CHENNAI: The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax, is what Albert Einstein had famously said. Amid the long list of taxation categories, to assimilate what is taxable and what is exempted is hard. Even harder is to pay them, of course. As the June 15… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Audley Shaw says investors from Jamaica’s diaspora are challenged by international banks who are refusing to do correspondent banking with banks in Jamaica. Correspondent banking allows a financial institution to do business on behalf of banks in other countries, making it easy for persons to move cash from… – Continue reading
The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday approved an anti-tax evasion bill, which, if passed into law, would subject all companies registered overseas to the 17 percent corporate income tax. While supportive of the legislation, the committee voted 7-5 in favor of allowing the Cabinet to set the implementation date to avoid… – Continue reading
Most American policymakers believe the U.S. corporate tax system needs reforming – and the facts back up their view The United States’ 39 percent combined statutory corporate tax rate is the highest among the largest 50 economies. The American tax and accounting system has trapped over $2 trillion of deferred… – Continue reading
New U.S. Treasury regulations aimed at curbing tax inversions, where U.S. companies acquire foreign counterparts and headquarter abroad, seem to be working. But their broader goal – to keep American corporate capital at home – has failed. Consider the recent mergers-and-acquisitions activity. Chicago-based CF Industrial Holdings and Netherlands-based OCI called… – Continue reading
Recent news of India and Mauritius signing a Protocol to amend their 33 year old tax treaty caused seismic changes in the tax world. Though not completely unanticipated, the change is significant for foreign investors to go back to the drawing board and reassess their structures. The tax treaty between… – Continue reading
It was quite a revelation when leaked documents, made public in April, showed that Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, had helped 14,000 clients worldwide create offshore accounts to conceal assets or dodge taxes. On Monday, a report by The Times found that there were at least 2,400 clients based… – Continue reading
The FBR has proposed powers through Finance Bill 2016-17 for entering into treaty with bilateral or multilateral forums for exchange of information to ensure prevention of tax evasions in the aftermath of Panama Leaks disclosure that many Pakistani influential owned offshore companies abroad. In totality, the FBR took tax measures… – Continue reading
Iran is to launch an offshore bank on one of its Gulf islands “within a month”, according to a report by the official IRNA news agency, as it continues to seeks ways around restrictions on international payments. The bank will be set up on Kish Island, which has been developed… – Continue reading
PBOC says move is aimed at smoothing out money market fluctuations China’s central bank has tightened the way it calculates reserve requirements for banks dealing in offshore yuan, saying on Friday that it wanted to increase flexibility in liquidity management for financial institutions and help smooth out fluctuations in money… – Continue reading
Over half of senior executives from multinational financial firms are concerned that non-compliance with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) mandates could affect their reputations, a Thomson Reuters survey has found ‘The results of the survey demonstrate that institutions’ greatest concerns regarding FATCA and… – Continue reading
The United Kingdom has legislated to stop property developers from using offshore structures in the Crown Dependencies to avoid UK tax on profits. The UK has published legislation to bring into force amendments to the tax treaties between the UK and the Crown Dependencies – Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle… – Continue reading
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recognizes the efforts of an increasing number of tax authorities to revise their tax policies in response to the international guidelines outlined in the G20 mandated Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. ICC urges national governments to… – Continue reading
The unpopular Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of the United States has set off a rash of similar legislation around the world, and Costa Rica has been eager to adopt these international asset reporting treaties, which many taxpayers consider overreaching and in violation of financial privacy. The Costa Rica… – Continue reading
The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) has been unable to reach agreement on the European Commission’s proposed anti tax avoidance directive. The issue has therefore been postponed until the next ECOFIN meeting in June. The European Commission announced its proposed anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD) in January. The proposed… – Continue reading
PANAMA, widely recognised as one of the world’s tax havens, declined a request by the South African government to enter into a bilateral arrangement for the exchange of information. However, the refusal was made before the huge leak of information about the offshore holdings of wealthy individuals and entities disclosed… – Continue reading
