The bench comprising justices Anil R. Dave and A.K. Goel said the case would be heard fully New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday admitted the income tax department’s appeal against a 2013 Andhra Pradesh high court ruling that said that France-based Sanofi SA was not required to pay tax… – Continue reading
Floor traders work during afternoon trading at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in this November 6, 2013 file photo. Hong Kong is working night and day to launch an initiative that will let global investors trade Chinese stocks from the city for the first time and secure the former British… – Continue reading
A long-awaited legal challenge against the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was rejected in the courts. The Federal Court of Canada rejected an attempt from Virginia Hillis and Gwendolyn Deegan claiming that FATCA infringed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and their right to enjoy security of… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton has warned any move by Australia to single-handedly combat corporate profit shifting could spark a backlash from other nations that is likely to ultimately harm local companies. Finance director Peter Beaven says while action on so-called base erosion and profit shifting is needed, it must be part of… – Continue reading
Entebbe — Members of African Parliamentarian Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Tax (APNIFFT) want governments across the continent to put more pressure on multinational companies to pay full taxes. According to the parliamentarians, tax evasion and illicit financial flow (IFFs) from Africa can be brought to an end if… – Continue reading
The Australian Government has released an exposure draft of the legislation implementing the OECD Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (known as the Common Reporting Standard, or CRS), and an accompanying explanatory memorandum (available here). The draft requires Reporting Financial Institutions to report to the Commissioner of Taxation… – Continue reading
Finance ministers of euro zone’s major economies renewed on Tuesday their commitment to curb multinational corporations’ tax avoidance and called for more consistent rules to reduce “harmful” tax competition. Multinational companies have long been in the sights of European Union authorities because of the way they can legally reduce their… – Continue reading
A report from Italy’s Minister of the Economy and Finance says the annual Italian “tax gap” – the revenue lost due to tax breaks, avoidance, and evasion – totalled EUR91.3bn, or 6.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, during the period 2007-2013. This represents a fall from the EUR93.5bn… – Continue reading
What constitutes an HNI is a tricky question? In general parlance, HNIs are understood to be the individuals with ultra-high networth with deep pockets having surplus investible funds. As per the Credit Suisse global wealth report, currently India is home to around 1,500 ultra-high networth individuals with wealth of at… – Continue reading
Marginal rate ninth highest in 34 OECD countries, pre-budget submission claims Ireland risks deterring high- calibre foreign executives from moving here because of its relatively high tax rates, the Irish Tax Institute has warned. In a pre-budget submission, the institute said Ireland’s marginal tax rate of 52 per cent was… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) says it is engaging with Barclays Bank Seychelles to ensure that clients have sufficient time to shift their deposits in their offshore bank accounts, following a recent decision by Barclays to discontinue its banking services for non-residents in foreign currencies…. – Continue reading
Measures aimed at ensuring companies disclose more information to authorities Ireland is to become one of the first countries to introduce measures aimed at ensuring multinationals disclose more information to tax authorities. In the upcoming budget, the Government will introduce moves obliging multinationals to draft country-by-country reports on their global… – Continue reading
BY DAVID JESSOP— The Caribbean has just 18 congressional working days from Sunday, September 20 to try to have the U.S. Congress address an act naming 17 Caribbean nations as “tax havens”. If passed without amendment, it could have the effect of reputationally damaging the countries concerned with unpredictable trade,… – Continue reading
Former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso has denied that he is guilty of defrauding Spain’s tax authorities. The country’s revenue services claim that Alonso – currently with Bayern Munich – defrauded the state by having his image rights paid to companies based in overseas countries. A complaint has been lodged… – Continue reading
The government of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) approved an agreement to avoid double taxation with Guinea-Bissau, aimed at preventing tax evasion and fostering economic relations between the two countries, according to an official statement issued following a Cabinet meeting. The statement issued Friday said that the approved agreement, signed in… – Continue reading
33rd Tax Inform Exchange Agreement The Isle of Man has finalised its 33rd Tax Information Exchange Agreement today. The agreement was signed earlier by Treasury Minister Eddie Teare and from next year, it’ll allow the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands to exchange information. Mr Teare says both the… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Sept 22 (KNN) Government will not extend the window for declaration of black money assets held abroad beyond September 30, said Joint Secretary, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ministry of Finance, V Anandarajan. While inaugurating the conference on ‘Black Money Act: Ignorance is not Bliss! – Key… – Continue reading
