The chairman, Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, Aloysius Etok, yesterday, revealed that Nigeria has lost over N2 trillion as a result of tax evasion by capable companies and cybercrimes perpetrated by some Nigerians. Etok made this disclosure during his address at the valedictory session of the National… – Continue reading
KARACHI: A district and sessions court remanded on Wednesday four more suspects in Axact-gate scandal for one day. The four – Muhammad Rizwan, Atif Hussain, Imran Ahmed Khan and Adnan Saboor – who were recently taken into custody after some leads given by the detained suspects were presented by the… – Continue reading
India and Belarus on Wednesday inked six agreements, including a Roadmap for India-Belarus Cooperation as President Pranab Mukherjee held talks here with Belarusian counterpart Alexander V. Lukashenko. Besides the roadmap, the agreements include a protocol amending the agreement between the two sides for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the… – Continue reading
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has assessed a $75 million fine against the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino for “willful egregious anti-money laundering violations.” Financial transactions worth $10,000 or more are supposed to be recorded and reported to federal authorities, but weren’t reported at the… – Continue reading
India joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information on 3rd June, 2015, in Paris, France, alongwith Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia and New Zealand. On our behalf, the Declaration to comply with the provisions of the MCAA was signed by H.E. Mr. Mohan Kumar,… – Continue reading
In a five-to-four decision, the United States Supreme Court held that the dormant commerce clause protects in-state residents from the double taxation of their interstate income. This is a complicated decision and the margin favoring the taxpayers was razor-thin, one vote. The decision is complicated because the tax involved was… – Continue reading
Sofia. Bulgarian National Assembly is to discuss on second reading a non-reciprocal agreement between the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Government f the United States of America on the improvement of the observation of the tax legislation in international aspect and enforcement of Foreign Account Tax Compliance… – Continue reading
The special committee leading the European Parliament’s inquiry into tax rulings has upped the pressure on businesses and European governments. The inquiry will be extended until October. EurActiv France reports. Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland have one thing in common. These five countries have all received an investigative… – Continue reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has proposed to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to withdraw 5 percent tax on bonus shares and apply current capital gains tax (CGT) rate of 12.5 percent irrespective of its holding period. According to the budget proposals of the SECP received… – Continue reading
Bulgaria’s government has proposed to parliament to ratify the agreement with Norway to avoid double taxation of income. The agreement was signed in July of last year to update the regulation framework governing the bilateral economic relations, the cabinet said in a statement on Wednesday. The previous agreement had been… – Continue reading
Two Switzerland-based banks have agreed to disclose secret accounts belonging to US taxpayers as part of a new US program to fight offshore tax evasion, the US Department of Justice announced in a statement on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — “The days of safely hiding behind shell corporations and numbered bank… – Continue reading
Controversial recent changes to UK and EU law combined with parallel G8, G20 and OECD measures risk the beneficial owners of certain companies being subjected to unwanted public scrutiny. However, help is at hand for affected individuals. The political background Reacting to concerns about tax evasion, money laundering and the… – Continue reading
The Taiwanese Trade Mission in Nigeria has called for effective collaboration with the Nigerian Government to avoid double taxation on Taiwanese investments in Nigeria. This is contained in Mission’s bulletin released in Abuja on Wednesday. It stated that the collaboration would also ensure protection of Taiwanese investments in Nigeria and… – Continue reading
Some of the first banks that streamed into Crimea after Russia wrested control of the region from Ukraine in 2014 were better known for laundering money than banking. Five of the banks have questionable histories, including ties to the US$ 20 billion money laundering scandal known as the Russian Laundromat… – Continue reading
Canada’s Revenue Minister, Kerry-Lynne D Findlay, has signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information. The adoption of the MCAA is a commitment from Canada to implement new international standards on the automatic exchange of information in tax matters. The MCAA specifies the… – Continue reading
On 1 April 2015 the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance issued a ministerial decree removing the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and 19 other jurisdictions from Italy’s ‘blacklist’ on the nondeductibility of costs and expenses, established in January 2002. As a result, expenses and costs incurred by Italian… – Continue reading
As Cayman finds itself at the heart of what may be the world’s biggest ever corruption scandal, following the arrest of local football boss, Jeffrey Webb, the premier has defended the jurisdiction in a statement from his office about the FIFA probe. Alden McLaughlin said that local law enforcement agencies… – Continue reading
