The most common error NRIs commit while filing tax returns is to use the status of residents in India. Non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the UAE enjoy the twin advantages of not having to pay tax in their country of domicile and most sources of income are exempted from tax in… – Continue reading
BACKGROUND The IRS recently released IR-2015-116 announcing its offshore compliance programs have generated $8 Billion. More than 54,000 taxpayers subject to U.S. worldwide income and disclosure requirements have come in from the cold to participate in IRS offshore remediation disclosure programs since 2009. The IRS also urged taxpayers with non-compliant… – Continue reading
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, fighting to rise in the Republican presidential race, says he would allow U.S. companies to repatriate without penalty trillions of dollars they have earned and kept offshore and then create a new system ensuring Americans aren’t double-taxed on foreign profits. “I’m for bringing the taxes down,… – Continue reading
Place of residence key as Holyrood prepares to unveil levy on income it will impose north of the Border from April, writes Jeff Salway HM Revenue & Customs has moved to clear up misconceptions lingering over new income tax rules taking effect in Scotland as Holyrood prepares to unveil the… – Continue reading
The United States government has denied businessman JP McManus is entitled to a $5.2 million (€4.7 million) refund of taxes which he claims were wrongly withheld on $17.4 million in US gambling winnings in 2012. The Department of Justice, responding to a legal complaint filed by the Limerick man in… – Continue reading
Pfizer’s bid for $113bn Dublin-based drug maker Allergan is the biggest merger of the year, anywhere. It’s potentially good news for the Irish exchequer, which may gain a massive new taxpayer, and for businesses here like Arthur Cox, Allergan’s adviser on Irish corporate law. But a deal that may well… – Continue reading
Barbados’ reputation as a home of “serious” business and a “significant” player in international business is being enhanced with the adoption of a United States law which targets non-complaint US taxpayers with foreign accounts, Minister of International Business Donville Inniss has contended. In fact, Inniss suggested that the Foreign Accounts… – Continue reading
A small team of European Union officials is spearheading an investigation that could force some of the world’s biggest companies to pay billions of euros in avoided taxes, Reuters reports. In an office block in one of Brussels’ less fashionable districts, the 10 Competition Directorate staff from across the bloc… – Continue reading
A spate of so-called “tax inversion” deals involving companies based in Ireland appears to be distorting the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) numbers, The Irish Times reports. An OECD report suggests investment by Irish firms abroad more than doubled to US$75 billion in the first half of 2015. The study… – Continue reading
Over the past decade, many Indian business families have organised themselves under trusts — a bankruptcy remote structure — to preserve wealth, protect the rights of various members, and plan for the next generation. Now, this arrangement is coming under strain for families with members staying in the US, the… – Continue reading
South African Tax Legislation: Proposed Amendments in an International Tax Context[1] This article sets out a brief summary of some of the proposed amendments introduced by recent South African draft Tax Bills. The article focuses on amendments in the context of international taxation. The draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2015… – Continue reading
Possible opportunities for refund of Dutch dividend withholding tax On 17 September 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) ruled in three distinct (yet comparable) cases that the levy of Dutch dividend withholding tax in relation to portfolio shareholdings in Dutch companies is in conflict with the… – Continue reading
BARBADOS’ RECENT BLACKLISTING as a tax haven by some member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has shown the arbitrary and inconsistent nature of such actions. And, said Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, a mechanism must be developed to ensure that countries which are pursuing the recommendations… – Continue reading
The new rules require companies to file a “country-by-country” report as well as creating new specific documentation requirements. CbC report For the fiscal year beginning 1 January 2016, country-by-country (CbC) reporting will be compulsory for corporate groups whose turnover exceeds EUR750 million in the 12 months prior to the information… – Continue reading
Millions have pounds have gone to countries such as Belize and Anguilla UK paid out £45m to 13 countries on tax haven ‘blacklist’ in just one year Campaigners estimate use of offshore havens costs Treasury £18b a year Revelation will anger Tory backbenchers who have criticised Cameron British aid money… – Continue reading
Washington, Oct 30 : India and the US have agreed to continue their engagement on the vexed issue of a totalization agreement for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes. “There is steady progress on the issue,” Minister of State for Commerce &… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Over the past decade, many Indian business families have organised themselves under trusts — a bankruptcy remote structure — to preserve wealth, protect the rights of various members, and plan for the next generation. Now, this arrangement is coming under strain for families with members staying in the US…. – Continue reading
