Bloomberg BNA’s first transfer pricing conference in Asia—the latest offering in our Global Transfer Pricing Conference series with Baker & McKenzie—could not have been better timed. The day the conference opened, Sept. 17, China issued a revised draft circular on transfer pricing that completely changed the game for multinational companies… – Continue reading
Tax residency of Jersey companies Jersey companies may (contrary to the default position) be treated as exclusively tax resident in jurisdictions other than Jersey pursuant to Article 123(1)(a) of the Income Tax (Jersey) Law 1961. The criteria for a Jersey incorporated company to be resident (for taxation purposes) in a… – Continue reading
On September 18, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2015-66 (the Notice), which provides that the Treasury Department and the IRS intend to amend regulations issued under Sections 1471-1474 of the Internal Revenue Code (commonly known as FATCA). The Notice, among other things, indicates that the Treasury and the IRS will… – Continue reading
Myanmar plans to introduce more laws and regulations to increase its tax income over the coming years, sources said. The Internal Revenue Department (IRD) currently sets polices under the Myanmar Tax Law and the Union Tax Law. Sources at the IRD said they will issue further notifications, if required, to… – Continue reading
The Head of the Maltese Labour Delegation at the European Parliament, Alfred Sant, said that tax competition is needed by peripheral and island states unless there is compensatory mechanism to compensate them for the fact that they don’t have the endowments that other countries have. “Where competitive disadvantages exist, these… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance is a key problem for European countries, with the EU taking several steps to try and limit the ability of businesses to shift their profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Peter Dietsch writes on the nature of the problem and what can be done to tackle it. He argues that… – Continue reading
Notice 2015-66 was issued on 18 September 2015 announcing that the US Treasury Department and IRS intend to amend section 1471-1474 of the regulations. Transitional Rules The transitional rules provided in Notice 2015-66 are intended to allow for and facilitate an orderly transition for withholding agents and FFIs regarding FATCA… – Continue reading
US taxpayers with secret bank accounts in Belize are about to feel the full force of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A federal court in Miami has issued summonses against Belize Bank International and Belize Bank aiming to identify accounts controlled by US taxpayers from 2006 until 2014. Belize banks… – Continue reading
In a big relief to foreign firms, the government on Thursday exempted them from paying minimum alternate tax (MAT) retrospectively from April 2001, provided they did not have a permanent establishment in India. Tax experts said that this government move ends a lot of uncertainty on the controversial MAT issue… – Continue reading
IT Act will be amended with retrospective effectto exempt foreignfirms from MAT In a big relief to foreign firms, government on Thursday said the Income Tax Act will be amended with retrospective effect to exempt from minimum alternate tax (MAT) the overseas companies that covered under double taxation avoidance agreements… – Continue reading
Tax competition as such cannot be avoided, but today’s system has reached its limits and led to unwanted side effects. Small firms should not have to bear the tax burden of multinationals that pay very little. Action is needed to harmonise corporate tax practices across Europe, so as to make… – Continue reading
On September 16, 2015, the Honorable Mr. Justice Martineau rendered summary judgment in the matter of Hillis and Deegan v. The Attorney General of Canada, docket T-1736-13 (2015 FC 1082). As a matter of background (and as discussed in a previous post), on August 11, 2014, the plaintiffs, Hillis and… – Continue reading
The IRS recently replaced Rev. Proc. 2006-54 for requesting assistance under the Mutual Agreement Procedure (“MAP”) article of U.S. tax treaties, and Rev. Proc. 2006-9 for requesting Advance Pricing Agreements (“APAs”). The new Rev. Procs. (2015-40 and 2015-41, respectively) largely track draft procedures issued in 2013 (Notices 2013-78 and 2013-79),… – Continue reading
NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – September 23, 2015) – With the global implementation of FATCA and anticipation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), legal and compliance professionals within the banking industry have never seen such a regulatory overload and focus on ensuring proper compliance processes. As these multi-national regulations become implemented… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton has defended the use of a Singapore marketing hub to minimise its tax payments, saying most of its Australian profits continue to be taxed in its home country. The resources giant, which came under fire earlier this year over allegations of tax avoidance, says its global adjusted effective… – Continue reading
Action is needed to harmonize corporate tax practices across Europe, according to the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Tax Rulings. The committee said this was the key sentiment voiced during a meeting with finance ministers from Luxembourg, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany on September 22. According to the committee, while… – Continue reading
The IRS has let Americans living abroad wrongly claim tax credits on their foreign income, according to a new report from the agency’s watchdog. The Department of Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration said the IRS allowed taxpayers to wrongly claim around $95 million between 2010 and 2012 in foreign… – Continue reading
