Hong Kong published two bills in its Official Gazette on December 29 to introduce provisions to counter base erosion and profit shifting and to alter its business tax regime. The bills are to be tabled before the Legislative Council on January 10, 2018, and must pass through three readings before… – Continue reading
‘Globes Israel’ claims that a secret department was set up in France’s tax authority specifically to investigate French Jews for tax evasion. The French have set up a secret department within their tax authority that employs 20 Hebrew speakers in order to find out if Jews are trying to evade… – Continue reading
BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) — China’s foreign exchange regulator on Saturday toughened the rules on overseas cash withdrawals from personal bank cards to curb money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a circular that the total amount of overseas cash withdrawals… – Continue reading
Estonia is expected to get a 100-to-one-euro return on investment for its e-Residency program, which lets anybody start a business from afar. It is even planning to launch ‘estcoins,’ its own cryptocurrency. Becoming a ‘digital resident’ of Estonia, Michael M. Richardson says, was “as easy as getting a fishing license… – Continue reading
A 10% tax that China has slapped exclusively on foreign companies’ profits from equity investments will temporarily be waved if the earnings are plowed into government-targeted sectors, according to a statement issued Thursday by four central government ministries. The move will help retain foreign investment and stabilize cross-border capital flows,… – Continue reading
As part of the Cayman Islands’ ongoing commitment to international tax transparency, the Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (Country-By-Country Reporting) Regulations, 2017 (the “CBCR Regulations“) were issued on 15 December 2017. The CBCR Regulations essentially implement in the Cayman Islands the model legislation published pursuant to the OECD’s Base… – Continue reading
Namibia has 18 months to sort out “tax haven mess” – EU Namibia has 18 months, up to June 2019 to comply with the European Union (EU) demand that it joins the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax purposes and to sign, ratify and participate in… – Continue reading
Today the European Parliament releases a list of recommendations to crack down on tax evasion. Following evidence of tax avoidance in both the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, the EU has steadily moved to crack down on tax evaders. In December alone, the EU blacklisted 17 countries with lax… – Continue reading
MANILA, Dec. 20 – President Duterte has instructed the Department of Finance (DOF) to ensure the effective implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), and to immediately submit to Congress the Package Two of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) in the early 2018, which aims… – Continue reading
A number of trends are converging, and U.S. tax reform will make navigating them more complex. Those handling international M&A tax planning are facing two sets of challenges that require more proactive tax planning across the board. The first is the tightening fiscal net around the structure and financing of… – Continue reading
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said “Tonnage tax systems are meant to promote the competitiveness of the EU shipping industry in a global market without unduly distorting competition. I am pleased that Malta committed to adapt its tonnage tax system to achieve this. Moreover, by encouraging the… – Continue reading
European finance ministers are worried. They say the United States’ big tax reform bill contains measures that would unfairly disadvantage European business and contravene global fair-taxation rules. Are they right? Last week, the finance ministers of Europe’s five biggest economies — Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy — wrote… – Continue reading
Offshore tax havens conjure up a wonderland for the well-heeled and their wealth. But investigations based on the Paradise Papers leak has found that millions of ordinary Canadians also have an interest in money parked in tax havens — almost certainly without knowing it. Seven of the country’s so-called Big… – Continue reading
Calendar 2017 saw significant advances in the Australian Tax Office armoury, both through Court wins and new or pending legislation. The Tax Commissioner openly now claims the upper hand in corporate and multi-national tax compliance. The Senate seems almost becalmed!? This note outlines our selection of 10 key things that… – Continue reading
On December 15, 2017, the CRA released the final version of Information Circular IC 00-1R6 – Voluntary Disclosures Program (“VDP”) for income tax, after receiving and considering community input on the June 2017 draft version. This article summarizes the important differences between the draft and the final ICs and discusses… – Continue reading
Amazon reached a major tax settlement with Italy by agreeing to pay €100 million ($118 million) to the European country in order to put an end to an investigation of potential back taxes it owes that spanned the majority of this year. According to initial reports on the matter, Italian… – Continue reading
Introduction As the government continues to grapple with a budget deficit and strained public finances, there remains considerable pressure on HMRC to crack-down not only on tax evasion, which is illegal, but tax avoidance, which HMRC refers to as “bending the rules of the tax system to gain a tax… – Continue reading
