The presentation on October 17, 2014 will discuss how FATCA has changed the world and provide perspectives for financial institutions and expatriates SHANGHAI, China, Oct. 14, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via PRWEB – As of June 30, 2014 China has signed Model 1 IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement) in cooperation with FATCA… – Continue reading
A million Canadians are migrating to the southern United States for the winter. Before you cross the border, buy travel medical insurance. Learn how U.S. income tax rules affect you if you stay in the U.S. for more than four months. Buy travel medical insurance coverage before leaving Canada for… – Continue reading
Malta, like Cyprus, has been obliged to dismantle its old ‘offshore’ companies regime as a trade-off for joining the European Union. EU membership has, however, brought about certain benefits for Maltese companies trading across borders, and, coupled with investment-friendly government policies and some interesting tax planning opportunities, Malta remains one… – Continue reading
A vast majority of companies headquartered in the United States expect increased scrutiny of their transfer pricing practices in the short-term as a result of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project. A recent EY survey, Connecting The Dots, concluded that 30… – Continue reading
In this issue: An Introduction to Double Taxation Avoidance Qualifying for DTA Benefits in China Applying for DTA Benefits in China Rising operational costs in China mean that business owners must be alert to all possible means of maximizing the performance of their China-based investments. As one such measure, the… – Continue reading
TORONTO , Oct. 2, 2014 /CNW/ – Aggressive international corporate tax avoidance by multinational corporations has become the subject of intense political scrutiny. U.S. politicians have called out some American multinationals, including Apple, Amazon, Starbucks and Google, for relocating profits abroad to avoid U.S. taxes. More recently, politicians accused Burger… – Continue reading
It appears as if Irish eyes won’t be smiling on U.S. corporations soon. The government of Ireland is set to change its tax code tomorrow to eliminate some of those loopholes that American companies have come to love. Among the targets– the so-called “double Irish” tax break. Both the U.S…. – Continue reading
The U.S. government’s attempt to prevent companies from seeking a tax address outside the country hasn’t stopped Steris Corp. (STE) The Mentor, Ohio-based provider of hospital sterilization products and services announced today that it will buy the smaller Synergy Health Plc (SYR) and establish the combined company’s tax address to… – Continue reading
The screw is being turned on American companies that use complex structures to whittle down their tax bills. But is the latest EU probe a paper tiger or a game changer? It was supposed to be good news. Amazon’s announcement yesterday that it would hire 1,000 staff was dressed up… – Continue reading
The drugmaker AbbVie said Tuesday it is having second thoughts about its deal to combine with British counterpart Shire after the U.S. government created new limitations on the tax benefits of incorporating overseas. North Chicago, Illinois-based AbbVie said it notified Shire that its board intends to reconsider the recommendation it… – Continue reading
Reuters) – Ireland’s plan to close a “Double Irish” tax loophole could cost U.S. companies including Apple and Google billions of dollars, although a new break and pressure to tackle tax avoidance elsewhere means they are unlikely to decamp. Analysts and tax advisers predict that corporations which need access to… – Continue reading
* Ireland to end tax regime that saved multinationals billions * Swift upturn ushers in tax cuts rather than austerity * Government faces backlash over uneven nature of recovery (Adds finance minister interview, Google comment) By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries DUBLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Ireland will phase out… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Former UBS bank executive Raoul Weil was the mastermind of the Swiss bank’s illegal offshore operations that helped thousands of Americans evade taxes, prosecutors said at the start of his federal trial on Tuesday. Weil, 54, was the third-highest ranked executive at the Zurich-based wealth management firm and… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Luxembourg agreed on Tuesday to end its bank secrecy rules from 2017, yielding to a decade of pressure from Germany and the United States and marking a breakthrough in global efforts to reduce tax evasion. Luxembourg, whose banks hold deposits worth 10 times the nation’s annual economic output,… – Continue reading
Oct. 10 — Withholding agents and foreign financial institutions will be given extra time to comply with requirements for determining an account holder’s foreign status, the IRS said. The Internal Revenue Service, in Notice 2014-59 issued Oct. 10, said withholding agents, foreign financial institutions and payers have until Jan. 1,… – Continue reading
Hitech firms are being warned that they should take advantage of tax relief on patent related profits now before a threatened clamp down by the European Union according to Richard Hopes, Partner at Alliotts accountants based in Surrey and London. Richard Hopes, Partner at Alliotts accountants and a specialist in… – Continue reading
