The UK is preparing to triple the number of prosecutions of “serious and complex” tax evaders using an arsenal of proposed new powers, reports the Financial Times. A unit combining the civil and criminal investigations teams at HM Revenue & Customs will spearhead a crackdown that George Osborne, the chancellor,… – Continue reading
The Revenue Department may soon come out with a circular on providing relief to FIIs from the minimum alternate tax (MAT) with retrospective effect. “Government is likely to soon issue circular giving relief to FIIs on MAT prior to April 1,” a senior Finance Ministry official said. The government-appointed AP… – Continue reading
The Government has handed HM Revenue & Customs new powers to help it meet tax evasion prosecution targets. In the Summer Budget, the Treasury pledged a £750m investment in HMRC. The Chancellor said the cash would be used to pursue offshore trusts and would triple the number of evaders the… – Continue reading
Money laundering experts say there is no way for Canadians to know how much dirty money is being laundered in Vancouver real estate through Canadian lawyers. As a Province investigation revealed Monday, Canada’s financial intelligence unit Fintrac has ramped up an audit of Vancouver’s booming property market because of concerns… – Continue reading
In an assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing risks, Luxembourg scored in the bottom half of a ranking of 152 countries carried out by the Basel Institute on Governance, reports the Luxemburger Wort. The institute says that its AML (Anti-Money Laundering) Index is the only such review carried out… – Continue reading
India will soon settle international tax disputes with close to 120 American companies as well as entities from Japan and other such countries, according to the nation’s Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das. Earlier this month, India announced a Framework Agreement under the mutual agreement procedure provision of the India-US tax treaty… – Continue reading
MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL Business, Donville Inniss is optimistic that given Barbados’ and Italy’s continued efforts at strengthening bilateral relations, Barbados could soon be removed from Italy’s blacklist. He made this disclosure this morning during his brief remarks at the end of a signing of a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) between… – Continue reading
Aug 24 (Reuters) – Switzerland expects to adopt a new law by the end of the year that will speed restitution of illicit funds stashed in the Alpine country, where thousands of ‘politically exposed persons’ are believed to hold bank accounts, a top Swiss official said on Monday. Swiss authorities… – Continue reading
Investigator says Canadian real estate market has developed reputation as a place to launder money A report prepared for Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog points to offshore cash in the real estate sector as a “significant risk” for criminal wrongdoing. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, commonly known… – Continue reading
The multinational companies in Latin America demand security, efficient services, infrastructure and good educational standards, but they are not very willing to contribute themselves by paying their fair share of tax. Honduras is a case in point, and is one of the most unequal countries on the continent. The government,… – Continue reading
As another corporate reporting season in Australia draws to a close, the broad trend has been moderately underwhelming earnings results, combined with a rise in the earnings repaid to shareholders in the form of a dividend. During this recent reporting period Australian firms returned, on average, 73% of their profits… – Continue reading
What has happened? On 2 October 2014 the Senate referred an inquiry into corporate tax avoidance to the Senate Economics References Committee for inquiry and report. The Committee conducted public hearings1 in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and received submissions from a number of senior executives from high profile multinational corporations… – Continue reading
Fuzhou, China, Aug. 24 (CNA) Lin Join-sane (林中森), chairman of Taiwan’s semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), arrived in the southeastern Chinese city of Fuzhou on Monday in preparation for the next round of high-level meetings with his Chinese counterpart. Lin and the SEF delegation were greeted by Chen Deming (陳德銘),… – Continue reading
Draft regulations have been published that could see individuals and their tax advisers having to disclose participation in all but the most basic of inheritance tax (IHT) planning. The draft regulations could, says law firm Boodle Hatfield, require even straightforward arrangements to be disclosed, swamping HMRC with information that they… – Continue reading
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has entered into partnership with the continent tax bodies in a move to wipe out illicit financial flows from Africa. A report on illicit financial flows (IFFs) estimates that Uganda loses at least Shs1.5 trillion every year to illegal activities perpetrated by the multinational companies. The… – Continue reading
The Cyprus government recently announced a number of tax incentives aimed at encouraging economic activity and attracting inward direct investment. At the same time it submitted a number of draft laws to the House of Representatives to implement the new provisions of the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive, to simplify the tax… – Continue reading
The United States has implemented laws and policies, such as the soon-to-be-activated FATCA legislation, which have redounded to the expense of Caricom territories. The Caribbean regional integration project is often described and criticised almost entirely on the uneven benefits of trade to member countries. But, important as it is, there… – Continue reading
