A digital TV monopoly left over from the era of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych has caught the eye of anti-trust authorities and lawmakers. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine on Dec. 4 fined Zeonbud, the nation’s monopoly digital TV provider, Hr 44 million (less than $2 million) for abusing its position on… – Continue reading
The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project is an initiative being pursued by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to curtail perceived exploitation of international tax rules and loopholes by multinational enterprises (MNEs). The OECD’s BEPS project was initiated in 2013 at the request of the Group… – Continue reading
Campaigners attack offshore centre for support of tax dodging, corruption and terrorist financing, reports the Financial Times. Bermuda has hit back against its critics, claiming that the financial centre is the victim of an “irresistible urge to stereotype” the British overseas territories. Bob Richards, finance minister, mounted a trenchant defence… – Continue reading
An influential UK newspaper has called for Britain to force its Overseas Territories to create a public register of owners of companies. Chris Blackhurst, the group content director of a four-newspaper stable, writing in the London Evening Standard, said: “Only then, once we have put our own house in order,… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton on Wednesday will unveil a proposal for a new “exit tax” aimed at cracking down on corporate inversions, a practice that permits U.S. companies to merge with corporations overseas to lower their tax bill. The new tax would be part of a broader effort to target… – Continue reading
HMRC urged to investigate after Phil Boswell, who has been campaigning against tax avoidance, benefited from a legal loophole himself The tax authorities have been urged to investigate claims that an SNP MP benefited from a controversial tax avoidance scheme. Phil Boswell has campaigned since his election in May against… – Continue reading
Island’s biggest employer files suit in San Juan federal court Legal challenge comes as Puerto Rico copes with debt payments The Puerto Rico unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sued the island’s government, seeking to overturn a new tax the retailer calls unfairly high. Enacted in May, Puerto Rico’s… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: India has been an active participant in the Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) action plan, the final package of which was rolled out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in October. The action points, set down by the OECD, aim at closing loopholes that enable… – Continue reading
The British government is about to get tough with so-called tax havens that are dragging their feet on revealing the secret ownership of thousands of offshore companies. One of the main thrusts of Britain’s drive to clean up the murky world of tax avoidance has been to put pressure on… – Continue reading
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alan Grayson said more than two months ago that he had closed down the Cayman Islands-based hedge funds that helped prompt ethics complaints against the populist congressman from Orlando. Grayson declined to provide documentation to the Tampa Bay Times when asked for it in early October,… – Continue reading
A newly introduced amendment to the Bulgarian Offshore Companies Act (the “Act”) will bring significant changes to investment opportunities for offshore companies. If the Bulgarian Parliament adopts the amendment within the next month, the amended Act is expected to enter into force in the beginning of 2016. The proposed amendments… – Continue reading
Corporate taxes continued to flood into the exchequer’s coffers last month, compounding a mystery about their source and raising doubts about whether a future government can rely on the company receipts after the election. The Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance have moved in recent weeks to dampen down… – Continue reading
A blockbuster tax cut deal, with a 10-year cost of $889 billion and counting, is deep into negotiations on Capitol Hill, proving that Congress doesn’t care about the deficit as long as the right groups get the giveaways. Virtually every year, Congress packages a series of over 50 tax breaks… – Continue reading
HONG KONG, Dec. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire — Demand for asset protection, wealth planning and funds by high net worth individuals in Asian countries will drive continued growth in the offshore industry, according to OIL’s sixth “Offshore 2020” annual market research study. OIL, the leader in international incorporations and corporate services… – Continue reading
The 400 richest people in the US have a greater collective wealth than 36 million ordinary US households, study finds Those rich enough to make it onto Forbes 400 list this year are worth as much as all the cat owners in America, according to a new study. A report… – Continue reading
Thailand’s vote this past May to implement a new transfer pricing law is expected to come into effect in the early part of the new year. Transfer pricing refers to the sale of goods or services between branches of a company or subsidiary companies to a parent enterprise, and most… – Continue reading
Some U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday used a pair of hearings in the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee to showboat for corporate special interests and oppose a growing worldwide movement to crack down on international tax avoidance. Last month, leaders of the 20 largest economies in… – Continue reading
