The British Virgin Islands Government has received a report that it commissioned on finding a new direction for the financial services industry, the recommendations from which will now be implemented, reports Tax News. The BVI engaged consulting firm McKinsey and Company to develop a pragmatic new strategy and implementation plan… – Continue reading
The Income Tax department has directed its officers that cases of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) seeking tax exmption under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with other countries must be decided within a month of claim filing, reports the New Kerala. “It has been decided that in all cases of… – Continue reading
“Why are we doing this to folks? Why are we tormenting them in this way?” IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson asked in an address to Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association FATCA Policy Symposium in Washington last year. These “folks” are Americans living abroad: NGO workers, English teachers, physicians, taxi… – Continue reading
Although you may be working in China, does the ATO still consider you an Australian resident? It’s just one of the things you need to get absolutely right. The tax requirements for Aussies working overseas vary from region to region. Aussies working in Hong Kong will find last month’s tax… – Continue reading
With the Delhi High Court to resume hearing on Wednesday on the Rs.20.495 crore tax case slapped on Cairn India, experts voiced the apprehensions of foreign investors about an adversarial tax regime. “Foreign investors expect stability and clarity in tax policy, which has been coming from the top with the… – Continue reading
India’s rupee rose for a second day as the dollar weakened and global funds resumed purchases of local bonds after the government sought to clear uncertainties over a retrospective tax on capital gains. Overseas funds bought a net $130 million of local-currency notes on April 24, the latest figures show,… – Continue reading
Turkey is to host a G20 international tax symposium next month to discuss developments to address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and the exchange of information between tax administrations The event, organised by Turkish Ministry of Finance, also aims to ensure that developing and low-income countries benefit from the… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan informed the National Assembly on Monday of what he called major steps taken by the government to facilitate the oft-troubled Afghan transit trade, which he said he had also conveyed to Kabul during a visit there earlier this month. The move, he said in… – Continue reading
According to the most recent estimates, the quantity of goods carried by containers has risen from around 100 million metric tons in 1980 to about 1.5 billion metric tons in 2012. Out of these numbers, one container in every 11 that is engaged in global trade is either bound for… – Continue reading
Last September, the US Treasury Department announced new tax rules designed to crack down on the rising trend of “tax-inversion” deals in the pharmaceutical industry, as an increasing number of US firms had begun to pursue overseas acquisitions in attempts to relocate their legal addresses to non-US based headquarters to… – Continue reading
The April 21, 2015 Federal budget released by the Conservative Government includes updates on Canada’s involvement in the BEPS project and how Canada intends to fulfill its obligations to implement an automatic exchange of tax information with the G-20. Notably (with the exception of the common reporting standard discussed below),… – Continue reading
The Shareholders Association is making “strenuous representations” to the Inland Revenue Department over what it says is an unfair tax facing possibly thousands of New Zealand investors as a result of a proposed demerger of Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton. In an effort to simplify its business, Melbourne-based BHP is… – Continue reading
Asks Jaitley why the govt not keen to avail of German offer to share info on offshore accounts Former Union Law minister and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday put the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on the witness box and slapped him with a dozen questions on the Narendra… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India may set up a panel to resolve legacy tax cases that have revived allegations of ‘tax terrorism’, making it difficult for the government to meet its pledge to boost investor sentiment. “I am considering a high-level committee to explore what can be done to resolve the past,… – Continue reading
They are even engaging in strong-arm tactics with US account holders Swiss banks, for decades the bastions of secrecy, are preaching the virtue of transparency to their US clients as they try to head off billions of dollars in potential fines for helping Americans evade taxes. Faced with the threat… – Continue reading
Five years on from FATCA’s inception, Dev Bhudia of GoldenSource argues that in order to realise new revenue streams from customer data, financial institutions can no longer afford to view regulations in isolation. They say birthdays are the perfect time to reflect and for many banks, the fifth anniversary of… – Continue reading
Section 55 of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Tax Act”) contains an anti-avoidance rule that prevents a corporation from converting what would otherwise be a taxable capital gain into a tax-free intercorporate dividend. Section 55 deems a dividend not to be a dividend, but rather a capital gain, where… – Continue reading
