THE Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority has uncovered a scam where companies hire graphic artists to manipulate the value of overseas invoices. Speaking on the global move towards greater financial disclosure, FRCA director corporate services Fazrul Rahman said a Fiji company was under the microscope for incorrect invoicing. “This Fiji… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Monday stressed the need to combat tax evasion in order to increase tax revenues and reduce tax rates. Tsakalotos was addressing a conference of the Independent Public Revenues Authority on the dispute resolution and the protection of tax payers. The Finance Minister explained that the… – Continue reading
EESC debate on taxation of the digital economy and the sharing economy European tax rules are not currently prepared for the digital economy. They need to be adapted to reality in order to offer the people of Europe a more prosperous future. This was the main message of the European… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: A complex web of 393 shell companies used for allegedly diverting funds unscrupulously to the tune of Rs 2900 crore has been unearthed by the CBI during its probe into such cases over the last three years. CBI sources said the shell companies were allegedly being used by… – Continue reading
Over $2.6 trillion is held as untaxed cash in offshore accounts by top US companies like Apple, Google, IBM, Pfizer, Pepsi and Coke, McDonald’s etc. according to a report by the Washington-based Institute for Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP). This is the highest-ever hoard held offshore by American companies and… – Continue reading
A newly published federal draft law introduces Russia to a three-tiered approach to transfer pricing documentation and brings Russian regulations in this area in line with the OECD minimum standards under Action 13 of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. The draft law, published by the Ministry… – Continue reading
Malaysia should increase its goods and services tax (GST) rate, strengthen international anti-avoidance rules, and seek to boost compliance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. The IMF said that increasing the current six percent rate of GST by 0.5 percentage points would increase Malaysia’s revenues by an estimated 0.25… – Continue reading
President Trump has signed three executive orders to spark reviews of tax and financial regulations so taxes on businesses and individuals can be cut. The approach would be different from Trump’s earlier plan, which was criticized as an approach that would mostly benefit higher earners. Michael Zezas, a strategist at… – Continue reading
Deloitte survey highlights tax predictability as key to driving investment growth in Asia Pacific New Zealand well placed against backdrop of increased uncertainty in Asia Pacific’s tax landscape New Zealand’s tax policies are seen as relatively straight forward, consistent and predictable compared to other countries in the region, according to… – Continue reading
President said to call for taxing pass-throughs at 15% Pass-throughs are currently taxed at higher individual rates President Donald Trump plans to propose a 10 percent tax on more than $2.6 trillion in earnings that U.S. companies have stockpiled offshore, said a White House official familiar with the president’s tax… – Continue reading
The overwhelming majority of people in G-20 countries believe that cooperation between governments on tax policy is more important than competition to increase national tax revenue. According to a survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the preference for cooperation over competition is strongest in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France,… – Continue reading
The Australian Tax Office had a superb win against Chevron in the Federal Court last week, but there is something everyone is missing, something that will turn the art of tax avoidance on its head; a game-changer for multinationals. Put simply, Chevron borrowed US$2.5 billion in the US at less… – Continue reading
ABUJA – Nigeria has begun to take steps to boost its tax-to-GDP ratio beyond the miserly level of 6 percent. Over the weekend at the 2017 Spring Meetings of the IMF-World Bank/IMF in Washington DC the Finance Minister of Nigeria said that the national government must take extra efforts to… – Continue reading
BASSETERRE, St Kitts (WINN) — Efforts by one American state to officially label St Kitts and Nevis a foreign tax haven are being strongly objected to by the federation’s foreign affairs minister, Mark Brantley, thus joining Antigua and Barbuda in a similar protest. A proposed House Bill 3419 in the… – Continue reading
At the end of March 2017, the Ministry of Finance called for public discussion on a draft bill (the “Bill”) amending the Bulgarian Tax and Social Insurance Procedural Code (the “Code”). The Bill seeks to improve administrative cooperation in the Bulgarian tax sector. The first set of amendments relates to… – Continue reading
