Governments around the world are losing as much as half a trillion US dollars (£400 billion) a year in tax revenue due to so-called “profit shifting” by multinational companies, according to research. The research published by the Tax Justice Network found that poorer countries were hardest-hit by the practice, which… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: After Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar took a ‘principled stand’, Pakistani and Swiss authorities are scheduled to ink a revised convention on avoidance of double taxation agreement today (Tuesday) here in the federal capital, enabling the Pakistani authorities to get information about dirty untaxed money of $200 billion… – Continue reading
Swiss bank, UBS Group AG UBS , and its French unit will be facing a trial in France against allegations that the bank helped its clients in that country to evade taxes. Notably, a five-year probe into such allegations was closed last year. Following this, the prosecutor’s office was supposed… – Continue reading
A tax credit loophole slated for elimination in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal has already cost the state $27 million over the past four years, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit loophole has allowed several hundred state tax filers each year to claim the… – Continue reading
The European Parliament’s Panama Papers investigative committee is preparing for a “fact-finding” visit with counterparts in the U.S. Congress, as well as officials from the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service. The European Union lawmakers’ four-day U.S. trip, which begins March 21, will include a visit to Delaware for meetings… – Continue reading
The 2017 Finance Bill was published on Monday 20 March, introducing dozens of initiatives with a focus on improving and modernising the tax system The Treasury said the bill, which is over 700 pages in length, “continues the government’s crackdown on tax avoidance” and “improves the fairness of the tax… – Continue reading
Multinational companies are now paying tax based on their Australian profits instead of shifting income to low-tax countries, officials say. CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA—Facebook, Google and other multinational companies are now paying tax in Australia based on their Australian profits instead of shifting income to low-tax countries since the government cracked down… – Continue reading
Treasurer Scott Morrison will launch a fresh attack on tax avoidance this week in Parliament in a bid to get the so-called “Google Tax” pushed through and shift public attention towards the Coalition’s record on multinational tax crackdowns. The Diverted Profits Tax is due to be debated this week, almost… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Stockmarkets cannot be allowed to be misused by manipulators for evasion of taxes and the BSE has put in place a strong surveillance mechanism to check any such misdeeds, the exchange’s CEO Ashish Chauhan has said. He also urged the government to have a fresh relook at the… – Continue reading
The OECD and the International Monetary Fund have submitted to the Group of Twenty (G-20) nations a report on improving tax certainty for businesses. The report follows a global survey of more than 700 large, multinational businesses and a survey of 25 advanced nation tax administrations. The report highlights several… – Continue reading
German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries has said Germany could begin legal action against the US if the Border Adjustment Tax (BAT) is introduced. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk on March 17, 2017, Zypries was asked how Germany would respond if the US were to introduce the measure, which was included… – Continue reading
A committee of the UK’s upper house of Parliament has called on the Government to further delay its Making Tax Digital plans until 2020. Under Making Tax Digital, the Government will require taxpayers with a turnover exceeding GBP10,000 (USD12,370) to maintain digital accounts. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Spring… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The recent changes in the India and South Korea Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation provides recourse to taxpayers of both countries to apply for Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) in respect of transfer pricing disputes, and also to apply for bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APA) for APA period beginning… – Continue reading
Property buyers will be quizzed about their tax residency under new anti-money-laundering rules being introduced by Westpac and its subsidiaries St George Bank, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA. Mortgage brokers, who act as intermediaries between the banks and buyers, are being told that from this week they must also ask… – Continue reading
Beware of the dreaded inheritance tax and changes to it from April 2017! Approximately 1.3 million Britons now live in Australia and Brexit may only increase this number! Many think that moving to Australia means they no longer need to worry about UK tax, but often they are not fully… – Continue reading
The Caribbean Community is looking at spending nearly quarter of a million dollars on a Washington-based consultant to lobby the Trump administration about the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act. Cayman appears unlikely, however, to be affected by any lobbying – or even FATCA repeal – in the wake of last… – Continue reading
