Forming a small insurance company known as a microcaptive can be a great way for small businesses to reduce insurance costs and realize tax savings. Abusive microcaptive arrangements, however, have attracted scrutiny from Congress and the IRS. Last month, the Tax Court decided an important microcaptive case, holding against the… – Continue reading
MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) – Belarus and the UK have signed an intergovernmental convention on removing double taxation in respect to income and capital taxes and preventing tax evasion, BelTA informs. The signing ceremony took place at the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The document was inked by Belarus’ Taxes… – Continue reading
The Inter-American Center of Tax Administration (CIAT) has released a new statement summarizing the feedback from Latin American and Caribbean countries from ongoing discussions on countering base erosion and profit shifting. CIAT said it and a number of regional and international organizations have brought together policymakers from countries in the… – Continue reading
ECONOMYNEXT – Foreign investors in Sri Lanka’s rupee bonds may not have to pay taxes after April 2018, Deputy Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said, amid some uncertainty in markets how a new Inland Revenue law will be interpreted. Sri Lanka lifted a 10 percent withholding tax government bonds from… – Continue reading
NAIROBI (Xinhua) — Kenya and China on Thursday signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation that aims to boost bilateral commercial ties, Kenyan officials said. Cabinet Secretary in the National Treasury Henry Rotich told a media briefing in Nairobi that the deal will create certainty to the tax… – Continue reading
IRS Issues FATCA Taxpayer Identification Number Guidance: Today, the IRS issued Notice 2017-46, which modifies the requirements for financial institutions to collect taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) as part of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The notice provides that foreign financial institutions (FFIs) required to report TINs for US… – Continue reading
YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. Until 2022 Armenia will conclude agreements on the exclusion of double taxation with 8 more countries and will pursue an agreement also with the United States to abolish double taxation, Armenian finance minister Vardan Aramyan said at a press conference on Monday. So far Armenia has… – Continue reading
The French Government has warned taxpayers that they have until the end of this year to disclose undeclared assets under its tax amnesty scheme, which as been running for more than four years. The Processing of Corrective Declarations (STDR) scheme was introduced by a circular dated June 21, 2013, and… – Continue reading
As of August 2017, 102 international Jurisdictions are committed to the implementation timelines of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). There are 49 Jurisdictions that are committed to the first exchange during 2017 and 53 Jurisdictions for 2018. The OECD is taking extra precautions to ensure that reportable financial information regarding… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: The taxmen of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and Royal Malaysian Customs Department have set their sights on the digital economy. Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah pointed out last week that some foreign-owned digital economy players like Google, Uber and Facebook are currently not… – Continue reading
Finance has no clue about number of people covered KUWAIT CITY, Sept 24: Unconfirmed statistics indicate there are about 13,000 Kuwaitis holding US citizenship and they have the option now to file bank and tax statements and benefit from the tax reconciliation program or make a formal request to the… – Continue reading
In a sharp censure to those who charge that the present government has slapped the citizenry with the highest possible taxes while taking away the concessions, the country’s State Minister of Finance said Sri Lanka is a tax haven in comparison to most other economies in the region and beyond… – Continue reading
Fresh tax evasion laws come into force this Saturday. New tax evasion laws coming into force this week could catch UK companies unaware and put them at risk of unlimited fines, a British law firm has warned. Blake Morgan said it fears that “many” commercial and non-profit firms alike may… – Continue reading
KARACHI: The tax authorities have kicked off a planned program under which they share foreign individuals’ financial-account information with the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), sources said on Saturday/ The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), issued a notification regarding the schedule for exchange of… – Continue reading
Securities regulator SEBI has lifted the trading ban on 14 entities which were alleged to have misused the stock market platform for money laundering and tax evasion as it did not find any “adverse evidence” against them. The Securities and Exchange Board of India order was in the case related… – Continue reading
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said tax incentives would help Hong Kong compete with other fund management centres The government will examine the existing tax concessions applicable to the fund industry to make Hong Kong into a diversified and competitive international fund management centre against its global counterparts, said the… – Continue reading
