The Revenue Department on Friday said it has detected evasion of more than Rs 1.37 lakh crore in both direct and indirect taxes and identified over 1,000 shell companies which indulged in bogus transactions worth Rs 13,300 crore in the last three financial years. Warning tax evaders, it said the… – Continue reading
A new bill introduced this week by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), the Tax Fairness and Transparency Act, would rip out the offshore corporate tax avoidance system by its roots. This legislation combines into a single, comprehensive bill elements of three pieces of legislation that Rep. Pocan has proposed in previous… – Continue reading
Antigua & Barbuda, on Wednesday, launched what government said was a strong objection with the US State of Illinois, which has introduced legislation, listing the twin island state and 10 Caricom countries as tax havens. In letters to the Speaker of the House of Represen-tatives of the Illinois General Assembly,… – Continue reading
Companies including Apple, Google and BHP Billiton were grilled at parliamentary hearings on their tax structures in 2015 SYDNEY: Australia on Thursday said it had slapped seven large multinationals with a multi-billion-dollar tax bill as it pursued global firms shifting profits offshore to minimise liabilities. The companies hit with the… – Continue reading
HMRC is to renew and extend the scope of the double taxation treaty passport (DTTP) scheme, which will now be available to all UK borrowers who are required to withhold income tax at the basic rate on certain loan interest payments to overseas lenders from 6 April 2017 The DTTP… – Continue reading
Hong Kong has signed agreements with Portugal and South Africa to automatically exchange financial account information in tax matters. The agreements expand Hong Kong’s Automatic Exchange Of Information (AEOI) network to include a total of 11 countries. The other reportable jurisdictions for Hong Kong are Belgium, Canada, Guernsey, Italy, Japan,… – Continue reading
Azerbaijan will sign agreements on elimination of double taxation with five more countries in the near future, Zaur Fetizade, head of Azerbaijani Taxes Ministry’s Department for International Cooperation and Tax Monitoring in Financial Institutions, said in his interview with the Vergiler (Taxes) newspaper. “We have already agreed on draft agreements… – Continue reading
China’s new transfer pricing rules, effective May 1, endorse the continued use of the arm’s-length standard—the internationally agreed bedrock for pricing transactions within multinational enterprises. The new guidance, Bulletin 6, augurs well for resolving tax disputes between China’s State Administration of Taxation and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service over the… – Continue reading
Ukraine has ruled out major tax reform, in consultations with the International Monetary Fund. The IMF noted that Ukraine has major substantial progress on improving its finances. The IMF said budget execution continues to be strong, over-performing relative to program targets. The 2016 budget deficit has been limited to 2.3… – Continue reading
Seventy-four percent of UK executives surveyed by KPMG said they see Ireland as having one of the top three most competitive tax regimes. KPMG has published the findings of its Annual Survey of Tax Competitiveness 2016, which are based on interviews with 100 senior tax decision makers in the largest… – Continue reading
HMRC has launched a new hotline for the public to report fraud and evasion, replacing the existing two separate tax evasion and customs hotlines with one, in a bid to streamline information gathering on tax fraud. Individuals can report all kinds of tax fraud and evasion on the new hotline,… – Continue reading
Dedicated technical experts from the UK’s HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will visit all English Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premier League clubs over a three year period and review all compliance risks including payments to players, the government has said. The statement was made in Treasury Minutes containing the… – Continue reading
Hong Kong has signed agreements with Portugal and South Africa for conducting automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AEOI), a Government spokesman said today (April 3). “We have been seeking to expand Hong Kong’s AEOI network with our tax treaty partners. The signing of agreements with Portugal… – Continue reading
HMRC has launched its Making Tax Digital for business pilot to test out its new reporting system, with a year to go before businesses with turnovers above the VAT threshold are required to switch to digital records and provide quarterly summary updates from April 2019 This month HMRC says it… – Continue reading
The DTA clarifies the taxing rights on all forms of income flows arising from cross-border business activities and seeks to ensure such income is not taxed twice. The agreement provides that withholding taxes on dividends, interest, and royalties will generally not exceed seven percent. Withholding taxes on service fees will… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse Group AG (CS – Free Report) is facing money-laundering and tax-evasion investigations involving thousands of account holders. In addition to the homeland, the investigation covers the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, France and Australia. The probes were triggered after FIOD, the Dutch office for financial crimes prosecution, got a tip… – Continue reading
Citizens in G20 countries would prefer their government engage in international efforts to improve the functioning of international tax rules than compete for tax receipts, says a new survey. G20 public trust in tax, a report compiled by the ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), IFAC (the International Federation… – Continue reading