It could become more expensive for regulated online poker operators to offer services in the ring-fenced Italian marketplace thanks to a proposal to introduce a new “Digital Tax” beginning January 1, 2017. Economy Undersecretary Enrico Zanetti confirmed that if the tax becomes law, it will be levied on online gambling… – Continue reading
A former financial services minister yesterday branded as “inconsequential” concerns over the District of Columbia’s (DC) pending ‘tax haven’ blacklisting of the Bahamas and 16 other Caribbean nations. Ryan Pinder, now a senior executive at Deltec Bank & Trust, was responding to concerns raised by Opposition finance spokesman, K Peter… – Continue reading
Coalition bill to scrap taxation transparency requirements for privately held companies with incomes of $100m or more examined in Senate hearing The Australian federal police had not been approached by the tax office over fears that publishing the tax details of wealthy individuals would lead to an increased risk of… – Continue reading
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on Monday sought simplified requirements for making investments in India, during their meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Jaitley, who has wrapped up his two-day visit here, highlighted recent initiatives taken by the government to attract investments and told them, efforts were being taken to further… – Continue reading
The UAE and the Republic of Mauritius are linked with a double taxation on income agreement that was signed in 2006. On behalf of the UAE, the Ministry of Finance (MoF), signed yesterday an agreement on mutual encouragement and protection of investments with the Republic of Mauritius. This is following… – Continue reading
On September 18, 2015, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2015-66, providing that the regulations under chapter 4, sections 1471-1474 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, commonly referred to as FATCA, will be amended to extend certain transitional rules…. – Continue reading
As discussed in the previous edition, due to current worldwide developments including the OECD’s move to curb tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), tax policy is changing significantly. In Ghana for example, a Transfer Pricing Regulations was passed in 2012 which aimed to ensure that the tax base of… – Continue reading
In 28 August 2015, the Chinese State Administration of Taxation issued an Announcement for Granting Tax Treaty benefits to non-residents. The Announcement proposes a new system for granting tax treaty benefits where there pre-approval of the tax authorities is no longer required for withholding tax agents to apply reduced tax… – Continue reading
With less than two weeks remaining until many countries are required to exchange tax information with the U.S. pursuant to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the U.S. has agreed to provide partner jurisdictions with more time to implement information exchange systems. Today, the Treasury Department and the Internal… – Continue reading
For years it has been the currency of the Costa, as criminals simply can’t do business without a bag of ‘black money’. Judges, solicitors and local councils have been prone to their cut on every transaction and complex property transfer for decades. However, now the Spanish are finally cracking down… – Continue reading
Companies would save €1bn per year in administrative costs if the European Union adopts a common approach to corporate taxation, EU Economic and Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has claimed. The former French finance minister has posted an article to his online blog calling for a mandatory EU common consolidated corporate… – Continue reading
The reality of preparing global documentation may be expanding from a process of producing one or a small number of clearly defined reports to one of collecting and managing potentially significant amounts of data. This article considers how processes and technology habits may need to change to react effectively to… – Continue reading
MINSK, 21 September (BelTA) – Belarusian and Russian tax bodies have discussed and elaborated additional measures of joint control over export and import operations in the mutual trade, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Taxes and Duties after the session of the working group of… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday he would like to stop foreign teachers from being required to pay income tax both in Cambodia and their home country in order to attract more highly-skilled educators to work here. Speaking at the official opening of the International School of Phnom Penh’s new… – Continue reading
There are many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from the US that are fearful of being involuntary discovered through the impending Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) disclosures of their Indian accounts by their foreign banks. The US Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice extending the time under which certain transitional… – Continue reading
Global convergence towards higher tax rates globally would be a poor outcome for the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project and a severe impediment to uplifting global growth prospects, Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, has said. Speaking at the SMU-TA Centre for Excellence… – Continue reading
The OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and FATCA in the United States are long-winded. So the OECD published on August 7 a much shorter and lighter guide: the “Common Reporting Standard Implementation Handbook” (the CRS Handbook). The CRS and FATCA represent a sweeping change toward automatic information exchange and away… – Continue reading
With the August recess now well in the rearview mirror, Congress is already deep into grappling with the imminent expiration of the U.S. Government’s funding authority on September 30. Amid the debates over the “Continuing Resolution” and related funding issues, the Iran deal, and other high-profile issues, the work on… – Continue reading
(Corrects first and sixth paragraphs to make clear Intertrust does not provide tax advice) (Reuters) – Intertrust, which provides tax and regulatory compliance services to 17,000 companies, said on Monday it will seek an initial public offering (IPO) of shares on the Euronext stock exchange. The Amsterdam-based company did not… – Continue reading
A new wave of global tax compliance regulation is a game changer in the way asset owners and investment management companies report activities. Globalization of financial markets has made it increasingly simple to make, hold and manage investments outside an asset owner’s own tax domicile. A standard on automatic exchange… – Continue reading
Accounting firm joined revenue minister at speech while fighting court order Top Conservative cabinet ministers met publicly with senior staff from KPMG’s tax division, and one went so far as to promote the firm, even as the Canada Revenue Agency was alleging the company set up an offshore tax “sham”… – Continue reading
Contractors and freelancers who have been told by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Accelerated Payments Team that they owe back-taxes, are being given 90 days to pay even if there is a dispute about whether or not there is an existing debt, reports The Telegraph. As part of new… – Continue reading
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is ranked third in the world for the number of financial institutions per-country that have now signed up to report under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). IRS figures report 8,525 Luxembourg firms have registered with the FATCA portal, and the total is surpassed… – Continue reading
1. What is CRS? “CRS” or Common Reporting Standard is a regime developed by the OECD to facilitate and standardise the exchange of information on residents’ assets and income, primarily for taxation purposes, between numerous jurisdictions around the world. Officially referred to as the OECD Standard for Automatic Exchange of… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Sept. 20: A bilateral investment treaty between India and the US is unlikely to be finalised before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to America later this week. Both Modi and US President Barack Obama have been pushing their respective bureaucracies to prepare the pact. Modi will be in… – Continue reading
Revenue is telling ordinary workers to ‘pay now, argue later’ using new powers to demand tax allegedly owed from years ago – up front Thousands of contractors and freelancers have become ensnared in a £5.5bn tax grab – aimed initially at wealthy tax dodgers – that allows HM Revenue &… – Continue reading
GCC countries are expected to “closely consider” a project that aims to curb perceived tax avoidance by some multi-national companies, according to an international tax expert. Under intense public pressure and unprecedented media focus, leaders of the G20 countries tasked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to come… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Widening its probe into suspected tax evasion and laundering of black money through stock markets, regulator Sebi is looking into illicit ‘arbitrage’ through derivatives trading from offshore locations. Also under the scanner are manipulation through ‘client code modifications’ in the past, although there has been a complete clampdown… – Continue reading
The IRS today released an advance version of Notice 2015-66 announcing that the Treasury Department and IRS intend to amend regulations under sections 1471-1474 to extend the time that certain FATCA transitional rules will apply. The notice also addressing the reporting of 2014 information under a Model 1 IGA. Notice… – Continue reading
China’s State Administration of Taxation on 17 September 2015 released a discussion draft of proposed guidance relating to “special tax adjustments”—including those concerning transfer pricing—for public consultation. It is anticipated that this guidance could be finalized by the end of 2015, and once final, would replace the existing transfer pricing… – Continue reading
THE proposed Income Tax Bill is not clear whether disbursement cost are also included for charging Withholding Tax, says Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) Investment principal legal officer Siteri Saru. FNPF made a submission to the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights on the Income Tax Bill in… – Continue reading
High-net-worth, tax-evading South Africans will soon have nowhere to hide, because in future income tax returns will specifically ask them to declare if they have offshore trusts, or directly or indirectly control an offshore trust, Judge Dennis Davis, the convener of the Davis Tax Committee, says. If the South African… – Continue reading
The Caribbean has just 18 congressional working days from Sunday September 20 to try to have the US Congress or the District of Colombia address an act naming 17 Caribbean nations as “tax havens”. If passed without amendment it could have the effect of reputationally damaging the countries concerned with… – Continue reading
