By now, most of us know that the ruling Conservatives announced they will release the Federal Budget (calling it Economic Action Plan 2015 – the “Budget”) on April 21, 2015. Once again, I will be in attendance in Ottawa representing CPA Canada and our firm. What do I predict will… – Continue reading
Tax breaks for research and development should be targeted to smaller technology start-ups, rather than big companies that will most likely make the investments regardless of incentives, Google Australia will tell the senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance. Google Australia’s managing director, Maile Carnegie, will be appearing before the inquiry… – Continue reading
Argues tax proceedings initiated after more than six years Vedanta group company Cairn India on Monday filed a petition in the Delhi High Court here against a Rs 20,494-crore tax demand, seeking quashing of the order. The company argued the tax proceedings were initiated more than six years from the… – Continue reading
India’s present ‘tax to GDP ratio’ is the lowest among BRICS and OECD countries. The Dollar Business Bureau The Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha, on Monday, said, India needs to turn into a US$ 4-5 trillion economy for accelerating and achieving a sustainable growth over the next decade,… – Continue reading
A serious need emerges, amid the global political and economic crisis, for the dialogue among religions, cultures, different political forces, and an important role in this process is in recent years played by Azerbaijan. In this regard, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Saudi Arabia is significant. It is… – Continue reading
According to recent estimates, the number of wealthy Russians investing in the United States ballooned in 2014 as a result of political turmoil and a disintegrating ruble causing Russians to seek a safe haven for their wealth abroad. The amount of private net capital flowing out of Russia hit $120… – Continue reading
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in the US has siphoned off $4.5 billion of cash and shares from his Australian media businesses in the past two years, virtually tax free. According to calculations by University of NSW accounting academic, Jeffrey Knapp, over the past 10 years, Mr Murdoch’s companies here have… – Continue reading
On April 3, 2015, as part of its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), the OECD released a discussion draft entitled “BEPS Action 3: Strengthening CFC Rules” (the Draft) for comments. The Draft stresses the importance of CFC rules in countering base erosion and profit shifting, and… – Continue reading
It has been revealed that illicit financial transfers are draining Africa of massive resources needed to uplift its majority poor from the claws of poverty and provide both productive and social infrastructure for development. The African Civil Society Circle, a group of nine civil society organizations and think tanks from… – Continue reading
We asked Vincenzo Villamena, a New York-based international tax adviser and certified public accountant with Online Taxman, and his British-expat client Ed Zitron of San Francisco, to share personal finance tips for expats, particularly those hailing from the U.K. Here are their top tips: 1. Mind your pensions & QROPS!… – Continue reading
Stanford tax expert Joseph Bankman suggests that a redesign of tax forms and the online filing experience based on social psychology insights would encourage more people to file truthful returns. Revamping the language of tax forms and the online filing process to make them more direct could reduce tax evasion… – Continue reading
The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Exchange Connected is working out its kinks and investors are taking notice. Hong Kong and Beijing signed a tax treaty on Thursday that ends double taxation for equity traders, which was one of the sticking points for local brokers hoping to buy into China’s massive mainland… – Continue reading
The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor and China’s proposed ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road’ are “closely” related, Beijing says as it has unveiled action plans on this joint ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visits to Central Asia and Southeast Asia in 2013… – Continue reading
Cross border tax fraud and tax evasion by High Net Wealth Individuals (HNWI) are serious problems for many jurisdictions. For many years exchange of information between countries has been solely upon request. In practise this procedure is not efficiently working as it requires foreseeable relevance, thus ‘fishing’ for information is… – Continue reading
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, K C Chan, has described the various tax policies that the Government intends to pursue in the coming year. As part of his testimony before the Legislative Council (LegCo) Finance Committee special meeting on the 2015-16 Budget, Chan stressed that the… – Continue reading
Like a savvy bargainer on a used car lot, big multinational corporations have mastered the art of feigning indifference and walking away. What they walk away with is their profits, stockpiling them abroad where they legally remain untaxed until returned to the United States. Then these corporations threaten to keep… – Continue reading
As Tax Day approaches, homeland Americans scurry to file their annual tax filing obligations. But for an estimated 7.6 million Americans working and living overseas, they have an obligation to not only pay taxes in their respective countries where they live; they need to pay the piper in homeland America… – Continue reading
