Since its inception in August 2014, the SMU-TA Centre for Excellence in Taxation has worked tirelessly with industry practitioners, international academics and various key stakeholders to produce its first set of research works. On September 17, the Centre successfully presented its inaugural conference titled “A New Equilibrium in Tax Competition… – Continue reading
The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan adopted by the OECD and G20 countries in 2013 recognised that enhancing transparency for tax administrations by providing them with adequate information to assess high-level transfer pricing and other BEPS-related risks is a crucial aspect for tackling the BEPS problem. Against… – Continue reading
Financial institutions, partner jurisdictions and affected stakeholders have been working to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) since its enactment in March 2010. Time and again, as key implementation dates draw near, stakeholders redouble their efforts to satisfy these deadlines. Nonetheless, some stakeholders are not as prepared as… – Continue reading
Tax Reform Still in Ryan’s Sights Despite Boehner’s Departure Last week, following the sudden announcement by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that he would be stepping down from Congress at the end of October, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and various other Committee members quickly confirmed… – Continue reading
On September 17, 2015, the Canadian Border Services Agency (“CBSA“) released a revised D-Memorandum D13-4-5, “Transaction Value Method for Related Persons” (the “Memorandum“), addressing the impact of income tax transfer pricing on the value for duty to be declared on goods imported into Canada. This new guidance will have a… – Continue reading
India must align domestic laws with international treaties A recent ruling of the Punjab & Haryana High Court (HC) in the Serco BPO case has once again underlined the need for consistency between tax policies and the jurisprudence that evolves around it, thus, leaving little to interpretational hazards. The HC,… – Continue reading
French economist Gabriel Zucman, a protégé of Thomas Piketty, has a new book outlining how to avoid this. To Gabriel Zucman, protégé of rock star French economist Thomas Piketty, the United States is starting to look a lot like Europe in the late 1800s. “There’s been this great reversal where,… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Migros Bank AG (Migros) and Graubündner Kantonalbank (Graubündner) have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. These banks will collectively pay penalties totaling more than $18 million. “It is abundantly clear from the agreements reached to date that for decades, many foreign… – Continue reading
The UK’s tax treatment of US limited liability companies (LLCs) will remain mostly unchanged despite a recent Supreme Court decision in favour of the taxpayer, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed.25 Sep 2015 HMRC said that the decision of the UK’s highest court in favour of George Anson, a… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, passed in 2010, is a tool devised to help the U.S. locate funds of U.S. citizens being held in foreign banks. (See this earlier FATCA report on LBN). The law requires foreign banks to report data about accounts owned by U.S. citizens to the… – Continue reading
In 2013, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a series of proposed tax measures for eliminating corporate tax structures that shift profits to foreign jurisdictions. This corporate tax practice is commonly referred to as base erosion and profit shifting or BEPS. Towards this, the OECD and G20… – Continue reading
The Danish tax authority Skat fired several top officials and was given an emergency lifeline from parliament on Friday after been hammered by scandals in recent weeks that could result in the loss of 14 billion kroner. Denmark hit by potential billion-dollar tax fraud (26 Aug 15) Danes face the… – Continue reading
The increasingly international nature of business will lead to complications and disruptions that may plague the future of audit, according to PwC. A recently-released PwC report, Global Tax Transparency and Risk Management – part of the ‘Tax Function of the Future’ series – notes that the number and size of… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades that he would look into the double taxation agreement to see how he could expedite it and said that Nicosia has always stood by New Delhi on all issues of ‘mutual concern’. “The Cyprus President said that the nation had… – Continue reading
Two more Swiss banks will pay fines to the United States as part of settlements that mean they will not face criminal charges for helping Americans avoid taxes, U.S authorities said on Friday. Migros Bank AG will pay approximately $15 million and Graubündner Kantonalbank will pay $3.6 million, the U.S…. – Continue reading
Thousands of Australians head offshore each year to expand their horizons and a lucky few will fund their adventure by working overseas. Some may live overseas and work for an extended period. There can often be confusion about the tax implications for taxpayers who take advantage of such offshore opportunities…. – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service has entered into landmark Competent Authority Agreements with authorities in Australia and the United Kingdom to support the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The US has signed FATCA intergovernmental agreements with both of these nations. Each of these agreements provides that Competent… – Continue reading
