Tax competition isn’t just an international issue. While recent headlines have focused on how the high U.S. corporate rate is causing multinationals to relocate to jurisdictions that have cut their taxes or restructured their tax regimes to be more favorable to business (like Ireland and the United Kingdom), the effects… – Continue reading
Clandestine accounts in Switzerland are clearly becoming too hot for many people. In the first half of 2014 in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), three times as many voluntary declarations of an incomplete tax return relating to Switzerland are reported to have been received than in the same period of the previous… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – According to industry insiders there is a battle waging over Software-Defined Networking (SDN) that is a way to build corporate networks without the networking gear built by companies such as Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR). The battle pits network equipment manufacturers against a string of companies… – Continue reading
An American attempt to close a loophole could have a major impact on the recovering Irish economy, writes John Walsh in Dublin. “The company concluded it was not in the best long-term interests of our shareholders to attempt to redomicile outside the US.” That single sentence, uttered by Walgreens’ chief… – Continue reading
New Delhi: In its effort to unearth black money stashed away abroad, India has received data on over 24,000 instances of alleged tax evasion and dubious funds, which has been detected in foreign shores in the last financial year. These cases are now under investigation by the taxman even as… – Continue reading
A new global standard for governments to crack down on tax evasion has been released by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Almost 70 countries have already signed up to the charter, which will roll out a US style Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law globally. FATCA… – Continue reading
The reputation of many jurisdictions, or so called ‘tax havens’, has been attacked by other nations, most which fail to apply the same policies that they advocate for others. Over the last two decades, International Financial Centers (IFCs) have made vast changes to their laws and their enforcement, aiming to… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The world’s richest nations must toughen their laws against money laundering, tax havens and tax evasion if a global drive against corruption and illicit finance is to deliver results, senior African diplomats said on Thursday. “There are two sides to this coin. If there were… – Continue reading
PORT-LOUIS, Mauritius, August 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Living on a paradise island has always been your dream? Don’t look any further. Mauritius is the right destination. Located in the pristine turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is a small tropical island, only 12 hours of flight from Paris. Since… – Continue reading
The New Zealand arm of the French bank, BNP Paribas, is the latest international bank to fall foul of the New Zealand tax department’s campaign against the use of cross-border convertible notes, quietly agreeing to pay back tax of $18.435 million in an out of court settlement reached on March… – Continue reading
Despite being among the smallest countries in terms of area and population, over the past 40 years Cyprus has developed into one of the world’s most important financial and business centres. It has numerous advantages, including a strategic location, a mature and transparent legal system based on common law, world… – Continue reading
Property in England and Wales worth £122bn or more is held through companies in offshore tax jurisdictions where ownership is tricky to establish, according to Land Registry data analysed by the Financial Times. The detailed report showed that around two-thirds of the 91,248 foreign-company owned properties were held through the… – Continue reading
LONDON — When the British tax authorities struck a landmark deal with the Swiss to crack down on tax evasion, they sat back and waited for the cash to flow in. Almost three years later, they are still waiting. So far, only about $1.7 billion of the $8.4 billion windfall… – Continue reading
AROUND 16,000 TAX AVOIDERS are to be given the chance to settle their outstanding liabilities with HM Revenue & Customs, the department has confirmed. On average, each of the users of the contractor loan schemes covered by this settlement opportunity owes £11,000 a year in tax. The schemes involve complex… – 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. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/26dbdbce-1409-11e4-8485-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz39PGGY2lR Property ownership through an offshore company evokes an image of a rich foreign buyer… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government Wednesday ruled out any tax amnesty scheme to unearth black money saying it goes against honest taxpayers even as it sought to send out a positive signal to investors by promising a re-look at the controversial GAAR shortly. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also referred to demands of… – Continue reading
Your editorial, ‘Adding bite to the tax growl’ (Sunday Gleaner, July 27, 2014), reminded me of my question in the Senate some years ago: “How many persons have been locked up for tax evasion in Jamaica?” The answer came back: None. Fast-forward to February 15, 2012, to the submission of… – 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
“The investigation of the income tax returns for each successive year reveals the increasingly stubborn fight of wealthy individuals and corporations against the payment of their fair share of the expense of their Government.” Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, 1937 “More and more enterprises organized abroad by American firms have arranged… – Continue reading
JEMIMA WHYTE AND BIANCA HARTGE-HAZELMAN Institutional investors are increasingly open to the merits of Australian companies expanding offshore, as local growth looks set to be outpaced by foreign economies. “There’s no doubt that there have been plenty of Australia companies that have gone offshore in search of new revenue opportunities…. – 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
The OECD is looking at closing tax loopholes which allow some companies to legally pay little or no tax. The proposed changes to the international tax regime must continue to allow a company to be incorporated in Ireland but not pay tax here if its tax home is covered by… – 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
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