The 28 nations of the European Union lose up to $1 trillion per year in revenue thanks to multinational corporations that use a spider’s web of completely legal constructs to lower their taxes. Now, Europe’s law enforcers and lawmakers want to wipe away these intricate tax-avoidance systems. If they have… – Continue reading
Looking back at tax developments over the past year, we’ve seen some promising incentives granted by the government and other developments that have caused taxpayer anxiety. One contentious issue involved transfer pricing, which we discussed in a previous column (“Transfer Pricing Loopholes Likely to be Closed Soon”, June 2). The… – Continue reading
The current international tax regime was developed in the last century when the internet was not yet invented. At that time, a foreign company would typically require a substantial physical presence in Australia before it could be in a position to earn significant amount of income from Australian customers. This… – Continue reading
KPMG, PN leader warn that proposals recently approved by European Parliament could threaten Malta’s booming financial services industry New European initiatives could threaten Malta’s sovereignty over its own fiscal affairs, KPMG partner Juanita Bencini warned. “There are dark clouds on the horizon and a closer European union may not necessarily… – Continue reading
Mauritius plans to launch a trading platform to hedge African currencies against the US dollar, part of a bid to expand its role as a financial hub for the continent, the financial services minister said. The Indian Ocean island is also in talks to boost ties with stock exchanges in… – Continue reading
Multinationals operating in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will be among the first in Africa to feel the impact of new measures to be adopted in January to curb tax losses caused by manipulation of contracts between related companies. The three countries together with Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Botswana and… – Continue reading
The Government continues to take a tough line on tax avoidance, with both political and financial motives… Building on its consultation document from July this year (HMRC consultation on strengthening sanctions for serial tax avoidance) it confirmed it will introduce legislation in the Finance Bill 2016 to implement the following… – Continue reading
(CNS Business): A new report released by a coalition of NGOs, including Transparency International UK, has described some of the British overseas territories (BOTs) as “some of the most notorious purveyors of financial secrecy”, despite promises about more transparency. The authors say a World Bank study found that BOTs are… – Continue reading
Charities remind Cameron of pledge to ‘continue to lead world on tax and transparency’ before meetings with leaders of overseas territories Campaigners are urging David Cameron to use a meeting with leaders of Britain’s overseas territories this week to demand a crackdown on tax dodging, corruption and money laundering. Leading… – Continue reading
Tax Justice Network’s biannual Financial Secrecy Index revealed United States as one of the tax havens for foreign businesses despite its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Huffington Post noted Nov. 2 that the US landed the third spot behind Hong Kong and Switzerland as the tax havens for… – Continue reading
Government officials say multinational technology giants are reluctant to pay anything The Korean affiliates of Microsoft (MS) and Oracle are under increasing pressure to pay taxes here, with government officials saying the two multinational technology giants were reluctant to pay anything, although they generated huge a lot of money from… – Continue reading
Australian punters will be thrilled to know that when they do their shirts gambling their post-tax dollars, those very same dollars, which become the pre-tax dollars of the British online betting giants, are funnelled off to places like Gibraltar, pre-tax. University of NSW accounting academic, Jeff Knapp, and Fairfax Media… – Continue reading
Tech titans powering the economy shelter money through insane tax-avoidance havens. It’s wrong — and adding up Offshore tax havens enable not only individuals to dodge taxes—they also enable multinational corporations to do so. Often this tax avoidance is done within the letter of the law: multinational groups exploit the… – Continue reading
Residents want to share their tax avoidance plan with other towns to force the treasury into closing tax loopholes A small town in Wales is attempting to register its independent businesses as offshore companies to demonstrate how flawed they believe the British and international tax systems are. By mimicking the… – Continue reading
City watchdogs say Barclays adopted a no-questions-asked policy Bank did not check where ultra-wealthy clients’ money came from £72million fine has been imposed on the bank for turning a blind eye Barclays has been shamed over a murky £1.9billion deal with ultra-wealthy clients which left the country vulnerable to financial… – Continue reading
The UKtoday launched a campaign warning offshore tax evaders that the governmentwill soon receive details on UK taxpayers from more than 90 countries under new global agreements. The campaign by David Gauke, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury says that the government is giving people one last chance to come… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 27: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into 11 more unilateral advance pricing agreements (APAs). These APAs were signed with Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies operating in various segments of the economy like investment advisory services, engineering design services, marine products, contract Research & Development,… – Continue reading
