ONE | A NEW LIBERAL GOVERNMENT Elected in October 2015, Canada’s new Liberal government has proposed a tax platform featuring significant changes, including a four per cent increase (to 33 per cent) in the federal tax rate for individuals on income over C$200,000 and a 1.5 per cent drop in… – Continue reading
An Inter-Governmental Agreement between India and USA was signed for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Government of India has also joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) for Automatic Exchange of Information as per Common Reporting Standard (CRS). For implementation of FATCA and CRS, necessary legislative… – Continue reading
On January 1, 2016, the new standard for automatic exchange of information between tax authorities developed by the OECD (the “Common Reporting Standard”) becomes effective in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, Jersey and a number of other jurisdictions that are part of the “Early Adopters Group.”… – Continue reading
On 18 December 2015, the Regulations implementing the OECD Common Reporting Standard (“CRS“) in Ireland were approved by the Irish Parliament. This update follows on from previous updates published by Maples and Calder Dublin on CRS and US FATCA and outlines the practical next steps for Irish investment funds and… – Continue reading
The Irish Revenue has released a new brief detailing the impact on Irish paying agents of the European Union’s decision to replace the Savings Tax Directive with legislation providing for the automatic exchange of tax information. On November 10, the European Council repealed Directive 2003/48/EC on the taxation of savings… – Continue reading
On Nov. 18, 2015, reforms to the Mexican Income Tax Law (MITL), Tax Code, Excise Tax and Federal Income Law for 2016 (collectively, the Tax Reform) were published in the Federal Gazette. The Tax Reform reestablishes measures to promote savings and increase incentives for doing business in Mexico, some of… – Continue reading
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) have published updated joint guidance for insurers and financial advisers on the tax information requirements for new customers following changes to UK tax regulations. The new requirements are intended to ensure that the UK can exchange… – Continue reading
The Irish Revenue Commissioners have confirmed that the necessary statutory instrument to bring the final common reporting standard (CRS) regulations into Irish domestic law was signed 17 December 2015 and is effective 31 December 2015. Other recent developments concerning the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) regimes, include the publication of… – Continue reading
All insurers to undertake a value search for new accounts opened after Sept 1 and up to Oct 31 by Dec 31 Insurance regulator Irdai has directed all insurers to register and submit information to CBDT for compliance with the obligations under Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) – Common… – Continue reading
The start date for the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) in early adopting countries is approaching fast, with financial institutions required to begin new account on-boarding procedures from 1 January 2016. CRS requires financial institutions in participating jurisdictions to identify account holders who are tax resident in other participating jurisdictions and… – Continue reading
On Tuesday 15 December, Deloitte Luxembourg gathered around 150 business professionals from various sectors at Utopolis to this year’s last episode of the conference cycle covering the full spectrum of the Common Reporting Standards (CRS). While cinema technicians were preparing the premiere of the new Star Wars movie next door,… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (TIA), on December 8, 2015 provided the following implementation updates for the Common Reporting Standard (CRS): 1. Updated Self-Certification Forms ( Individual and Entity) for compliance with CRS, U.S. and U.K. FATCA, which should be used by Cayman Islands funds. From January 1 onwards,… – Continue reading
On December 17, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) issued an explanatory memorandum on the 2015 Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill (TALAB). In particular, the memorandum looks at the TALAB provisions giving effect to the collection of information from South African financial institutions (FIs), and the associated obligation on the… – Continue reading
The Protocol amending the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters will lead to substantially more transnational identity theft, crime, industrial espionage, financial fraud, and the suppression of political opponents and religious or ethnic minorities by authoritarian and corrupt governments. It puts Americans’ private financial information at risk…. – Continue reading
The Markets Supervision Directorate of the Central Bank published its programme of themed-inspections for 2016. These inspections reflect a number of supervisory priorities for 2016 and anticipate areas of emerging risk. This programme builds on the successful supervisory work undertaken in 2015 in the areas of Cyber Security, Operational Risk… – Continue reading
On 16 October 2015, the Cayman Islands Government issued new regulations with respect to a global initiative on the automatic exchange of information (“AEOI“) and the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS“), established to improve tax transparency in the increasingly globalised world. Links to the Tax Information Authority Law (2014 Revision) and… – Continue reading
The Bundesrat (upper house of the German parliament) approved the Law on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (Finanzkonten-Informationsaustauschgesetz) on 18 December 2015. Financial institutions face new reporting obligations and duties of care under this law. The new legislation requires financial institutions to provide the German Federal Central Tax… – Continue reading
