NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Negotiators locked horns until 2 a.m. some nights in New York this past month, trying to agree on a way to finance the United Nation’s bold new global development agenda — without success. The disputed 31-page document is headed to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa,… – Continue reading
U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors are investigating former Deutsche Bank AG traders in connection with their participation in the interest rate-rigging scandal and could bring charges this year, Bloomberg reported, citing two people with knowledge of the situation. At least five former traders are under investigation for their role in… – Continue reading
DAKAR – Africa is usually perceived as a net beneficiary of the global financial system, with aid and investment flowing to the continent from richer parts of the world. This is simply not true. Illicit capital flight is draining Africa dry – costing the continent about one trillion dollars over… – Continue reading
On July 8, 2015, the International Tax Reform Working Group, which is co-chaired by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), released its long-awaited report that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has said is the precursor to comprehensive tax reform in the United States. What does the… – Continue reading
Georgia and the United States (US) are deepening their bilateral relationship to improve international tax compliance and ensure all citizens pay their appropriate taxes when living abroad. Today Georgia signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the US on tax compliance and mutual understanding, which encompasses implementation of the Foreign Account… – Continue reading
10/07/2015 – The OECD set out a clear path for Lithuania’s accession to the Organisation, reinforcing the OECD’s commitment to further extend its global membership. On 8 July 2015 the 34 OECD Members adopted the Roadmap for the Accession of Lithuania to the OECD Convention setting out the terms, conditions… – Continue reading
International aid agency Oxfam says it warmly welcomes the European Parliament’s decision to vote in favor of legislation that obliges large companies across all sectors to publicly declare their earnings and taxes in locations they operate. The legislation is part of the vote on the Shareholder’s Rights Directive. “By requiring… – Continue reading
The government’s grip over information is tightening not only in respect of transactions undertaken within the country but also overseas In a liberal economic and low tax rate environment, people are expected to go straight. Tax fraud and tax evasion deprive governments of revenues needed to restore growth and at… – Continue reading
Kenneth Landgaard had what he thought was a foolproof plan for moving illicit cash out of the U.S. to safe havens in Belize and Panama, prosecutors said: pack it in Louis Vuitton duffel bags. The idea was meant to reassure the crew that the deal wasn’t a set-up, according to… – Continue reading
Swiss Poised To Support Greek Tax Amnesty by Matthew Allen, swissinfo.ch Struggling to pay off more than €300 billion (CHF313 billion) in debts, Greece is banking on Switzerland to help it recover a treasure trove of undeclared assets that tax cheats have stashed in alpine vaults. But anti-tax haven campaigners… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Mauritius, which serves as the gateway to Dalal Street for most foreigners, will be back in news soon. India and the tax haven are believed to be close to finalising a revised tax treaty that would lower tax on interest income of overseas investors betting on Indian debt papers…. – Continue reading
On 4 June, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) published a discussion draft on “hard-to-value-intangibles” in terms of which the OECD proposes revising its Transfer Pricing Guidelines. In particular, it is proposed that tax authorities will be allowed to use ex post “evidence”, (i.e. hindsight), to assess the… – Continue reading
The implementation of tax information reporting agreements is costing the financial services sector a pretty penny. Financial Services Councillor Roy McTaggart told Cayman 27 the industry has spent time and money making sure their systems are compatible with government’s recently established reporting portal, which ultimately transmits the information to the… – Continue reading
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on July 6, 2015, discussed the IMF’s role in supporting the post-2015 development agenda, ahead of the upcoming third United Nations (UN) Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) to be held in Addis Ababa from July 13–16, 2015. Having adopted a… – Continue reading
Italy has ratified the inter-governmental agreement top facilitate compliance with the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. FATCA, enacted by the US Congress in 2010, is intended to ensure that the US obtains information on accounts held abroad at foreign financial institutions (FFIs) by US persons. Failure by an… – Continue reading
Remuneration paid for employment services performed in Canada (even for short-term assignments) by non-resident employees is subject to Canadian income tax withholding, remittance and reporting requirements under subsection 153(1) and regulation 102 (Reg. 102) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (Act). On April 21, 2015, Finance Minister Joe Oliver tabled… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today called for ending exemption of capital gains tax on securities to contain various entities using capital markets to evade taxes and launder money. The government should re-think the exemption on capital gains taxes on traded securities, which listed companies enjoy, in order to… – Continue reading
