An informed, mature and realistic debate on black money is too much to ask for in a country where the issue attracts intense, almost emotional public reaction. It does not help when political games and systemic problems in the economy that aid tax evasion and stashing of illicit money in… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The renewed vigour to unearth suspected blackmoney of Indians in Swiss bank accounts after a recent meeting of top officials on both sides is expected to initiate final prosecution in one of the most prominent tax crime cases related to Pune-based stud farm-owner Hasan Ali Khan. Sources privy… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Amid a growing clamour for naming of alleged black money holders, industry body Assocham today said the government should not prematurely disclose the names of such persons as it could hamper battle against this menace. “The double taxation avoidance treaties are important for the Indian residents and corporates… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Russia’s government has approved a new tax law to clamp down on Russian companies and individuals using offshore tax shelters. The law is part of a range of measures initiated by President Vladimir Putin, and collectively known as “deoffshorisation”, which are aimed at bringing Russian businesses and money… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE – Singapore and Britain will step up their cooperation in the development of the offshore yuan market with the launch of a forum next year. Private-sector players from both countries will hold the forum in Singapore early next year. The forum is part of a series of initiatives aimed… – Continue reading
The Treasury Department has spent millions of dollars on federal contracts for companies that have shifted their legal address abroad, even as the Obama administration pushes to rein in the practice. Just last month, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew moved to limit the appeal of those tax deals, known as inversions,… – Continue reading
Oct 24 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has launched an enquiry into 10 Taiwanese banks with the largest exposure to Chinese companies, following a similar investigation by the country’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), bankers said on Wednesday. As a major shareholder, Taiwan’s MoF asked eight Taiwanese state-owned banks… – Continue reading
Introduction The economy has come to the forefront of the Second U.S. House District race between incumbent Democrat Dave Loebsack and Republican challenger Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Loebsack’s campaign accuses Miller-Meeks of being in favor of “special tax breaks to outsourcing corporations” and claims she partnered with a company that sent… – Continue reading
Oct 24 (Reuters) – China is studying pilot schemes that will allow domestic investors to make overseas investments using the Chinese currency, a move that could pump fresh oxygen into the stagnant offshore yuan pool. “The central bank is designing RQDII (Renminbi Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor) and QDII2 schemes to… – Continue reading
One of the stories that firms deserting our country like to tell is that by moving their corporate domicile (but not their actual headquarters) outside U.S. borders to duck taxes, they will be able to use cash they have parked offshore to expand their operations in the United States. So… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/75090936-5aa2-11e4-b449-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3HLsJSGv7 Fears have been raised that the government may clamp down on a popular means… – Continue reading
With the announced end of banking secrecy for non-residents, the time has come to make use of favourable repatriation schemes, such as the voluntary disclosure regime in Italy. Despite increasing pressure for fiscal transparency and exchange of information, beneficial owners still have a choice: move the capital out (of Luxembourg),… – Continue reading
Since all economic theories – even Marxism and socialism – recognize that capital formation is a key to long-run growth, higher wages, and improved living standards, it obviously doesn’t make sense to penalize saving and investment. Yet that’s exactly what happens because of double taxation in the United States, as… – Continue reading
Green Left Weekly and ActionAid will be co-sponsoring a Political Economy Society seminar at Sydney University on October 29 to discuss the case for greater international efforts to combat corporate tax avoidance before the G20 summit. Large corporations systematically avoid paying the statutory level of company tax — a low… – Continue reading
India Blooms News Service New Delhi, Oct 24 (IBNS): Supreme Court advocate Ram Jethmalani, who was also an ex-BJP member, has written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accusing him of not taking proper steps to bring back black money. n his letter, Jethmalani has slammed Jaitley’s stand that… – Continue reading
Wednesday, October 22, 2014 – The BVI Advantage was the theme of a feature presentation at the recent China Offshore Summit. The summit was held from October 15-16 in Shanghai, China. Global Head of BVI Practice at Maples and Calder, Mr. Michael Gagie presented on behalf of the BVI International… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Leading Swiss banks are trying to distance themselves from some of the dodgy Indian clients who have twisted rules and could be a cause of embarrassment in future. At least four individuals — three based in Mumbai and one in Delhi — holding the famously anonymous Swiss numbered accounts,… – Continue reading