Greater China, Southeast Asia Seen as Global Leaders in Use of Offshore Vehicles, Drawn by Efficiency & Legal Frameworks Key Highlights: OIL’s sixth annual survey shows: The offshore industry will be a leaner, more resilient and confident member of the global economy by 2020, driven by demand from increasing numbers… – Continue reading
Hong Kong is tipped to become the world’s largest offshore corporate services centre by 2020, helped ironically, by the industry’s own struggles against reform demands coming from western governments and pressure groups. On notice after high profile money laundering and tax avoidance scandals, traditional offshore havens like the British Virgin… – Continue reading
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Government of India, via press release dated September 24, 2015, assured the inapplicability of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) provisions to Foreign Companies with effect from 01.04.2001. The Government recently issued a circular, accepting the recommendations of the Committee (A P Shah Committee) appointed… – Continue reading
The offshore industry is poised for growth, as the industry insiders see the demand for offshore financial and corporate services likely to increase in the coming years, according to an industry survey conducted by OIL, a corporate service provider specializing in international incorporations. The industry has been battling negative perceptions… – Continue reading
The offshore industry is poised for growth, as the industry insiders see the demand for offshore financial and corporate services likely to increase in the coming years, according to an industry survey conducted by OIL, a corporate service provider specializing in international incorporations. The industry has been battling negative perceptions… – Continue reading
As the founder of a startup company, one of the first questions you need to consider is “where should I incorporate my company?” Investors are drawn to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) for its flexible and modern corporate regime, tax neutrality, respected legal system, political stability and effective regulatory framework…. – Continue reading
The IRS has upgraded the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Online Registration System, enabling sponsoring entities to register their sponsored entities to obtain a global intermediary identification number. The upgraded system also will allow users to update their information, download registration tables and change their financial institution type. The… – Continue reading
Gabriele Galimberti and Paolo Woods make a complex and impenetrable subject palatable To do justice to the work undertaken by Paolo Woods and Gabriele Galimberti, requires thinking of them not as photographers, but as investigators. Their search for truth begins with a mystery, one embodied in Ian Fleming’s Dr. No…. – Continue reading
The European Commission has requested that Spain amend its rules on the taxation of certain income obtained by foreign non-profit entities and of certain contributions to such entities. The crux of the Commission’s complaint is that foreign non-profit entities that derive income from Spain, but which are established in another… – Continue reading
The US Department of the Treasury said that the United States introduced new restrictions to prevent US-based multinationals from restructuring after mergers to establish foreign parent companies in order to avoid paying taxes. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States introduced new restrictions to prevent US-based multinationals from restructuring after mergers… – Continue reading
On 18 June 2013, the Progressive led government issued a press release titled, “Cayman’s Action Plan Includes Beneficial Ownership”. The press statement came on the heels of the UK taking over the Presidency of G8, at the 17-18 June 2013 G8 Summit in Northern Ireland. The most interesting part of… – Continue reading
In a further move to reduce the tax benefits of, and therefore the incentives for, corporate inversions, the U.S. tax agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), on Thursday announced additional rules designed to curtail the ability of an inverted company to access foreign subsidiaries’ earnings without paying U.S. tax (Notice… – Continue reading
Ownership of Kildrummy Estate creates legal block for police investigators POLICE INVESTIGATIONS into wildlife crime failed in the face of a bureaucratic nightmare identifying the landowner behind a complex structure of offshore land secrecy. The conviction of gamekeeper George Mutch for wildlife crimes committed in 2012 on Kildrummy Estate opened… – Continue reading
Now that’s what I call a Big Tax Case A long running court case that has become known as the ‘Big Tax Case’ appears to be reaching a conclusion. It involves Scottish football club Rangers, who went bust in 2012. After it failed, a new company was created. It bought… – Continue reading
David Cameron’s party reported fresh donations of £217,500 from Lycamobile weeks after BuzzFeed News revealed the telecoms giant’s “deeply suspicious” business practices. The Tories have accepted a fresh donation of £217,500 from Lycamobile in defiance of calls on the party to sever its ties with the controversial telecoms group. The… – Continue reading
Hong Kong is tipped to become the world’s largest offshore corporate services centre by 2020, helped ironically, by the industry’s own struggles against reform demands coming from western governments and pressure groups. On notice after high profile money laundering and tax avoidance scandals, traditional offshore havens like the British Virgin… – Continue reading
