The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has proposed that the government demand reciprocal cooperation with the US regarding the latter’s request to apply its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in the country. FATCA is a law that the US has unilaterally imposed on the rest of the world to prevent… – Continue reading
The new Mexican Income Tax Law (“MITL”) that entered into force on January 1 modified the so-called procedural provisions concerning the application by multinational companies of benefits set forth under tax treaties negotiated and executed by Mexico. Accordingly, foreign residents claiming tax treaty benefits (either for a tax exemption or… – Continue reading
Caterpillar, industrial and construction equipment manufacturing Goliath, has been avoiding or deferring paying U.S. taxes for at least 13 years to the tune of approximately $2.4 billion, according to a report from the Homeland Security & Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “Tax evasion schemes rob the system of billions of… – Continue reading
If Washington closes offshore tax loopholes, we can fix many of our infrastructure problems and create new jobs. America has an infrastructure crisis. We see signs of it every day: We hit bone-jarring potholes as we drive. We face long detours as bridges are closed for emergency repairs. When water… – Continue reading
More than three-quarters of US expatriates with supplementary overseas pensions contracts say they won’t renounce their citizenship to escape the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca). The result, from a survey by financial adviser deVere Group of 361 of its own clients, suggests the supplementary overseas pension contract may stem… – Continue reading
KARACHI: Pakistan’s large banks have completed the registration process with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – the US government agency responsible for tax collection and law enforcement – to report the data (dollar-denominated transactions) of US persons to it, banking sources said on Wednesday. They have got the registration as… – Continue reading
The head of US bank Goldman Sachs has warned that guilty pleas from rivals BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse, under legal proceedings in the United States, could hurt the financial system. The two European banks, under probes for violating US sanctions and abetting tax evasion, are potentially facing very heavy… – Continue reading
Next Magazine yesterday released a report claiming that the president has to pay taxes to the U.S. under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), saying that Ma is poised to turn himself into an “international laughingstock” by becoming the first R.O.C. president subject to U.S. taxes. That the president… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse Group AG (CS – Snapshot Report) may shell out around $2.5 billion as settlement charges and is expected to plead guilty related to an ongoing tax probe by the United States Department of Justice (:DOJ). The Swiss banking giant is alleged to have deliberately helped its clients in… – Continue reading
On 28 April 2014, the Australian Government signed an agreement (the intergovernmental agreement) with their U.S. counterparts that will greatly assist Australian financial institutions that must comply with the requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) legislation, enacted by the U.S. Government. The FATCA regime is, at its core,… – Continue reading
Hong Kong and the United States have concluded their discussions on the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, with Hong Kong expected to sign a model 2 intergovernmental agreement later this year. Under the model 2 agreement, financial institutions in Hong Kong will need to register and conclude… – Continue reading
Ian Russell, president and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), today urged members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to recommend approval of Bill C-31 at the earliest opportunity, which is necessary to implement the provisions of the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance… – Continue reading
Despite a push to obtain agreements with foreign governments through April, the US Treasury’s own website notes the large number of outstanding Intergovernmental Agreements yet to be implemented fully around the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca). So-called IGAs are critical for the success of the US Foreign Account Tax… – Continue reading
NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON New York state’s banking regulator is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Credit Suisse in its probe of potential tax evasion involving the Swiss bank, according to sources close to the matter, which could push an eventual settlement with US authorities over $2 billion.The New York… – Continue reading
The head of Canada’s investment industry association is urging the federal government not to defer legislation that will facilitate handing tax information of U.S. citizens living in Canada to authorities in the United States. Ian Russell, chief executive of the Investment Industry Association of Canada, made his pitch to the… – Continue reading
Puerto Rico’s tax incentive acts are tailor-made for traders, investors, investment managers and financial institutions. Enacted in 2012, Puerto Rico’s Act 22 allows investors and traders with bona fide residence in Puerto Rico to exclude 100% of all short-term and long-term capital gains from the sale of personal property accrued… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, May 14 (RAPSI) – The Russian government has approved a bill to allow Russian financial institutions to provide information about US taxpayers and to oblige foreign financial institutions to report Russian taxpayers to Russia’s Federal Tax Service, reads a statement on the government’s website. The bill has been submitted to… – Continue reading
