Nova Scotia’s offshore regulator is asking the Federal Court to strip the copyright from a Calgary company’s images of the ocean floor. It’s the latest move in an ongoing legal battle between Geophysical Service Inc. and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board over millions of dollars’ worth of seismic maps… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Emailftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b494286e-171e-11e4-b0d7-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz393LkTft5 Pfizer refuses to rule out tax inversion deals By Andrew Ward, Pharmaceuticals CorrespondentAuthor alerts… – Continue reading
How to Stop Canadian Multinationals from Dodging Their Taxes And if you thought low rates bought their loyalty, you’re wrong. Tax avoidance has become an accepted part of doing business for corporations the world over. But it isn’t just Google, Starbucks and Amazon working the system. Canadian corporations like Cameco… – Continue reading
With FATCA and its grave burdens and consequences for Americans living in Canada now a reality, the more than 1 million individuals affected now have the benefit of a useful guide self-published by Altro Levy, a multi-jurisdictional law firm with nine offices in Canada and the U.S. The guide is… – Continue reading
The Swiss banks in “category two” of the deal struck with American tax authorities could face smaller fines than they had feared, but only if they cooperate more with the United States. The Swiss publication Finanz und Wirtschaft reported on Saturday that those banks with some exposure to American clients… – Continue reading
If you are from the US then you’ve probably heard of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), but are you aware of how it could affect you? The legislation came into full effect on July 1, 2014 and has many implications, particularly for US expatriates. Fatca is a US… – Continue reading
Bruton says it is up to US government to resolve tax obligation anomalies The Government has insisted it does not facilitate the so-called tax inversion practices criticised by president Barack Obama in comments that referenced Ireland. Minister for Jobs and Enterprise Richard Bruton responded to Mr Obama’s remarks by saying… – Continue reading
US bankers and lawyers are inciting a sense of urgency among corporate clients to get tax-reducing acquisitions of offshore companies signed before the end of this year, now that a slew of recent so-called tax-inversion trades has set off alarms in Congress. Heated debates about how to limit such acquisitions… – Continue reading
July 1 — Officials from Panama and Vietnam June 26 concluded the second round of negotiations and reached an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, the Panama government announced June 26. The agreement was initialed by the Minister of… – Continue reading
BOSTON (CBS) – The real estate market has been busy this year. And if you sold your house this spring or have it on the market you may get a tax break when you sell your home. If your home has been your primary residence for two of the last… – Continue reading
The U.S. Senate will proceed to debate a bill ending tax advantages for companies that move jobs abroad and giving a tax break for companies moving jobs back. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley says that’s progress, given that a similar move two years ago failed to reach the 60-vote threshold required…. – Continue reading
U.S. tax law intended to nab billionaires who hide money in tax shelters is terrorizing middle-class dual citizens with no income south of the border Like many people in Canada who still have American citizenship, Pat is both scared and angry. The semi-retired suburban Vancouver woman is trying to relinquish… – Continue reading
Green Power CEO and founder Michael Spitzauer pleaded innocent Wednesday to tax evasion. The case has been reassigned to U.S. District Court Judge Sal Mendoza Jr., who was recently appointed to the federal bench. A trial has been tentatively scheduled for this fall. In all, Spitzauer of Kennewick has been… – Continue reading
Canada and the UK on July 21, 2014, signed a protocol to their Double Tax Agreement that amends its withholding tax and information exchange provisions. The Protocol includes an exemption from withholding tax for payments of interest made in respect of loans between persons at arm’s length. The headline withholding… – Continue reading
Taxes charged by governments are a lot like consumer prices charged by retailers. The more you raise the price, the less money you actually bring in as shoppers learn to find better deals elsewhere. This is precisely what many American corporations are doing, shopping around for better tax rates in… – Continue reading
EFG International AG (EFGN), the Swiss bank controlled by billionaire Spiro Latsis and his family, said it set aside 21.4 million Swiss francs ($24 million) to pay a penalty to U.S. authorities probing tax evasion. That amount represents EFG’s “best estimate of the final cost of the penalty,” the Zurich-based… – Continue reading
