Hong Kong (HKSAR) – The Inland Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 (the Ordinance) was gazetted today (February 2). The technical amendments on automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AEOI) (i.e. clauses 5 to 11) under the Ordinance will come into operation on January 1, 2019, while other provisions… – Continue reading
Hong Kong on February 2, 2018, ratified an Ordinance to enable the territory to soon join the OECD’s Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and thereby more simply and more broadly agree to exchange tax information with other countries’ tax authorities. The Inland Revenue Department said the… – Continue reading
The Antigua and Barbuda government is to take steps to harmonise the offshore and onshore tax rates for financial services to avoid the European Union making good on a threat to blacklist the country if it fails to comply. The European Council of Finance Ministers last month published a list… – Continue reading
PARIS, France– Ministers and high-level officials from six countries, including two in the Caribbean, have signed the BEPS Multilateral Convention, the first multilateral treaty of its kind. The Convention will enable governments to swiftly update their networks of existing tax treaties and further reduce opportunities for tax avoidance. Barbados, Jamaica,… – Continue reading
The Swedish tax authority (Skatteverket), has published guidance on companies’ country-by-country reporting obligations with respect to short and extended tax years, and company divestments and restructurings. Under Sweden’s Tax Procedures Act, a group is not obligated to submit a CbC report if, according to its consolidated accounts, it has a… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 16: Panama, a popular tax haven that was in the eye of a data-leak storm dubbed ‘Panama Papers’ in 2016, has finally signed an international agreement that would pave the way for exchange of financial account information with the international community. By signing this agreement — CRS… – Continue reading
KARACHI: Government on Saturday said it may roll out an amnesty to allow offshore bank account holders to declare their wealth against nominal tax rates ahead of the implementation of OECD’s treaty to exchange financial details with foreign countries in September. Miftah Ismail, adviser to the Prime Minister for finance,… – Continue reading
ST GEORGE’S – Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell says Grenada is expected to be removed from the European Union Blacklist by the end of January. The decision to remove Grenada, one of 17 countries blacklisted by the EU, is expected to follow a meeting of the Financial and Economic Unit… – Continue reading
VALLETTA, Jan.11 (Xinhua) — The 2017 International Tax Co-Operation Report published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)showed Malta to be a tax compliant jurisdiction ,the Maltese Finance Ministry said on Thursday. “This is exactly what we have been stating all along in the face of unfair criticism… – Continue reading
The U.S. Treasury Secretary is disputing a decision by the European Union to place Guam, and American Samoa, on its blacklist of noncooperating tax jurisdictions. In a letter to EU Secretary General Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wrote that “there is no basis for concluding that American Samoa… – Continue reading
More than 100 companies with international operations are being asked for the first time to give the Tax Authority marks for its performance. Taxpayers in Israel rarely have the opportunity to rate the performance of the Israel Tax Authority. Even if they did, they would be apprehensive about doing so… – Continue reading
As part of the Cayman Islands’ ongoing commitment to international tax transparency, the Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (Country-By-Country Reporting) Regulations, 2017 (the “CBCR Regulations“) were issued on 15 December 2017. The CBCR Regulations essentially implement in the Cayman Islands the model legislation published pursuant to the OECD’s Base… – Continue reading
The Cypriot tax authority has extended until January 15, 2018, the deadline for multinational corporations to submit their notifications concerning country-by-country reporting for 2017. The deadline had been December 31. In December 2016, Cyprus issued a decree introducing CbC reporting obligations for multinational enterprises with consolidated group revenue of EUR750m… – Continue reading
The Bahamas may have to completely overhaul its corporate and taxation structure to escape European Union/OECD ‘blacklisting’ threats, the Attorney General revealed yesterday. Carl Bethel QC told Tribune Business that the Government was “looking very carefully” at whether compliance with European (EU) demands will require this nation to eliminate the… – Continue reading
HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Bermuda has signed a new tax agreement with the United States that premier David Burt says demonstrates the island’s continued commitment to transparency. Burt, who left here over the weekend for Jamaica, said the Country by Country Competent Authority Agreement signified that the PLP government had… – Continue reading
The FINANCIAL — Transfer Pricing Rules were implemented by the Government of Georgia in 2011, based on OECD guidelines. Since the number of international companies in Georgia is increasing steadily, Transfer Pricing Rules have become a point of obvious interest. However, multinational companies operating in Georgia are not sufficiently well-informed… – Continue reading