Financial institutions are working together to combat tax evasion, bribery and corruption through ISO certifications and the Common Reporting Standard. These are among the topics discussed in the spring 2017 issue of Deloitte’s quarterly publication, the Middle East Point of View (ME PoV). The spring 2017 issue tackles several hot… – Continue reading
Australian lawmakers have passed legislation to cut the company tax rate for SMEs. However, the Enterprise Tax Plan was only partially approved. On March 31, the Senate passed legislation to phase in three years of changes to the company tax system. The Government’s original proposals had covered a period of… – Continue reading
Hyderabad: Shell companies are becoming a common phenomenon globally and even in India. These companies are posing several challenges to governments and regulators for various reasons had been probing their involvement in large scale money laundering and tax avoidance cases. A shell company is a non-trading organisation that does not… – Continue reading
ANALYSIS: US-style deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) should be introduced in Scotland to deal with corporate offending, according to a recent report by the global Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Foreign bribery should attract significant penalties, and Scotland’s civil settlement regime is potentially too lenient, according to the report,… – Continue reading
Google says it paid 36.4m (AUD59.8m) in UK corporation tax in the last financial year, as the internet firm’s operations in this country remain mired in controversy. The US company, which was revealed early last year to have done a 130m (AUD213.7m) deal with the taxman covering 10 years of… – Continue reading
Move shows that Beijing is joining the global move against diversion of profits to low-tax jurisdictions Beijing on Saturday posted a new rule on scenarios that could trigger tax-avoidance investigations of multinationals, under¬lining its commitment to a global move to combat profit shifting. The new rule, posted on the website… – Continue reading
Denton warns people of the long-term implications of stripping down their pension A new double tax treaty (DTA) between the UK and the UAE, which becomes effective April 6, will allow UAE residents to access their UK pension free of UK income tax, according to an expert. David Denton, Head… – Continue reading
Singapore is home to the majority of the Rp 1,174-trillion assets overseas owned by Indonesians, which had been declared and repatriated to Indonesia under the Tax Amnesty program. Indonesia, GIVnews.com – Indonesia’s tax amnesty program has proven public claim that Singapore is a favorable place for wealthy Indonesians to store… – Continue reading
The Philippines is currently a signatory to 41 tax treaties that address double taxation situations. MANILA, Philippines – According to Philippine law, nonresidents with income sources in the Philippines are required to file taxes. For these individuals who reside in a different country but receive income from the Philippines, double… – Continue reading
There is a worrying perception of Barbados on as a tax haven, a view that is hampering the island’s status as a jurisdiction in which to do business, says President of the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) Gregory McConnie. Equally troubling, McConnie says, is that Barbados’ primary investing jurisdiction, Canada,… – Continue reading
Chile is leading a regional push across Latin America to clamp down on tax avoidance and profit-shifting by multinational and local firms, with the country’s tax authority making companies with interests and assets one of its priorities for inspections this year. Outlining its tax enforcement plan for 2017 on March… – Continue reading
1099 Pro now offers Common Reporting Standard software for CRS reporting as part of the OECD’s Automatic Exchange of Information for Tax Matters (AEoI) program. 1099 Pro, Inc., https://www.1099pro.com, known for over 25 years of Windows based product development for 1042-S, 1099, & FATCA reporting recently confirmed the upcoming release… – Continue reading
Multinational firms in South Korea tend to transfer much higher proportions of their revenues to their headquarters overseas in dividends and royalties than their Korean counterparts, an expert said Monday. Payments in royalties and dividends are categorized as expenses, which in turn lowers their reported earnings to the Korean authorities…. – Continue reading
New Zealand has asked taxpayers for input on countries that lack the safeguards to ensure information automatically exchanged under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) remains confidential. To comply with the new international tax information exchange standard developed by the OECD, the CRS, New Zealand must publish a list of jurisdictions… – Continue reading
For the second time in 14 months, Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras has lost a dispute over Brazil’s recognition of tax treaties. On March 24, a federal revenue service appeals court ruled against Petrobras in a $510 million case (16682.721067/2014-01) involving the company’s profits in the Netherlands for 2010. Although… – Continue reading
As a reaction to the so-called “Panama Papers” the German legislator proposed, on 30 December 2016, a draft bill to combat tax avoidance (so-called Steuerumgehungsbekämpfungsgesetz – StUmgBG). The aim of the draft bill is to enhance the German tax authorities’ means to determine and reveal EU-foreign domicile company structures which… – Continue reading