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Liechtenstein wants to lure wealthy Muslims to its private banks as it seeks to revive an industry hurt by the loss of the nation’s status as a tax haven. The principality of 37,000 people nestled between Switzerland and Austria will hold its first Islamic finance conference on… – Continue reading
The European Union and Singapore have announced the completion of negotiations towards a free trade agreement (FTA), after concluding talks on the investment protection portion of the pact. Negotiations on an FTA between the EU and Singapore began in March 2010 and a text including all but the investment portion… – Continue reading
Countries that work together like Ireland and the US “need to be cognisant” of the impact their tax policies have on each other, new US Ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley said in a speech yesterday. He said cross-border mergers can make the Irish and American economies stronger, but that “these… – Continue reading
Christine Milne says Australian Securities and Investments Commission should target ‘smaller enterprise’ exemption Facebook Australia has not lodged annual accounts since 2009 because it says it is a smaller enterprise and exempt from having to file. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images The Greens are calling on the Australian financial services watchdog… – Continue reading
Fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi plans to move non-Chinese user data from China-based servers to Amazon servers in the US and data centres in Singapore. The company said the move, which will happen over several phases, is driven by performance and privacy isues, Reuters reported. VP Hugo Barra (pictured) said that… – Continue reading
A week after a high-level delegation of the revenue department met Swiss authorities in a bid to persuade them to assist with details of the 700-odd Indians who are reported to have bank accounts with the HSBC Bank in Geneva, the NDA government is set to send the first batch… – Continue reading
Liechtenstein wants to lure wealthy Muslims to its private banks as it seeks to revive an industry hurt by the loss of the nation’s status as a tax haven. The principality of 37,000 people nestled between Switzerland and Austria will hold its first Islamic finance conference on Oct. 28 and… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse’s future is more workmanlike than its racy third quarter may suggest. The Swiss group revealed on Thursday that its investment bank had trumped Wall Street. Fixed-income trading revenue leaped by a half over the same period a year ago, against its American peers’ average increase in the mid-teens…. – Continue reading
Around $180 million in undeclared offshore income has now been recovered as part of the amnesty, the ATO said. A further $1 billion in assets has also been recovered. Photo: Louie Douvis The Tax Office is keeping a close eye on foreign banks as part of its push to stop… – Continue reading
On June 18, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service introduced significant changes to both its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) and its Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (Streamlined) and posted updated Frequently Asked Questions on its website.1 These changes apply to new OVDP “submissions” (which most practitioners believe refer to the Offshore… – Continue reading
On 29 July 2014, the China State Administration of Taxation (SAT) released an internal notice to the China tax authorities at the provincial levels, in the name of “Notice on Antiavoidance Investigation against Large Amount Outbound Payments” (Circular Shui Zong Ban Fa [2014] No. 146, Notice 146), urging a nationwide… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG — On the first floor of a rust-colored building near the main railway station, Marius Kohl spent years engineering this country’s most valuable export: tax relief. As head of a federal agency called Societes 6, Mr. Kohl approved thousands of tax arrangements for multinational corporations, sometimes helping them save… – Continue reading
Democratic House and Senate candidates seem likely to lose the votes of a large constituency they rarely think about over a law that most Americans have never heard of. The issue is FATCA — the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act — passed by Congress and signed into law in 2010…. – Continue reading
The stock of foreign investments in Romania, representing all foreign investments made, minus outflows related to these investments, grew by only 1.4%, or EUR 832 million, in 2013, to a total of EUR 59.96 billion, according to local financial newspaper Ziarul Financiar. This is the lowest growth rate since the… – Continue reading
China is set to increase its investment in foreign countries by at least 10% per year over the next five years, according to a senior official at the ministry of commerce. If the promise is fulfilled, it would mean China would be spending more on outbound investment than inbound investment…. – Continue reading
The lower house of Parliament has approved legislation that allows the exchange of information about banking accounts with other countries. The bill is a prerequisite for the implementation of the FATCA agreement with the United States which will require Czech financial institutions to inform US authorities about account owned by… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Panama and Colombia will negotiate a financial information-sharing deal, ending a stand-off over Colombia’s classification of the Central American country as a tax haven and removing it from that status, Colombia’s president said on Tuesday. The Colombian government is trying to curb tax evasion and two weeks ago… – Continue reading
