GCC countries are expected to “closely consider” a project that aims to curb perceived tax avoidance by some multi-national companies, according to an international tax expert. Under intense public pressure and unprecedented media focus, leaders of the G20 countries tasked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to come… – Continue reading
Labour MEP warns that EU tax harmonisation against the interests of Malta and other European islands and peripheral regions Labour MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant told the European Parliament that EU tax harmonisation goes against the interests of Malta and other peripheral regions and islands with limited endowments… – Continue reading
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has denied involvement in sweetheart deals that allowed hundreds of multinationals to slash their tax bills by locating to Luxembourg, despite being prime minister of the country for almost 20 years, reports the Financial Times. Facing questions from a committee of EU lawmakers set up… – Continue reading
Past Progress and Prospects Harmful tax practices (e.g., tax havens, preferential tax regimes, tax rulings) are characterised by the propensity to erode tax bases of other countries which allegedly leads to an undesirable race-to-the-bottom on taxation rates. Action 5 of the OECD Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting… – Continue reading
Speaking at an informal meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) in Luxembourg, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna once again expressed Malta’s opposition to tax harmonization. “Taxation remains a sensitive area for Malta, not only because of its obvious role in the revenue collection process, but also as an important… – Continue reading
The finance ministers of 11 euro zone countries willing to introduce a financial transactions tax (FTT) are expected to make progress on the thorny issue in a meeting on Saturday in Luxembourg, Italy’s economy minister said. Germany and France proposed the tax in 2012, in the midst of the euro… – Continue reading
BEFORE the General Election David Cameron promised to protect vulnerable North-East airports if Scotland carried its pledge to cut air taxes. It is now time for the Prime Minister to deliver. Speaking to The Northern Echo in March, Mr Cameron vowed that – if re-elected – he would block “unfair… – Continue reading
The international financial sector faces a perilous future. Major challenges loom over an uncertain global economy, while a decidedly negative political climate poses an existential threat to the offshore financial community. With each passing year, thanks to demographic changes and poorly designed fiscal policies, politicians from high-tax nations will be… – Continue reading
The inquiry raises some larger and perhaps more challenging questions about Australia’s corporate tax system and what is acceptable and unacceptable tax minimisation. On 18 August 2015, the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance tabled a long-awaited interim report, with the subtitle “You cannot tax what you cannot see”. The… – Continue reading
What has happened? On 2 October 2014 the Senate referred an inquiry into corporate tax avoidance to the Senate Economics References Committee for inquiry and report. The Committee conducted public hearings1 in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and received submissions from a number of senior executives from high profile multinational corporations… – Continue reading
On 17 June 2015, the European Commission launched a public consultation on further corporate tax transparency, which suggests a variety of tax transparency measures including country-by-country reporting (see here). The consultation is intended to gather feedback on which companies should offer more tax transparency and to whom. The deadline for… – Continue reading
At first glance the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project is difficult to understand. There has been no decline in corporate tax revenues in recent years, and nations already possess a variety of tools to respond to erosion when needed. BEPS is thus drawing an inordinate amount of… – Continue reading
While CIBC FirstCaribbean and Heritage Bank are working to formalize the sale of assets, another offshore institution operating from Belize is yet to secure a correspondent bank. As we’ve reported previously, Bank of America has severed ties with Atlantic International Bank Limited as part of an ongoing de-risking exercise. The… – Continue reading
Developing nations left behind as OECD countries continue to dominate the global tax agenda called for a UN body on intergovernmental tax to no avail. Tax, more than ever before, is viewed as one of the most significant drivers of development finance. But Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)… – Continue reading
Anticipating a tough legislative fight, the European Parliament’s special committee investigating tax shelters plans to play its trump card: citizen outrage. The committee’s co-rapporteur Michael Theurer, a German MEP from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, told POLITICO’s German podcast that he expected “objections, difficulties and political resistance”… – Continue reading
With the focus of 2014 being international tax competition, 2015 shows signs of continuing this trend. The European Commission (COM) and European Parliament (EP) are starting to debate and extensively investigate Member States’ tax ruling policies, partly as a result of the LuxLeaks revelations and partly in relation to the… – Continue reading