Value added tax is likely to be an irrecoverable cost, negatively affecting margins for the banking sector Dubai: The UAE and GCC banks that are facing increased regulatory burden from Basel III capital requirements and International Reporting Standards 9 (IFRS 9) are expected to face further pressure in terms of… – Continue reading
AMMAN — Addressing tax evasion efficiently has become of vital importance to the state budget and the overall economy in light of Jordan’s current economic conditions, experts agreed on Saturday. Participants in a panel, organised by the Jordan Transparency Society, agreed on the need for stricter inspections and more awareness… – Continue reading
(HP) A new law which was voted last month is set to ensure an exclusive residence permit in Luxembourg to high net worth investors, entrepreneurs and talent from outside the European Union. Due to be published early June, the draft law introduces five new residence permits, putting in place new… – Continue reading
You might have thought you have enough on your plate getting to grips with anti-money laundering rules closely followed by FATCA – but it’s not over yet! Next off the block is the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (AEOI). The AEOI, which we first provided an… – Continue reading
Hong Kong has signed agreements with six jurisdictions to automatically exchange financial account information in tax matters. The agreements expand Hong Kong’s Automatic Exchange Of Information (AEOI) network to include Belgium, Canada, Guernsey, Italy, Mexico, and the Netherlands. These countries join Japan, Korea, and the UK as “reportable jurisdictions” for… – Continue reading
Recently,Ghana signed an agreement with the government of Mauritius to ensure that its investors will not be taxed twice by the two countries. Apart from that there are other countries that have such an agreement with Ghana. Ghana uses the instrumentality of Double Taxation Agreements (DTA) to rationalize the tax… – Continue reading
With hardly a fortnight left for the end of the financial year 2016-17, the March 31 deadline remains sacrosanct for several tax-related matters. Leaving things to the last minute has its own share of risks. So, keep a 2-4 days buffer to finish all tax-related tasks. Picture this: A taxpayer… – Continue reading
PETALING JAYA, Mar 15 (Sin Chew Daily) — Local taxation expert Koong Lin Loong said the Internal Revenue Department’s target was not wealthy people but tax evaders. “Whether a person is evading tax is normally assessed with the ten-point criteria, and assets of unidentified origins will be their focus of… – Continue reading
Spain could make its tax system more efficient by scrapping income tax exemptions and by increasing value-added tax and environmental taxes, a new report from the OECD says. The OECD’s latest Economic Survey for Spain added the country should reduce employer social security contributions for low-wage workers on permanent contracts… – Continue reading
Preventing tax fraud and stopping multinationals from seeking out tax havens are important issues for Poland and will be discussed at a G20 summit later this week, Polish Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said. “We want medium-sized countries as well as smaller countries, which we represent … not to be… – Continue reading
Washington’s Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act, known as FATCA, will be assailed afresh as lawyers and lobbyists renew efforts to repeal the law as part of President Donald Trump’s tax reform. Washington-based Jim Jatras, a Republican and co-leader of the Campaign to Repeal FATCA, says “lots is happening,” and his… – Continue reading
Last November, the High Court’s decisions in Bywater Investments and Hua Wang Bank (Bywater) confirmed that a number of companies incorporated overseas were nevertheless Australian resident for tax because they “carried on business” and had their “central management and control” (CM&C) in Australia. The facts were extreme: the primary judge… – Continue reading
A section of the president’s 2005 tax return revealed that about 85% of what he paid the IRS was incurred due to ‘alternative minimum tax’ Donald Trump’s leaked tax return reveals that the businessman had to pay tens of millions of dollars in a single year because of a tax… – Continue reading
Dubai,, till now considered a tax haven , has decided to share information of the bank accounts in the UAE with the Indian government starting next year. This has sent jitters among several Indians, who are rushing to hide their undeclared wealth stashed abroad. From January 2018, the UAE will… – Continue reading
Three BBC newsreaders are fighting attempts by HM Revenue & Customs to make pay back nearly £1m in unpaid income tax and national insurance. The Financial Times reports the three presenters – Joanna Gosling, David Eades and Tim Willcox – claim they were forced to set up personal service companies,… – Continue reading
The Swiss government plans to bolster group financing activities by amending its withholding tax ordinance to exempt interest payments for certain intra-group loans. The goal of the amendment is to encourage Swiss-based multinational companies to pursue targeted financing activities in Switzerland rather than abroad, according to a March 10 news… – Continue reading
Gautam Adani’s Australian entity will reportedly be shifting nearly Rs 150 billion from its Carmichael mine in Queensland to a secretive entity based in a tax haven. An analysis of the company’s findings done by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation shows that the company will be shifting up to 3 billion… – Continue reading
