1.GENERAL QUESTIONS 1.1 Why is the Commission presenting a Tax Transparency Package? The Commission has made the fight against tax evasion and corporate tax avoidance a political priority, with a view to creating a socially and economically more efficient Single Market. While much has been done to advance this agenda… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Switzerland has frozen $400 million of assets in more than 30 banks as the country’s attorney general probes money laundering related to Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s widening corruption scandal. Nine investigations have been opened since last April based on allegations of corruption involving eight Brazilian citizens, the Bern-based Federal… – Continue reading
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has responded to announcements in the Budget speech by the UK Chancellor, George Osborne. On the new diverted profits tax, John Danilovich, ICC Secretary General, said: “We welcome the UK Government’s efforts to consult business on the introduction of a ‘diverted’ profits tax in… – Continue reading
Communist Party’s anti-graft agency reveals how hundreds of suspects and their offshore assets were brought back to the mainland A powerful mainland task force has revealed in detail for the first time how it tracked down allegedly corrupt fugitives abroad, bringing the suspects and their assets back to China even… – Continue reading
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the signing of a protocol to the Russian-Chinese agreement aimed to eliminate double taxation and prevent tax evasion, the government said on its website on Wednesday. “Under the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, US and other countries, the signing of… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — The European Union launched a new salvo in its battle against tax evasion with a slate of proposals that would make it harder for companies to avoid taxes. Countries would need to share information on cross-border tax rulings every three months under one piece of the tax package,… – Continue reading
CIBC FirstCaribbean’s regional chief yesterday said commercial banks were “convenient targets” for increased taxes and scapegoating by politicians, warning that this slowed their bottom line recovery. Rik Parkhill, speaking ahead of its Bahamian subsidiary’s annual general meeting (AGM) last night, warned that the asset-based nature of the sector’s tax structure… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – European Union countries will have to share information on tax deals agreed with major corporations under European Commission plans to limit the ability of big business to avoid tax across the 28-nation bloc. EU members would from next year have three months to tell neighbors about new cross-border… – Continue reading
Azerbaijani and Sudanese officials have voiced readiness to further expand cooperation between the two countries. President Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Ali Ahmed Karti, Sudanese Foreign Minister on March 18. The head of the state expressed confidence that the visit of the Sudanese delegation will be fruitful and… – Continue reading
BELGRADE — Serbia and Portugal have “very good political and friendly relations” with Lisbon “strongly supporting” Serbia’s EU integration, it has been said in Belgrade. Portugal also supports Serbia’s bid to open accession negotiations chapters with the EU, the country’s Foreign Minister Rui Machete said during a joint news conference… – Continue reading
The agreement under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act will enable exchange of information on cases of tax avoidance through overseas entities The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the signing of an inter-governmental agreement between India and the US seeking to impose higher withholding tax on Indian companies on their US… – Continue reading
Two Calgary men have been convicted of defrauding the federal government of $14.1 million in taxes that should have been paid on registered retirement plans, in which the money was used for offshore investments. Steven Kendall and Christopher Houston were found guilty on Wednesday on one of four charges by… – Continue reading
islamabad Pakistan and Austria here on Tuesday signed additional protocol amending the agreement on avoidance of double taxation (ADTA). FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa and Austrian Ambassador Ms Brigitta Blaha signed the document on behalf of their respective governments. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar witnessed the signing ceremony. Austria and Pakistan, it… – Continue reading
UK financial institutions (FIs) that have no US-reportable accounts will not be required to submit annual ‘nil returns’ in order to ensure compliance with new rules designed to prevent tax evasion by US citizens, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed. The change comes after the US Internal Revenue Service… – Continue reading
In the recent case of Herefordshire Property Company Ltd v HMRC1, the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) (“FTT”) allowed the taxpayer’s appeal against the imposition by HMRC of a penalty, which was based on an allegation of negligent implementation of a tax planning scheme by the taxpayer. Regular readers of our… – Continue reading
The disclosure period for the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) is to be shortened and will now end in December 2015 rather than April 2016, the UK chancellor announced in today’s Budget. The LDF allows those with UK tax irregularities to make a disclosure to HMRC on a voluntary basis in… – Continue reading
GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, March 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — DMS Offshore Investment Services Ltd., (DMS) the world’s largest fund governance firm, is expanding its International Tax Compliance Group to better serve private investment funds in meeting their compliance obligations under various international tax initiatives worldwide. DMS announces the recent addition… – Continue reading
From 1 January 2015 the list of information about clients which banks must provide to the tax authorities is expanded (Law of the Republic of Belarus of 30 December 2014 No. 224-Z). In particular, information about client bank account activity must be provided to the Belarusian tax authorities in response… – Continue reading
Date: 18-Mar-15 to 19-Mar-15 Location: The Johannesburg Country Club (Woodmead) / Johannesburg / South Africa Category: Banking, Finance & Investment Conferences & Trade Fairs In response to an increasing awareness of the importance of Mauritius, and in light of the recent DTA agreements coming into effect 1 January 2015, now… – Continue reading
Delhi HC noted while treating advertising, marketing & promotional expenses by Indian arm of an MNC as int’l transactions, ‘the exercise undertaken should not result in over- or double-taxation In a reprieve to multinational companies (MNCs) and their subsidiaries operating out of India, the Delhi High Court has laid out… – Continue reading
Towards the end of last December, the cabinet passed resolutions representing the latest attempt to turn Thailand into an attractive location in which to establish an international headquarters (IHQ). This is the third attempt in a little over a decade to lure multinational companies to Thailand. The first regional operating… – Continue reading
KARACHI: The Pakistan Customs adjudication has forwarded the Q-Mobile tax evasion case to the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Preventive, Karachi for seeking legal and technical reference from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The adjudication department, during the hearing, has completely redundant the view point of MCC-Multan, because as per… – Continue reading
Irish eyes are smiling in corporate America. The Emerald Isle has emerged as the world’s top recipient of U.S. foreign direct investment, according to a report from the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland. In the first nine months of 2014, Ireland beat the likes of Canada, Mexico, the U.K. and… – Continue reading
LG, Sony, Daikin, Haier, Reebok, Canon and many such MNCs lost an important tax case in the Delhi High Court today. It’s transfer pricing dispute about the money spent by the subsidiaries of these MNCs in India in promoting and maintaining the international brand. Payaswini Upadhyay reports on this landmark… – Continue reading
A top insurance industry boss believes that a tax on company profits is inevitable – and would be in the long-term interests of the Island’s people and its economy. John Charman, the chairman and chief executive officer of Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd, said the levying of corporate tax would… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – Seychelles and Singapore are looking to increase their collaboration in a number of economic sectors from trade, financial services, port development – including transshipment and fuel bunkering – to public-private partnerships. This follows the recent official visit to Singapore by the Minister of Finance, Trade and… – Continue reading
In a development that will usher in relief to multinational companies and reduce litigation, the central board of direct taxes (CBDT) on Monday notified rules for implementation of roll back provisions of advance pricing agreements (APAs). The provisions for roll back of APAs were announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley… – Continue reading
On March 13, 2015, New Zealand’s Minister of Revenue, Todd McClay, announced the Government’s tax policy work program for 2015/16, which includes key international tax reforms aimed primarily at countering base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). In particular, the Government intends to focus on the following areas of reforms: •… – Continue reading
As the OECD/EU project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) moves towards its next set of reports in autumn 2015, Ireland Inc.’s low tax offering has been, and will be, further refined. While the 12.5% corporate tax rate remains beyond approach both domestically and internationally, the BEPS initiative has… – Continue reading
The Government of Russia has ratified the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The OECD said, with this development, Russia has joined the most comprehensive multilateral platform available for tax co-operation and exchange of information. The Convention, as amended by the 2010… – Continue reading
Transactional work varies from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction with the ebb and flow of various economic cycles, but a prevailing theme across the EMEA region has been that more and more advisory firms are urging taxpayers to prepare for the impact of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan. Joe… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: The Goods and Services Tax will not be imposed on rentals of commercial units below RM500,000 a year, says Najib Tun Razak. The prime minister said the government had also decided that supply services for all stratified residential houses would be GST-exempt. He said under subsection 18(2) of… – Continue reading
The Channel Islands is to challenge the Treasury’s decision to bring to an end a tax loophole used by major retailers to avoid VAT charges when bringing low value goods into the UK. Jersey and Guernsey will begin an application for judicial review of the change at the High Court… – Continue reading
