If you are hiding income from the taxman, consider how long you are at risk. Three years, six, more? Even if you did your best with your taxes, you might be worried as taxes are horribly complex. The line between aggressive tax planning and tax evasion is sometimes less clear… – Continue reading
Premier Colin Barnett (left) and Chevron manager Colin Beckett at its LNG project on Barrow Island. Secretive oil major Chevron Corp has taken the art of tax avoidance to its ultimate form thanks to a scheme so aggressive that it goes beyond merely reducing exposure to income tax, but rather,… – Continue reading
TS IS NO STRANGER to hyperbole and overkill, but news of a small group of church bell ringers in Kent becoming encumbered with the intricacies of the US’s FATCA deal with the UK very much takes the biscuit. In an event that can only be described as ‘disproportionate’, Neil Campbell… – Continue reading
SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) — The South Korean business community on Tuesday called for easing the tax audit burden and more deductions for corporate entertainment outlays to better reflect the rise in overall expenses. In a meeting with National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Hwan-soo in Seoul, companies belonging to the… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: MIDF Equities Research says the Malaysian stock market is in need of a spark after its rather indifferent response to the strengthening of the ringgit and the oil price. The research house said the Bursa Malaysia’s indices have traded in a narrow range in the last three weeks…. – Continue reading
SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) — The South Korean business community on Tuesday called for easing the tax audit burden and more deductions for corporate entertainment outlays to better reflect the rise in overall expenses. In a meeting with National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Hwan-soo in Seoul, companies belonging to the… – Continue reading
The Green Party is congratulating the Government for beginning to see sense on a capital gains tax, but is warning that limiting it to properties sold within two years of purchase doesn’t go far enough. “This is a welcome U-turn from the Government. Only last week they were saying that… – Continue reading
The I-T dept has received over 500 applications from MNCs for signing APAs. Income-tax department has set a target of 50 advance pricing agreements (APAs) to be sealed with multinational companies in the current fiscal that will exempt cross-border transactions by these firms from rigorous auditing to check income suppression…. – Continue reading
“We will have a black money discussion (with finance minister Arun Jaitley) to solve and clarify (the issue),” said Swiss economic affairs minister. Amid India enacting a law to deal with the menace of black money stashed abroad, Switzerland on Friday said that it is considering amendments in its domestic… – Continue reading
Taipei, May 16 (CNA) Chinese yuan-dominated deposits held by banks operating in Taiwan hit a new high as of the end of April, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of China. Market analysts said that the increase in the balance of Taiwanese banks’ yuan deposits largely resulted from… – Continue reading
Federal budget: winners and losers Ross Gittins: Small measures and a media circus Federal budget 2015: Full coverage Your five-minute guide to the budget The head of the treasury believes that the easy days of high economic growth are over and that Australia will need big personal income tax cuts… – Continue reading
Chancellor George Osborne has announced that he intends to deliver a new budget on 8 July. In what will be the second budget within four months, Osborne is set to reveal how the Conservative government will cut £12bn from the welfare budget and “deliver on the commitments we have made… – Continue reading
Subsidies that make borrowing irresistible need to be phased out THE way that black holes bend light’s path through space cannot be smoothed out by human ingenuity. By contrast, a vast distortion in the world economy is wholly man-made. It is the subsidy that governments give to debt. Half the… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 ― The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today froze 1,623 bank accounts of companies and individuals involving over RM560 million in the first day of its “Operasi Bersepadu” in Sabah. The commission’s investigation division chief Datuk Mohamad Jamidan Abdullah said the operations were launched to crack down… – Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG – A R2.6bn merger deal between telecoms firm Telkom and IT services company Business Connexion Group (BCX) has been approved with conditions. The Competition Commission (CompCom) on Thursday announced that it recommended to the Competition Tribunal that the merger be approved with conditions. “These are technical conditions relating to… – Continue reading
Introduction to FATCA On December 16 2013 Malta and the United States entered into an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to implement rules and regulations under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA, enacted in 2010 by the United States, requires US taxpayers and financial institutions to report financial information to… – Continue reading