Italian and Swiss tax authorities have signed an accord to improve the exchange of information to fight tax evasion, the Italian economy ministry said on Tuesday. The agreement took effect at the start of this month and aims to further enhance transparency following a previous accord which was introduced last… – Continue reading
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has on 24th January 2017 issued final guidelines for determination of “Place of effective management”(POEM). On 27th of January, again CBDT released clarifications on “General Anti Avoidance Regulations” (GAAR). POEM is effective April 01,2016 whereas GAAR is effective from April 01,2017.POEM can be… – Continue reading
The LuxLeaks and Panama Papers scandals aroused shock and outrage the world over. However, reaction from Central and Eastern European statesmen and citizens was decidedly more muted. A new report has suggested profit shifting and tax dodging by businesses in the region is endemic – perhaps accounting for the lack… – Continue reading
The new regulations expand the filing requirements for Form 5472 to include disregarded entities with foreign owners when there are certain reportable transactions. If a non-U.S. person (individual or corporation) owns 100 percent of the stock of a U.S. corporate subsidiary, the subsidiary needs to obtain an employer identification number… – Continue reading
The Portuguese parliament voted unanimously to pass a draft law by the Left Bloc that makes it mandatory to publish the annual total and destinations of transfers to offshore accounts, regardless of any ministerial decisions. Tax office statistics with the amounts transferred to offshore accounts were not published between 2011… – Continue reading
The repeal or delay to tax increases in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will “overwhelmingly benefit high-income households,” according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Centre (TPC). The House Ways and Means Committee has already approved the Republican’s proposals to repeal elements of ACA, commonly known as Obamacare. The TPC estimates… – Continue reading
A tax tribunal has ruled against a stamp duty land tax (SDLT) avoidance scheme used by Crest Nicholson, one of the UK’s largest house builders, meaning it will have to pay the £1.3m it owes. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) challenged the artificial and complex arrangements made by the FTSE… – Continue reading
Former Prime Minister and Coordinator of Naya Shakti Party Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai, has said that the offshore deal to transfer 80 percent of the shares in Ncell was an attempt to evade taxes. “Attempts have been made to evade tax by not registering share transfer information at the Office of… – Continue reading
It’s unlikely that RCM will be there for agricultural produce such as fruit, vegetables or cereals In services and goods prone to tax evasion, there will be a mechanism under the proposed goods and services tax (GST) regime to make buyers or receivers liable to pay the tax, instead of… – Continue reading
The government’s plan to issue a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) concerning banking transparency, which includes allowing the tax authority to access taxpayers’ bank data, has sparked hot public debate. The proponents argue that such an initiative is critical, outlining the fact that the government has to comply with… – Continue reading
Tax reform is widely expected under the Trump administration by the corporate tax executives polled by BDO USA in a new survey. BDO’s 2017 Tax Outlook Survey polled 100 tax executives at public companies across the U.S., and found that 100 percent of the surveyed tax executives believe tax reform… – Continue reading
A significant cut to the dividend tax allowance announced in the UK Budget will not deter people from incorporating their own business to take advantage of lower corporation tax rates, the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has said. The Government will reduce the tax-free dividend allowance, which affects owner managers… – Continue reading
Ghana has signed an agreement with the government of Mauritius to ensure that its investors will not be taxed twice by the two countries and vice-versa. Known as the Double Taxation Avoidance agreement (DTA), the both Foreign Affairs ministers Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Mauritius counterpart Hon SeetanahLutchmeenaraidoo signed the agreement… – Continue reading
The new scanners by Kenya Revenue Authority at entry points has helped curb a multi-million-shilling tax evasion racket. The crooks had used all ways to beat the authority’s system to import luxury cars declared as toys or bicycles; scrap batteries that turned out to be Kenyan tea for export and… – Continue reading
With the April 18 tax filing deadline almost a month away, the US Internal Revenue Service has reminded taxpayers to ensure the security of their personal, financial, and tax information. In the sixth in a series of 10 IRS tips called the Tax Time Guide, designed to help taxpayers navigate… – Continue reading
Luxembourg should seek to widen the tax base while ensuring that its corporate tax regime continues to meet international best standards, says the International Monetary Fund. It said that the country could improve its reputation by “promptly transposing” the EU’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive into national law and continuing to implement… – Continue reading
It says anyone who has been involved in designing or overseeing tax-avoidance schemes using charities would be unlikely to pass the test People who have been involved in designing or overseeing schemes to avoid tax using charities are likely to be prevented from taking up senior roles in charities, according… – Continue reading