Automatic exchange of information for tax law enforcement purposes started first in Europe with the EU Savings Tax Directive, went international with the US Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act, and, from 2017, will go global with the recently-agreed Common Reporting Standard, the subject of this feature. Introduction To The Common… – Continue reading
Pretoria – The constant stream of new data requirements by the South African Revenue Service from South Africa’s major banks is costing the sector millions of rand and affecting the economy and banking costs. Tax heads at the banks raised questions during the recent Tax Indaba in Sandton about the… – Continue reading
The print media was awash on Tuesday, September 1, 2015 with reports of Gov. Ayo Fayose’s threat that no private school in Ekiti State will be allowed to commence school activities this Session unless it pays a tax of N150,000 and that anybody who buys one cow to be slaughtered… – Continue reading
Content supplied by EY New Zealand is one of only a few countries with a dividend imputation regime. Introduced in 1988, New Zealand’s imputation regime removes double taxation on distributions by attributing to shareholders a credit for the tax borne on profits at the company level. Benefits include a single… – Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA’s first transfer pricing conference in Asia—the latest offering in our Global Transfer Pricing Conference series with Baker & McKenzie—could not have been better timed. The day the conference opened, Sept. 17, China issued a revised draft circular on transfer pricing that completely changed the game for multinational companies… – Continue reading
On 20 October 2014 Ireland along with 50 other countries signed a multilateral competent authority agreement to automatically exchange certain information between tax authorities of signatory jurisdictions. The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) involves the collection of information in relation to financial accounts from financial institutions and the annual transmission of… – Continue reading
Tax residency of Jersey companies Jersey companies may (contrary to the default position) be treated as exclusively tax resident in jurisdictions other than Jersey pursuant to Article 123(1)(a) of the Income Tax (Jersey) Law 1961. The criteria for a Jersey incorporated company to be resident (for taxation purposes) in a… – Continue reading
On September 18, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2015-66 (the Notice), which provides that the Treasury Department and the IRS intend to amend regulations issued under Sections 1471-1474 of the Internal Revenue Code (commonly known as FATCA). The Notice, among other things, indicates that the Treasury and the IRS will… – Continue reading
The government in the tiny Swiss canton of Zug has been forced to admit the previously unthinkable: its famously low tax rates, which have attracted a host of companies and celebrities, may have to rise. Facing a series of financial blows — including the effects of a strong Swiss franc… – Continue reading
Myanmar plans to introduce more laws and regulations to increase its tax income over the coming years, sources said. The Internal Revenue Department (IRD) currently sets polices under the Myanmar Tax Law and the Union Tax Law. Sources at the IRD said they will issue further notifications, if required, to… – Continue reading
Honda’s manufacturing plant in India, one of the emerging countries where many Japanese companies are in disputes with local tax authorities. TOKYO — Many Japanese companies operating in emerging countries are grappling with taxation problems they would never face in major industrial nations. Honda Motor, for instance, has gotten embroiled… – Continue reading
The Head of the Maltese Labour Delegation at the European Parliament, Alfred Sant, said that tax competition is needed by peripheral and island states unless there is compensatory mechanism to compensate them for the fact that they don’t have the endowments that other countries have. “Where competitive disadvantages exist, these… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance is a key problem for European countries, with the EU taking several steps to try and limit the ability of businesses to shift their profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Peter Dietsch writes on the nature of the problem and what can be done to tackle it. He argues that… – Continue reading
Just under Rs 500 cr declared so far, officials hope for surge in last six days. With only six days to go before a compliance window to declare offshore assets closes, officials say several thousand applications are in but the total amount declared so far seems very little. Until last… – Continue reading
Notice 2015-66 was issued on 18 September 2015 announcing that the US Treasury Department and IRS intend to amend section 1471-1474 of the regulations. Transitional Rules The transitional rules provided in Notice 2015-66 are intended to allow for and facilitate an orderly transition for withholding agents and FFIs regarding FATCA… – Continue reading
Hungary’s Minister of State for the Utilization of EU Funds, Balázs Rákossy, has called for a more coordinated EU effort in the fight against tax evasion. Speaking at the 13th G28 taxation forum, Rákossy noted that the recent EU report on the VAT gap revealed that EU states lost theoretical… – Continue reading
Andorra’s Ambassador to Spain, Jaume Gaytan, and the Ambassador of the Italian Republic in Andorra, Pietro Sebastiani, last week signed an agreement on the exchange of information on tax matters. Gaytan and Sebastiani noted that the tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) between the two territories builds upon existing strong bilateral… – Continue reading