The county Department of Finance is taking a dim view of a proposal by Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille to give some homeowners a bigger tax break on their primary residence. Wille, at a meeting Monday of the Real Property Tax Stakeholder’s Task Force, said she wanted to increase the base… – Continue reading
Watching big pharmaceutical companies and other major U.S. corporations line up to make foreign acquisitions that will bring them a low-tax haven as headquarters, a middle market CEO/owner/entrepreneur could easily become jealous. Are you feeling stuck with an effective tax rate of 25%, 30% or even 35%? For the likes… – Continue reading
World banking giants Barclays and Deutsche Bank have been accused by the US of helping more than a dozen hedge funds in tax evasion. Addressing a news conference, US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chairman Carl Levin said the banks sold complex option products to Renaissance Technology that saved them… – Continue reading
On June 30, the United States and Israel signed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) regarding FAT CA. FAT CA became effective in the US and other countries on July 1 and will officially take effect in Israel once the Knesset passes enabling legislation. But the Bank of Israel has already instructed… – Continue reading
In the latest moves towards implementation of the FATCA Intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) signed by the BVI with the US and the UK, the BVI Government has released draft Guidance Notes for public consultation. A copy can be accessed from the Ministry of Finance website. The draft Guidance Notes have been… – Continue reading
The corporate inversion trend tells us that global tax competition is intense and that U.S. tax reform is long overdue. Our combined federal-state corporate tax rate of 40 percent is far higher than the rates of our trading partners. Inversions are a bid by companies to create self-help tax reform… – Continue reading
lter Domus Improves Client On-boarding with Adoption of Thomson Reuters FATCA Solution Thomson Reuters FATCA solution helps Alter Domus clients comply with regulatory requirements and provides competitive advantage NEW YORK/LUXEMBOURG, July 21, 2014 – Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced that… – Continue reading
Commissioners have yet to decide how much will be exempt from the tax. Officials in Lower Macungie for months have talked about their desire to give a break to people who pay taxes on residential properties. It’s looking more likely that will happen in 2015. Township commissioners last week continued… – Continue reading
ELKTON — A bill to decrease the amount county property tax assessments could rise in any one year was introduced last week during a county council meeting. The policy, known as the Maryland Homestead Tax Credit, was designed to help homeowners deal with large assessment increases on their principal residence… – Continue reading
Sean Hannity, the Fox News prime-time host, threatened last month to leave New York for a tax haven down south. Tiger Woods transplanted himself from California to Florida for the same reason. The actor Gerard Depardieu decamped from France and sought citizenship in Russia after complaining that 85 percent of… – Continue reading
Canada Revenue Agency says Metlege collected $110,077 in HST from tenants, but didn’t report it One of the most prominent commercial developers in Halifax has been fined $82,544 for income tax evasion. Anthony Joseph Metlege, also known as Tony Metlege Jr., was issued the fine Thursday in Halifax Provincial Court… – Continue reading
TAOS – An alleged cocaine distribution ring leader in the Southwest and his family have been indicted on several tax evasion, tax fraud, conspiracy and money laundering charges. A Taos County Grand Jury on Thursday returned indictments against alleged drug kingpin Ismael Adame, 56; his wife, Angela Adame, 56; and… – Continue reading
Federal prosecutors continue to add to the multitude of charges filed against Green Power CEO and founder Michael Spitzauer. Spitzauer of Kennewick was indicted this week in connection with tax evasion. In all, he has been indicted on 30 charges, including 16 counts of wire fraud, six counts of money… – Continue reading
Federal authorities said Friday they have obtained a grand jury indictment accusing three men of conspiring to avoid more than $1 million in federal taxes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced the charges against Vanny Son, 33, Son Thach, 55, and Hung Danh, 54, all… – Continue reading
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Charleston County has hired an outside company to help it track down tax dodgers. The Post and Courier of Charleston reports (http://bit.ly/1nNzgzG ) that officials think hundreds of millions of dollars of property in the county may be undertaxed. That’s because some people may be claiming… – Continue reading
Tax authorities in South Korea and the United States will conduct a joint investigation into the allegation that the fugitive Yoo Byung-eun’s family engaged in offshore tax evasion.After the April 16 Sewol ferry disaster, the National Tax Service asked its U.S. counterpart to share intelligence on Yoo, the de facto… – Continue reading