ITR Correspondent • • • The G20 and OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project has rarely been out of the headlines during 2014. At the heart of the BEPS project is the assumption international tax rules make it possible for profits to be taxed in countries that are… – Continue reading
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) agreed to pay 72.2 million euros ($92 million) in fines to European Union regulators for attempting to rig the Swiss franc Libor rate and fixing spreads with rivals, the EU said today. UBS AG (UBSN) was fined 12.7 million euros by the EU and Credit… – Continue reading
Mark Davies is not happy that accidents are going to cost you as much as intentions Recently, the government issued a consultation document on new legislation to extend HM Revenue & Customs’ powers of retribution for undeclared income and gains hidden offshore. It believes that offshore tax evasion is difficult… – Continue reading
Estonia will issue identity cards allowing access to its digital services to people residing outside the Baltic nation as it seeks to boost foreign investment. Lawmakers in the capital Tallinn voted unanimously with no abstentions to let foreigners seek e-residence status to be able to set up a company in… – Continue reading
Samuel Wyly, the U.S. businessman who may have to forfeit as much as $400 million after being found liable for using offshore trusts to hide stock holdings and make illegal trades, filed for bankruptcy. Wyly, 80, listed assets and debt of $100 million to $500 million each in a Chapter… – Continue reading
As of July 1, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has implemented several changes to the streamlined filing procedures for offshore compliance, as well as the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). These programs provide taxpayers with offshore assets an avenue to bring their tax obligations into compliance. The expanded programs… – Continue reading
In determining the optimum gateway for investing into India, reliance on industry data may be the most prudent opening gambit. Data released by India’s Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion peg Mauritius and Singapore as the top two destinations through which foreign direct investment and private equity capital is routed… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has never said that it will not reveal the names of Indians who have undeclared income parked in foreign bank accounts. “The Congress will be embarrassed by the names when we reveal them in court,” said Mr Jaitley in an exclusive… – Continue reading
Echegaray says account holders can take part in country’s fiscal amnesty If Argentines who hold 4,040 undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland don’t normalize their fiscal status and pay their debts, the AFIP tax bureau will file a complaint before the Office of Economic Crime and Money-Laundering (PROCELAC) requesting it investigates… – Continue reading
Foreign structures are tempting targets for governments, says Vanessa Houlder. When governments around the world embarked on a drive to plug tax loopholes in 2012, the urgency of the move was underpinned by rising tensions over austerity and inequality. Widespread public outrage over alleged tax-dodging by wealthy individuals and multinationals… – Continue reading
A Residence Programme (“TRP Rules”) has been introduced with effect from 1 July 2013 for individuals who are nationals of the EU, EEA or Switzerland (but not Maltese nationals) in terms of Legal Notice 270 of 2014 and Articles 56(23) and 96 of the (Malta) Income Tax Act, Chapter 123… – Continue reading
Privacy Commissioner welcomes the news. The office of NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard has confirmed the government’s intentions to update the state’s privacy legislation to make it clear where agencies and healthcare providers stand when it comes to storing data offshore, particularly as part of cloud computing arrangements. The NSW Privacy… – Continue reading
Hang Seng Indexes Company and Markit have launched the Hang Seng Markit iBoxx Offshore RMB Bond Index family (HSM iBoxx). The bond index series will track the performance of offshore renminbi (RMB) sovereign and corporate debt using an enhanced methodology for the treatment of unrated bonds alongside comprehensive breakdowns by… – Continue reading
Dividend represents a share of the company’s post-tax profit that is divided among its shareholders. In other words, once corporate tax has been paid on profit, the remaining earnings are distributed amongst shareholders as dividend. So far, so good. Then, this dividend is characterised as income in the hands of… – Continue reading
Grant Thornton calls on government to show greater support for mid-sized companies as they drive UK growth GRANT THORNTON has lent its weight to calls for the government to back high-growth, mid-sized firms in the Autumn Statement on 3 December. In a 20-page document submitted to the chancellor, the top-ten… – Continue reading
Non-EU investment firms’ access to EU investors under MiFID 2 The recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID 2), along with its accompanying Regulation (MiFIR), were published in the Official Journal of the EU in June. The new legislation is currently expected to come into effect in January 2017. The… – Continue reading