As globalist forces and the international institutions they control openly prepare to plunder humanity’s wealth, Third World dictators and tax-funded “civil society” groups have stepped up their demands for a United Nations tax authority — supposedly to ensure that they all get their “fair share” of the loot from Western… – Continue reading
The Coalition for Tax Competition (CTC) sent a letter to members of the US Congress on July 14, calling on them to protect American interests in talks on the work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). The CTC urged Congress… – Continue reading
The taxes of large French companies grew 1% in 2014 globally. Concerned about their reputation, they are more cautious on tax optimization. Total, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, the leading trio of CAC 40 companies who have scored more tax in 2014 globally, according to calculations by PwC Law Firm… – Continue reading
Treasurer Joe Hockey has reaffirmed his commitment to addressing bracket creep in the upcoming tax review, but has refused to include changes to politically sensitive areas like superannuation concessions, negative gearing and GST, pushing back the onus on the states for GST reform. When it comes to the GST, Mr… – Continue reading
As part of what experts call a war on tax competition and low taxes, a coalition of high-tax governments from around the world is working to erect a radical new planetary taxation regime that would further smother what remains of financial privacy and national sovereignty while seriously harming the global… – Continue reading
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on July 6, 2015, discussed the IMF’s role in supporting the post-2015 development agenda, ahead of the upcoming third United Nations (UN) Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) to be held in Addis Ababa from July 13–16, 2015. Having adopted a… – Continue reading
Britain’s corporation tax rate will fall to 19% in 2017 and 18% by 2020 Corporation tax in Britain will fall to 18% by 2020 in a move which Chancellor George Osborne claims will send out a message that Britain is open for business. Mr Osborne made the announcement in his… – Continue reading
ARBADOS’ CONTROVERSIAL BLACKLISTING by a group of European Union (EU) countries is “hypocritical” and “grossly discriminatory”, says outgoing Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) president Connie Smith. But Smith also thinks the time is right for “engaging in bilateral discussions which could hopefully conclude in double taxation agreements and bilateral investment… – Continue reading
Ireland’s attractively low rate of corporate taxation is once again under pressure with the recent release of the European Commission’s new action plan to tackle tax avoidance. The commission has been prompted into this politically ambitious move by public outcry over big, usually American, companies avoiding tax in the EU…. – Continue reading
The European Commission has released a working paper that looks at how significant the introduction of the modified nexus approach will be for the tax affairs of multinational companies that use patent box regimes Entitled Patent Boxes Design, Patents Location, and Local R&D, the paper suggests “that in the majority… – Continue reading
“THE decision by a group of European Union (EU) Member States to blacklist Barbados as being non-cooperative and further claim that Barbados and 29 other countries, mostly small islands, do not meet its standards of transparency, exchange of information and fair tax competition, is hypocritical and on the face of… – Continue reading
The Policy and Advocacy Manager of Tax Justice Network – Africa (TJN-A) has urged African governments to review tax incentives for free zone companies. “Tax incentives must apply to companies that have something to show. These companies must be able to create massive employment and other services to benefit the… – Continue reading
A new campaign to stop Africa from ‘bleeding’ was launched on Thursday in Nairobi by the Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), a coalition of researchers and activists focused on the harmful impacts of tax avoidance, tax competition and tax havens. “If we can stop Africa from losing resources in illicit outflows,… – Continue reading
The countries’ leaders say the label is doing untold damage to their reputations, reports The Voice. A number of Caribbean prime ministers have said the blacklisting by the European Union (EU) is unacceptable and they will not take the move lightly. The Union’s European Commission said the countries were singled… – Continue reading
A new campaign to stop Africa from ‘bleeding’ is to be launched today in Nairobi by the Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), a coalition of researchers and activists focused on the harmful impacts of tax avoidance, tax competition and tax havens. The ‘bleeding’ is symbolic of a $50 billion, which is… – Continue reading
The biggest hurdle to stopping multinational tax evasion isn’t the companies themselves. It’s the governments behind them. As the OECD works swiftly on its plan to stop multinational tax evasion, the United States has already signalled it’s not happy with what’s being proposed. The US has always been clear on… – Continue reading
Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that as a matter of urgency all national parliaments should be active participants and decision makers in the process which the European Commission has been launched on the harmonisation of taxes in the eurozone. Dr. Sant said that having the same tax structures for… – Continue reading