A long-awaited legal challenge against the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was rejected in the courts. The Federal Court of Canada rejected an attempt from Virginia Hillis and Gwendolyn Deegan claiming that FATCA infringed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and their right to enjoy security of… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton has warned any move by Australia to single-handedly combat corporate profit shifting could spark a backlash from other nations that is likely to ultimately harm local companies. Finance director Peter Beaven says while action on so-called base erosion and profit shifting is needed, it must be part of… – Continue reading
Entebbe — Members of African Parliamentarian Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Tax (APNIFFT) want governments across the continent to put more pressure on multinational companies to pay full taxes. According to the parliamentarians, tax evasion and illicit financial flow (IFFs) from Africa can be brought to an end if… – Continue reading
Valeant is famous for wringing cost savings out of its buyouts, and its tax-advantaged Canadian domicile helps on that front. Now, it’s leveraging another address to pare down Salix’s tax bill by more than $560 million. But how? According to documents seen by The Wall Street Journal, the strategy used… – Continue reading
The Australian Government has released an exposure draft of the legislation implementing the OECD Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (known as the Common Reporting Standard, or CRS), and an accompanying explanatory memorandum (available here). The draft requires Reporting Financial Institutions to report to the Commissioner of Taxation… – Continue reading
Finance ministers of euro zone’s major economies renewed on Tuesday their commitment to curb multinational corporations’ tax avoidance and called for more consistent rules to reduce “harmful” tax competition. Multinational companies have long been in the sights of European Union authorities because of the way they can legally reduce their… – Continue reading
About 30 percent of foreign investors in Korea are from overseas tax havens, a lawmaker said Tuesday. Citing data from the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Customs Service, Rep. Park Kwang-on of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) said that the number of corporate or individual… – Continue reading
What constitutes an HNI is a tricky question? In general parlance, HNIs are understood to be the individuals with ultra-high networth with deep pockets having surplus investible funds. As per the Credit Suisse global wealth report, currently India is home to around 1,500 ultra-high networth individuals with wealth of at… – Continue reading
Marginal rate ninth highest in 34 OECD countries, pre-budget submission claims Ireland risks deterring high- calibre foreign executives from moving here because of its relatively high tax rates, the Irish Tax Institute has warned. In a pre-budget submission, the institute said Ireland’s marginal tax rate of 52 per cent was… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) says it is engaging with Barclays Bank Seychelles to ensure that clients have sufficient time to shift their deposits in their offshore bank accounts, following a recent decision by Barclays to discontinue its banking services for non-residents in foreign currencies…. – Continue reading
Measures aimed at ensuring companies disclose more information to authorities Ireland is to become one of the first countries to introduce measures aimed at ensuring multinationals disclose more information to tax authorities. In the upcoming budget, the Government will introduce moves obliging multinationals to draft country-by-country reports on their global… – Continue reading
BY DAVID JESSOP— The Caribbean has just 18 congressional working days from Sunday, September 20 to try to have the U.S. Congress address an act naming 17 Caribbean nations as “tax havens”. If passed without amendment, it could have the effect of reputationally damaging the countries concerned with unpredictable trade,… – Continue reading
Labor has rejected co-operating with the Coalition on boosting the goods and services tax, whatever the outcome of next year’s tax white paper and negotiations with the states. Addressing the Australian Financial Review tax summit in Sydney, Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said while any GST rise would be permanent,… – Continue reading
Oil and gas multinational Chevron has come under fire in Australia for using Bermuda for tax avoidance. US-based Chevron, along with Anglo-Dutch firm Shell and the American ExxonMobil, is set to begin production at the massive Gorgon gasfield off the coast of Western Australia. But Chevron has been grilled by… – Continue reading
(OTTAWA) – Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada (Saanich-Gulf Islands), issued a letter to Stephen Harper, urging him to extend the IRS deadline for Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). “The private banking information of hundreds of thousands of Canadian citizens and permanent residents is set to… – Continue reading
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Premier Vance Amory is not concerned that the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA), which the Federal parliament passed last week will impact Nevis’ offshore financial sector. Financial institutions in the federation will under FATCA, be expected to fulfill a requirement to report on US… – Continue reading