AUDITED ACCOUNTS – 30 JUNE 2015 FUND ANNUAL RETURN – 30 JUNE 2015 US FATCA – 30 JUNE 2015 RECORD KEEPING – IMMEDIATE TIGHTENING ATTITUDE OF THE COMMISSION TO LATE FILINGS Over the last six months we have seen that the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) Financial Services Commission (the “Commission”)… – Continue reading
Following on from a press release issued by the Treasurer on May 11th, the government has released a draft bill containing a new limb to the general anti-avoidance provision, which is directed at foreign multinational groups who have global revenue exceeding $1 billion. The law will apply where: • the… – Continue reading
The minimum alternate tax row has damaged the credibility of government promises to enforce an investor-friendly tax regime and made the Indian stock market Asia’s worst performer this year New Delhi/Mumbai: Castleton Investment Ltd, a unit of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK), in 2012 asked an arm of the Indian finance ministry… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published stakeholders’ comments on its discussion draft on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action 11, on improving analysis of BEPS. Through Action 11, the OECD hopes to develop recommendations to better chart the scale and economic impact of BEPS issues,… – Continue reading
Senators and members of the House of Representatives under the Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition are expected to meet and suggest to President-elect retired General Muhammadu Buhari the establishment of special courts that will deal with cases of tax evasion and corruption offences. Chairman of the coalition, Senator Aloysius… – Continue reading
Last night, the Federal Treasurer, Joe Hockey MP, released the 2015-16 Federal Budget. After public self-evaluation of its last budget as over-reaching, the Government has gone back to basics whilst still focussing on repairing the budget deficit in the medium to long term. The budget deficit is projected to be… – Continue reading
I. Introduction Following the approval by Parliament of Law No.23 of 11 March 2014 (hereinafter “Delega Fiscale”[1]), the Italian Government is now taking action and adopting the Legislative Decrees necessary to enforce this innovative tax reform. In fact, on 21 April 2015 the Council of Ministers has approved the drafts… – Continue reading
I. Introduction Following the approval by Parliament of Law No.23 of 11 March 2014 (hereinafter “Delega Fiscale”[1]), the Italian Government is now taking action and adopting the Legislative Decrees necessary to enforce this innovative tax reform. In fact, on 21 April 2015 the Council of Ministers has approved the drafts… – Continue reading
FOR NRIs wishing to invest in property in India, there are a variety of factors to be considered. A NRI can transfer any immovable property held to an Indian resident. However, he can transfer the property in India (other than agricultural land, plantation property and farm house) to a person… – Continue reading
The latest changes to VAT and profit tax legislation, implications of recent measures taken to fight fiscal evasion, changes to international tax reporting rules and the need to improve holding legislation were some of the topics discussed by participants in BR’s 14th Tax & Law conference which took place in… – Continue reading
Treasurer Joe Hockey is facing criticism for both acting too quickly and not doing enough on tax avoidance by multinational ¬companies after tabling legislation on Tuesday night to stop companies shifting taxable profits out of Australia. An unnamed 30 multinational companies with more than $1 billion in revenue from Australia… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office is probing Commonwealth Bank over a nine-figure sum arising from tax breaks claimed by the nation’s largest company for research and development. In a hostile environment for tax minimisation by large corporates, CBA and the ATO are wrangling over an amount ¬believed to be in excess… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 ― 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) must publicly prove its ability to repay its RM3.6 billion loan with a Deutsche Bank-led consortium instead of using “banking confidentiality” as an excuse to avoid addressing the matter, DAP’s Tony Pua said today. The Petaling Jaya Utara MP pointed out… – Continue reading
The OECD plans to have international agreement on new tax rules developed as part of its project to tackle aggressive tax avoidance by multinationals through the Base Erosion and Profiting Shifting (BEPS) project by the next G20 summit in November, with implementation completed before 2020 ‘at the latest’ Pascal Saint-Amans,… – Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG – There is considerable scope to collect more revenue by addressing tax leakage due to transfer pricing. Speaking at a forum event hosted by the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs), Judge Dennis Davis, chair of the Tax Committee that was tasked with a comprehensive review of South Africa’s… – Continue reading
Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan and Grant Thornton Company held a workshop on meeting the requirements of the FATCA U.S. federal law (The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). According to CBA, the workshop was held for banks and addressed the basic principles and practical issues of meeting FACTA… – Continue reading
FATCA—the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act—is America’s global tax law, called an American tax nightmare by the New York Times. That is an apt description. It was quietly enacted in 2010, and after a four-year ramp up, it’s finally in effect. Never before has an American tax law attempted such… – Continue reading