A recently released discussion paper has found that Australia finds Bitcoin as becoming a threat to the country’s tax system. The paper said new technology and globalisation are among the main factors pushing multinational practices to engage in tax avoidance. According to the paper, news ways transacting such as Bitcoin… – Continue reading
U.S. multinationals represent the healthiest segment of the economy, with higher profits and more than $1 trillion of cash on hand. This has kept corporate tax reform alive as a political issue. ON Semiconductor had a solid 2014, boosting net income by 36 percent to $196 million on revenue of… – Continue reading
The UK’s Finance Bill was published on 24 March 2015. It was subsequently enacted on 26 March 2015 without further amendment and became the Finance Act 2015. The “disguised investment management fee” provisions contained in this Act, summarised below, will be effective from 6 April 2015. These rules apply to… – Continue reading
March 31 marks the end of the tax-saving season and the beginning of the tax-filing season. Everyone will soon get busy collecting proofs of investment and try to minimise their tax outgo. However, in the hurry to get maximum deductions, do not cross the thin line between tax-saving and taxevasion…. – Continue reading
Government questions dividend imputation and company tax rate Australian investors appear to have dodged a bullet, with the government’s first paper on tax reform discussing the dividend imputation system but falling short of attacking it outright as an idea that has outlived its usefulness. David Murray’s inquiry into the Australian… – Continue reading
More JSE-listed counters announce offshore opportunities. It is becoming increasingly difficult for JSE-listed property companies to find value and attractive deals in the local market, which has seen the offshore diversification spree continue. Industry players believe that the sector has turned over the last few years, with more property counters… – Continue reading
When American companies take advantage of loopholes to keep their earnings overseas and away from the American tax man, they typically justify the legal-but-embarrassing move by appealing to their responsibility to shareholders—anything to get them another buck. But a March 17 Credit Suisse report on the $2.1 trillion in cash… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg supervisory authority, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), has recently issued FAQs regarding the immobilisation of bearer shares and units, as well as a press release to remind Luxembourg alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) and non-EU AIFMs that market alternative investment funds (AIFs) in Luxembourg under… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — South Africa’s Financial Services Board said it’s helping regulators in Mauritius and Guernsey investigate the affairs of Cobus Kellermann, a Cape Town-based money manager. “The regulators in the foreign jurisdictions have asked us to assist them in tracking particular investments” made into South Africa, Caroline da Silva, the… – Continue reading
(CNS Business): Cayman’s leader, Premier Alden McLaughlin, was joined by the COO of Dart Enterprises at the House of Lords this week in promoting Cayman when he delivered a key-note address at the Caribbean Council reception. As McLaughlin sold the crowd on the benefits of investing in Cayman and the… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Australia’s medicine subsidies, Canadian films and culture, and capital controls in Chile would be carved out from investment protection rules being negotiated in a Pacific trade pact, according to a draft text released by Wikileaks on Wednesday. An investment chapter, dated Jan. 20, from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership… – Continue reading
Introduction Every non-US entity has FATCA status Passive NFFEs report substantial US owners Trustee of trust or its sponsoring entity will report US persons Other reporting FFIs in structure will carry out FATCA due diligence Reporting when US account holders are identified Enforcement Comment Introduction The policy statement in the… – Continue reading
On March 6 Luxembourg’s government adopted the draft legislation transposing into national law the grand duchy’s intergovernmental agreement with the US and facilitating compliance by the country’s financial institutions with the requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. FATCA, which was signed into law in 2010 but only took… – Continue reading
The tiny island nation of Dominica in the Caribbean is positioning itself as another offshore banking facility. However, its prime minister warns that if one is thinking of parking ill-gotten gains in his country, to think again. “We are open for business but at the same time we have rules,”… – Continue reading
President Barack Obama’s proposal to impose a minimum tax on the foreign income of US companies would place them at a substantial competitive disadvantage in global markets, Pamela Olson, former assistant secretary for tax policy at the US Department of Treasury, has said. As well as including proposals for a… – Continue reading
Jakarta (ANTARA News) – The Indonesian and Japanese governments agreed to review the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJ-EPA) to derive mutual benefits, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received by Antara here on Tuesday. The review of IJ-EPA was agreed during a bilateral meeting between… – Continue reading
Earlier today the UK government delivered its last budget before the UK general election in May. Many of the measures were, as one might expect so close to an election, focused on personal rather than corporate taxation. However, below is a summary of some of the business related announcements: Diverted… – Continue reading