2016 Compliance Update For the past few years, FATCA has dominated the international tax compliance landscape. As that regime continues to be phased-in, a new regime – the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) – will begin to be implemented around the world. CRS, sometimes referred to as “Global FATCA,” will expand… – Continue reading
Where it happens does not matter. Portugal or overseas, whether its rental income, bank interest, bond yields, dividends, or even gains from the sale of a property, such personal financial information will be automatically shared from 1st January 2016. For many who have undergone financial planning, or have been involved… – Continue reading
Where it happens does not matter. Portugal or overseas, whether its rental income, bank interest, bond yields, dividends, or even gains from the sale of a property, such personal financial information will be automatically shared from 1st January 2016. For many who have undergone financial planning, or have been involved… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands (along with the United Kingdom, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, the British Virgin Islands and over 70 other countries) has committed to implementing the OECD Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”), which will require investment funds to collect tax identification and tax residency information from all new subscribers and transferees (including… – Continue reading
Fifty-three jurisdictions have agreed to automatic exchange of tax information beginning in 2017, under the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard. Over 40 others have committed to exchange information by 2018. Another wave of global tax information is about to take place, and financial institutions everywhere are in a race to prepare… – Continue reading
On 7 December 2015 the Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (the “TIA”) published a list of 95 participating jurisdictions (see Schedule below) pursuant to The Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations, 2015 (the “Regulations”) and the Cayman Islands FATCA/CRS Working Group (the “Working Group”) distributed self-certification… – Continue reading
Over 90 jurisdictions have committed to the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS), creating comprehensive global automatic information exchange for financial assets and the entities through which such assets may be held. Over 70 jurisdictions have signed the OECD’s Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement, which implements the CRS. The CRS is scheduled… – Continue reading
The common reporting standard framework was first released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (the “OECD”) in February 2014 as a result of significant political will demonstrated by the G20 members to endorse a global model of automatic exchange of information and increase international tax transparency. On 21… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg Parliament unanimously passed legislation that would transpose into domestic law an EU directive concerning the automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation (a directive known as “DAC 2”). The DAC 2 provides that EU Member States are to require financial institutions to implement reporting and due… – Continue reading
Summary In the March 2015 Budget the Chancellor announced tough new sanctions for tax evasion, intended to have a deterrent effect. After a period of consultation, the intention to proceed with these measures was confirmed in the 2015 Autumn Statement. In summary, the measures to be implemented are: A new… – Continue reading
Tax payers are more concerned about the invasion of their privacy rather than an investigation into their tax affairs Tax payers have just over a fortnight left to voluntarily utilise the favourable terms of the Lichtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) before it is closed on 31 December 2015. It will be… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that the OECD has responded to a request from the European Commission to include additional fields in the common reporting standard (CRS) XML schema. The EC request was made so as to further the work of the European Commission and the… – Continue reading
On 10 December 2015, the Belgian Parliament voted – in plenary session – the bill “on the communication of information relating to financial accounts, by Belgian financial institutions and the Federal Public Authority of Finance, within the framework of an automatic exchange of information at international level for tax purposes”…. – Continue reading
The BVI Business Companies Act 2004 (“BCA“) is shortly due to be amended by the BVI Business Companies (Amendment) Act 2015 (the “Amendment Act”). As well as keeping the British Virgin Islands (“BVI“) corporate regime at the forefront of compliance with international standards, the Amendment Act is intended to provide… – Continue reading
The US has refused to join the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) which binds banks to share information about assets with tax services of other countries. Switzerland has accused the US of double standards and abuse of confidence. On May 6, 2014, 47 countries agreed on a common reporting standard, an… – Continue reading
Many jurisdictions have agreed to implement the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s multilateral system of automatic exchange of information called the “Common Reporting Standard” (CRS). In furtherance of its objectives, the CRS imposes a variety of diligence and reporting requirements on “financial institutions,” which includes many master funds, offshore… – Continue reading
