DOWNTOWN — The Roanoke Building at 11 S. LaSalle St. will undergo an $88 million renovation to transform the office building into a Residence Inn by Marriott, thanks to a property tax incentive approved Thursday by the city. Aldermen voted Thursday to grant LaSalle Hotel Partners LLC a Class L Property… – Continue reading
Retroactive legislation curtails tax-avoidance schemes but undermines faith in a government that changes the rules of game after an investment is made The temperature is rising in the United States over corporate inversions. U.S. Treasurer Jacob Lew is looking to pass retroactive law to undo recent corporate restructurings and, with… – Continue reading
BANGKOK, Sept 10 (Bernama) — Developing countries may be losing over US$160 billion annually due to corporate tax avoidance – money that could fund greater policy ambitions to get the global economy out of the doldrums and moving towards a more inclusive and sustainable future. Greater policy ambition in both… – Continue reading
Medical device giant Medtronic Inc. leads all corporate inverters in the amount of offshore cash waiting to be tapped if their tax inversion deals are consummated. Medtronic is buying Covidien and moving to Dublin, and it has $13 billion of cash outside the United States, according to a report from the Financial Times,… – Continue reading
The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland chief says ‘can-do attitude’ of Irish workforce is key ingredient for multinationals In the global tax game, Ireland is a mere pawn, powerless in the face of big corporations and their aggressive tax avoidance schemes. It’s no secret that these firms inhabit a parallel… – Continue reading
With the Canadian government’s decision to comply in July with a Washington tax crackdown on “U.S. persons” around the world, many Ameri-Canadians are feeling rising anger, fear and even hatred toward their powerful country of origin. That said, the self-identities of Americans in Canada have been more ambiguous than they… – 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. C Three US companies seeking to use controversial takeovers to cut their US tax bills hold at least… – Continue reading
Stopgap efforts to prevent corporate tax inversions won’t fix the underlying problems With Congress about to return for a final push before the midterm elections in November, one topic on everyone’s lips is so-called corporate inversions. The practice, where a large U.S. company buys a smaller foreign company in order… – Continue reading
The fact is, America has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world Many politicians in Washington are angry that some American companies are redomiciling in the UK, Canada and elsewhere. These “inversions” generally occur as a result of mergers with foreign firms, with tax being a big reason… – Continue reading
Years before Burger King sized up a Canadian headquarters in a hunt for lower taxes, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden’s investment firm was involved in a merger that moved an American pharmaceutical company to Ireland and significantly dropped its tax rate. McFadden’s Minnesota-based firm made more than $11 million,… – Continue reading
A high ranking Spanish politician has claimed that the Spanish government misses out on EUR1bn (USD1.3bn) of tax revenues each year as a result of Gibraltar’s tax regime. Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, Spain’s Secretary of State for the European Union (EU), made the claim during an interview with the country’s… – Continue reading
Microsoft is avoiding paying billions in taxes—and it’s not the only one. a subsidiary of a foreign company, so the firm has not technically engaged in the so-called “inversion” scheme that President Obama and Democrats have lately been criticizing. However, according to a 2012 U.S. Senate investigation, the company has… – Continue reading
THE SNP’s plans to cut corporation tax could turn an independent Scotland into a tax haven for multinational companies like Google and Microsoft, Labour’s finance spokesman Iain Gray has claimed. He said Scotland would lose out on jobs and investment as companies used the country to channel money and avoid… – Continue reading
Burger King’s announcement that it will move its headquarters to Canada has put the spotlight on that country’s tax system. However, the tax benefits of doing business in Canada, as opposed to doing business in the U.S. are not well-known. First, Canada has a much lower corporate tax rate: 15… – Continue reading
A US technology executive has rejected suggestions Ireland is merely seen as a tax haven for major American multinationals. McAfee senior vice-president, Patty Hatter, who previously worked with AT&T and Cisco, ranks as one of the most powerful female executives in California’s Silicon Valley. She insisted that the attractiveness of… – Continue reading
An innocuously named species of transaction has inspired a political furor this summer. After a number of U.S. companies announced plans to move overseas in so-called inversion deals, Sen. Carl Levin proposed banning them outright. President Barack Obama called the companies unpatriotic. Because of the controversy, Walgreen Co. backed away… – Continue reading
The average temperature in Miami is 67 degrees in January. In Ontario, January temperatures range from an average low of 17 to a high of 33. But Burger King plans to pull up stakes in Miami and move its headquarters to Ontario. That reflects a frigid business climate in the… – Continue reading
