Category: Tax Laws

US IRS begins FATCA crackdown

After years of deliberation and debate spanning two administrations, the Tax Information Exchange (United States of America) Bill, 2016, also known as the Foreign Account Taxpayer Compliance (FATCA) Bill was passed in the Senate on March 7, 2017. This following its unanimous passage in the House of Representatives, two weeks… – Continue reading

Pakistan, Bulgaria sign double taxation treaty

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Bulgaria on Tuesday signed an agreement to get rid of double taxation and cooperate in preventing tax evasion as a state delegation from the European Union member country concluded its two days visit. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Director General and Deputy Minister of Economy Bulgaria… – Continue reading

Greenville County Councilman billed $55K in back property taxes on Anderson lake house

The Anderson County Assessor’s Office this month discovered that a Greenville County leader who owns a home on Hartwell Lake in Anderson underpaid by about $3,900 a year on his property taxes between 2009 and 2018. Calling it an oversight, Greenville County Councilman Ennis Fant said he would work with… – Continue reading

Delta Corp. sees shares sell-off over possible government action

India gaming giant Delta Corp. saw a substantial selloff if its shares last week after reports started surfacing that the country’s government could be investigating the company for possible tax evasion. Only on Friday, the amount of shares dropped 12% as shareholders became nervous and started looking at ways to… – Continue reading

Tax authorities mount raids on 19 German banks and houses

Investigation is linked to Panama Papers and part of money laundering allegations Eleven banks and eight private homes and offices across Germany have been raided by police and tax investigators as part of a wide-ranging investigation into tax evasion. The raids, which began at dawn on Wednesday and went on… – Continue reading

Kamal says fully foreign-owned cos no more to be allowed

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that the foreign companies will be required to have local partners for doing business in Bangladesh as the government wants to bring them under the tax net. ‘No foreign company can do business alone here any longer,’ he told reporters on Thursday after… – Continue reading

UK – HMRC WINS TWO TAX AVOIDANCE CASES OVER USE OF OFFSHORE TRUSTS

The HMRC has successfully argued two cases in the First-tier Tribunal involving the use of offshore trusts to avoid tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs). The case was brought against Hyrax Resourcing Limited and Curzon Capital Limited. The Tribunal decided in both cases that the disguised remuneration arrangements being promoted… – Continue reading

Cyprus and Kazakhstan sign Double Taxation Convention

The Republic of Cyprus and Kazakhstan signed on Wednesday a Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and for the combating of Tax Evasion with respect to taxes on income. According to a press release issued by the Public Information Office, the Convention was signed in Nursultan, Kazakhstan, by the… – Continue reading

FIRS Vows to Eliminate Multiple Taxation

Obinna Chima The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler, has restated the agency’s commitment to eliminating multiple taxation in the country. Fowler said this at a tax breakfast seminar with the theme: “Tax Controversy and Dispute Resolution,’ organised by KPMG Nigeria in Lagos, recently. According to… – Continue reading

Tax amnesty to regularize undeclared assets approved by Pakistan cabinet

Only a million people out of a population of more than 208 million pay income tax in Pakistan Recently signed IMF bailout plan requires government to squeeze around $5 billion in extra taxes ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government on Tuesday announced a new tax amnesty scheme aimed at broadening the government’s revenue… – Continue reading

Wolfsberg Group Publishes Guidance on Customer Tax Evasion

Financial institutions should be able to leverage existing financial crime compliance, conduct and tax (including tax transparency regimes) procedures and controls, to address the risks of customer tax evasion. The Wolfsberg Group has published new guidance on customer tax evasion, designed to help financial institutions in developing, implementing and maintaining… – Continue reading

Taxing times for SMEs

Globalisation of the economy has resulted in a shift in the way Singapore corporations operate – from local country-specific business models, to global integrated supply chains which centralise functions at a regional or global level. Singapore, in particular is a popular location to house regional and global operations, due to… – Continue reading

Tax Incentive Bill Clashes With Property Tax Relief In Legislature

A proposal for new corporate tax incentives butted heads with a desire for property tax relief in the Legislature Wednesday. Nebraska’s current corporate tax incentives, the so-called Nebraska Advantage program, expires next year. So Sen. Mark Kolterman said it’s important to put a new program in place. “The time is… – Continue reading

‘Fundamentally wrong’ stamp duty surcharge on non-residents will ‘dampen market’

The government’s proposed surcharge on non-resident property buyers offers real reasons for concern. John Goodchild takes out his stamp duty calculator to explain The government proposes to introduce a stamp duty (SDLT) surcharge on non-UK residents (both individuals and non-natural persons) purchasing residential property in England. The proposed level of… – Continue reading

Govt Approves Tax Certificate Reply To Oecd

The government has approved the creation of tax residency certificates for permanent residents so they can prove compliance with other countries’ laws, a Cabinet Minister said yesterday. Brent Symonette, minister of financial services, trade and industry and Immigration, told the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Caribbean Conference that… – Continue reading