A major investigation based on the use of foreign bank cards in the Netherlands has led to the arrest of 11 people on tax evasion charges. The seven men and four women were identified after officials carried out a major data mining project involving cards attached to foreign bank accounts…. – Continue reading
BRITISH taxpayers forked out £45million in foreign aid spending to countries classed as tax havens in just one year, it emerged today. Nations such as Belize, Marshall Islands, Seychelles and Vanautu – which are all included on a European Commission ‘blacklist’ of international tax havens – have all received cash… – Continue reading
The European Union (EU) is pushing ahead with its most ambitious plans to date to eliminate tax competition between member states and roll out a single market for products and services. While the commission focuses on levelling prices for products and services across the 28 member state bloc, a European… – Continue reading
Reducing the corporate tax rate to 25 to 30 percent would discourage profit shifting by multinationals, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation. Up to 35 percent of U.S. corporate tax revenue is lost due to profit shifting, according to some studies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and… – Continue reading
In late October, public and private sector representatives from Eastern Europe and Central Asia met to discuss collaborating on the implementation of the OECD’s recommendations on base erosion and profit shifting. The meeting was hosted in Tbilisi by the Georgian Ministry of Finance and the Georgia Revenue Service, in co-operation… – Continue reading
As noted in our previous updates on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the related intergovernmental agreement between Canada and the United States for the enhanced exchange of tax information (the IGA), many Canadian financial institutions such as IFMs, portfolio managers, exempt market dealers and investment funds were… – Continue reading
How analytics will nab cheaters. Tomorrow is the Australian Taxation Office’s official cutoff for 2014-15 personal tax returns. Will you be tempted to tell fibs about your income? How will the tax man ever know? Take note: it may already know – or at least can find out – a… – Continue reading
Javier Mascherano appeared in court on Thursday and the Barcelona star has admitted to tax evasion. Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano has pleaded guilty to tax evasion after appearing at a Spanish court on Thursday. The Argentina star was accused of failing to alert Spanish authorities to earnings totalling more than… – Continue reading
Meeting in Barbados, members of the Global Forum will vote Friday night on Luxembourg on the report examining the country in line with international standards of fiscal transparency. This vote will be a mere formality since experts have already been doing an inventory of business reforms by the government for… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Often accused of being an offshore financial centre misused for round tripping, Mauritius today assured India that it will “walk the extra mile” to ensure that its reputations as clean and trusted jurisdiction is upheld at all costs. “We will put in all the necessary efforts and walk… – Continue reading
Blast waves: smoke billows from the site of an explosion that reduced a parking lot filled with new cars to charred remains at a warehouse in northeastern China’s Tianjin municipality. Most of Bermuda’s major insurers and reinsurers had significant exposures to this disaster. (Photograph by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo) Tianjin… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Luzerner Kantonalbank AG (Luzerner), Habib Bank AG Zurich (HBZ), Banque Heritage S.A. and Hyposwiss Private Bank Genève S.A. (Hyposwiss Geneva) have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. These banks will collectively pay penalties totaling more than $25 million and continue to… – Continue reading
HSBC is moving its derivative trading book from London to Hong Kong in a bid to cut costs arising from tight regulations in the UK and EU, The Telegraph reports. Trading staff will stay put in London, but interest rate swap trades will be increasingly booked in Hong Kong. It… – Continue reading
Gold Fields and Sasol have clinched the top awards in PwC’s Building Public Trust Awards: Excellence in the field of tax reporting in 2015. Gold Fields was the overall winner in the category for tax reporting for multinational companies, while Sasol was announced the overall winner in the category tax… – Continue reading
Barbados has formally endorsed the AEOI global standard during a signing ceremony held in Barbados on Wednesday. The event was held in conjunction with a meeting of the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes that was also hosted in Barbados. “Transparency and the exchange… – Continue reading
Russia’s Ministry of Finance has given its reaction to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) reports. The Director of the Department for Tax and Customs Policy at the Ministry of Finance, Ilya Trunin, said in a televised interview for Russia 24 that, in 2014, Russia adopted several new… – Continue reading
The European Commission (Commission) has adopted a decision on 21 October 2015 on the tax rulings – also referred to as “comfort letters” – granted by Luxembourg to Fiat Finance and Trade (FFT) and by The Netherlands to Starbucks. Rejecting the decisions of domestic authorities in Luxembourg and The Netherlands,… – Continue reading