Robert Maas,tax consultant at Carter Backer Winter was struck by April’s economia essay in which Diarmid O’Sullivan – an advisor at ActionAid UK – set out ActionAid’s five-point plan to tackle tax avoidance The article’s first point starts by demanding that “British tax rates do not incentivise tax avoidance by… – Continue reading
Russia is set to enact an amnesty on offshore assets next month, but disagreement and lack of clarity over the terms of the pardon threaten not only to render the measure impotent, but undermine the government’s very drive to lure overseas money back home. The capital amnesty, part of a… – Continue reading
Even as the action plan to address Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) is being worked out, multinationals are bracing for some turbulent times in India. For some time now, transfer pricing – the price of goods and services determined by a company when two of its subsidiaries transact –… – Continue reading
Technology companies need to stop “extremely aggressive” tax planning, the man charged with reforming global tax rules has told the BBC. He says these “push the boundaries of what is legal”. Pascal Saint-Amans, who runs the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy, said that new standards would require companies to pay… – Continue reading
The Bahamas Ministry of Financial Services released draft copies of the FATCA Legislation and the FATCA Guidance Notes to meet the International Tax Compliance Requirements of the Model 1 FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the Bahamas and the United States of America (US). The new FATCA Bill was drafted in… – Continue reading
If you are American and have a non-U.S. bank account, chances are that you’ve received a letter from your bank asking for your tax details. It may seem odd that banks everywhere want to know if you are compliant with the IRS. But for the U.S. government, that’s the beauty… – Continue reading
The worldwide transfer pricing landscape is in a state of flux and the need for sound and reliable dispute resolution mechanisms has never been more important for multinational enterprises. In particular, where aggressive tax administrations such as India are concerned, double taxation is a key concern for businesses. Mutual agreement… – Continue reading
India is well on its way towards achieving meaningful financial sector reform and development, and time is of essence. Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that India will overtake China as the world’s fastest growing economy in 2015, buoyed by a rising middle-class, a young population, and competitive… – Continue reading
While the Bureaucrat Hall of Fame and Moocher Hall of Fame already exist, the Hypocrite Hall of Fame is just a concept. But once it gets set up, Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida will definitely be a charter member. Here are some passages from a column in the Tampa Bay… – Continue reading
May 13 — The hiring of an outside law firm in a sharply contested audit of Microsoft’s transfer pricing “appears to violate federal law and the express will of the Congress,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Hatch, in… – Continue reading
A Protocol amending the Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital between South Africa and Cyprus was signed on the 1st of April 2015. According to the Protocol, Article 10 (“Dividends”) of the Double Tax Treaty… – Continue reading
Head of forum’s tax policy will push for reform to cut down on avoidance. The OECD has attacked the “extremely aggressive” tax planning of companies such as Google, Amazon and Apple as it pushes for reform of global tax rules to cut down on avoidance. Pascal Saint-Amans, who heads up… – Continue reading
There’s more trouble for Indians holding undeclared assets overseas as the black money bill passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday will disallow foreign tax credits, cutting off another loophole, reports the Economic Times. Holders of such assets that are not declared within the stipulated period will be denied credits… – Continue reading
Ireland and Pakistan signed a new Income Tax Treaty on 16 April 2015. Once in force and effective, the new Treaty will replace the existing on of 1973. The new treaty will come into force after the two countries exchange ratification instruments. The provisions of the treaty will have effect… – Continue reading
Short cuts, loopholes and other forms of skulduggery will not be tolerated when the automatic exchange of tax information comes into force, a top official from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has promised Swiss bankers, reports Swiss Info. Grace Perez-Navarro, second in command at the OECD’s tax… – Continue reading
FATCA reporting commences In our March client briefing we noted that the Tax Information Authority in the Cayman Islands (“TIA”) had launched its online portal for the automatic exchange of tax information (the “AEOI Portal”), which can be accessed from its website (www.tia.gov.ky). The deadline for reporting Cayman Islands financial… – Continue reading
“Uruguay has now definitely earned its long-time nickname — the Switzerland of Latin America.” That’s what I wrote several months ago during my first visit to this small, south Atlantic costal country wedged between Brazil and Argentina. For the last week, I have been enjoying my second visit to Uruguay,… – Continue reading