Treasury Analysis Asserts Tax Cuts Will Pay for Themselves: Today, the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy released its analysis of the Senate’s tax reform plan. The one-page report used the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget projections of a 2.9% real growth rate over 10 years. The analysis expects the… – Continue reading
For the first time, the OECD has published a map that sets out countries’ participation and compliance with international tax initiatives, looking specifically at the exchange of information in tax matters, with the old international standard – the exchange of information on request – and the new, on the automatic… – Continue reading
[Updated] The Government of Bermuda said they note that the Economic and Financial Affairs Council [ECOFIN] has “reaffirmed Bermuda’s status as a cooperative tax jurisdiction.” Premier David Burt said, “Once again the EU has recognized Bermuda’s status as a cooperative jurisdiction, despite the interest surrounding a hack on a global… – Continue reading
The International Centre for Tax and Development has released a working paper on how to best support developing countries in the area of taxation. The paper says that developing countries would particularly benefit from support in the implementation of two areas that were covered by the OECD’s base erosion and… – Continue reading
On December 2, the OECD released the first analysis of individual countries’ progress in spontaneously exchanging information on tax rulings in accordance with Action 5 of the BEPS package of measures released in October 2015. The first annual report on the exchange of information on rulings evaluates how 44 countries,… – Continue reading
THE Deputy Prime Minister believes the Bahamas has “done everything we could possibly do” to escape the European Union (EU) ‘tax haven’ blacklist that will be issued tomorrow. K P Turnquest told Tribune Business that the Minnis administration “has no reason to think” this nation will be deemed a ‘non-cooperative… – Continue reading
South Africa, Jersey, and Belgium are among a handful of territories that have recently announced an extension to the due date for country-by-country reports under the new frameworks being introduced under Action 13 of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting Action Plan. The CbC report is one element of… – Continue reading
The number of outstanding tax treaty related disputes in the UK increased in 2016 by almost 20% from 262 at the beginning of the year to 314 at the end of the year, according to statistics released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The statistics show the… – Continue reading
The OECD has published additional guidance on the implementation of the country-by-country (CbC) reporting requirement proposed under Action 13 of its base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project. The guidance, issued on November 30, addresses the following issues: how to report amounts taken from financial statements prepared using fair value… – Continue reading
Bermuda and the UK recently signed an agreement providing for the automatic exchange of country-by-country reports. Bermuda is the first UK Overseas Territory to sign a CbC Competent Authority Agreement with the UK, which enables the automatic reporting of corporate income on a country-by-country basis for UK-related transfer pricing enforcement… – Continue reading
Barbados says it expects to sign the new OECD BEPS Multilateral Instrument at the end of January 2018 to introduce changes to its tax treaty network to prevent base erosion and profit shifting. The “Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)”… – Continue reading
The OECD has said that Switzerland’s efforts to meet its international commitments to reform its corporate tax regime are welcome, but noted that there is some uncertainty around the proposed reform package. The OECD has published its latest Economic Survey of Switzerland. In its report, the OECD stated that there… – Continue reading
A FORMER financial services minister yesterday said global regulatory initiatives appear designed to force the Bahamas to adopt a corporate/personal income tax alien to its culture. Ryan Pinder, who held this position in the Christie Cabinet from 2012 to late 2014, told Tribune Business that the likes of the European… – Continue reading
The OECD’s Global Forum recently adopted a plan of action to help developing countries participate in and benefit from the automatic exchange of financial account information for tax purposes. Under the plan, developing countries have been invited to undergo a preliminary assessment of their capacity to implement the Common Reporting… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI The Indian Income Tax Department will accept applications for Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) in transfer pricing disputes, as well as for bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs), even for entities resident in countries with which India has double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAA), minus the provision to claim corresponding tax… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has extended until February 15, 2018, the deadline for “significant global entities” to file their country-by-country (CbC) reports. The extension applies to entities that are December and January balancers filing for the first time. The extension also applies to the filing of local and master… – Continue reading
In this Update On June 7, 2017, Canada signed the OECD’s Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the MLI) The MLI will modify up to 75 of Canada’s bilateral tax treaties, including adding a broad anti-avoidance rule to these treaties (the… – Continue reading