A recent report from the U.S. Treasury Department pinpoints U.S. banks as the source for more than $300 billion a year in dirty money. That leads to big fines for banks. But on the U.S.-Mexico border, it’s small business owners who are being blamed. Nearly a quarter million head of… – Continue reading
Shipping should not panic in wake of proposed U.K. non-dom tax changes, Moore Stephens says Shipowners likely to be affected by wide-ranging changes to the taxation of non-U.K.-domiciliaries introduced in the U.K. Summer Budget have been urged not to panic by international accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens, which says… – Continue reading
Treaty developments Following last month’s report that the Mauritius/South Africa double tax treaty had been ratified in Mauritius, the treaty has now come into force on 28 May 2015. The new Hong Kong/South Africa double tax treaty, which was signed last year, has been ratified in Hong Kong on 3… – Continue reading
The Australian Government will introduce a withholding tax obligation to ensure that foreign investors comply with Australia’s tax laws. The Government has released exposure draft legislation that provides for the application of a ten percent non-final withholding obligation on the disposal by foreign residents of taxable Australian property. If passed,… – Continue reading
The FINANCIAL — On June 10, 2015, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Panama. Panama’s economic performance is expected to remain strong. Real GDP slowed to 6.2 percent in 2014, reflecting a slower pace of public investment, continued weakness in Colon… – Continue reading
New Zealand, Samoa sign double tax agreement WELLINGTON, July 8 (Xinhua) — New Zealand and the Pacific island nation of Samoa have signed a double tax agreement that should help boost trade and investment, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Wednesday. Key, who is in Samoa for a rugby… – Continue reading
George Osborne’s family business struck a £6m deal with a property developer based in an offshore tax haven, it has been reported. The upmarket wallpaper firm Osborne & Little is claimed to have linked up with a corporation in the British Virgin Islands to turn its former headquarters in an… – Continue reading
Around £60m earmarked for serious and complex tax-crime investigations, while £300m will target small businesses, public bodies and affluent individuals Stretched HMRC tax investigators are to be armed with £800m of extra funding over the next five years to combat tax evasion and non-compliance, the chancellor has promised, as part… – Continue reading
MULTAN: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) national organiser Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday lambasted the imposition of a 0.6 per cent withholding tax on bank transactions. Qureshi was speaking to journalists at the press club. He demanded that the tax to be immediately withdrawn and said the PTI stood with traders on… – Continue reading
Large European companies would have to reveal how much profit they make, subsidies received and taxes paid in each country they operate in under a draft law backed by EU lawmakers on Wednesday. The aim of the draft law on shareholders’ rights is to encourage more transparency at companies on… – Continue reading
The UK’s chancellor of the exchequer has said serial users of tax avoidance schemes will be ‘named and shamed’ as he promised to introduce further measures to tackle evasion, avoidance and aggressive tax planning in his Summer Budget. This move is part of a plethora of changes which chancellor George… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office has warned companies it will be focusing on money attributed to offshore marketing hubs and will use its stronger transfer pricing powers to go after them, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Australian companies sent more than AU$100 billion to related parties in the low-tax nation of… – Continue reading
On 17 June 2015, the Income Tax Treaty between Malta and Moldova entered into force and will come into effect on 1 January 2016. The Treaty was signed on 10 April 2014. In accordance with the treaty, the following withholding taxes will apply: Dividends: where the dividends are paid by… – Continue reading
The Liechtenstein tax authorities have announced that the FATCA reporting deadline in Liechtenstein has been extended to 31 July 2015 (from 30 June 2015). FATCA seeks to obtain information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other countries. It requires U.S. financial institutions to withhold a portion of certain payments… – Continue reading
The ministry of financial services has announced that Cayman will implement the OECD common reporting standard later this year. The CRS standardizes the global automatic exchange of information for tax purposes. Automatic exchange of information will ultimately lead to the transmission of large amounts of data, such as the investment… – Continue reading
Japan’s Ministry of Finance said international policy veteran Masatsugu Asakawa will become the country’s top financial diplomat, whose tasks include co-ordinating with other nations and the IMF as well as arranging currency interventions. Asakawa’s broad network with policymakers both inside and outside Japan puts him in an ideal position to… – Continue reading