In a big relief to foreign firms, the government on Thursday exempted them from paying minimum alternate tax (MAT) retrospectively from April 2001, provided they did not have a permanent establishment in India. Tax experts said that this government move ends a lot of uncertainty on the controversial MAT issue… – Continue reading
IT Act will be amended with retrospective effectto exempt foreignfirms from MAT In a big relief to foreign firms, government on Thursday said the Income Tax Act will be amended with retrospective effect to exempt from minimum alternate tax (MAT) the overseas companies that covered under double taxation avoidance agreements… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man has continued its programme of developing closer economic and taxation co-operation with other countries by concluding a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with the Cayman Islands. This is the Isle of Man‘s 33rd TIEA. The agreement was signed by Hon. G. Wayne Panton MLA, the Cayman… – Continue reading
Tax competition as such cannot be avoided, but today’s system has reached its limits and led to unwanted side effects. Small firms should not have to bear the tax burden of multinationals that pay very little. Action is needed to harmonise corporate tax practices across Europe, so as to make… – Continue reading
The Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, Dr Chris Cardona attended Malta Day 2015 in Moscow coinciding with the 51st anniversary from Malta’s independence, during which a Maltese-Russian Business Forum was held. Minister Cardona spoke about the good relations Malta has held with Russia, which go back many… – Continue reading
On September 16, 2015, the Honorable Mr. Justice Martineau rendered summary judgment in the matter of Hillis and Deegan v. The Attorney General of Canada, docket T-1736-13 (2015 FC 1082). As a matter of background (and as discussed in a previous post), on August 11, 2014, the plaintiffs, Hillis and… – Continue reading
On 26 February 2015, the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court decided in favor of an appeal filed by WOLF THEISS for a client who received tax exempt interest income from other countries. An Austrian taxpayer received interest from Greek, Brazilian and Argentinian government bonds between 2003 and 2007. According to the… – Continue reading
The IRS recently replaced Rev. Proc. 2006-54 for requesting assistance under the Mutual Agreement Procedure (“MAP”) article of U.S. tax treaties, and Rev. Proc. 2006-9 for requesting Advance Pricing Agreements (“APAs”). The new Rev. Procs. (2015-40 and 2015-41, respectively) largely track draft procedures issued in 2013 (Notices 2013-78 and 2013-79),… – Continue reading
A former Valparaiso man has admitted lying about his control of a Bahamian trust account worth millions of dollars, for the purpose of stonewalling attempts to collect $188 million in civil judgments against him. On Tuesday, Peter G. Rogan, 69, pleaded guilty to perjury in the U.S. District Court in… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the UN Sustainable Development Summit as part of his second visit to the United States. INDIA IS likely to talk on the increased global efforts against tax avoidance and tax evasion at the United Nations later this month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi… – Continue reading
NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – September 23, 2015) – With the global implementation of FATCA and anticipation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), legal and compliance professionals within the banking industry have never seen such a regulatory overload and focus on ensuring proper compliance processes. As these multi-national regulations become implemented… – Continue reading
The tax office is beefing up efforts to catch international tax cheats by swapping banking information with US authorities. Details of more than 30,000 financial accounts worth over $5 billion held in Australia by US citizens will be provided to US Internal Revenue Services under the first wave of transparency… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton has defended the use of a Singapore marketing hub to minimise its tax payments, saying most of its Australian profits continue to be taxed in its home country. The resources giant, which came under fire earlier this year over allegations of tax avoidance, says its global adjusted effective… – Continue reading
On 31 March 2015, the Austrian Ministry of Finance published a decree dealing with, inter alia, mutual agreement procedures under double tax treaties. Currently, Austria has concluded 85 double tax treaties, all of which contain provisions on mutual agreement procedures (MAPs). However, Austrian statutory law does not provide for procedural… – Continue reading
Action is needed to harmonize corporate tax practices across Europe, according to the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Tax Rulings. The committee said this was the key sentiment voiced during a meeting with finance ministers from Luxembourg, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany on September 22. According to the committee, while… – Continue reading
The IRS has let Americans living abroad wrongly claim tax credits on their foreign income, according to a new report from the agency’s watchdog. The Department of Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration said the IRS allowed taxpayers to wrongly claim around $95 million between 2010 and 2012 in foreign… – Continue reading