Britain will not adopt new EU measures to tackle large-scale tax avoidance by multinational companies, the financial secretary to the Treasury has said. Brussels hopes to implement a longstanding tax harmonization plan to set common rules across member states, thereby closing legal loopholes multinationals currently exploit. A German member of… – Continue reading
David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, told representatives from the European Parliament that Britain would reject plans to combat tax avoidance by multinationals According to the Guardian, German MEP Michael Theurer said, “He was very clear that the UK is insisting on tax competition”. The European Commission’s plan to… – Continue reading
Business lobby group BusinessEurope has withdrawn its previous support for a proposed European common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) due to changes that make it mandatory for multinational companies. UK business lobby group the Institute of Directors has described the CCCTB as “unhelpful political populism”. “European business fully shares the… – Continue reading
Business and politicains all want it but welfare reform demand from London has thrown up an unexpected hurdle If corporation tax were cool, Eamonn Donaghy of KPMG in Belfast would be the Bono of his world – half quiet tax accountant, half buccaneering campaigner with a nifty sideline in high-level… – Continue reading
Critics of an EU tax-haven blacklist say the organisation is playing dice with small states’ reputations, while ignoring European tax avoidance hubs BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 19, 2015 (AMG) — Doubts have been cast over the methodology and motives behind the naming of fourteen Caribbean countries among a list of thirty… – Continue reading
Marek Helm, head of the Estonian tax authority, is questioning claims that hundreds of Estonian businesses have been set up in Latvia because Latvia offers them better tax benefits than Estonia, reported Delfi today. Speaking in Reporter, an investigative TV journal of Kanal2, Helm said that he does not believe… – Continue reading
Britain’s taxing question is whether to maximise revenues or face more austerity. Given the scale of state spending that’s the stark choice facing chancellor George Osborne if he wants to balance the books in this parliament, says James Sproule We are once again considering the tax options facing the chancellor… – Continue reading
AN alliance of SNP and rightwing Tory MPs failed last night to give Scotland full fiscal autonomy and introduce tax competition in the United Kingdom. SNP MPs agreed to back an amendment by Tory grandee Sir Edward Leigh, if he pushed it to a vote, which would have given Holyrood… – Continue reading
THE North-East is becoming a “dustbin” for Scottish rubbish because of devolution, one of the region’s MPs has warned. Kevan Jones, the North Durham MP, said a “commendable” Scottish initiative to boost recycling had backfired by sending waste across the border instead, sometimes illegally. And he warned the problem was… – Continue reading
The special committee leading the European Parliament’s inquiry into tax rulings has upped the pressure on businesses and European governments. The inquiry will be extended until October. EurActiv France reports. Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland have one thing in common. These five countries have all received an investigative… – Continue reading
It’s time for a complete overhaul of the global tax system to ensure each company pays their fair share, says Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz. A group of leading economists — led by Stiglitz — issued a call Tuesday for countries to overhaul the system to prevent multinationals such as Apple… – Continue reading
David Gauke, Financial Secretary to the United Kingdom Treasury, has said that the newly elected Conservative Government will maintain a competitive corporate tax regime, although further reductions in the rate of UK corporate tax appear to be off the table. He also confirmed that the Government will continue to tackle… – Continue reading
A “very interesting political situation” can be expected in the autumn when a number of different strands of the ongoing European, and global, debate on what to do about aggressive tax planning by multinationals, come together, one of the players involved said during a recent visit to Dublin, reports Irish… – Continue reading
Africa is known as the ‘paradox of plenty’. How can a continent so rich in natural resources be so poor? Economic growth is predicted to increase by 4.5% across the continent this year, despite falling oil prices and the Ebola crisis. South Africa’s economy, the second biggest in Africa is… – Continue reading
G7 Finance Ministers meeting in Dresden today discussed the reform needed and progress made regarding international taxation and the role of multinational companies. It is positive the G7 wants to spur on international tax reform to stop multinationals avoiding taxes, and wants to support tax administrations and fair taxation in… – Continue reading
Ireland’s corporate tax regime is not transparent, the head of the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings said. On a visit to Dublin yesterday, Alain Lamassoure said Ireland’s regime may be transparent for “the experts, for the big four [audit firms], for Apple, probably”. But he added: “The simple… – Continue reading
Ireland still offers unfair tax deals to multinationals despite its claims of being fair and open, Alain Lamassoure, the head of the European Parliament’s tax committee has said, reports the Irish Examiner. His allegation comes as the European Commission announces it wants every member state to agree to adopt the… – Continue reading