Hong Kong and the United States have substantially concluded discussions on an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) to simplify Hong Kong financial institutions’ compliance with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) said that the IGA “will reduce Hong Kong financial institutions’ reporting burden and… – Continue reading
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has confirmed that it expects to conclude an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the United States regarding the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) by the end of June this year. FATCA, enacted by the US Congress in 2010 and due to take effect on July… – Continue reading
Up to December 31, 2013, Mexico did not tax dividend payments. However, the Mexican Income Tax Law (“MITL”) that entered into force on January 1, 2014 established a new 10 percent withholding tax on the gross amount of dividend payments made by legal entities resident in Mexico for tax purposes… – Continue reading
According to Treasury Department statistics published in the Federal Register, 1001 United States taxpayers gave up their passports or their green cards in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 47.4 percent over the 679 individuals that did so in the first quarter of last year. This figure was… – Continue reading
A few points about Macquarie’s bizarre tax predicament. The tax bill is up over $500 million in two years, but it is the rate that is worthy of note rather than the quantum. Last year was a very good one for the bank, net income was $1 billion higher so… – Continue reading
The Minister with responsibility for Financial Services, Albert Isola, signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the US Government and the Government of Gibraltar at a signing ceremony in the US Embassy in London on Thursday. The agreement aims to improve international tax compliance through mutual assistance in tax matters based… – Continue reading
May 7th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Tax evaders and privacy advocates beware – Costa Rica and 46 other countries signed up yesterday to automatically share banking, financial, and tax information in what the OECD is touting as a major step towards cracking down on global tax evasion. The Declaration on Automatic Exchange… – Continue reading
No other U.S. pension, endowment or foundation manager has invested as heavily in emerging-market ETFs as the New Jersey Pension Fund, a $3.2 billion gamble at its height. Now the state’s reversing course. The $76.8 billion fund, the 12th largest public pension manager in the U.S., has cut its holding of developing-nation exchange-traded funds… – Continue reading
Calls for crackdown as investigation finds huge Indonesian corporations evading tax through network of secret shell companies in British Virgin Islands and other tax havens Giant Asian logging companies that make billions from destroying rainforests use a labyrinth of secret shell companies based in a UK overseas territory, the British Virgin… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The government has geared up efforts to deal with the situation following the enforcement of Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) by the United States asking the Pakistanis having US nationality and multinational companies doing business in both the countries to submit taxes on their income to the US… – Continue reading
Beanie Baby creator Ty Warner might be headed to prison after all. The billionaire was originally sentenced to probation after hiding $25 million in Swiss banksto avoid US taxes, but federal prosecutors are now asking for re-sentencing. Their appeal argued that Warner appears to be getting a different standard of justice than the… – Continue reading
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEWS reaching this publication states that a businessman from Wyoming, United States of America was on Wednesday (May 7) sentenced to serve 36 months in jail for tax evasion. According to a US Department of Justice press release, the businessman, Robert C. Sathre, appeared before US District… – Continue reading
Agreement will help ease reporting burden of financial firms of American customers The government said yesterday it would sign a tax agreement with the United States this year that will help reduce the reporting burden of financial firms under the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca). The accord will… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The government has geared up efforts to deal with the situation following the enforcement of Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) by the United States asking the Pakistanis having US nationality and multinational companies doing business in both the countries to submit taxes on their income to the US… – Continue reading
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — (SBWIRE) — 05/08/2014 — ICO Services, the international company specialized in the formation of offshore companies and offshore banking, has recently expanded their services to the American business world by launching their service of setting up a company in Belize, the only fiscal paradise in Central… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hong Kong has reached an information-sharing agreement with the United States under a new law meant to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday. Set to take effect on July 1, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 (FATCA) will… – Continue reading
