Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel), has announce the intent to delist from the Australian Securities Exchange, due to what it described in official statements as “low trading interest”. Singtel shares have been listed on the ASX as CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs). This has enabled foreign companies to trade on the Australian… – Continue reading
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) — China’s taxation authority unveiled ten measures on Monday to improve taxation services for investors to serve the Belt and Road Initiative. The measures will protect investors’ interests, promote development and achieve a win-win outcome, said the State Administration of Taxation (SAT). Tax guides will be… – Continue reading
Companies would be forced to reveal any arrangements that are used to avoid tax, and those not paying their fair share of tax would be named and shamed on a “worst offenders” list, under a plan by the Greens. The party has released a discussion paper detailing policies to fight… – Continue reading
Myanmar remains an enigmatic country – one of the largest and most populated in Asia but also one of its poorest and least understood. It remains a country that has largely stood still for seventy years – hardly any infrastructure of note was developed in the country since the end… – Continue reading
World leaders have drawn up ambitious goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and promote development over the next 15 years, but now they have to figure out how to pay the bill. Trillions of dollars would be required to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the United… – Continue reading
The London School of Economics’s Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) has said that proposals to reintroduce a 50 percent top rate of income tax would likely result in a negligible fall in the working hours of higher earners but will lead to an increased tax avoidance risk. It says tougher… – Continue reading
With regard to the First Financial case, the debarred entities include this company itself, its seven promoters and directors, 80 ‘preferential allottees’, 57 First Financial Group entities, as also seven others suspected to be related entities. Sebi has allowed First Financial, which has been barred from the capital market for… – Continue reading
The man chosen by Treasurer Joe Hockey to lead the review of the nation’s tax system has publicly criticised the British government’s “Google tax”, the inspiration for the Coalition’s looming crackdown on multinational profit shifting. Robert Jeremenko, who is running the tax white paper process in Mr Hockey’s office, described… – Continue reading
PRAGUE – The world’s latest contender for statehood, Liberland, is a tiny new, self-proclaimed country sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia that lives up to its “live and let live” motto by offering optional taxes, its president said Monday. “The key idea is voluntary taxes, creating a state so small that… – Continue reading
The Council of the European Union on April 20, 2015, endorsed proposals to require member states to maintain a central register of information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities. It would be at the discretion of member states as to whether such information would be publicized…. – Continue reading
The double tax treaty signed on September 17th 1970 between the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of Belgium (the “DTT”) provides in its article 15 that employment income derived by a resident of a contracting State in respect of an employment exercised in the other contracting State is in… – Continue reading
Why Does Residency Status Matter? An Ohio resident must pay Ohio income tax on his or her worldwide income (including investment income (i.e., dividends, capital gains etc.) and pass-through income from LLCs and S corporations with operations outside of Ohio), subject to credits for taxes paid in other jurisdictions. A… – Continue reading
Doing so would get rid of ‘overlapping and duplicative disclosure requirements,’ says advocacy group for Americans abroad The IRS’ taxpayer advocate is urging the tax service to simplify rules for Americans living overseas. Currently, foreign bank accounts must be reported both to the Treasury, in a Report of Foreign Bank… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs has amended its list of registered pension schemes in what appears to be a bid for clarity in light of the new pension freedoms, toughening risk warnings and modifying language to emphasise that appearing on the list does not confer authorisation, reports the FT Adviser. The… – Continue reading
The Hong Kong bourse has launched a special segregated accounts system for Stock Connect in an attempt to address investors’ concerns over the much-criticised pre-trade checking rules. A reformed trade settlement system was rolled out to Stock Connect investors yesterday in a bid to address concerns over the pre-trade checking… – Continue reading
The internationally recognized handbook for legal experts Global Law Experts has distinguished GRP Rainer Lawyers and Tax Advisors as one of the leading law firms in the field of tax law. GRP Rainer Lawyers and Tax Advisors in Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and London has been… – Continue reading
The Greens have called for Australia’s tax laws to be tightened as they push to have multinational companies “named and shamed” for avoiding tax. Federal Greens leader Senator Christine Milne told Tom Elliott not enough was being done to keep big businesses accountable which legally sent money earned in Australia… – Continue reading