In 2013, STHL and its subsidiaries generated $38.6 billion in sales of crude oil, after purchasing $38.5 billion in crude and fuel products from third party and other companies from the SOCAR group. Malta has been hosting Azerbaijan’s state oil company (SOCAR) since 2007 thanks to its favourable tax regime… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE – The Government yesterday made public its response to feedback on proposed new regulations to help financial institutions here comply with a new United States law that is being imposed worldwide. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) requires all financial institutions outside the US to regularly submit… – Continue reading
FOCUS: As charity trustees, university governing bodies have an overriding duty to act in the best interests of their institution. However, the HMRC’s hardening stance on tax planning and the current political climate could leave them treading a fine line between their desire to maximise revenue for the university’s purposes… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – The European Commission will lay out plans on Wednesday designed to limit tax avoidance in the wake of recent revelations that major corporations were paying minimal state contributions across the European Union. EU members will be required to share information on cross-border tax rulings, according to a draft… – Continue reading
MINSK, 17 March (BelTA) – Expert consultations on the draft agreement between the governments of Belarus and Malaysia to avoid double taxation and prevent the evasion of income and capital taxes took place in Malaysia. The parties initialed the draft agreement following the talks, BelTA learnt from the press service… – Continue reading
Controversial comments against gay parenthood by openly-gay Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana may not have broken the Internet, but what a whirlwind it’s been! Little did the billionaire fashion duo know that when they spoke about the “classical” family in an interview, it would explode. They said “no [to] chemical… – Continue reading
New Zealand has a broad-based tax system consisting principally of: income tax fringe benefit tax resident and non-resident withholding tax (RWT and NRWT) goods and services tax (GST) Accident Compensation levies import tariffs and miscellaneous excise duties, and local authority rates on property. Stamp duty, gift duty and death duties… – Continue reading
Part of the African continent, with neighboring countries such as the Reunion Islands, Madagascar and the Seychelles, is the island republic of Mauritius. Over the centuries, Mauritius has been occupied at different times by three of the world’s greatest maritime powers. Beginning in 1578, Mauritius was a Portuguese possession and… – Continue reading
Tax Regulation Number PER-01/PJ/2015, which is supposed to be effective starting this year, has triggered controversy within the banking industry. This is mainly due to the new obligation for banks to disclose details on every customer’s tax payments on deposits or savings interest. The Finance Minister needed to postpone indefinitely… – Continue reading
New tax charge A new regime which will charge non-UK tax resident owners of UK residential property to capital gains tax (CGT) is due to come into force on 6 April 2015. The draft legislation was published as part of Finance Bill 2015 on 10 December 2014, after an extensive… – Continue reading
Who Will Be Next? How To Respond To A Tax Investigation The international political community continues to make the most threatening noises about those who they believe do not pay enough tax. Long gone it seems are the days where it was accepted that a person could properly organise his… – Continue reading
Both China and most other Asian nations have been highly assertive in their use of Double Tax and Free Trade agreements over the past five years, as the reality of rising prices in China coupled with an emerging consumer class dictate that intra-Asian trade flows are growing as an astounding… – Continue reading
HSBC is closing all accounts on Jersey belonging to customers living in the UK. It is part of a move by UK banks carrying out checks on the identity and addresses of thousands of their customers on the Channel Islands. HSBC is among those carrying out the move, according to… – Continue reading
John Key has thrown his weight behind moves to catch more online purchases and even digital downloads in the GST net, and Labour says it would support changes to close the online revenue loophole. New Zealand is part of an OECD working group looking at the issue of consumption taxes… – Continue reading
THE LAW SOCIETY has “denounced” HM Revenue & Customs’ plans to curb tax avoidance activity as “premature”. HMRC and the government are proposing to introduce new penalties for serial users of tax avoidance schemes and those whose planning is counteracted by the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR). In particular, the society… – Continue reading
Switzerland has made further progress on meeting international tax compliance standards after being upgraded to phase 2 of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) tax transparency review process. However, Switzerland faces a potentially tougher examination in the coming months, particularly regarding the use of stolen bank data by… – Continue reading
The ongoing global initiatives around exchange of tax information and publication of beneficial ownership information, while ostensibly in pursuit of transparency, have their origins in the need for the larger, richer countries to increase tax revenues, and the perception that taxpayers are hiding assets abroad and out of the tax… – Continue reading