(Second of two parts) In last week’s article, we discussed how or why taxpayers working on international assignments have to consider the impact of different tax jurisdictions on their individual tax obligations. We also explained how most companies implement a tax equalization (TEQ) arrangement for the employees so that they… – Continue reading
Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that despite a dip in tax revenues for the first quarter of 2017, “it remains too early to discern any firm trends.” Noonan made the comment during an appearance before parliament’s Budget Oversight Committee. He said that his Department has increased its GDP… – Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines – Instead, the government should pursue the enactment of the proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) before pursuing a tax amnesty program, Citi economist Jun Trinidad said. He said fiscal priority remains the passage of the first component of the tax reform measure that includes income tax cut… – Continue reading
An Australian taxpayer advocacy group has joined forces with a coalition of international taxpayer organizations and academics to condemn the Government’s plans to abolish the low-value goods and services tax threshold on imports. In separate submissions to the Senate inquiry into the proposes GST changes, the Australian Taxpayers Alliance and… – Continue reading
Ukraine has ruled out major tax reform, in consultations with the International Monetary Fund. The IMF noted that Ukraine has major substantial progress on improving its finances. The IMF said budget execution continues to be strong, over-performing relative to program targets. The 2016 budget deficit has been limited to 2.3… – Continue reading
The DTA clarifies the taxing rights on all forms of income flows arising from cross-border business activities and seeks to ensure such income is not taxed twice. The agreement provides that withholding taxes on dividends, interest, and royalties will generally not exceed seven percent. Withholding taxes on service fees will… – Continue reading
Google says it paid 36.4m (AUD59.8m) in UK corporation tax in the last financial year, as the internet firm’s operations in this country remain mired in controversy. The US company, which was revealed early last year to have done a 130m (AUD213.7m) deal with the taxman covering 10 years of… – Continue reading
Singapore is home to the majority of the Rp 1,174-trillion assets overseas owned by Indonesians, which had been declared and repatriated to Indonesia under the Tax Amnesty program. Indonesia, GIVnews.com – Indonesia’s tax amnesty program has proven public claim that Singapore is a favorable place for wealthy Indonesians to store… – Continue reading
For the second time in 14 months, Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras has lost a dispute over Brazil’s recognition of tax treaties. On March 24, a federal revenue service appeals court ruled against Petrobras in a $510 million case (16682.721067/2014-01) involving the company’s profits in the Netherlands for 2010. Although… – Continue reading
Malta’s threat places it 20th out of 27 states, Pana Committee told Malta faces an annual €8 billion money laundering risk, according to figures quoted in a study presented to the European Parliament’s Pana committee. The committee, which visited Malta in February for a fact-finding mission on the island’s involvement… – Continue reading
Panama must continue to improve tax transparency and how it exchanges information relevant in tax matters to sustain growth in its economy, the International Monetary Fund has said. In the concluding statement for its Article IV visit, warned that the countries shift toward “increasing trade restrictions could lead to a… – Continue reading
The federal government is considering doubling the tax rate applied to more than $199 billion worth of so-called stapled structures, in a move that experts say could scare off foreign investors. Separate securities, such as a share in a company and a unit in a trust, can be stapled together… – Continue reading
KARACHI: Tax authorities have sought banks’ assistance to curb tax evasion by flagging suspicious financial transactions, sources said on Friday. The source said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) asked banks to share with the board details of foreign trade, detected under anti-money laundering laws. “The purpose for obtaining the… – Continue reading
Online giant wins transfer pricing case against US Internal Revenue Service Amazon. com has won a tax dispute with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), involving more than $1.5 billion (€1.39 billion), in relation to the transactions of a Luxembourg unit more than a decade ago. Judge Albert Lauber of… – Continue reading
Belgium should reduce its high corporate income and labor taxes and eliminate value-added tax (VAT) concessions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said in its Article IV report for the country. The report notes that Belgium intends to reduce its high personal income tax and social security contribution rates in… – Continue reading