Dubai – Cyprus’ recently revised taxation framework make sit the only citizenship-by-investment program in Europe to offer non-domiciled investors tax free profits. Will this new tax regime and business incentives attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country? Henley & Partners, the global leaders in residence and citizenship planning… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: As it steps up its crackdown on tax evasion and laundering of black money through stock markets, regulator Sebi has busted an ‘innovative’ scheme wherein HNIs were incurring ‘bogus losses’ to offset tax liabilities. The probe, which has resulted in an interim ban on 59 entities, including HNIs and… – Continue reading
The director of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Pascal Saint-Amans, has praised The Bahamas for its “tremendous progress” in adopting Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) standards and paving the way for automatic exchange of information between the US and The… – Continue reading
India opposed the proposal saying it impinges on the sovereign rights of developing countries in taxation New Delhi: An international proposal to make arbitration mandatory and binding under mutual agreement procedures (MAP) in tax treaties has been dropped after India strongly opposed it. Last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation… – Continue reading
Hopeful of settling disputes with 120 US companies in next 3 months NEW DELHI, AUG 23: India will, in the next three months, settle tax disputes involving 120 US companies, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das has said. This will be done under the new framework agreement on Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP)… – Continue reading
Ireland has made “little or no” effort over the past four years to create a corruption-free playing field for global trade, violating its “obligation to combat cross-border bribery”, reports the Irish Times. The Transparency International Exporting Corruption report, released on Thursday, found that Ireland, along with countries such as Russia,… – Continue reading
To check black money generation, the government today approved signing and ratification of the agreement between India and Seychelles for exchange of information with respect to taxes, reports the Economic Times. The agreement will stimulate the information exchange between India and Seychelles for tax purposes, which will help curb tax… – Continue reading
In a recent decision (CAA Versailles, July 8, 2015, n°13VE01079), the Versailles Administrative Court of Appeals (CAA) provided an interesting illustration of the operation of the specific anti-abuse provision (i.e., different from the general abuse of law theory) attached to the dividend withholding tax exemption provided, in accordance with the… – Continue reading
FOCUS: The UK government plans a new criminal offence for companies and partnerships whose ‘agents’ facilitate the evasion of UK tax. The proposal is to make corporations criminally responsible if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent their agents from taking actions that facilitate tax evasion. Agents include employees… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG On September 5, 2014, the Ministers of Finance of France and Luxembourg signed an amendment (Lux Amendment) to the double tax treaty entered into between France and Luxembourg on April 1, 1958, as amended by the 1970 exchange of letters and by the 1970, 2006, and 2009 protocols (FR/Lux… – Continue reading
Section 99 of the Tax Administration Act, 28 of 2011 (“Tax Admin Act”) regulates prescription in relation to tax assessments and provides for a three year prescription period in respect of income tax assessments and a five year prescription period in the case of self-assessment taxes (e.g. value-added tax and… – Continue reading
In what could turn out to be a major relief for foreign investors, an expert committee has recommended that there was no case for imposing the controversial minimum alternate tax (MAT) on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) with retrospective effect. The A.P. Shah Committee, appointed to examine the issue of levying… – Continue reading
Improvement of the e-management system for value added tax The Law of Ukraine “On Amending the Tax Code of Ukraine on improving the management of value added tax” No. 643 was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 16 July 2015. The law in its main part came into… – Continue reading
On 17 June 2015, the European Commission launched a public consultation on further corporate tax transparency, which suggests a variety of tax transparency measures including country-by-country reporting (see here). The consultation is intended to gather feedback on which companies should offer more tax transparency and to whom. The deadline for… – Continue reading
According to recent estimates, Estonia, which is situated halfway between Stockholm and St. Petersburg, currently has more than 350 start-up technology companies – one for every 3,700 citizens – and the government expects this number to reach 1,000 by the year 2020. This makes Estonia the number one start-up technology… – Continue reading
A case is pending before an appellate court in South Korea that could allow refunds of certain amounts of tax withheld on payments distributed to Luxembourg SICAVs. If the appeals are ultimately decided in favor of the SICAVs, they could be entitled to a refund of the difference between the… – Continue reading