It is said that Argentina faces an economic and political crisis every 10 years. Whenever a crisis arises, Argentinians’ right of ownership is at risk. Devaluation, asymmetric pesification and the current foreign exchange restrictions are a few examples of the challenges we face. What’s more, according to a recent OECD… – Continue reading
How your listed property holding will be taxed. CAPE TOWN – By the middle of this year, most of South Africa’s listed property companies had converted themselves into real estate investment trusts (REITs) under legislation adopted in 2013. This brings the sector in line with global standards. One of the… – Continue reading
Fund managers dealing with funds in Model 1 IGA countries must start focusing now on the application of FATCA to these funds. The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) is becoming a reality. Fund managers around the world over are facing requests from U.S. withholding agents for FATCA documentation… – Continue reading
In the history of the old west when gun fighters survived a gun fight they might put a “notch” in their pistol as a badge of honor. Well the U.S. Department of Justice can put another notch in its weapon of choice, threat of prosecution” because Deutsche Banks’ Swiss unit… – Continue reading
The IRS updated its streamlined offshore compliance program to provide procedures taxpayers residing both inside and outside the United States should use to participate in the program. The streamlined offshore compliance program is for taxpayers whose failure to comply with requirements to report offshore assets is nonwillful. It is designed… – Continue reading
The IRS announced its intention in Notice 2014-59 to amend temporary regulations it issued under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) on March 6, 2014, to modify the effective dates of (1) the standards of knowledge that apply to a withholding certificate or documentary evidence to document a payee… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Monday promised sweeping tax and spending cuts to help boost growth and jobs next year, as the European Commission considers whether to reject his budget plan for reducing debt too slowly. Speaking to a conference of business leaders, Renzi said he would… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Italian and Swiss ministers clashed on Monday over the failure to reach an agreement aimed at fighting tax evasion that foresees Switzerland opening up its bank databases to Italian tax authorities. Both Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said they spoke on… – Continue reading
A failed property development is linked to a tax haven company that triggered an alleged money laundering probe into a wealthy businessman. Albany Heights, more than 400 homes proposed to be built on Auckland’s North Shore, was marketed as an “investors’ dream” but companies connected to the project collapsed with… – Continue reading
Undeclared offshore income and assets must be disclosed by 19 December 2014 The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is reassuring taxpayers that disclosing under Project DO IT will not give them a “red flag”. Project DO IT, the ATO’s offshore voluntary disclosure initiative, offers considerable benefits to taxpayers who bring their… – Continue reading
U2 frontman Bono has claimed that the controversial tax laws which have helped multinationals avoid billions in tax have “brought our country the only prosperity we’ve known”. In an interview with the Observer, the singer said the Irish economy needs companies like Apple, Facebook and Google, which have been the… – Continue reading
Inter vivos and testamentary trusts are used frequently in Canada to implement a variety of estate and tax planning strategies. Over the past few years, however, amendments to Canada’s Income Tax Act (the ITA), and case law have altered the effectiveness of the use of trusts in certain circumstances. In… – Continue reading
Cash in companies run by businessman Declan Conway was moved to two offshore companies Shareholders in two Business Expansion Scheme (BES) companies run by businessman Declan Conway have written to him demanding to know why almost €1.6 million was transferred from both firms to a number of offshore entities. Between… – Continue reading
Tax authority set a target of 1,165 people a year by 2014/15, but analysis of the last tax year shows it prosecuted just 795 £119.4bn of UK tax went unpaid, avoided or evaded in the financial year 2013/14, with evasion totalling £82.1bn, according to campaigner Richard Murphy. Photograph: Daniel Lynch… – Continue reading
Americans for Tax Reform is one of 20 taxpayer and free market groups from 15 countries which have signed a letter to world leaders to outline their opposition to transnational tax initiatives and any increase or harmonization of excise taxes. In 2012, the World Health Organization proposed to raise certain… – Continue reading
Low corporate taxes are not incidental to Ireland’s economy. They are critical to it The “double Irish” might sound like an especially strong glass of whiskey. In fact, however, it is something far more potent – a phrase used by tax lawyers to describe the way revenues for multi-nationals… – Continue reading
The NDA government is sending a high-level delegation to Switzerland in a bid to persuade them to assist with details of the 700-odd Indians who have bank accounts with the HSBC Bank in Geneva. This is being seen as the last-ditch attempt by the Indian government since the Swiss authorities… – Continue reading
Foreign investors, not to mention the country itself, need a more stable and predictable regime Foreign companies are depressingly used to run-ins with the Indian taxman. A string of groups, including Vodafone, IBM and Cairn Energy, have been hauled into the dock for not paying their dues in recent years…. – Continue reading