Ireland has helped delay an EU deal on corporate tax-dodging over fears it could harm the economy. Finance Minister Michael Noonan told his EU counterparts in Brussels he would not sign up to the deal because it affects Ireland’s sovereign right to set tax rates. “We want to make sure… – Continue reading
The new tax treaty between India and Mauritius may achieve what last year’s budget tried to do, albeit unsuccessfully—encourage offshore fund managers to relocate to India, in the process making the country a fund management hub, much like London, Dubai or Singapore. With the new agreement restoring parity between domestic… – Continue reading
The Panama Papers have recently drawn a great deal of investigation and public attention. Over 230,000 organizations and individuals were named as having set up offshore companies in tax haven like the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas. The public’s initial reaction was suspicion and anger toward… – Continue reading
Dubai: UAE-based multinationals will start to feel the impact of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) proposals that come into effect this year, a KPMG seminar on international tax developments has revealed. The BEPS proposals are focused on mitigating tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in… – Continue reading
Portugal finance ministry says it is looking at ways of preventing government departments from using tax havens after the Treasury debt agency was found to have held an investment in Jersey. The Finance Ministry says that the agency held 133 million euros ($149 million) of bonds in a Jersey-based company… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS – EU state aid regulators aim to rule on Amazon’s (AMZN.O) tax deal with Luxembourg by July, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, and it may order the country’s tax authorities to recover about 400 million euros ($448 million) in back taxes. The European Commission’s decision… – Continue reading
MUMBAI India’s capital market regulator on Thursday took steps to stop suspected illegal money flowing into the country by making issuers of securities known as offshore derivative instruments register their customers. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also tightened rules for transferring ownership of these offshore instruments to… – Continue reading
China is joining an international effort to tackle tax evasion, with plans to require multinationals to disclose more detailed information on their overseas affiliates, according to taxation consultants who advised the government on the new rules. The proposed regulations would make it more difficult for large companies to avoid taxes… – Continue reading
Panama has officially signed on to comply with OECD standards on exchanging tax information, a move that comes more than a month after the Panama Papers data leak. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) officials say they have long tried to get Panama to agree to their common… – Continue reading
The closure of a tax loophole could hit UAE firms planning to invest in India through Mauritius. The Indian government this week amended a long-standing treaty that helped foreign investors to avoid capital gains tax by routing their investments through Mauritius. Mauritius is the biggest source of foreign direct investment… – Continue reading
On 10 May 2016, the Government of India issued a press release1 stating that India and Mauritius have signed a protocol (New Protocol) amending the double tax avoidance treaty between the two countries (the Treaty). Based on the press release and the New Protocol, following are the key changes to… – Continue reading
A group of tax havens have accused larger countries like the United States of “hypocrisy” when it comes to cracking down on tax avoidance. With the issue of offshore finance high on the agenda in light of the fall out from the so-called Panama Papers scandal, world leaders convened in… – Continue reading
According to reports, the International Monetary Fund is aiding the Ukrainian government in its efforts to fix the country’s weak anti-money-laundering regulations. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is aiding the Ukrainian government in its efforts to fix the country’s weak anti-money-laundering regulations, the IMF said in a… – Continue reading
Authorities answer OECD call to clamp down on corporate grey area of internal transfer pricing with proposal for tougher reporting standards China is mulling plans to tighten tax reporting requirements on multinationals operating in the country to help close a ¬massive global loophole. If the plan goes ahead, multinationals would… – Continue reading
Global economic body OECD today said Panama, along with few other jurisdictions, has committed to the internationally accepted norm of “automatic” sharing of financial and tax data with other countries, a development coming in the backdrop of the ‘Panama Papers’ offshore assets leaks where at least 500 Indian names have… – Continue reading
The National Assembly of South Korea is postponing the ratification of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) for the automatic exchange of South Korean and U.S. taxpayers’ financial information. Under the circumstances, South Korean financial companies are about to be forced to pay more than 600 billion won (US$521… – Continue reading
Banks say tax rules cracking down on property speculation force them to screen for money-laundering at their own cost. Banks are refusing to open accounts for foreigners if they think the costs outweigh the benefits. New property and tax laws launched late last year made “offshore persons” buying or selling… – Continue reading