On November 21, 2017, the OECD Council approved the contents of the 2017 Update to the OECD Model Tax Convention. The 2017 Update primarily comprises changes to the OECD Model Tax Convention and related commentary that were developed through the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project including changes… – Continue reading
Greece ranked first out of 35 OECD countries in tax hikes last year, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the budget for 2018 will lead to an even greater tax burden that will stifle growth, the Parliament’s Budget Office (PBO) warned on Thsurday…. – Continue reading
A major new global transparency measure aimed at curbing cross-border tax evasion by requiring countries to share information on the wealth of each other’s nationals could be undermined by the abuse of residency- and citizenship-for-sale schemes. Tax justice campaigners say that some of these schemes are already being marketed as… – Continue reading
Europe’s fierce enforcer of competition rules is threatening tech giants with tough new rules on tax if politicians fail to come to an agreement on changes to the current system. Efforts to amend rules that would apply tax more fairly to firms which largely operate online such as Google, Amazon,… – Continue reading
The Irish Revenue has announced that a new inquiry is underway to identify and pursue taxpayers engaged in offshore tax evasion and avoidance. Revenue said that the inquiry is being conducted in the context of increased and ongoing sharing of information between tax administrations, and of the changes to voluntary… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man’s critics ignore the great progress it has made in keeping its business above board. Last week the island received a ringing endorsement from the OECD. We have retained the top ’compliant’ rating by the global body reviewing tax transparency – one of only six countries worldwide…. – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council has adopted a dispatch on the implementation of a new double tax agreement (DTA) with Kosovo. The agreement was signed in May. A previous DTA was in force until 2011. The DTA caps the maximum withholding tax rate for dividends being taxed at source at 15… – Continue reading
Canada and Antigua and Barbuda have signed a new tax information exchange agreement. The agreement was signed on October 31, the Canadian Government announced on November 14. Negotiations were launched in November 2010. The agreement provides for the mutual exchange of tax information that is possessed by, or is accessible… – Continue reading
In the aftermath of Satoshi Nakamoto’s groundbreaking paper in 2009, money began travelling via a new financial route – virtual currencies. The first Bitcoin exchange was established on February 6, 2010 where Bitcoin traded for the first time for 0.3 cents. Last June, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants… – Continue reading
Qatar has become the 115th jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention is touted by the OECD as “the most powerful instrument for international tax cooperation.” It provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request,… – Continue reading
THE Government has been urged to “get across the line before year-end” on global tax information exchange standards, amid hope the relevant legislation will reach Parliament tomorrow. Michael Paton, a former Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) chairman, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas needed to upgrade its existing legislation to… – Continue reading
Bulgaria has said that multinationals covered by the country’s new transfer pricing country-by-country reporting regime should submit their first report by December 31, 2017. Through Order 3LIY-1410, Bulgaria’s National Revenue Agency has newly set out the rules concerning country-by-country documentation, including who the reporting obligations apply to and how to… – Continue reading
“Reportage about hacked data from global law firm Appleby has highlighted the substantial lack of media understanding of offshore investment structures and Bermuda’s long-time reputation for tax transparency and cooperation with international authorities,” the Bermuda Business Development Agency said. “Bermuda is committed to the exchange of relevant information to legitimate… – Continue reading
FinanceMalta, the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners, the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Gozo Business Chamber have welcomed the PANA Committee’s confirmation that the Maltese tax system is in line with current international and EU standards. Furthermore,according to the Committee, Malta has transposed EU rules and respects… – Continue reading
The European Union Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) has been talked about recently as a solution to the problem of an imperfect pan-EU corporate tax system, which allows large companies, particularly those with a digital presence, to detach profits from value-creation, and pay tax in low-tax jurisdictions. But what… – Continue reading
The Deputy Prime Minister yesterday revealed the Bahamas “may have to look at” implementing a low-rate corporate income tax, as global regulatory pressures force “hard decisions” upon it. K P Turnquest, while emphasising that such a move was a long way off, agreed that compliance with the OECD’s Base Erosion… – Continue reading
The Treasury says the Isle of Man has become one of the first countries to sign a new international treaty against tax avoidance. The Island joins Austria in agreeing to the OECD’s Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treasury Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. The agreement aims… – Continue reading