Opinion is divided on the extent to which corporates are ready for the country-by-country reporting requirements of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting project, as well as the work required to ensure compliance. Earlier this month the OECD presented the final package of measures for reform of international tax… – Continue reading
Switzerland stands on a provisional Russian tax havens list: The document lists 119 countries and territories which do not ensure the exchange of tax information with Russia Russian authorities consider. If the document actually come into force as planned in the form of a regulation, threaten Russian investors in Switzerland… – Continue reading
Case involving Dr Brian Mulrean and firm Keveney Monahan settled confidentially An accountant who sued a Dublin dentist for just under €50,000 in professional fees told a judge he had to navigate his way through 41 offshore and local bank accounts. Barrister Jeananne McGovern said in the Circuit Civil Court… – Continue reading
Bern, 10.29.2015 – The double taxation agreement (DTA) in the area of taxes on income and on capital between Switzerland and Argentina is on 27 November 2015 to enter into force after the ratification procedures in Switzerland has been completed. It will replace the agreement of 1997 and corresponds to… – Continue reading
The aim is that the neighboring country will have greater control over information. Merida, Yucatan. The Tax Compliance Act relating to accounts abroad (FATCA, for its acronym in English) is not a tool to seek to collect more taxes from 65 member countries, said Enrique Hernandez, international tax specialist. “It… – Continue reading
Most double tax avoidance treaties between two countries attempt to repel probable abuse of benefits under the pacts. Incorporating a clause for limitation of benefits (LOB) in the treaty is the usual practice adopted for checking such abuses. LOB provisions are for denying benefits of the tax treaty to those… – Continue reading
(MENAFN – Arab Times) The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) model has spurred the rise of a global automatic exchange of information, informed Hannah Shipley, Director at Ernst & Young, while speaking about FATCA and its implications during a business panel discussion held at the Kuwait Chamber of… – Continue reading
Hong Kong needs more double tax agreements to grow its exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) market, according to a new report from the Financial Services Development Council. Although there are currently over 100 ETFs listed in Hong Kong, the territory has been overtaken in Asia by Tokyo and Shanghai. The report recommends… – Continue reading
HM Treasury has published a consultation on the tax deductibility of corporate interest expense in the UK. The consultation has been prompted by the recent publication by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) of its final Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) reports, in particular BEPS Action 4,… – Continue reading
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Externally imposed requirements have had unintended and undesired consequences on Jamaica’s financial institutions, says Tasha Manley, Executive in charge of Compliance for Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS). Miss Manley was addressing this year’s annual conference co-hosted by the Jamaica Bankers’ Association (JBA) and the Jamaica Institute of… – Continue reading
The tax authorities continue to abide by the principle of “what is not forbidden is allowed”, using contradictory norms of the Russian Tax Code to their advantage. As a result, there is a surge in tax audits by territorial tax authorities during which they check whether prices charged in transactions… – Continue reading
Final recommendations about how multinational companies should be allowed to shift profits among different tax jurisdictions were issued this month, and the U.S. Congress has not yet indicated whether it will consider legislation in response to the proposals. Issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on October… – Continue reading
The yuan in Hong Kong rose the most in more than two weeks on speculation China’s central bank intervened to prop up the currency after its discount to the Shanghai spot price widened. Large Chinese banks sold dollars in the offshore market in early Asian trading hours Thursday, according to… – Continue reading
Republican and Democratic lawmakers vowed on Thursday to push for the ratification of eight tax treaties which have been held up for years because of one Republican senator’s objections, despite support from companies that want consistency in rules for how to do international business. U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky… – Continue reading
Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano has reportedly pleaded guilty to a charge of tax evasion after appearing in court on Thursday. AS says that the Argentine was accused of using tax havens to funnel money from image rights and defrauding the Spanish authorities of around €1.5m in 2011 and 2012. Mascherano… – Continue reading
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) — Brazil’s Secretariat of Federal Revenue is carrying out an official investigation of Eduardo Cunha, head of House of Representatives, for tax evasion and other fiscal crimes, local daily O Globo said on Wednesday. Started in August, the investigation was based on information which… – Continue reading