Many investors are unaware of high charges that can eat into their wealth, according to finance experts Expat investors using offshore bonds as a way to boost their wealth could be paying nearly £89,000 in fees on a £100,000 investment over 20 years, it has been claimed. This would leave… – Continue reading
Cobus Kellermann, Stellenbosch University graduate now in his late 30s who runs Cape-based money manager Clarus Capital, has been fingered as a mastermind behind a massive global Ponzi scheme run out of Mauritius. Kellermann’s company also manages eight South African unit trusts under the Met Collective Investments banner. They have… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Customs contacted foreign governments on 490 separate occasions in one year as it sought information on suspected tax evasion, a drop of 150 information requests compared to the previous year. During the 2012-13 tax year, the Revenue made nearly 500 information requests to tax authorities to find… – Continue reading
America’s tax code is riddled with problems. It imposes high rates on families, businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs. Its double taxation of capital gains and dividends creates a bias against savings and investment—activities essential for economic growth. Its convoluted system of deductions, credits, and exemptions distorts incentives and inefficiently allocates resources,… – Continue reading
The China State Administration of Taxation recently issued a notice extending the taxation of capital gains by non-Chinese tax residents arising from indirect transfers of Chinese assets. Where indirect transfers of equity in Chinese entities were already subject to capital gains tax based on Circular 698, Notice 7 now extends… – Continue reading
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received a budget proposal of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI) regarding reduction in activation tax on mobile phones from Rs 250 to Rs 150 and withdraw sales tax on SIM card issuance and IMEI tax to avoid double taxation… – Continue reading
GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, March 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — DMS Offshore Investment Services Ltd., (DMS) the world’s largest fund governance firm, is expanding its International Tax Compliance Group to better serve private investment funds in meeting their compliance obligations under various international tax initiatives worldwide. DMS announces the recent addition… – Continue reading
Giving Northern Ireland politicians the ability to set the province’s rates of corporation tax will help boost the private sector, a minister has said. Baroness Randerson said the move would allow Northern Ireland’s economy to be “rebalanced” away from over-reliance on the public sector. Her comments came as she introduced… – Continue reading
On March 13, 2015, New Zealand’s Minister of Revenue, Todd McClay, announced the Government’s tax policy work program for 2015/16, which includes key international tax reforms aimed primarily at countering base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). In particular, the Government intends to focus on the following areas of reforms: •… – Continue reading
New Zealand has a broad-based tax system consisting principally of: income tax fringe benefit tax resident and non-resident withholding tax (RWT and NRWT) goods and services tax (GST) Accident Compensation levies import tariffs and miscellaneous excise duties, and local authority rates on property. Stamp duty, gift duty and death duties… – Continue reading
The central bank yesterday welcomed positive remarks by its Chinese counterpart last week to consider removing the daily yuan conversion limit, as demand for the Chinese currency is flourishing. Taiwan has been seeking the removal of the daily 20,000 yuan (US$3,193) conversion cap, in line with its bid to develop… – Continue reading
Rules are tangled and dispute resolution is excruciatingly slow. The government’s trying but it’s a long haul As Asia’s third-largest economy, India is a major investment destination. However, in recent years, the unpredictable tax regime has has been a major stumbling block to its potential. According to a recent World… – Continue reading
Our ‘special relationship’ with the US gets forgotten when America looks at threats to the dollar’s dominance For a while now the phrase “special relationship” has sounded a touch desperate when spoken in a British accent and a tad condescending if uttered by an American. The lopsidedness of this transatlantic… – Continue reading
Rio Tinto has warned that multinational companies could be discriminated against if moves to combat tax “base erosion and profit shifting” went too far. With Australia and the other 33 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ramping up efforts to prevent multinational companies avoiding tax, Rio… – Continue reading
Tax advisers are calling on the chancellor to make clear in this week’s Budget that while tax evasion is a crime, tax avoidance is a citizen’s right – and a good idea. In response to the recent debate on where the line should be drawn, accountancy firm Saffery Champness calls… – Continue reading
The Irish Government has launched its strategy for Ireland’s International Financial Services Sector for the next five years (IFS2020), which seeks to consolidate and grow Ireland’s position as the global location of choice for specialist international financial services (IFS). The strategy includes a comprehensive overview of the existing strengths of… – Continue reading