David Glen, head of tax at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Scotland, analyses the effects independence will have on Scottish taxes. While it is obvious that a Yes vote will result in substantial change to the tax system, as Scotland begins to develop its own independent tax regime, perhaps what is less clear… – Continue reading
Potential inversion deal highlights dropping corporate taxes in Canada, now the lowest among 10 countries, with the U.S. in 5th place. Fast-food giant Burger King faced anger from both Washington and average Americans Monday, a day after it announced that it was in talks to buy Tim Hortons and relocate… – Continue reading
Several recent high profile deals have directed media and public attention to the topic of “tax inversion,” whereby a company moves its headquarters overseas (usually in an M&A deal) in order to reduce its tax burden. According to the Wall Street Journal (citing Thomson Reuters) there have been 22 such… – Continue reading
Ireland can adopt ‘wait-and-see’ approach on tax breaks, says Department of Finance Ireland supports the EU review of all patent box regimes – under which certain member states offer tax breaks for intellectual property – and has decided to take a “wait-and-see approach” on the issue until guidance is provided… – Continue reading
Planting its European headquarters in Luxembourg has afforded Amazon significant tax advantages. That does not sit well in Britain, where members of Parliament from across the political spectrum have expressed outrage at the strategy. t would be hard to find anything better, unless, of course, you’re Cecil or Amazon. A… – Continue reading
Authorities in Gibraltar have slammed claims by a top Spanish official that the UK-held territory costs Spain €1 billion ($1.3 billion) a year in lost tax revenues, saying the figure is “a financial flight of fancy”. “The wealth that Gibraltar enjoys cannot continue to be based solely on an economy… – Continue reading
The Spanish Government yesterday stepped up its campaign of unsubstantiated accusations against the Rock by claiming that Spain was losing out on one billion euros in taxes every year because of Gibraltar’s fiscal regime. The spectacular claim was made by Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, Secretary of State for the EU… – Continue reading
The country’s largest biotechnology manufacturer, CSL, says government and community complacency puts Australia at risk of missing out on future jobs as companies invest where workers are more productive, tax rates are lower and governments are more supportive. The $33 billion blood plasma and vaccine maker said Australia urgently needs… – Continue reading
For years, chief executives have complained bitterly about the United States corporate tax code, arguing that it is too complicated and that rates are too high. The issue has reached a near boiling point this summer as many large American companies have sought to buy smaller foreign rivals so they… – Continue reading
The sharemarket has settled into a consolidation phase at between 5400 and 5600 index points, mirroring changes in overseas markets. While analysts are confident the current reporting period will not produce unexpected changes to their forecasts, international political instability makes further upward movement in prices unlikely. Compared with overseas markets… – Continue reading
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Walgreen’s drew protests this summer as the nation’s largest drug store chain mulled whether to move its headquarters overseas to avoid paying billions in corporate taxes. The practice is known as inversion and has been drawing more attention as companies consider reorganizing across the Atlantic to shield… – Continue reading
Tax competition isn’t just an international issue. While recent headlines have focused on how the high U.S. corporate rate is causing multinationals to relocate to jurisdictions that have cut their taxes or restructured their tax regimes to be more favorable to business (like Ireland and the United Kingdom), the effects… – Continue reading
India should cut its tax rate on corporate profits from a statutory rate of almost 33% to 20%, while simultaneously ending all exemptions in a phased manner. Indian corporate tax rates are relatively very high, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) statutory average, including surtaxes and sub-federal… – Continue reading
THE FINANCE CHIEF of Aviva has suggested the UK insurer is paying more tax than it needs to after it paid out around a third more than its fdour biggest FTSE 100 rivals in the past five years. Research by the Financial Times found Aviva paid 30% of its profits… – Continue reading
The reputation of many jurisdictions, or so called ‘tax havens’, has been attacked by other nations, most which fail to apply the same policies that they advocate for others. Over the last two decades, International Financial Centers (IFCs) have made vast changes to their laws and their enforcement, aiming to… – Continue reading
BANGKOK: The United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has proposed to the regional countries creation of an ‘Asia-Pacific Tax Forum’ to monitor tax legislation and regulations across the region. This is to help develop regional best practice and address issues such as avoidance of… – Continue reading