Come 2017, tax information on all foreign nationals holding bank accounts or other financial holdings in Cayman will be automatically shared with tax authorities in their home countries when the Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters convention kicks in. Maples, in a Cayman Islands Automatic Exchange of Information update statement… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man has signed a tax information exchange agreement with Spain, reports the Isle of Man Today. It’s part of what the Manx government calls its ‘continuing commitment to meet international standards in tax co-operation and transparency’. The agreement was signed by Mr José Manuel Gutiérrez Delgado, Financial… – Continue reading
Data from the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) confirms that voluntary disclosures (“VDs”) of offshore assets, gains and income hit record levels in 2015. This proliferation of VDs is attributable to various factors, including increased public awareness of: international tax compliance issues through media reports; the CRA’s Offshore Tax Informant Program;… – Continue reading
New legislation brings the possibility of jail sentences for those who aren’t upfront with HMRC about assets held overseas A new criminal offence is due to hit the statute book next year under which people who engage in tax evasion abroad could get a criminal record, fines and a jail… – Continue reading
We have on several occasions fingered Panama as a particularly recalcitrant secrecy jurisdiction: our recent Panama Narrative Report spills a fair number of beans in that respect. Its recalcitrance is perhaps hardly surprising, given the quantity of Colombian and Mexican drugs money believed to be sheltered there – to name… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (“TIA“) has issued an advisory addressing several points of note regarding the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS“) in the Cayman Islands. Updated Self-Certification Forms The TIA has published new entity and individual self-certification forms which address the account holder disclosure requirements under each of CRS,… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (“TIA“) has issued an advisory to confirm that the limited life debt investment entity (“LLDIE“) exemption established under FATCA has been extended in the Cayman Islands to the OECD Common Reporting Standard (“CRS“).1 As such, a Cayman Islands LLDIE has been designated as a… – Continue reading
On 1 December 2015, the Income Tax (Approved International Agreements) (Implementation) (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations 2015 came into operation. The regulations implement the Council of Europe–OECD Mutual Assistance Treaty (1988) (as amended through 2010), under which, in order to improve international tax compliance, information will be automatically exchanged in accordance… – Continue reading
Thirteen jurisdictions signed the OECD Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) at a meeting on October 29-30, 2015, in Barbados. In joining the MCAA, the territories commit to automatically exchange tax information with other nations’ tax authorities under the OECD’s new tax information exchange standard, the Common Reporting Standard. A total… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands Ministry of Financial Services’ Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC) on 8 December 2015 issued an industry advisory regarding the ongoing implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) in the Cayman Islands. The advisory issued two new templates; the entity self-certification form and the individual self-certification form… – Continue reading
Legislative amendments to the Tax Administration Act were affected in the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, 2015, in order to implement a scheme under which SARS may require South African financial institutions to collect information under the OECD Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, which… – Continue reading
The Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) was introduced in September 2009 to allow UK taxpayers to make the disclosure of offshore assets not subject to taxation. However, in the budget of March 2015, it was announced that the LDF facility and the disclosure to the Crown dependencies start to a close… – Continue reading
The Dutch Ministry of Finance published a draft decree for implementing the “common reporting standard” (CRS) and that includes the identification and reporting requirements contained in the CRS for reporting financial institutions. The CRS, developed by the OECD and largely based on FATCA, is a standard that governs the exchange… – Continue reading
As part of the Isle of Man Government’s continuing commitment to meet international standards in tax co-operation and transparency, a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) has been signed with Spain. The agreement was signed by Mr José Manuel Gutiérrez Delgado, Financial Counsellor of the Embassy of Spain to the UK,… – Continue reading
Only time will tell whether the benefit of enhanced compliance and effective enforcement will outweigh the costs. The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is a new international system for the automatic exchange of tax information promoted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and modelled on the United States’… – Continue reading
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued draft regulations to require certain financial institutions (FIs) to report on accounts held or controlled by foreign residents. The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which the regulations are in response to, obliges countries and jurisdictions to obtain financial information from their FIs… – Continue reading
The Australian Government has introduced legislation to implement the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Common Reporting Standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information. Treasurer Scott Morrison said: “The Standard will assist the tax office to crack down on taxpayers hiding funds and investments offshore in order… – Continue reading