The OECD Mutual Agreement Procedure Statistics for 20131 (MAP Statistics), released on November 25, 2014, show a dramatic surge in the inventory of mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases among OECD member countries. The MAP Statistics confirm that the potential for double taxation is increasing. This is reflected most starkly in… – Continue reading
On April 2, 2015, the Israeli tax authority (“ITA”) published a draft new circular containing new and unprecedented guidelines with respect to the income tax and VAT aspects applicable to foreign enterprises that transact with Israeli customers over the internet (“the Circular” and “Foreign Enterprises”, respectively). The Circular, in its… – Continue reading
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) and the Financial Services Board of the Republic of South Africa (FSB) is a positive step forward in enhancing market access between the two jurisdictions, according to Jersey Finance. The MoU, signed by the JFSC… – Continue reading
“The business tax system today is inefficient, overly complex, and too riddled with loopholes,” said Mark Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury. So much so, in fact, that it can’t fulfill its function to be a world-class system, he noted. Mazur, speaking Tuesday at… – Continue reading
SOUTH Africa’s Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene says African leaders need to focus more on tax policies and the diversification of tax resources in order to foster growth. Speaking at an African Tax Administration Forum conference on Tuesday, he said the global focus on international taxation offered a unique opportunity for… – Continue reading
The National Taxpayer Advocate has recommended that the reporting rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and for foreign bank account reports in effect be merged to simplify the duplicative disclosure requirements that make it difficult for American expatriates to have bank accounts in the foreign countries where they… – Continue reading
Britain’s Conservative Party returned a donation of £50,000 from a wealthy businesswoman on Monday after it emerged she was once wanted on charges of tax fraud in the United States. Beatrice Tollman, founder of luxury hotel chain Red Carnation, made an election campaign donation to the Tories earlier this month…. – Continue reading
Australia’s $29 billion system of franking credits for investors is skewed heavily to the rich and is ripping a hole in the budget, a new analysis has found, with one tax break found nowhere else in the world costing almost $5 billion a year. Millions of Australians benefit from franking… – Continue reading
Summary:Australia and the UK have reached a deal aimed at helping tackle profit-shifting practices by multinational companies, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Australia and the United Kingdom have agreed to form a joint working group to tackle profit shifting by multinational companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft. The… – Continue reading
The United States of America (USA) has toppled Mauritius to become the top jurisdiction from where India is receiving the highest amount of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) into the equity markets. Mauritius lost out due to the uncertainty over the double tax avoidance treaty (DTAA) between India and Mauritius and… – Continue reading
International plans for gathering and analysing data on the extent to which multinational companies are artificially shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions are at a disappointingly early stage, an expert has said. Heather Self of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, also said that the global governments involved in… – Continue reading
In his recent article, “A Cursory Analysis of the Impact of Combined Reporting in the District”, Dr. Eric Cook claims that the District of Columbia’s (D.C. or the District) newly implemented combined reporting tax regime is an effective means of increasing tax revenue from corporate taxpayers, but it will have… – Continue reading
In recent years we have seen a seismic shift in the tax transparency landscape. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (US FATCA) has proved to be a watershed moment and we are rapidly moving towards a global network of automatic information exchange spearheaded by the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard… – Continue reading
Ben Franklin’s famous dictum, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes” is crying out for an urgent revision. Why? Because even if still holds true for people like you and me, it has little to do with some of the country’s richest corporations. The truth is that for corporate giants… – Continue reading
CHINA Tax Free Reorganisations • With circulars 109 and 116 jointly issued in December 2014 by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, the Chinese authorities have relaxed the conditions for internal reorganisations. • Circular 109 deals with internal reorganisations. Provided the pertinent requirements are met, the… – Continue reading
The Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, expressed concern over transfer pricing and several other measures taken by MNCs to avoid paying tax on international transactions. The Dollar Business Bureau Stressing on the need to keep a check on tax evasion by multi-national companies (MNCs), India has asked the G20 members… – Continue reading