In its report issued in May 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned against the exceptional risks and challenges facing Lebanon as a result of several political and security factors both at the domestic and foreign levels. These challenges also result from worrying economic factors in terms of growth, the… – Continue reading
The Income Tax Department will retain the detailed questions on foreign assets and income of resident Indian citizens… The Income Tax Department will retain the detailed questions on foreign assets and income of resident Indian citizens in the revised tax return forms, to be issued shortly. The relaxation announced by… – Continue reading
With the Swiss government signing a landmark Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement with the European Union (EU) last week, efforts are underway for a similar bilateral pact with India. The effort, which is expected to provide a strong impetus to the Narendra Modi government’s pitch to combat the black… – Continue reading
“Ireland does not have a statutory system of binding tax rulings and there is no provision in Irish law for the issuing of such rulings,” Revenue Chair Niall Cody has said, reports Tax News. Cody made the comments during an address to a session of the European Parliament’s Special Committee… – Continue reading
ZIMBABWE intends to relax rules around offshore investments by local pension funds by allowing them to invest in foreign markets –subject to regulatory approvals. Currently, pension funds are prohibited from investing offshore, but the amendments to the Pension and Provident Fund Bill of 2015 seeks to allow them to invest… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: CBDT has issued fresh instructions to the taxman to ensure that information on individuals holding black money abroad is strictly kept secret as it stressed that any “careless” act could give an excuse to the data supplying country for not helping India in the future. “In many countries,… – Continue reading
Former Public Accounts Committee Chair Margaret Hodge writes ahead of next week’s CPA UK Workshop in partnership on Parliamentary Action on Tax Transparency, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance A new global development agenda will be put in place by the UN this year, consisting of 17 high-level and ambitious goals… – Continue reading
OECD Secretary General Jose Angel Gurria (C) and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme Helen Clark (R) listen to a speech of French Minister of Environment and Energy Segolene Royal during the OECD forum in Paris, 02 June 2015. The OECD will present its economic outlook on Wednesday, bringing… – Continue reading
Presidential candidates must come clean on America’s highly controversial global tax law – and more must urgently be done to repeal it, not least because it is “a blue print for worse to come”, warns the boss of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations. Nigel Green, founder… – Continue reading
LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) – An international campaign to stamp out corporate tax dodging will fail and G20 leading economies should instead adopt a global minimum tax rate for multinationals, a coalition of 10 charities and human rights bodies said. The G20 asked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has told a Senate estimates hearing the government hasn’t costed its measure to tackle multinational tax evasion. The Abbott government didn’t include revenue estimates for its measure to tackle multinational tax evasion in the budget because it didn’t cost them. Announcing measures to tighten the tax… – Continue reading
The Abbott government didn’t get costings from Treasury on how much revenue its multinational tax avoidance budget measure would bring. The revelation explains why costings were not given by Treasurer Joe Hockey when he announced the measure or included budget papers. Speaking at a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, finance… – Continue reading
A new report by Oxfam has revealed that international companies cheated Africa out of $11 billion in 2010. The report titled “Africa: Rising for the Few” released yesterday revealed that the loss is equivalent to more than six times the amount needed to deliver universal primary healthcare in the Ebola-affected… – Continue reading
A powerful business lobby is sounding the warning to lawmakers about a global effort to crack down on offshore tax evasion. The National Association of Manufacturers warned the top congressional tax writers that the so-called Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project “could have a negative impact on the global competitiveness… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s neighbour Belgium is to officially list the country as a tax haven, local media report, based on its non-compliant status with the OECD’s Global Forum. All countries that have been on the OECD’s list of fiscal paradises need blacklisted in Belgium, the law stipulates. This also includes Luxembourg, which… – Continue reading
The Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, P.C., Q.C., M.P, Minister of National Revenue, today signed the international Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), an important step towards implementing the Common Reporting Standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information with other tax jurisdictions. Economic Action Plan (EAP) 2015 reiterated the Government… – Continue reading