It could become more expensive for regulated online poker operators to offer services in the ring-fenced Italian marketplace thanks to a proposal to introduce a new “Digital Tax” beginning January 1, 2017. Economy Undersecretary Enrico Zanetti confirmed that if the tax becomes law, it will be levied on online gambling… – Continue reading
A former financial services minister yesterday branded as “inconsequential” concerns over the District of Columbia’s (DC) pending ‘tax haven’ blacklisting of the Bahamas and 16 other Caribbean nations. Ryan Pinder, now a senior executive at Deltec Bank & Trust, was responding to concerns raised by Opposition finance spokesman, K Peter… – Continue reading
Coalition bill to scrap taxation transparency requirements for privately held companies with incomes of $100m or more examined in Senate hearing The Australian federal police had not been approached by the tax office over fears that publishing the tax details of wealthy individuals would lead to an increased risk of… – Continue reading
Development Goals (SDGs) but poorer countries should exercise caution when borrowing money, Gail Hurley, a development finance expert with the UN Development Program (UNDP), told Xinhua. “There’s a lot more finance available now—public and private, domestic and international — (but) a lot of it is loan finance, so we do… – Continue reading
On September 18, 2015, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2015-66, providing that the regulations under chapter 4, sections 1471-1474 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, commonly referred to as FATCA, will be amended to extend certain transitional rules…. – Continue reading
As discussed in the previous edition, due to current worldwide developments including the OECD’s move to curb tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), tax policy is changing significantly. In Ghana for example, a Transfer Pricing Regulations was passed in 2012 which aimed to ensure that the tax base of… – Continue reading
The Treasury Department said Friday it would delay enforcement of one key part of a 2010 law that is aimed at curbing offshore tax evasion, in a regulatory victory for banks, reports the Wall Street Journal. The law, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, requires foreign banks to… – Continue reading
In 28 August 2015, the Chinese State Administration of Taxation issued an Announcement for Granting Tax Treaty benefits to non-residents. The Announcement proposes a new system for granting tax treaty benefits where there pre-approval of the tax authorities is no longer required for withholding tax agents to apply reduced tax… – Continue reading
With less than two weeks remaining until many countries are required to exchange tax information with the U.S. pursuant to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the U.S. has agreed to provide partner jurisdictions with more time to implement information exchange systems. Today, the Treasury Department and the Internal… – Continue reading
For years it has been the currency of the Costa, as criminals simply can’t do business without a bag of ‘black money’. Judges, solicitors and local councils have been prone to their cut on every transaction and complex property transfer for decades. However, now the Spanish are finally cracking down… – Continue reading
Companies would save €1bn per year in administrative costs if the European Union adopts a common approach to corporate taxation, EU Economic and Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has claimed. The former French finance minister has posted an article to his online blog calling for a mandatory EU common consolidated corporate… – Continue reading
The reality of preparing global documentation may be expanding from a process of producing one or a small number of clearly defined reports to one of collecting and managing potentially significant amounts of data. This article considers how processes and technology habits may need to change to react effectively to… – Continue reading
The Indian Government must assure investors that it is committed to improving its legal framework, including the tax code, if it is to meet its economic objectives, a senior US State Department official has said. Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US this week, Nisha Desai… – Continue reading
There are many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from the US that are fearful of being involuntary discovered through the impending Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) disclosures of their Indian accounts by their foreign banks. The US Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice extending the time under which certain transitional… – Continue reading
Global convergence towards higher tax rates globally would be a poor outcome for the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project and a severe impediment to uplifting global growth prospects, Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, has said. Speaking at the SMU-TA Centre for Excellence… – Continue reading
The OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and FATCA in the United States are long-winded. So the OECD published on August 7 a much shorter and lighter guide: the “Common Reporting Standard Implementation Handbook” (the CRS Handbook). The CRS and FATCA represent a sweeping change toward automatic information exchange and away… – Continue reading
With the August recess now well in the rearview mirror, Congress is already deep into grappling with the imminent expiration of the U.S. Government’s funding authority on September 30. Amid the debates over the “Continuing Resolution” and related funding issues, the Iran deal, and other high-profile issues, the work on… – Continue reading