A seismic change began in the country’s tax system on 29 June, when an Executive Order signed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (then Acting President) gave life to the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS). The scheme provides a platform for tax defaulters to regularize their tax statuses and… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Department of Finance is consulting on proposals to amend the Withholding Tax (WHT) Ordinance, to more clearly define the rules for non-resident taxpayers. Under the proposed reforms, “quasi-residents” will be permitted to request a subsequent ordinary tax assessment. “Quasi-residents” are employees who are not domiciled in Switzerland… – Continue reading
On 19 September 2017, the Dutch government released the State’s Budget for the year 2018. The Budget includes a draft bill to expand the dividend withholding tax exemption to tax treaty countries, to introduce a withholding tax obligation for holding cooperatives and to limit the taxation of non-resident investors. If… – Continue reading
Solicitors providing tax planning services could face greater scrutiny from the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) and HMRC as government begins to clamp down on aggressive tax avoidance schemes The SRA has expressed its concerns that avoidance schemes previously deemed legitimate may no longer be accepted by HMRC. Solicitors and firms… – Continue reading
NASSAU, The Bahamas, Friday September 22, 2017 – An International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposal for The Bahamas to implement a low rate income tax has drawn a mixture of skepticism, approval and downright rejection. Following its Article IV consultation with the Hubert Minnis administration, the Washington-based financial body urged the… – Continue reading
Bermuda has become the first overseas territory to be awarded whitelist status by France. David Burt, the Premier, told MPs the development underlined the Ministry of Finance’s efforts to support international co-operation on tax matters and financial transparency. He added that he will attend key meetings in Paris and Brussels… – Continue reading
The World Bank has released French and Spanish translations of its Toolkit on the taxation of offshore indirect transfers and extended the deadline for feedback to October 20. The tax treatment of “offshore indirect transfers” (OITs) – in essence, the sale of an entity owning an asset located in one… – Continue reading
In recent years, Portugal has become a popular low-tax haven for Swedish retirees. Since 2009, almost 2300 Swedes, most of them senior citizens, have swapped dark winters for the Mediterranean sun, and moved to Portugal either part- or full-time. Doing so, they have been able to avoid paying taxes to… – Continue reading
Tax inversions by US multinationals attempting to shift profits into lower tax jurisdictions could cost the US up to $12bn (£7.4bn) in lost corporate tax revenues by 2027, according to figures released by the US Congressional Budget Office There were 11 major corporate inversions from 2014-2015, although two significant inversions… – Continue reading
BHP is willing to head to court to fight the Australian Taxation Office on a more than $1 billion tax bill over its Singapore marketing hub. The world’s largest miner has continually defended its Singapore marketing hub, where it is accused of routing profits, and says it is confident of… – Continue reading
Popular investment schemes offering generous tax breaks for wealthier investors are likely to face new restrictions. The Treasury is mulling a crackdown on Enterprise Investment Schemes, likely to be announced in the next Budget on November 22. The scheme allows people to invest in start-ups, either directly or through funds,… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said the EU should proceed with an overhaul of taxes on digital firms even if the rest of the rich world did not follow suit, a draft report said. The document is part of an EU push to tap more revenues from online multinationals… – Continue reading
In our last publication, we discussed the signing of the Ghana-Morocco Double Tax Agreement (“DTA”) and the provisions of the DTA in relation to the taxation of permanent establishments and business income. In the concluding part of the article, we will discuss the taxation of investment, employment and service incomes… – Continue reading
In order to tackle irregularities and unfair competition among e-commerce companies, Ankara is planning to form a special unit to track e-commerce activities and transactions in the country The Turkish government is planning to create a special unit of 200 people to track e-commerce activities in the country, Finance Minister… – Continue reading
Japanese multinational companies worry that filing their first country-by-country reports in 2018 will lead to a barrage of transfer pricing audits by developing countries. Companies are currently preparing their first country-by-country reports that must be filed with the National Tax Agency by the end of March 2018. Japan adopted country-by-country… – Continue reading
Markets regulator Sebi has revoked trading ban imposed on 114 entities, which had come under the scanner for alleged manipulation and misuse of stock market platform for tax evasion, saying it did not find any adverse evidence against them. This comes after Sebi, earlier this month, had revoked ban on… – Continue reading
The OECD has taken issue with the Estonian Government’s plans to reduce the rate of tax on distributed dividends for established companies, warning that the measure could complicate the tax system and discriminate against small firms. Under recently enacted legislation, tax on distributed dividends will be reduced from 20 percent… – Continue reading