The CEO of a Maine poker chip manufacturer was found guilty of tax evasion for paying employees under the table and evading payroll taxes. John M. Kendall was convicted on three felony counts of theft by misapplication of withholding taxes, one felony count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion, three… – Continue reading
El Salvador has become the latest country joining international efforts to fight offshore tax evasion. The Central American nation yesterday signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. In doing so, El Salvador has become the 86th member worldwide, the eighth Latin American country and the third… – Continue reading
London: A UK Treasury minister has dismissed Brussels’ latest move to combat tax avoidance as “an answer still looking for a question”. David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, said the UK remained sceptical about a proposal for a pan-European tax system, which was relaunched by the European Commission last… – Continue reading
On May 20, 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department released for public comment draft updates to the U.S. model income tax convention and its accompanying Technical Explanation (collectively, the “Model Treaty”), which was last updated in 2006. The Model Treaty is the template that Treasury uses as its starting point in… – Continue reading
In December 2014, the Swiss parliament—giving in to international pressure—passed new laws to tighten its anti-money-laundering regulations, most prominently the freezing of assets in Swiss bank accounts. It also increases watch over politicians and officials such as those arrested in the FIFA scandal, by defining them as PEP—Politically Exposed Persons… – Continue reading
Developments in Asia over the last year have been continuous with the biggest generic development relating to the exchange of information. Asian countries have put their FATCA reporting systems in place (even though not all have yet signed an inter-governmental agreement with the US IRS), and most have now committed… – Continue reading
The past decade or more has not been an easy road to manoeuvre for IFCs. The Bahamas like other IFCs has faced the combined challenges of international initiatives, increased competition, industry consolidation, changing client demographics, emerging market requirements; legacy market stagnation and of course the financial crisis just a few… – Continue reading
Since the beginning of the global financial crisis, politicians, the media and people on the street have engaged in a series of “blame games” to point fingers and punish those responsible for their own economic ills. For the past few years, one “culprit” has been firmly in the spotlight –… – Continue reading
It is rich to see General Electric lead the pack of companies complaining about oppressive taxes. GE notoriously paid no federal income taxes from 2008 to 2013, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. In fact, its corporate tax rate was negative 9 percent; GE got back from taxpayers… – Continue reading
David Gauke, Financial Secretary to the United Kingdom Treasury, has said that the newly elected Conservative Government will maintain a competitive corporate tax regime, although further reductions in the rate of UK corporate tax appear to be off the table. He also confirmed that the Government will continue to tackle… – Continue reading
The present French Tax Update will focus on an overview of several noteworthy French tax court decisions issued during the past few months, in particular in relation with double tax treaty conditions to benefit from a tax credit, abuse of law challenges, increased amortization rates, and priority preliminary ruling requests… – Continue reading
Argentina and Chile have signed a new double tax treaty to replace the treaty unilaterally terminated by Argentina in 2012. Ignacio Rodriguez and Andres Edelstein of PwC in Argentina outline the new structuring opportunities that are available for taxpayers. Argentina and Chile signed a new double tax treaty on May… – Continue reading
The European Commission is to propose a mandatory common corporate tax base next month as part of a wide-ranging clampdown on corporate tax avoidance. Put simply, a common tax base seeks to harmonise the way companies calculate taxable profits across Europe. For many years in Europe there has been talk… – Continue reading
Oxfam based its calculation of the tax revenue Africa loses on a UN-backed study released in April. WASHINGTON – Multinational companies deprive African governments of $11 billion in taxes each year, and G7 world leaders should set up a new global body to regulate corporate taxation, Oxfam International said on… – Continue reading
A full and fascinating roundtable discussion based around the island’s place as an international finance centre was held at KPMG’s headquarters in Athol Street, Douglas. Around the table were David Karran, managing director, IQE, Simon Scott, managing director, Barclays Isle of Man, Andrew Thomas, chief executive, Isle of Man Enterprises… – Continue reading
The five biggest suppliers of publicly subsidised medicines in Australia recorded sales of nearly $5 billion last year but paid an average of just $10 million each in company tax. Research by the Parliamentary Library, obtained by Fairfax Media, has disclosed the tax contribution of multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer… – Continue reading
A “very interesting political situation” can be expected in the autumn when a number of different strands of the ongoing European, and global, debate on what to do about aggressive tax planning by multinationals, come together, one of the players involved said during a recent visit to Dublin, reports Irish… – Continue reading