The Greek government will table a new draft bill to Parliament that will allow Greek citizens to voluntarily reveal deposits held in Switzerland in exchange for a smaller tax payment, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Swiss State Secretary for International Financial… – Continue reading
A 15-strong delegation of Bermuda industry, government and regulator representatives will take part in a Canada roadshow next week, targeting top-level executives and touting the corporate benefits of setting up a captive insurance company in Bermuda, reports the Bermuda Business Development Agency. Led by Bermuda’s Economic Development Minister Dr. Grant… – Continue reading
LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC shares have rallied after the bank said it was reviewing whether to move its headquarters out of Britain and potentially back to its former home in Hong Kong. The following are some of the regulatory issues raised if Europe’s biggest bank were to relocate to Hong… – Continue reading
In brief: At the recent G20 meeting in Washington, Treasurer Joe Hockey announced the establishment of a working group between Australia and the UK to develop initiatives to address so-called diverted profits involving multinational enterprises. What are the implications for multinationals doing business in Australia? Partner Martin Fry (view CV)… – Continue reading
The online gambling industry is currently one of the industries raising more profits in the online sector. The idea of using virtual currencies to fund online accounts has been growing and the gambling industry doesn’t want to miss the train. Much like the gambling industry did before the digital currency… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton is contesting A$522 million (S$544.8 million) in Australian tax bills on its Singapore marketing operations up to 2010, after having paid almost no tax in Singapore since 2006, the global miner told an Australian Senate panel, reports the Business Times. The figures were released on Monday by a… – Continue reading
Ireland found itself surrounded by supporters, for the first time, on the issue of corporate tax rates, during an informal meeting of EU finance ministers, reports the Irish Examiner. Finance Minister Michael Noonan was not present, as he returned to Dublin early, but the head of the Central Bank, Patrick… – Continue reading
One million American citizens in Canada face double tax troubles. Max Reed explores these challenges in a spring series. The United States has two tools with which to collect information on accounts held by its citizens, FATCA and FBAR. Lots of attention has been paid to FATCA, less so to… – Continue reading
Hong Kong’s Government has launched a consultation on proposals to apply, with certain adaptations, new international standards on the automatic exchange of account information (AEOI) in tax matters. The Government’s AEOI proposals would alter the definition of financial institutions (FIs), the information FIs would be required to secure from account… – Continue reading
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a corporate tax bill earlier this month. Unsurprisingly, it cuts in a different direction than most tax proposals floating around Washington these days. The bill (S.922) is titled the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act of 2015. A companion bill was introduced in the House by… – Continue reading
An OECD initiative on tax evasion is causing ripples around the world While a host of topics — from the necessity and the proposed scope of corporate tax reform, to corporate rate reduction and corporate inversions — are of major concern to those engaged in international tax, the overriding issue… – Continue reading
The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) has informed Mauritius-based financial institutions (MFIs) that the filing deadline for submitting their US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) data for the 2014 reporting year is July 31, 2015. FATCA requires all FIs outside of the United States to submit regular information on financial… – Continue reading
Yesterday afternoon, the Canadian government tabled the 2015 Canadian Federal Budget. Two measures are particularly relevant to certain employers. Withholding Relief for Non-Resident Employers and Employees To take effect next year (if the measure is enacted), Budget 2015 proposes an exemption from certain withholding requirements on payments from “qualifying non-resident… – Continue reading
The Vietnamese unit of motor maker Honda and the Ministry of Finance still fail to reach an agreement on a preferential tax treatment the company is supposed to enjoy, thanks to which it refuses to pay nearly US$10 million in tax arrears. Honda Vietnam Co. Ltd. has been asked to… – Continue reading
• Register of landlords to tackle tax dodging will help fund £225m giveaway • Comes on top of promised rent-controls for tenants • Labour would change planning law to give buyers from local area priority First-time buyers would not have to pay stamp duty on houses worth up to £300,000… – Continue reading
HMRC has increased its scrutiny of potential tax avoidance among high-net-worth individuals following the launch of a specialist team, says law firm Pinsent Masons. The ‘Rising Stars’ team in HMRC, which focuses on high-net-worth individuals with growing assets, increased the number of investigations it carried out and the amount recouped… – Continue reading
The subdued outlook for the Australian economy is forcing companies to look overseas for ways to grow their business. Professional services giant EY’s Australasia Capital Barometer says the weak economic environment has resulted in many companies abandoning plans to look for acquisitions, or else search for opportunities overseas. Only 44… – Continue reading