Fallout from the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Almost 80 percent of Americans living abroad are considering relinquishing their U.S. citizenship to escape the consequences of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, according to deVere Group. That represents an increase of 11 points since last year. The Foreign Account Tax… – Continue reading
Technically, merging and reincorporating abroad to avoid taxes is called an inversion. Bluntly, it’s called a disgrace. U.S. companies should push for tax reform rather than departing on paper and handing their tax burden to American taxpayers. The latest to seek refuge from Uncle Sam is Salix Pharmaceuticals of Raleigh,… – Continue reading
For those living in America who have pensions saved from their time in the UK, the complexity surrounding the tax viability of transferring into a potentially highly beneficial QROPS can be slightly off-putting. Many will search the HMRC QROPS list and see 14 schemes listed in the USA. Schemes such as Kraft… – Continue reading
Notwithstanding (read: Because of) certain free-airfare offers on the part of the Department of Justice! A former Swiss banker and top UBS AG executive slated to go on trial for allegedly aiding U.S. tax evasion has asked that witnesses too spooked to step foot in America be able to testify… – Continue reading
For those living in America who have pensions saved from their time in the UK, the complexity surrounding the tax viability of transferring into a potentially highly beneficial QROPS can be slightly off-putting. Many will search the HMRC QROPS list and see 14 schemes listed in the USA. Schemes such as Kraft… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — From abortion to electronic privacy to background checks for gun purchases, a strange thing has been happening on the floor of the House as it debates its spending bills for the coming fiscal year: the stirrings of liberalism. The House on Thursday voted 221 to 200 to approve… – Continue reading
The BVI Government has signed a Model 1B (non-reciprocal) Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) in relation to the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), it was announced on 30 June 2014. The IGA can be accessed here. As expected the final IGA is in substantially the same form as the model agreement. There… – Continue reading
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is urging Congress to act to prevent U.S. companies shifting their headquarters abroad to benefit from a lower tax rate. “Congress should enact legislation immediately — and make it retroactive to May 2014 — to shut down this abuse of our tax system,” Lew wrote… – Continue reading
The Obama administration called for immediate congressional action to stop U.S. companies from using cross-border mergers to escape the country’s tax system, the latest trend in corporate deal-making. In a letter calling for a “new sense of economic patriotism,” Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said Congress should pass tax changes… – Continue reading
FIRMS STILL HAVE to report transactions with US citizens to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) despite registering with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a government official said. BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares said that while many local firms had committed to supply data to the IRS to comply with… – Continue reading
Back in 2012, the Puerto Rican government signed a law that created a nice tax haven of U.S. citizens. Tax attorney Rob Wood comments on the Puerto Rican option, which was also the subject of his Forbes article “Hate Taxes? Move To Tax-Free Puerto Rico, Stay American, Avoid IRS.” Wood… – Continue reading
The start of tax information reporting between the US and foreign governments and financial institutions under Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) from July 1, 2014 triggered a rush of nations joining the network at the eleventh hour. The major surprise for FATCA watchers was China agreeing ‘in substance’ to… – Continue reading
Foreign entities use this to document their status On June 25, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service released long-awaited instructions to Form W-8BEN-E, used by foreign entities to document their status under both chapter 3 and chapter 4 (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)) of the Internal Revenue Code. The… – Continue reading
Gary Barlow, his manager and fellow Take That stars Mark Owen and Howard Donald ploughed £66million into the programme called Icebreaker Gary Barlow is thinking of suing experts who advised him to invest millions in a tax avoidance scheme after telling a pal: “I’m not evil.” The Sunday People reports,… – Continue reading
The latest proposed tax inversion deal just got even bigger. U.S. bidder AbbVie hiked its offer for Dublin-based Shire PLC Sunday after four days of talks in a deal that could now reach $31.35 billion, underscoring what it sees as the benefits of a tie-up that will also give it… – Continue reading