The Alternative Information Development Centre (Disclosure: AIDC’s economist Dick Forslund contributes to Daily Maverick, most recently about Lonmin) has been served with an interdict application in the Johannesburg High Court to try to prevent the organisation from holding a press conference about Lonmin’s finances, especially relating to the use of… – Continue reading
India may have to wait longer for joining “selected” countries with whom Switzerland plans to do automatic exchange of information on tax matters, even as Indian and Swiss officials will meet soon to iron out their bilateral arrangements on suspected tax evasion cases. Switzerland has started a process for putting… – Continue reading
Non-dom investors have been hit by a 45% tax if they secure loans against offshore assets to buy a property in Britain. The stealth tax has slowed down the sale of luxury homes in London’s booming property market, according to estate agents. The rule affects investors who are not children… – Continue reading
Compliance is China’s latest Hot Topic. Until recently, many Western managers accepted that some flexibility on legal issues was needed to thrive in the complex Chinese legal environment. Practices to strengthen relationships such as luxurious dinners and karaoke evenings, sponsored travel, red-pocket money and the like, have often been regarded… – Continue reading
Moshe Asher is seeking information about accounts in Switzerland belonging to Israelis. The Israel Tax Authority is stepping up it efforts to combat overseas tax shelters for Israelis. Sources inform “Globes” that Israel Tax Authority director Moshe Asher is expected to travel to Switzerland next week in order to meet… – Continue reading
It is time for an inquiry into HMRC’s competence, policy, decision-making processes and duty to provide transparency Thomas Paine’s observation that what first was plunder later assumed the name of revenue is well-understood by those who have chosen to make their living abroad. Individuals move for various reasons: career development,… – Continue reading
Tax Justice Network Africa, which campaigns against harmful tax policies that favour the wealthy and perpetuate inequality, has moved to the High Court to stop a double-taxation treaty between Kenya and Mauritius. Mauritius is a popular tax haven for companies with multinational operations, tilting scales against countries that sign bilateral… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Boris Lalovac has expressed his satisfaction with the numerous meetings he held during his visit to the United States where he attended the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Fund earlier this week. During their visit to Washington, representatives of the Finance Ministry and the… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service announced changes to one of its limited-amnesty programs for U.S. taxpayers with undeclared offshore accounts. The revisions are to the “streamlined procedure,” which was announced in June and is for taxpayers who weren’t intentionally hiding money abroad. Participants in the streamlined program who live in the… – Continue reading
Transactions within, rather than between, companies now accounts for about a quarter of Australia’s economic output, the Tax Office says. In a sign of the challenges facing the government’s crackdown on corporate tax erosion, the ATO said related-party dealings now amounted to more than a quarter of a billion dollars… – Continue reading
ZURICH (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking “total cooperation” from Swiss banks in a draft agreement aimed at allowing the banks to make amends for aiding tax evasion by wealthy Americans, a Swiss newspaper reported on Saturday. About 100 Swiss banks signed up to work with… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Vodafone welcomed an Indian court ruling in favor of the British mobile giant which was engaged in a $490-million tax battle with local authorities. The tax fight is one of several embroiling the British company that has become a symbol of problems facing foreign firms doing business in… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG’S financial elite gathered recently for the grand opening of its free port, which will soon house troves of fine art, vintage wine, precious metals and other valuables, beyond the reach of any taxman. The facility is one of the three finest of its kind, along with those in Singapore… – Continue reading
Ireland’s finance ministry officials are weighing phasing out a tax device used by multinational companies including Google Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the matter, as the European Union looks into the practice. Ireland is considering whether to eliminate a technique known as the “Double Irish,” which allows… – Continue reading
Vodafone has emerged victorious against the Indian taxman in the latest bout of litigation between the two. The important point for the rest of us being what it tells us about those endless claims of tax avoidance and tax evasion by large companies. It’s not just that large amounts of… – Continue reading
A tax civil society has sued National Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich over an ‘illegal’ agreement signed with Mauritius, in a major litigation that could affect thousands of companies operating in Kenya. The suit filed at the High Court by Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A) demands that Rotich withdraws a taxation treaty… – Continue reading