Vietnam has lost thousands of billions of dong in taxes as foreign enterprises, especially large-scale ones, refuse to pay based on the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. Massive revenue without having to pay taxes The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation has recently issued an ultimatum for Uber B.V Netherlands… – Continue reading
On December 13, 2017, the Indian income-tax department reportedly conducted surveys at bitcoin exchanges across the country to assess the risk of individuals who may have evaded taxes. Surveying Indian Exchanges Typically such surveys are conducted by the department without prior warning and include relatively extensive scrutiny of the assessee’s… – Continue reading
The GOP’s consolidated tax bill, unveiled Friday, could be bad news for Puerto Rico. That’s because Puerto Rico is sometimes considered a foreign country for tax purposes. The designation means corporations doing business on the island could face a minimum 10 percent tax on profits abroad, as well as a… – Continue reading
Facebook has decided to start paying tax to Korea on advertising revenue earned here, bowing to mounting complaints over multinational online giants’ tax avoidance. The U.S. social media company’s decision will place other global information players such as Apple, Google and Cisco under more pressure to follow suit. They have… – Continue reading
An agreement between Taiwan and the Czech Republic on double taxation avoidance and fiscal evasion prevention with respect to taxes on income was concluded Dec. 12 in Prague, setting the stage for increased investment and trade as well as industrial and technological cooperation between the two countries, according to the… – Continue reading
The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler has said federal government tax defaulters have until March 2018 to declare assets and income via the Voluntary Assets and Income declaration Scheme (VAIDS) or face the consequence. Fowler speaking at the media workshop programme in Lagos, recently, said… – Continue reading
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have approved the recommendations made by the European Parliament’s special committee on tax avoidance and evasion, calling for open registers of beneficial owners, effective protections for whistleblowers, and new rules for intermediaries. On December 13, MEPs approved the recommendations made by Parliament’s Special Inquiry… – Continue reading
CASTRIES, St Lucia, Thursday December 14, 2017 – The St Lucia government says it will introduce tax reform measures to bring the country in line with European Union (EU) standards, after the country was among four Caribbean nations on a list of 17 global tax havens released by the EU…. – Continue reading
The Cypriot tax authority has extended until January 15, 2018, the deadline for multinational corporations to submit their notifications concerning country-by-country reporting for 2017. The deadline had been December 31. In December 2016, Cyprus issued a decree introducing CbC reporting obligations for multinational enterprises with consolidated group revenue of EUR750m… – Continue reading
South Africa compared favourably in the World Bank and PWC’s recently released report titled Paying Taxes 2018, coming in 46th overall. However, in respect of time to complete a company income tax audit (31,6 weeks), the country falls short of regional and global averages (21,8 weeks and 27,3 weeks respectively)…. – Continue reading
The Bahamas may have to completely overhaul its corporate and taxation structure to escape European Union/OECD ‘blacklisting’ threats, the Attorney General revealed yesterday. Carl Bethel QC told Tribune Business that the Government was “looking very carefully” at whether compliance with European (EU) demands will require this nation to eliminate the… – Continue reading
Ahead of the CRS agreement, the procedure enables Israelis to disclose unreported income without facing criminal proceedings. As reported last month by “Globes,” ahead of the anticipated implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) agreement for automatic exchanges of information between tax authorities, and given the Israel Tax Authority’s stepped… – Continue reading
HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Bermuda has signed a new tax agreement with the United States that premier David Burt says demonstrates the island’s continued commitment to transparency. Burt, who left here over the weekend for Jamaica, said the Country by Country Competent Authority Agreement signified that the PLP government had… – Continue reading
Laws regulating digital currency exchanges for the first time have been approved by Parliament in a major milestone for the burgeoning local sector. The amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act easily passed through Parliament at the end of last week thanks to bipartisan support, despite the Opposition… – Continue reading
The FINANCIAL — Transfer Pricing Rules were implemented by the Government of Georgia in 2011, based on OECD guidelines. Since the number of international companies in Georgia is increasing steadily, Transfer Pricing Rules have become a point of obvious interest. However, multinational companies operating in Georgia are not sufficiently well-informed… – Continue reading
Treasury Analysis Asserts Tax Cuts Will Pay for Themselves: Today, the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy released its analysis of the Senate’s tax reform plan. The one-page report used the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget projections of a 2.9% real growth rate over 10 years. The analysis expects the… – Continue reading