In Budget 2013, the Government announced its intention to consult on possible measures to combat treaty shopping. Eleven months later, in Budget 2014, the Government invited comments on a proposed domestic anti-treaty abuse rule. This article briefly reviews developments arising between the two budgets and provides high level comments in… – Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA is reporting that Israel has signed a FATCA IGA. The agreement is a Model 1 agreement, meaning that Israeli financial institutions will will report information about U.S. customers’ accounts to the Israeli tax authorities, who will then send that information to the IRS. The news comes only a… – Continue reading
Last week, Israel and the US signed an information-sharing agreement for financial assets (primarily bank accounts) belonging to Israeli and US citizens, in an attempt to improve tax enforcement in both countries. “US residents who do not disclose information about accounts they hold in Israel could risk fines of up to 50%… – Continue reading
The President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, approved a draft agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the United States of America on the improvement of compliance with international tax rules and the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as a basis… – Continue reading
An IBC is the most popular type of offshore corporation as it is designed for any international business activity, does not pay any taxes in the jurisdiction where is established, provides confidentiality to its owners and is not subject to reporting requirements. “According to different lists of international organizations, there… – Continue reading
• Partnership creates end-to-end solution for enabling and ensuring FATCA compliance, including: data consolidation, indicia identification, additional KYC data/document capture, alerts/notifications and dashboards to monitor compliance, withholding calculations and remittance, and tax reporting. Banking analytics, risk and compliance pioneer, iCreate, today announced a strategic partnership with tax information reporting leader,… – Continue reading
ICO Services, the international company specialized in the formation of offshore companies and offshore banking, has recently expanded their services to the American business world by launching their service of setting up a company in Belize, the only fiscal paradise in Central and South America where English is the official… – Continue reading
Singapore has concluded its discussion with the United States on an inter-governmental agreement that aim at preventing tax evasion by US citizens, permanent residents and entities, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s Ministry of Finance and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) jointly announced on Tuesday. The agreement… – Continue reading
The number of Americans renouncing United States citizenship or terminating long-term residency is on a record pace. Every 3 months, the government publishes the names of individuals who renounced U.S. citizenship or gave up a green card. This public outing puts Americans on notice who relinquished their rights. For January… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse is expected to face criminal charges, according to an American official, as US Attorney General Eric Holder warned on Monday that no financial institution should consider itself “above the law”. “There is no such thing as ‘too big to jail’,” Holder said while investigations continue into alleged tax… – Continue reading
Because of a delay in the negotiation of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) advised Pakistani financial institutions, as a precaution, to complete registration with the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by May 5, 2014, at… – Continue reading
Ministry Asks Cabinet To Issue Decree KUWAIT CITY, May 4, (KUNA): The Ministry of Finance has announced that the State of Kuwait joined the list of countries which agreed initially in substance on the FATCA (Intergovernmental Agreement). The Ministry disclosed that they have agreed on substance regarding the FATCA… – Continue reading
OTTAWA — The NDP is calling on the federal government to delay passing legislation aimed at cooperating with the United States in taxing its citizens living in Canada, saying the law could “violate the privacy and constitutional rights” of those residents and needs to be studied more closely. The U.S…. – Continue reading
Against global trends, gradual growth in both the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) merger and acquisition (“M&A”) activity continued through 2013, led by flagship deals in both established and emerging markets. The flexibility, certainty and efficiency of the statutory merger regimes make both of these leading offshore… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore has reached a tax information-sharing agreement with the United States under a new law meant to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans, a U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman said on Monday. The deal, which was expected for more than a year, will make it much easier for… – Continue reading
Washington • As the United States attempts to punish Russia for its actions in Ukraine, the Treasury Department is deploying an economic weapon that could prove more costly than sanctions: the Internal Revenue Service. This summer, the U.S. plans to start using a new law that will make it more… – Continue reading
Hong Kong has signed its first ever tax information exchange agreement (TIEA), paving the way for its implementation of the US foreign account tax compliance act. Signed last month, the TIEA was enacted following an order made by the head of the Government of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying. It comes… – Continue reading