Management and procurement services not taxable as “fees for technical services” under the India-UK income tax treaty: India’s Authority for Advance Rulings concluded that services rendered by a group director to its group company in India were “managerial services” that, as rendered by the UK procurement team, did not make… – Continue reading
The Treasury Department today updated its FATCA webpage to report the signing of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the United States and St. Vincent and the Grenadines The IGA [PDF 278 KB] signed between the United States and St. Vincent and the Grenadines is dated as having been signed on… – Continue reading
On August 21, 2015 the Government of Liechtenstein issued a press release announcing that the Austrian Minister of Finance (Hans Jörg Schelling) has invited his German (Wolfang Schäuble), Swiss (Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf), Luxembourg (Pierre Gramegna) and Liechtenstein (Adrian Hasler) counterparts for the annual meeting of Ministers of Finance of the German… – Continue reading
Industry lobby groups are calling on lawmakers to bolster business innovation as they debate corporate tax reforms aimed at retaining Switzerland’s status as a location for multinationals, reports Swiss Info. Parliament is currently looking at a government recommendation to replace Switzerland’s current, and controversial, cantonal corporate tax system – that… – Continue reading
The governments of emerging Asian economies need to look at new revenue streams to make their economies more competitive and boost living standards, the OECD said in a new report, reports Tax News. The report, Revenue Statistics in Asian Countries: Trends in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, notes these countries’… – Continue reading
Banks overseas, spooked by India’s stringent new black money law, are asking tough questions of people and entities from the country looking to open accounts with them, reports the Economic Times. That’s because it’s not just those who possess unaccounted wealth who will get punished, those found guilty of helping… – Continue reading
American residents or nationals, citizens and green card holders – persons of interest – living in Jamaica are required to file US tax returns and must, by voluntary disclosure, fill out a form to disclose ‘foreign assets’. The filing of a Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report (FBAR) is an… – Continue reading
Aug. 19 — Tax authorities and practitioners around the world are awaiting a Canadian court’s ruling on the legality of Canada’s legislation to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The Federal Court of Canada is due to issue by Sept. 30 a ruling on the validity of the… – Continue reading
South African companies who do direct and indirect business with US organisations, whether in South Africa, Africa, Europe or further afield, must comply with the United States Foreign Account Tax and Compliance Act (FATCA,) or risk being excluded from lucrative markets the world over, reports the Cape Business News. This… – Continue reading
The Australian Senate inquiry into tax avoidance has released its interim report, which makes 17 recommendations, including the introduction of a mandatory tax reporting code. The Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance was referred to the Economics References Committee in October 2014. The first hearing was conducted in April 2015,… – Continue reading
Many have, mistakenly, confused the prime minister (PM)’s recent remark that Rs 6,500 crore had been disclosed by holders of hitherto unaccounted money with disclosures under the compliance window in the recent law on the subject. However, this money has nothing to do with the latter’s three-month window. These came… – Continue reading
At first glance the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project is difficult to understand. There has been no decline in corporate tax revenues in recent years, and nations already possess a variety of tools to respond to erosion when needed. BEPS is thus drawing an inordinate amount of… – Continue reading
Introduction Individuals whose domicile of origin is outside United Kingdom Non-UK individuals with UK domicile of origin Consultation and legislation New inheritance tax rules for UK residential property held within offshore corporate envelopes Comment Introduction Individuals domiciled outside the United Kingdom might have been justified in thinking that they would… – Continue reading
Key developments Taxpayer bears onus of proving taxable income in Court – 11 August 2015 Rigoli v FC and T Background The Commissioner issued default assessments to the taxpayer in respect of the 1994 – 2001 income years, based on income estimates drawn from an expert report. The taxpayer initially… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: In a bid to persuade legislators to withdraw their opposition, the government on Wednesday hinted at reviewing the Rs10 million limit that it proposed for treating tax evasion as an offence under Anti-Money Laundering Act. The government showed this flexibility during a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Finance and… – Continue reading
19/08/2015 – Increasing tax revenues and ensuring sustainable domestic resource mobilisation will be critical as emerging Asian economies seek to boost the provision of public goods and services and improve economic growth and living standards. Revenue Statistics in Asian Countries: Trends in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines shows that the… – Continue reading
The IRS on 12 August 2015 released a revenue procedure—Rev. Proc. 2015-41—providing guidance and updated procedures regarding advance pricing agreements (APAs). Rev. Proc. 2015-41 addresses the process of how to request and obtain an APA from the IRS’s Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement (APMA) program and with respect to the… – Continue reading