As reported in Clyde & Co’s 2011 article titled ‘Chinese charterers deducting taxes from hire payments’ (click here to view), foreign vessel owners engaged in business with Chinese charterers have long faced China’s Enterprise Income Tax regime (“EIT”). That regime looks set to extend further into the international transportation sector… – 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
The International Chamber of Commerce, in a policy statement on July 15, 2014, has advised countries not to adopt exit taxes, to ensure that double taxation is avoided and to promote the free movement of capital. In its statement, entitled “Exit taxes: Serious obstacles for international business restructurings and movements… – Continue reading
Governments across the world have collected more than €37bn of tax from secret offshore accounts since 2009, it emerged on Monday as new details were unveiled of the next phase of the global crackdown on tax evasion. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published its global standard for automatic… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands dominates the offshore world, but can it maintain its leading position? The Cayman Islands is the quintessential offshore jurisdiction. Tax-neutral, with a government and financial regulator keen to keep up with the latest developments in the financial services sector, Cayman has ridden out the financial crisis and… – Continue reading
Government plans to establish a tax haven that will encourage wealthy corporations to move their operations to Macedonia have won a mixed response.Financial experts have broadly welcomed plans by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to set up tax havens on the ground that they will boost employment in the financial and… – 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
(CNN) — Some of the world’s most well-known companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Boots and Starbucks have become successful partly by convincing us through their products that their corporate values align with consumers’ personal values. But what happens when these companies behave in ways that seem to betray our trust?… – Continue reading
YEREVAN, July 17. /ARKA/. Russia’s government has approved the package of legislative changes which make offshore companies’ access to the state’s money more complicated. They no longer will be provided by guarantees and they will be obliged to reveal beneficial owners in government procurement auctions. The demands turned out to… – 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
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
Investors in India are nervous as it looks like the government aims to go ahead with plans to close more tax loopholes through a new set of General Anti-Avoidance Rules, or GAAR. While the new rules were slated to come into effect in April, many investors and executives had expected the… – 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
British expats living in Spain will have to be on their toes to keep up with the new Spanish tax rules There are a number of changes afoot which could trip you up faster than a flamenco dance. These include: · A new double tax treaty · New disclosure rules… – Continue reading
The finance ministry will soon consider tax expert Parthasarathi Shome’s suggestions on possible instances where offshore sale of Indian assets need not be taxed here, said a finance ministry official. The Shome Committee had in its 2012 ‘Report on Retrospective Amendments Relating to Indirect Transfer of Indian assets’ suggested that… – Continue reading
KENYA Revenue Authority is currently recovering Sh25 billion outstanding tax from international companies that a recent audit showed were involved in transfer pricing, it announced on Friday. Commissioner general John Njiraini said the authority has recently conducted transfer pricing audits involving over 50 cases which have so far yielded tax… – Continue reading
Andrea Leadsom, a high-flying Treasury minister, received more than £70,000 from a family business, the parent company of which is controlled out of the Virgin Islands tax haven. The payments, which appear to be within the letter of the rules for political donations, have been criticised because of the contrast… – Continue reading
Ingersoll-Rand (IR) is a great American success story. Founded 143 years ago by a Connecticut farmer who invented a steam-powered rock drill, the company made tools that carved out the Panama Canal and shaped Mt. Rushmore. More recently it’s become a leader in energy-efficient air conditioners: Ingersoll-Rand’s Trane unit has… – Continue reading
To energise capital markets, the government today proposed a slew of measures, including tax benefits and easier regulations for foreign investors and corporate bonds besides creating a new instrument Bharat Depository Receipts, helping BSE benchmark Sensex to jump 434 points. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in his maiden budget also annouced… – Continue reading
QCs doctors, pop stars and others have been caught up in a major tax avoidance plan in the UK, which have included former UK-based and now Wellington City CEO Kevin Lavery. Mr Lavery formerly worked as chief executiv e of the Cornwall Council and invested £1.2m according to the documents… – Continue reading
Advisers with expatriate clients, or whose clients’ investments span multiple jurisdictions, may find a more level playing field as global regulators work together more, Angelo Venardos has said. The editor of tax book World’s Leading Financial and Trust Centres said that many offshore financial centres, such as the British Virgin… – Continue reading
Lawmakers adopted at first reading amendments to the law regulating the activity of offshore companies in Bulgaria. Under a proposal from ruling socialists member Georgi Kadiev (who recently stepped down as member of Parliament) and fellow MPs, entities having opaque ownership will be barred from signing contracts with the state,… – Continue reading
To act as an investment manager the company is required to be appropriately regulated Offshore companies owned by NRIs or persons of Indian origin can act as investment manager for newly created class of overseas investors, FPIs, provided they are well regulated in their jurisdiction, Sebi has said. As per… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Offshore companies owned by NRIs or persons of Indian origin can act as investment manager for newly created class of overseas investors, FPIs, provided they are well regulated in their jurisdiction, Sebi has said.As per Sebi, non-resident Indian (NRI) or person of Indian origin (PIO) is not eligible… – Continue reading
The Ministry is considering 20% mark up under the safe harbour rule, which would mean that transactions following the norms would not be scrutinised by the tax authorities Press Trust of India | New Delhi July 6, 2014 Last Updated at 11:25 IST In order to encourage foreign investment, the… – Continue reading