Washington, April 20 (IANS): Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here has sought urgent implementation of the automatic exchange of financial account information globally to tackle the menace of black money. “We strongly feel that there is a need to ensure that the common reporting standards on automatic exchange of information should… – Continue reading
Global cues are negative with the Asian markets starting the week on the back foot, following a lower finish on Wall Street on Friday. Moneycontrol Bureau The Indian equity market is likely to open in the green as suggested by SGX Nifty, that was trading at 8618.00, up 3 points… – Continue reading
Business is braced for a slew of new anti-avoidance measures after the UK general election next month as politicians compete on promises to raise billions of pounds from closing tax loopholes, reports the Financial Times. A cross-party consensus is emerging over the scope for a renewed crackdown. Last week Vince… – Continue reading
Technology companies with international operations are increasingly using global tax avoidance methods, despite growing opposition from the public and politicians in the U.S. and abroad. As this opposition fuels ongoing changes in tax rules, organizations must be able to quickly adapt their corporate structures and tax strategies to maintain a… – Continue reading
The European Court of Justice recently ruled that the Netherlands may restrict the 30% fixed tax-free allowance for expatriate costs to employees living more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border. The 150-kilometre restriction does not restrict the free movement of employees within the European Union. Consequently, an employer and… – Continue reading
EUROPEAN M&A DOS AND DON’TS FOR NON-EUROPEAN BUYERS Inbound M&A in Europe by non-European buyers increased in 2014 by 68.6% compared to 2013, representing over a third of USD 901.4 billion total European M&A.1 For non-European buyers the basic framework of transactions may be similar, but there are a number… – Continue reading
Pakistan and China are re-negotiating agreement for the avoidance of double taxation convention and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. Sources told Business Recorder Saturday that the revised convention may not be inked during the upcoming visit of Chinese President as the re-renegotiations have yet… – Continue reading
Tensions between Swiss banks and the United States justice authorities should ease up in 2015, Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has said on the sidelines of the joint International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. The minister said she had received positive signals that this year would bring… – Continue reading
Mumbai: The United States of America (USA) has toppled Mauritius to become the top jurisdiction from where India is receiving the highest amount of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) into the equity markets.Mauritius lost out due to the uncertainty over the double tax avoidance treaty (DTAA) between India and Mauritius and… – Continue reading
ABU DHABI: The UAE Cabinet has on Sunday endorsed hosting the headquarters of the joint Police Force of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in Abu Dhabi. By hosting the GCC Police Force, the UAE aims to foster its relations with the other Gulf countries to safeguard the region from any… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has sought urgent implementation of common reporting standards on automatic exchange of information globally, asserting that it is the only way to tackle the challenges posed by black money and stop tax evasion. The problem of offshore tax evasion and flow of illicit money can be… – Continue reading
Now, the Aadhar Card holders need not to file income-tax returns physically. New ITR forms will link to Aadhar card and do away with the physical ITR-5 for those who are Aadhar-verified by the Electronic Verification Certification (EVC) system. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has introduced Aadhar card… – Continue reading
The United Kingdom (UK) has followed Germany in lodging a formal protest with the Finance Ministry over the alleged breach of confidentiality of data and secret banking details received via diplomatic channels. While German authorities objected to the manner in which 18 names of Indian account holders in the LGT… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: In a fresh crackdown on suspected tax evasion and laundering of black money through stock markets, regulator Sebi today barred Mishka Finance and TradingBSE -1.93 % Ltd and 128 other entities from the securities market. While the total amount involved could not be ascertained, these entities are estimated to… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who had previously stated that India was not a tax haven and legitimate dues from foreign investors will be pursued, had earlier this week said that “the amount involved is Rs 40,000 crore.” Refusing to relent on a Rs 40,000 crore tax demand on foreign portfolio… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed it will be “significantly increasing” the number of tax avoidance disclosures it makes to professional bodies. More practitioners are likely to face disciplinary action from their institutes having advised on tax avoidance schemes for their clients. Last week, the Institute of Chartered Accountants… – Continue reading
TACKLING tax evasion and dealing with the fast-growing digital economy were top of the agenda at a conference on taxation yesterday. Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Mrs Josephine Teo, told the event that the tax authorities around the world are acting to address tax dodges more… – Continue reading