Money will be used to hire more auditors and develop computer systems to “target high-risk international tax” evasion. Tax auditors and fraud investigators have been given more than half a billion dollars to pursue tax cheats, and the government expects them to collect five times that much in additional taxes…. – Continue reading
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
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 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
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
These three CGT exclusions have remained unchanged for five years. Over the last few years government has collected a significant amount of tax revenue by not fully adjusting the personal income tax tables for inflationary increases in earnings, thereby increasing the effective tax rate of individuals. A middle-class individual earning… – Continue reading
The American Institute of CPAs is asking the U.S. Senate to quickly consider and approve the various bilateral income tax treaties and protocols that are currently pending in Congress, although some of them have not advanced in years. The list includes a proposed agreement with Chile that was signed in… – Continue reading
Nonresident Alien NRA tax withholding is applicable to U.S sourced income paid to foreign person and does not apply to payments made to U.S. persons. Foreign persons include nonresident alien individual, foreign partnerships, foreign corporations, foreign estates, and foreign trusts. The tax generally must be withheld from the payment made… – Continue reading
The importance of taxation to a nation’s economic wealth and development cannot be overemphasised. However, the achievement of this goal is often undermined by tax evasion and deliberate attempts by multinationals to shift profits from one jurisdiction to another, amongst others. Over the years, Nigeria has attempted to use taxation… – Continue reading
The Canadian Government has said that it will review its tax ruling process and voluntary disclosures program as part of its response to recommendations made last year by a parliamentary committee. In October 2016, the Standing Committee on Finance released its report on the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA’s) efforts to… – Continue reading
U.S. multinational companies with more than $850 million in annual consolidated gross income now have draft instructions for filing IRS reports on their global tax and profits. The Internal Revenue Service added instructions to the draft Form 8975 and accompanying draft Schedule A it released in December 2016, companies that… – Continue reading
MPs propose tweaks to the Union Revenue Bill. The solution to widespread tax evasion on land purchases is the creation of a fairer, more even taxation system. This was the prevailing opinion of MPs assembled in Nay Pyi Taw last week to deliberate the Union Revenue Bill prescribing three tax… – Continue reading
Uber is simply providing a taxi service and all its drivers must therefore register to pay goods and services tax, Australia’s Federal Court ruled. The Feb. 17 decision, which could yet be appealed to the full bench of the Federal Court, is “one step in the journey of the tax… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg Gadfly) — A referendum lost. Voters crying foul at cuts to public services. The threat of financial chaos and businesses sent packing. This isn’t Brexit Britain. It’s Switzerland. The country this weekend voted down a government plan to keep offering tasty tax breaks to multinational companies — while still… – Continue reading
The federal government forgoes as much as $47.8 billion in uncollected taxes every year, according to a new report that Ottawa has yet to release. These billions represent only a fraction of all taxes that go unpaid because they don’t include taxes owed to the provinces and municipalities — all… – Continue reading
Last Autumn, HMRC issued “Measuring Tax Gaps”, an annual report on the estimated UK tax gap. The tax gap being the shortfall in tax estimated by HMRC as being due in any one tax year from that which is eventually collected. In the accompanying press releases and in comments made… – Continue reading
Selection of Foreign Company as a tested party – practical considerations Introduction Transfer pricing regulations adopted by India are based on the arm’s length principle which revolves around the concept that the price or margin determined in a controlled transaction involving two Associated Enterprises (AE) should be commensurate with an… – Continue reading
The Irish tax agency has updated its guidance on the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings between EU member states. Changes have been made to the Tax and Duty Manual to set out Revenue’s arrangements for implementing Council Directive (EU) 2015/2376 and the OECD’s framework for the compulsory spontaneous… – Continue reading