Nairobi – Two European tax havens receive more than a quarter of all global foreign direct investment, ActionAid said on Tuesday, calling for an international deal to tackle tax avoidance and reduce poverty. Luxembourg and the Netherlands receive almost 26% of the world’s foreign investment, although they earn less than… – Continue reading
Step aside, Doctors Without Borders. A new class of professionals is ignoring national frontiers to come to the aid of economically struggling nations. A team called Tax Inspectors Without Borders will begin helping developing countries deal with the flood of income to low-tax jurisdictions once it’s established next week by… – Continue reading
MEPs have backed rules that would require multinationals to report their tax payments on a country-by-country basis. Deputies in Strasbourg voted by a 556 votes to 67 margin on Wednesday (8 July) to approve plans to re-write the EU’s eight-year old Shareholders’ Rights Directive that would require listed companies to… – Continue reading
Barbados and other Caribbean leaders who held a recent summit in Bridgetown want the European Union to lift the blacklisting of Caribbean offshore jurisdictions immediately, reports the Barbados Advocate. The demand is contained in the Heads of Government Communique which was issued following the July 2-4 summit at the Hilton…. – Continue reading
How should non resident or non domiciled buyers of UK residential property own or hold residential property? Overseas buyers or owners of UK residential property above £1m in value need to consider carefully in what name or legal structure they should buy or hold property for their protection and to… – Continue reading
Romanian prosecutors seized assets of Russian oil firm Lukoil worth up to 2 billion euros ($2.22 billion) in an investigation on suspicion of money laundering, a local court was quoted as saying on Wednesday by state agency Agerpres. In October of last year Romanian prosecutors, police and customs inspectors raided… – Continue reading
Where Qualified Dividend Treatment Is Important, Serious Consideration Should Be Given to Ensuring the Company Is Eligible for Treaty Benefits Before Taking It Public. Dividends generally are taxed at ordinary income rates (up to 39.6 percent for individuals). Qualified dividends derived by individuals, however, are taxed at the preferential rate… – Continue reading
Agreement with Mauritius to be renegotiated. National Treasury says the abuse of double tax agreements by multinational companies is the main reason why the agreement with Mauritius has been renegotiated. National Treasury head of tax and financial sector policy Ismail Momoniat says companies have often used dual tax residence structures… – Continue reading
The FINANCIAL — Tax is firmly under the spotlight and in the global insurance industry, the ramifications for finance and tax teams will be felt in both a new set of business demands and an overhaul of how these functions interact and operate. However, a new report from PwC says… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The government on Monday clarified that authorities will not use information furnished under the one-time compliance scheme for undisclosed overseas assets to launch an anti-money laundering probe unless it is established that there is a “predicate offence”, or an act that results in the proceeds being used for… – Continue reading
The amount of tax evasion detected by tax authorities in fiscal 2014 came to ¥14.9 billion, including penalties, up by ¥500 million from a year before, the National Tax Agency said. In the year ended in March, tax authorities detected 180 tax evasion cases through raids, down by five from… – Continue reading
LONDON (Alliance News) – The UK Budget to be outlined by Chancellor George Osborne on Wednesday is set to include a pledge to re-examine the banking levy, a crackdown on non-domiciles, and a relaxation of Sunday trading hours, along with controversial plans to slash around GBP12 billion from the UK’s… – Continue reading
By common consent, the UK tax system is no longer fit for purpose. There is unfortunately less unanimity on how the system should be reformed. In 2010 the chancellor established the office for Tax Simplification (OTS) in recognition that the UK tax code had become far too complex. But by… – Continue reading
[NEW YORK] HSBC Holdings Plc, smarting from a US$1.9 billion fine for providing banking to money launderers and sanctions-dodgers, promised US officials it would clean up its act. Within a year, its reform efforts met resistance from leaders of HSBC’s US investment-banking unit – some of whom mounted a campaign… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – When it comes to funding development, taxes are perhaps the most critical piece of the puzzle. But the system of taxing global profits is broken – and it is exacerbating inequality both within and across countries. If the world is to make progress toward its goals of… – Continue reading
By common consent, the UK tax system is no longer fit for purpose. There is unfortunately less unanimity on how the system should be reformed. In 2010 the chancellor established the office for Tax Simplification (OTS) in recognition that the UK tax code had become far too complex. But by… – Continue reading
Moshe Asher told the Institute of Certified Public Accountants that money can be raised from unreported capital instead. Israel Tax Authority head Moshe Asher stated clearly today that no new tax hikes were necessary. Speaking at a conference of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel at a session… – Continue reading