Kuwait, Iraq ink several cooperation agreements

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti-Iraqi joint committee held its seventh session in Kuwait on Sunday under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and Iraqi Foreign Minister Dr Mohammad Ali Al-Hakim. The session resulted in the signing of a number of agreements, memorandums… – Continue reading

Non-resident capital gains tax on UK commercial property ‘could block overseas investment’ – expert view

The Government’s changes to the tax treatment of overseas investment in UK commercial property will increase revenues in the short term but might prove short-sighted, write Craig Hughes and Russell Dickie There is, as they say, no place like home. However, in recent years, solid and steady capital growth and… – Continue reading

48 KRA officers wanted for bribery, tax evasion

48 Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials were Monday morning expected at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu road for questioning. The individuals include 32 officers from KRA’s Domestic Taxes Department, 15 from the Customs and Border Control Department and one from the Investigations and Enforcement Department. They… – Continue reading

Court of BiH confirmed the Indictment to One Person for Tax Evasion in Amount of Half a Million BAM

On 11 February 2019 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the indictment in the case of Selman Husejin et al. charging the accused Selman Husejin with the continued criminal offense of Tax Evasion or Fraud under Article 210(4) as read with Paragraph 1, and Article 54 of the Criminal… – Continue reading

German gov’ts to have less-than-expected tax revenue in coming years

BERLIN, May 9 (Xinhua) — According to current tax estimates, the German federal, state and local governments will have 124.3 billion euros (139.5 billion U.S. dollars) less to spend by 2023 than previously predicted, the Federal Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday. According to the German finance ministry, expectations about… – Continue reading

Number of tax return filers increases to hit record 1.96 million

KARACHI: Number of tax return filers has increased around seven percent year-over-year to hit the record 1.96 million for the tax year 2018 as the government extended the deadline of filing three times to April 30, sources said on Wednesday. The FBR received 1,963,348 returns by April 30, 2019, which… – Continue reading

FBR documents Rs75 billion properties under amnesty scheme in July-March

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has documented Rs75 billion worth of properties during the first nine months of the current fiscal year of 2018/19 under a tax amnesty scheme; although the revenue collection fell a quarter year-on-year on uncertainty about the concessions, sources said on Tuesday The sources… – Continue reading

Philippine FIU Seeks an End to Bank Secrecy Law

The AML Council is seeking additional powers to combat financial crime, including the lifting of the bank secrecy law, which would allow it to check all accounts regardless of transaction thresholds. The Philippine AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) is seeking additional powers to combat financial crime as part of the BSP… – Continue reading

A perspective on tax amnesty

Tax amnesty is defines as “grant of an opportunity to a specific class of society to declare their undeclared assets by payment of a meagre amount of tax in addition to grant of immunity from default surcharge, penalties and prosecution”. It is introduced by the governments to fulfill the slogan… – Continue reading

Metro Vancouver developer and builder sentenced for tax evasion

A developer and builder based in Anmore has been found guilty of tax evasion and making false statements under the Income Tax Act, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced on Friday. According to the CRA, Willi Isaak was sentenced to pay a $23,100 fine, after being found guilty on two… – Continue reading

Tax cheats no longer safe from Australian Taxation Office

The good old days of buying and acquiring cryptocurrency without having to worry about government intervention have come to an end. This is the case in Australia, where cryptocurrency investors will likely soon receive a letter from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) informing them that they owe back taxes on… – Continue reading

British American Tobacco shifts nearly $1bn out of developing countries into one UK office

For every dollar British American Tobacco (BAT) paid in tax in the countries it operates in, the giant multinational shifted more than half a dollar that would have been taxed locally to a UK subsidiary where BAT paid almost no tax. New analysis by the Tax Justice Network estimates Bangladesh,… – Continue reading

India notifies pact with US to check tax evasion by MNCs

As per the agreement, it is intended to provide relevant and reliable information to perform an efficient and robust transfer pricing risk assessment analysis. Aimed at providing relief to subsidiaries of US multinationals and ensuring a check on cross-border tax evasion, India has notified the inter-governmental agreement with the United… – Continue reading

Int’l group to finalize digital tax plan in 2020

Objective is to limit ability of multinational corporations to book taxes in countries with lowest tax rates BERLIN A global effort to revamp international tax rules for the digital economy will be completed by the end of 2020, said the secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)…. – Continue reading

PSX recommends CGT exemption for foreign investors in next fiscal year

—Says exemption to facilitate capital inflow by relaxing account opening, registration process ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in its proposals for budget 2019-2020 has recommended exemption of capital gain tax (CGT) on disposal of securities by foreign investors. Budget proposals for next fiscal year 2019-20, available with Pakistan Today,… – Continue reading