Irish economists among 300 to sign letter co-ordinated by Oxfam ahead of summit Thirteen Irish economists have signed a letter to world leaders warning there is no economic justification for allowing tax havens to continue, and urging them to end offshore financial secrecy. They are among 300 economists from 30… – Continue reading
A change to our tax rules aimed at foreign property investors is likely to affect many people, a tax expert says. A bill poised to be passed by Parliament this week may increase the red tape for anyone based overseas doing taxable business with this country. The Taxation (Residential Land… – Continue reading
The tax treatment of non-domiciled individuals is changing again from April 2017. The changes were first announced in the 2015 Summer Budget, and a Consultation document was issued in September 2015 setting out further details. The proposed changes target three key areas: The taxation of non-domiciled individuals who have been… – Continue reading
Only a week after the so-called Panama Papers burst into the media spotlight early last month, the Canadian government issued a news release vowing to “crack down on tax evasion and tax avoidance.” The leak of a staggering 11.5 million documents from a Panama City law firm promised to reveal… – Continue reading
TOKYO — Do the rich and powerful really dodge taxes? They do. The “Panama Papers” – 11.5 million or so documents leaked from a Panama law firm specializing in tax shelters of various kinds and degrees of ingenuity – are shocking, however, not only to the naively innocent but to seasoned… – Continue reading
Australia announced a further crackdown on multinational tax avoidance in its annual budget on Tuesday, including the planned introduction of a UK-style diverted profits tax (DPT), that it expects to raise A$3.9 billion over the next four years. The government is creating a new Tax Avoidance Taskforce of 1,000 specialist… – Continue reading
Unctad thinktank shows firms funnelled $221bn in 2015 through low-tax jurisdictions such as the Netherlands and tax havens in the Caribbean The UN has urged governments to stem the flow of funds to tax havens after companies funnelled $221bn (£152bn) into countries with low tax rates last year. The Netherlands… – Continue reading
Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today announced opening of its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to meet the requirements of offshore banking operations from India. Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today announced opening of its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City… – Continue reading
As with any offshore financial centre, secrecy has been synonymous with the Channel Islands of Jersey. But the reason for the strong relations between the self-governing British dependency and the United Arab Emirates – still not known to many – is not confidentiality alone. It has not been so long… – Continue reading
Six men are tonight starting jail sentences after using the free messaging system to organise the plot – which was eventually busted by TITAN, the regional organised crime unit A £10m money laundering conspiracy which squirrelled cash from drug trafficking to offshore bank accounts was coordinated on WhatsApp. Six men… – Continue reading
Colombia and Panama will sign a financial information-sharing deal aimed at helping Bogota combat tax evasion, the two Central and South American countries said late on Thursday. The deal, set to be signed by the Panamanian and Colombian presidents in June, would establish an initial phase of information sharing until… – Continue reading
Introduction Even though a trust may be established under the laws of a US state and have a US trust company serving as trustee (hereinafter a ‘US-based trust’), this does not mean that it is a US domestic trust for income tax purposes. If non-US persons make substantial decisions for… – Continue reading
As world leaders consider what to do about the revelations emerging from the Panama Papers, Liberia’s government will be worrying about the fall-out that may cross the Atlantic Ocean from the affair. The European Union has announced it will be creating a new “tax haven blacklist”, to be released by… – Continue reading
Prosecutions for tax evasion almost halved across Canada in just three years, figures released to Global News show. Fewer Canadians were taken to court for tax evasion in every part of the country between 2012-13 and 2014-15. In Ontario, cases fell to 47 from 119 just three years earlier. Manitoba… – Continue reading
Scandal-plagued Norwegian bank DNB has agreed to turn over information to state tax authorities about Norwegian customers who have held bank accounts set up in tax havens by DNB’s own operation in Luxembourg. The future of DNB’s board of directors, meanwhile, was in doubt following heavy criticism that neither DNB’s… – Continue reading
Each year the IRS comes out with a list of the most notable tax scams, informing the public on what to be on the lookout for come tax season. Each year the IRS comes out with list of tax scams called the Dirty Dozen, which is used to bring public… – Continue reading
Greek banks and the state are in the process of creating a national register for offshore company owners, in compliance with a European Union directive to that effect. The register will be created on the Teiresias databank, known from its list of insolvent borrowers. Access will be granted to the… – Continue reading