The OECD effort to rebuild the global tax system should focus on practical work that benefits the international tax community rather than trying to get as many countries as possible around the table, a former Treasury official said. The OECD’s so-called inclusive framework for implementing the four minimum standards of… – Continue reading
Venture capitalists, investors left unfazed Both President Trump and Capitol Hill Democrats head into negotiations over tax reform vowing to put the squeeze on hedge fund managers by closing the carried interest tax loophole — a point of agreement that held out promise for becoming a foundation for a once-in-a-generation… – Continue reading
Switzerland introduced the automatic exchange of information of data concerning bank customers at the beginning of this year. Swiss private banks now warn the government that the planned extension of the system to a further set of countries may endanger their wealthy clients in some of the highly corrupt partner… – Continue reading
Part 2: Transfer Pricing documentation requirements From 1 April 2017, BEPS action 13 guidelines on transfer pricing (TP) documentation will be effective in Sweden. Action 13 is an effort to make MNEs global financial situation more transparent. It is a three-tiered based approach including a master file, local files and… – Continue reading
Malta’s threat places it 20th out of 27 states, Pana Committee told Malta faces an annual €8 billion money laundering risk, according to figures quoted in a study presented to the European Parliament’s Pana committee. The committee, which visited Malta in February for a fact-finding mission on the island’s involvement… – Continue reading
Panama must continue to improve tax transparency and how it exchanges information relevant in tax matters to sustain growth in its economy, the International Monetary Fund has said. In the concluding statement for its Article IV visit, warned that the countries shift toward “increasing trade restrictions could lead to a… – Continue reading
Slovakia should tackle value-added tax and corporate tax evasion, the International Monetary Fund has said. In its annual report for the country, the Fund said that measures to target tax fraud and non-compliance have reduced the VAT gap – the amount lost compared with the theoretical maximum were the headline… – Continue reading
The federal government is considering doubling the tax rate applied to more than $199 billion worth of so-called stapled structures, in a move that experts say could scare off foreign investors. Separate securities, such as a share in a company and a unit in a trust, can be stapled together… – Continue reading
The Government has told US lawmakers that Ireland has closed down a loophole on stateless entities and is “doing exactly what you would want every country to do to avoid tax abuse”. Last January, the Oregon Department of Revenue made a recommendation that Ireland be included as a ‘listed jurisdiction’… – Continue reading
KARACHI: Tax authorities have sought banks’ assistance to curb tax evasion by flagging suspicious financial transactions, sources said on Friday. The source said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) asked banks to share with the board details of foreign trade, detected under anti-money laundering laws. “The purpose for obtaining the… – Continue reading
On 14 March 2017 the Parliament of Ukraine ratified the Convention between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg “On Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Income and Capital Tax Evasion” (the “Convention”) and a protocol to it (the “Protocol”). As we informed… – Continue reading
U.S. Rep. John Delaney has introduced two infrastructure funding bills — H.R. 1669 and H.R. 1670 — that good government groups say would further incentivize corporate tax dodging, reward the biggest multinational corporations for stashing their profits in offshore tax havens and replace one system riddled with tax loopholes with… – Continue reading
Online giant wins transfer pricing case against US Internal Revenue Service Amazon. com has won a tax dispute with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), involving more than $1.5 billion (€1.39 billion), in relation to the transactions of a Luxembourg unit more than a decade ago. Judge Albert Lauber of… – Continue reading
The New Zealand Law Society says that following discussions with Inland Revenue and the New Zealand Bankers’ Association it has now reached an understanding with Inland Revenue about application of FATCA to lawyers’ trusts accounts. FATCA is the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Its objective is to reduce… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is planning to make its Double Taxation Treaty Passport (DTTP) scheme available to all UK borrowers following a consultation on a legislative amendment. The DTTP scheme provides for Double Taxation Relief on UK loan interest payments made by a UK corporate borrower to overseas corporate… – Continue reading
Belgium should reduce its high corporate income and labor taxes and eliminate value-added tax (VAT) concessions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said in its Article IV report for the country. The report notes that Belgium intends to reduce its high personal income tax and social security contribution rates in… – Continue reading
Money will be used to hire more auditors and develop computer systems to “target high-risk international tax” evasion. Tax auditors and fraud investigators have been given more than half a billion dollars to pursue tax cheats, and the government expects them to collect five times that much in additional taxes…. – Continue reading