The Commission has today put forward new guidelines on withholding taxes to help Member States reduce costs and simplify procedures for cross-border investors in the EU. The new Code of Conduct offers solutions for investors who, as a result of how withholding taxes are applied, end up paying taxes twice… – Continue reading
Tax residence gets new rules, support for R&D will increase and the spa industry gets new support instruments. The law on income tax is changing again. The Slovak parliament adopted extensive revisions on December 7, bringing changes in the definition of tax residence, new measures to support the spa industry… – Continue reading
For a nation of nearly 200 million people, not many Nigerians pay taxes. Indeed, as of May 2017, only 14 million—or one in five—of Nigeria’s estimated 70 million economically active citizens were paying taxes. As such, Nigeria’s government has typically earned much less than it could have from taxes. Back… – Continue reading
A Real Madrid star footballer will have to face a court hearing on December 22, accused of evading taxes from 2011 to 2014. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Real Madrid football club striker and Portuguese national football team forward Cristiano Ronaldo may be fined 30 million euros ($35.3 million) for tax evasion,… – Continue reading
For the first time, the OECD has published a map that sets out countries’ participation and compliance with international tax initiatives, looking specifically at the exchange of information in tax matters, with the old international standard – the exchange of information on request – and the new, on the automatic… – Continue reading
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland will continue fighting tax evasion, allowing the government to keep public debt in check and finance its public spending agenda, Prime Minister-designate Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday. He also told the Catholic Trwam television that value added tax revenue would most likely increase by 30 billion… – Continue reading
The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service ( LIRS ) on Thursday shut 11 hotels, restaurants and event centres over alleged failures to remit their taxes under the Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption Laws of Lagos State 2009. Mr Seyi Alade, Director, Legal Services of the LIRS, said this after a… – Continue reading
A tax bill to counter base erosion and profit shifting by multinational companies was introduced into Parliament on December 6. The Taxation (Neutralising Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Bill contains measures to prevent multinationals from using: Artificially high interest rates on loans from related parties to shift profits out of… – Continue reading
The American Chamber of Commerce in the European Union has criticized the proposals put forward in the European Commission’s recent consultation on options for new tax rules or a new tax on digital firms. The aim of that consultation is to help the Commission to define an approach to the… – Continue reading
EU ministers have issued the bloc’s “list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes”. The blacklist was created following a November 2016 European Council decision–in the wake of the Panama Papers, Luxleaks and other revelations of multinational tax avoidance–to evaluate jurisdictions outside the EU. Territories were judged on “tax transparency”, “fair… – Continue reading
Blacklisted nations may face sanctions. The European Union released its first-ever “blacklist” of global tax havens this week, including 17 territories, three of which are Arab countries. Deemed to fall short of EU tax standards, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and Bahrain joined American Samoa, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea,… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Hong Kong on Monday ratified a treaty signed early this year to stave off double taxation on incomes of their individuals and companies. “Pakistan and Hong Kong SAR (special administrative region) have ratified the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes… – Continue reading
[Updated] The Government of Bermuda said they note that the Economic and Financial Affairs Council [ECOFIN] has “reaffirmed Bermuda’s status as a cooperative tax jurisdiction.” Premier David Burt said, “Once again the EU has recognized Bermuda’s status as a cooperative jurisdiction, despite the interest surrounding a hack on a global… – Continue reading
The UK Government has released a consultation on the royalty withholding tax targeting digital firms announced in the UK’s most recent Budget. Under the proposal, the Government intends to introduce legislation in Finance Bill 2018-19 to broaden the circumstances in which certain payments made to non-UK residents have a liability… – Continue reading
Belgian police raided the offices of state bank Belfius as part of a probe into possible tax avoidance by companies exposed in the Panama Papers. Belgian police raided the offices of state bank Belfius on Tuesday as part of a probe into possible tax avoidance by companies exposed in the… – Continue reading
On 11 September 2017, His Honour Judge Colin Bishopp handed down his judgement in the case of The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs –v- (1) Root2tax Limited (2) Root3tax Limited (in liquidation) [2017] UKFTT 0696 (TC). The Root2 judgement concerned HMRC’s application to the First Tier Tax Tribunal… – Continue reading
MINSK, 4 December (BelTA) – The double taxation agreement between Belarus and Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, has come into effect, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Embassy in Beijing. “After Belarus and China went through the necessary domestic procedures, the Belarus-Hong Kong agreement on the avoidance of… – Continue reading