ANALYSIS: Companies are likely to receive a preliminary notice under the new diverted profits tax (DPT) regime between now and the end of 2017. They should treat the issue of a notice as potential litigation and should immediately involve their legal advisers. For many companies the time limit for the… – Continue reading
Ireland’s Minister for Finance (the “Minister”) welcomed the results of the independent review of Ireland’s corporation tax regime (the “Review”) issued on 12 September 2017: “I welcome the emphasis given in the Review to the importance of certainty, which is core to our corporate tax offering. Our 12.5% corporation tax… – Continue reading
Letters calling for the elimination of FATCA, among other tax issues, will be presented to the White House in about two weeks’ time. A global political organisation with affiliation to the Republican Party has recently launched a petition and letter writing campaign in protest of “citizenship-based” taxation – partly in… – Continue reading
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s government has issued new regulations aimed at tracing and taxing the wealth of taxpayers who were not pardoned in the nine-month tax amnesty that ended in March. Around 972,000 taxpayers joined the amnesty programme and declared assets worth a total of 4,881 trillion rupiah (272 billion pounds)…. – Continue reading
Some double tax treaties are being amended by a multilateral instrument Establishing how a particular treaty is affected can be a complicated process The UK intends to publish amended DTTs and this will help, but the MLI has added an additional layer of complexity 18 Sep 2017 Speed Read LEGAL… – Continue reading
Changes in international tax laws spurred by the OECD’s BEPS project pose challenges for finance chiefs, but also offer some opportunities. The OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, with an overall goal of reducing global loss of tax revenues due to double non-taxation, has created the need for… – Continue reading
The Finnish Supreme Administrative Court published on 13 September 2017 precedent 2017:145 that further clarifies the scope of application of the Finnish transfer pricing adjustment provision (Act on Assessment Procedure (“AAP”) Section 31). In its previous landmark precedent KHO 2014:119 the Supreme Administrative Court stated that the so-called re-characterization of… – Continue reading
Sep 18, 2017-The tax authority has started conducting a study to link its system with computer billing machines of retailers in the Kathmandu Valley in a bid to gain access to real-time data on financial transactions of vendors and improve tax compliance. The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) had begun the… – Continue reading
On September 13, the US Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee launched a hearing on improving the resolution process for taxpayer disputes and appeals with the Internal Revenue Service. The hearing is said to be the fourth in a series of attempts to reform and improve the IRS appeals process. “In… – Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines — The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) has expressed support for the tax reform program being pushed by the Department of Finance, saying this will lead to better lives for Filipinos. “The comprehensive tax reform program lays a solid foundation for the government’s vision of inclusive growth, improved… – Continue reading
Consumers’ complaints of high rates are mere perception, say officials of Commercial Taxes department If some traders and businessmen are trying to hoodwink the system by suppressing part of cash based transactions with the connivance of consumers, they will be doing so at their own peril, warns the Commercial Taxes… – Continue reading
Huge numbers of the 9 million US expats living around the world are fed up with the IRS and resent tax filing from their new homes. A poll suggests two-thirds of expats feel they should not have to tell the IRS about their finances if they do not live in… – Continue reading
The proposals plan to tax giant digital companies on turnover rather than profits EU finance ministers have agreed to step up technical work on harmonising the taxation of the giant digital companies with a view to debating “possible solutions” at their December meeting. The ministerial consensus was a significant setback… – Continue reading
With corporate tax reform still very much on the table, advocacy group Alliance for Competitive Taxation (ACT) has weighed in with a reform plan that it deems internationally competitive and pro-growth, and capable of driving transformational change in the U.S. economy. ACT doesn’t define its member businesses but says it… – Continue reading
Finance ministers discuss new tax plans in Tallinn, Estonia France’s Le Maire says EU citizens ‘outraged’ by situation European Union finance ministers are developing a new way to tax digital companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. to raise money from an industry that they say provides less than… – Continue reading
Kazakhstan and the United States have signed a Model 1 FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), which will enable the automatic exchange of financial information on each country’s resident taxpayers to support tax enforcement efforts. The agreement was signed in Astana on September 11, 2017. Kazakh Minister of Finance Bakhyt Sultanov emphasized… – Continue reading
Greece is defying the prevalent trend among the world’s industrialized nations for reducing tax rates in order to boost investment and competitiveness, a report published on Wednesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has shown. According to the report, in contrast to the majority of… – Continue reading