MULTINATIONAL companies shifting their profits from Africa to low-tax jurisdictions are only partly responsible for the erosion of the continent’s tax revenue bases. The African Tax Administration Forum (Ataf) believes some countries have signed away their tax revenue because of weak domestic policies, and ill-conceived tax incentives and mining contracts…. – Continue reading
A decision on Northern Ireland’s bid to have the right to set its own corporate tax rate is due after next month’s referendum on Scottish independence. Conor O’Brien reflects on the latest controversy surrounding the Republic’s corporation tax regime 5 AUGUST 2014 President Obama’s recent remarks about the practice of… – Continue reading
Measures to discourage Jersey companies engaging in “abusive tax schemes” for UK residents have been welcomed by industry body Jersey Finance. Geoff Cook, Jersey Finance CEO, said new rules were “pro-active and forward thinking”. He also said he supported tax competition and legitimate tax planning. In July the Times newspaper… – Continue reading
Bruton says it is up to US government to resolve tax obligation anomalies The Government has insisted it does not facilitate the so-called tax inversion practices criticised by president Barack Obama in comments that referenced Ireland. Minister for Jobs and Enterprise Richard Bruton responded to Mr Obama’s remarks by saying… – Continue reading
US bankers and lawyers are inciting a sense of urgency among corporate clients to get tax-reducing acquisitions of offshore companies signed before the end of this year, now that a slew of recent so-called tax-inversion trades has set off alarms in Congress. Heated debates about how to limit such acquisitions… – Continue reading
Taxes charged by governments are a lot like consumer prices charged by retailers. The more you raise the price, the less money you actually bring in as shoppers learn to find better deals elsewhere. This is precisely what many American corporations are doing, shopping around for better tax rates in… – Continue reading
The corporate inversion trend tells us that global tax competition is intense and that U.S. tax reform is long overdue. Our combined federal-state corporate tax rate of 40 percent is far higher than the rates of our trading partners. Inversions are a bid by companies to create self-help tax reform… – Continue reading
(CNN) — Some of the world’s most well-known companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Boots and Starbucks have become successful partly by convincing us through their products that their corporate values align with consumers’ personal values. But what happens when these companies behave in ways that seem to betray our trust?… – Continue reading
Recently announced proposals by the Italian government to abolish withholding tax on loan interest payments and lift restrictions on direct lending to Italian companies are expected to give a major boost to the country’s loan market. The moves should make it much easier and cheaper for foreign banks and other… – Continue reading
David Murray’s financial system inquiry should push to remove withholding tax on non-residents’ deposits in Australian banks to help diversify the funding base of local banks and create more competition from foreign institutions. Next week’s report from the inquiry should also drive the development of a corporate bond market, back… – Continue reading
PERHAPS, tax is like death. With the full weight of its certainty, people still struggle to shrug it off. At least, not many smile to tax collectors when they call knocking. Hence, some people dodge payment or under declare taxable income where it is possible to do so, a practice… – Continue reading
Walgreen Co. is at a crossroads, but it may not be “at the corner of happy and healthy” as its advertising slogan suggests. The nation’s largest drugstore chain is considering a move that would allow it to significantly cut its tax bill and increase profits. But it’s being painted by… – Continue reading
Greece’s Energy minister, Yiannis Maniatis spent the first days of July in London launching the country’s most ambitious programme so far to develop its untapped hydrocarbon potential. Greece has made several fruitless attempts over the years to find big reserves of oil or natural gas as it bids to reduce… – Continue reading
LONDON (Reuters) – Greece is planning to cut tax rates for oil and gas companies as it wants to attract them to help exploit its untapped offshore hydrocarbon resources, its energy minister said on Tuesday. Under the plan, oil and gas explorers will pay 25 percent tax, down from 40… – Continue reading
Andrea Bonzano, head of tax at Fiat, discusses the pros and cons of different transfer pricing methods in an interview with TPWeek, and provides his views on BEPS and US inversions. Bonzano has expressed his views on some of the most topical transfer pricing issues, discussing his concerns over BEPS… – Continue reading
This week one of the key Democratic Party strongholds voted to reduce income taxes and expand the sales tax base. The District of Columbia Council, which in 2012 supported President Barack Obama over challenger Mitt Romney by a wide margin of 13 votes to 1 (in a city where 90.9… – Continue reading
Increasing sophistication in combatting base erosion and profit shifting, and the corresponding increase in transfer pricing documentation, have posed a challenge for businesses. The following article considers the tension between the competing demands. Companies are facing a proliferation of transfer pricing documentation demands. While the new requirements set out in… – Continue reading