NEW YORK — Introduced in the 1920s to ease the tax burden of farmers who wanted to swap property, it soon became a tool for real estate investors flipping, say, office buildings for shopping malls. Now, this little-known provision in the tax code, known as a like-kind exchange, has become… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Haphazard and impractical comments are the norm when tax authorities release collection figures of major political personalities. Newspaper columnists and television anchors try their level best to humiliate them but the endeavour is too shallow to spark a relevant public debate. There is no doubt politicians pay income tax… – Continue reading
Sofia. At the request of the Commission for Establishing Property Acquired from Criminal Activity Sofia City Court levied distraint on property of former MP Htristo Biserov and his step-son Ivaylo Glavinkov, worth BGN 1,555,883, the press office of the commission announced, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). The… – Continue reading
The announcement of a ground-breaking tax free zone being established by the Albanian government around the port city of Durrës marks an exciting new phase for the country, as it beckons more and more foreign investors to look to its shores. The Albanian Ministry of Economy is set to create… – Continue reading
April 24 — Pressure is increasing on the Treasury Department to address concerns over language in the anti-inversions Notice 2014-52 that experts say could hurt the ability of foreign insurers to take part in commonplace business combination deals. “This has had an impact not only on foreign insurance companies, but… – Continue reading
When should the beneficiaries of an IRS-targeted tax shelter be allowed to sue their enablers? That’s the question the federal appellate court in Atlanta posed to the Florida Supreme Court April 17 in an ongoing bankruptcy-related case. The answer, which turns on statutes of limitations, probably will boil down to… – Continue reading
A recent indictment by the United States Attorney’s office in California illustrates the inter-relationship between currency transfer restrictions, (such as those involving Iran), foreign financial account reporting (the FBAR requirement) and the failure to report taxable income (filing of a false tax return). In United States of America vs. Ali… – Continue reading
TOKYO — Two of the world’s largest manufacturers of the machinery used to produce semiconductors, Applied Materials of the United States and Tokyo Electron of Japan, on Monday dropped plans to merge after the Department of Justice said that combining their businesses would restrict competition. The proposed $10 billion deal… – Continue reading
Earlier, SEBI also beefed up norms for defaulters trying to raise fresh money. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that only nominee and independent directors who are not whole-time board members of a firm deemed as a ‘wilful defaulter’ would be excluded from being labelled as a party… – Continue reading
Island Delegation to Tout Jurisdiction as Risk Capital and Potential e-Commerce Hub HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 27, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A 15-strong delegation of Bermuda industry, government and regulator representatives will take part in a Canada roadshow next week, targeting top-level executives and touting the corporate benefits of setting up… – Continue reading
British Virgin Islands through its International Tax Authority (BVI ITA), went live last week with the Vizor for FATCA & AEOI solution, the “BVI Financial Account Reporting System”. Today, Vizor Ltd. announced that BVI went live with the Vizor for FATCA & AEOI solution. The British Virgin Islands Government (BVIG)… – Continue reading
Ireland might learn as the Isle of Man positions itself as the new bitcoin capital of the world While bitcoin is attractive because of its inherent decentralised nature, it has struggled to be perceived as a legitimate currency, given the lack of accountability and total absence of someone or something… – Continue reading
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) went big exactly a year ago when it announced a takeover offer for UK-based AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN). The company’s decision to lap up AstraZeneca was seen as opportunistic; it being laced with controversy on many accounts, with some allegations behind the company’s proposition to acquire AstraZeneca… – Continue reading
Mr Le Pen allegedly hid gold bars and cash worth £1.57 million in an account with a Swiss bank in the Bahamas, according to the latest leak from corruption investigations into the Front National Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the French far-Right Front National, hid €2.2 million (£1.57m) in… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton is contesting $522 million in Australian tax bills on its Singapore marketing operations up to 2010, after having paid almost no tax in Singapore since 2006, the global miner told an Australian Senate panel. The figures were released on Monday by a Senate committee that is investigating corporate… – Continue reading
On Saturday 25 April, at the second session of the informal meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), one of most important issues on the agenda was the further development of the Capital Markets Union concept, which was broadly supported by the ministers and Governors of central banks…. – Continue reading
